Duncan is 18 weeks old

On Wednesday, Duncan turned 18 weeks old.

He was super smiley for the camera!

We tried Duncan in the exersaucer again. He seems to be big enough for it now.

He was so excited, he just kept waving his arms around, looking at the baby in the mirror!

Duncan also started back at school this week. He gets to go outside in the stroller.

And play inside with his teachers!

Phipps Farm - Fall

By Monday, it had turned to fall! We headed back up to the apple trees and picked some apples.

And of course, we ate some apples!

We played for a long time on the swing set. Grandma got a workout in while pushing the two girls, and John and I played soccer (with Duncan in the Baby Bjorn). The men were hard at work constructing Grandma's greenhouse.

Elsie and Leah even figured out how to swing by themselves on the double swing!

Phipps Farm - Summer

We headed down to the farm for an extra long Labor Day weekend. It was very warm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (upper 90s) so we got in some great end-of-the season pool time.

Elsie and Leah just love playing with Daddy / Uncle Jack.

Grandpa took Elsie for a swim.

And Uncle Jack took Leah.

Grandma cuddled with Duncan under the umbrella, and he fell fast asleep.

Elsie got in a lot of reading time with Grandpa.

And Grandma entertained Duncan on the floor.

At one point, Duncan rolled over while playing, and was looking very sleepy. I just let him snuggle in with his thumb and he fell asleep by himself!

So precious!

Elsie helped keep Duncan busy by setting up these books around him. She is such a great helper!

Elsie was pretty friendly with Maizy this time, giving her some nice pets.

And then Elsie would run away when Maizy got too licky!

There were many apples ready for eating up at Aunt Kris and Uncle Aaron's house. Elsie does not normally like apples, but was a huge fan of these!

We walked over to the corn and threw in the apple core when we were all done.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Because we were going to be heading down to the farm on my actual birthday, we celebrated a day early...at breakfast to ensure we made it through most of the cake before we left!

I received a lot of great gifts, like a Keurig coffee maker and ballet tickets. Elsie gave me a little Dirt Devil vacuum, and Dad ensured me that Elsie would be the one to use it under her seat after meals. We'll see...

Staycation 2011 - Trains and Watering the flowers

On Wednesday of our Staycation, we rode on a train! Elsie's first real train ride! We sat on the top level one way, and then the bottom level on the way home. Elsie held on tight to her ticket during the entire trip.

We took the train to Glen Ellyn to a train restaurant! The food arrived on a train, Thomas the Tank Engine was playing on two TVs, and there was a lot of train whistles! Elsie had a lot of fun (still holding onto her train ticket).

Choo choo!

We had time in the evening to get back out to our flower beds and water our flowers. Elsie asked to help water the flowers...and instead started watering Mommy!

We had a lot of fun running around the front yard!