Proof of Global Warming*

This was the first week in November:
The girls wanted to play in the leaves, so they had to rake them up first. (Don't worry, I helped.)

Our loaner cat joined in the fun:
The rule is: when you're done playing you have to clean up:
Not that all the fun was over: (I love how this shows the difference between my girls. Ruby backing away from the cat while Cora reaches for him.)
This was the only picture I got where I could see both girls' eyes. It would help if Ruby didn't pull her hat down quite so low. But it does keep the sun out of her eyes.
The girls had so much fun they kept asking to rake leaves again, so we did. The second time wasn't quite so warm so we didn't play quite so long.

*Please note that I do not actually believe in Global Warming. Last winter was bitterly cold very early. This winter has been excessively mild. Take the average and I'm guessing it would be about "normal".

Try two:

Her bunny ears stood up this time!

Our snow

All of it. That is, all we've gotten so far this year, although it has cooled off this week and been threatening to snow. (Picture was taken in October.) I woke up to very joyous cries of, "Mommy, there's snow on my house! Need to play in it. Need to build a snowman." So after breakfast we got ready. Yes, my children were dressed in all their snow gear for a skiff of snow. They insisted on it. They were so excited to play in snow and a complete snow outfit was necessary. We went outside for, thankfully, a very short amount of time. Once in the snow the girls discovered it wasn't nearly so fun as expected and there definitely wasn't enough to build a snowman (Ruby tried). Once the snow soaked through their gloves they were ready to be done.

Funny story: in September I was sorting through the girls' clothes to get out all their winter stuff. I had them trying on lots of things to see what fit now. Amongst the usual long sleeved shirts and long pants I had several different sizes of coats and snowpants for them to try. (I buy at yard sales, so I get what I can when I see it.) Ruby tried on some snowpants and a coat, then wanted boots, a hat, and some gloves. We tried on the whole outfit. Then she said, "Go play in snow." Oops. Sorry, dear, there's no snow yet. She was mad. It was like I had tricked her, albeit unintentionally. I finally got her to accept the idea that the leaves had to fall before the snow would come. After this she would randomly tell people, "The leaves come down then the snow comes down."

Reading is important...

to everyone in this house:

Ruby the mountaineer

She would have gone all the way up if I hadn't stopped her.

Walking

I have the girls well trained to hold onto the stroller when they are walking beside it, so when I told them they didn't need to, I guess they still felt like they needed to hold onto something:Even better, is when they push the stroller for me:

Triking

We're still working on the concept. Ruby is doing fairly well at pedaling. Cora's feet are usually on the ground, scooting her along. We still haven't figured out steering at all.