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After dinner Sunday night, Emma and Alexa were begging for horse rides. So I finally gave in. I love the pure exhilaration on their faces. (I'm basically running as fast as I can around our main level.)

Sunday Grill

Sunday nights are always Grill nights -- and the weather has finally been cool enough and the mosquitoes have relaxed a bit for us to really enjoy our dinner outside. Here is Alexa helping us wipe off the table before dinner.

The girls recently discovered the joy of eating whipped cream from a can!

Hula Mania!

Emma Playing Soccer

Pumpkin Painting

We painted the pumpkins that we picked up from Cox Farms -- the girls went a little overboard with the paint -- Emma ended up with a purply/brown pumpkin (all the colors mixed together) -- and Alexa had a somewhat Pollack-esque pumpkin.

Close-up on Alexa

Still playing with my 55 mm lens. Here are some close ups on Alexa that came out good.

Viva Mexico!

Here are pictures taken by Emma. I did not choose this cheesy pose myself. Emma instructed me to fold my arms like so -- I see a future career at Picture People for her!

Cox Farms

We went to Cox Farms last Tuesday afternoon. It's a little strange for it to be 90 degrees and be at the pumpkin patch, but I didn't mind the fact that we didn't have to navigate the crowds. The trip was somewhat of a success, but Emma was terrified of the hayride, especially when the alien jumps out at everyone. After that, she didn't enjoy herself too much. Her favorite part of the farms was the rope swing though -- we probably spent a good 20 minutes there alone!

Here they are before the hayride started...still very happy:

Alexa, at the top of the castle, all by herself...

Here's the rope swing that Em loved so much...

This is us at Cox Farms October 2005. The little girl is Emma!

Fast forward: September 2007... and there's Alexa :)

Trying to find the perfect pumpkin!

More Dress Up

Emma's funny poses seem to have returned. And this picture of Alexa is her with her blanket wrapped around her, being held up by suspenders. So classy!

What's the Deal?!?

Prior to the day we took this video (last Sunday) we had never heard these words come out of Emma's mouth, so it was pretty funny for us to hear.

Introducing... The Item

Highlights of the video:

1) Alexa tries to figure out how to bow

2) Emma forgets the words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Twirl and Tumble

Alexa finally got to go to ballet class! She's been so envious of Emma every time she goes that we finally signed her up for a class. Needless to say, she loved it! The class is half "ballet" and half gymnastics. So she got to do the balance beam and trampoline too.

Don't Mess with these Girls!

By coincidence, all four girls were dressed in their new pink camouflage pants, so Ginny and I thought it would be perfect to get together for an afternoon playdate at the playground. (If they were 10 years older, they'd all be rolling their eyes right about now!)

Ginny, did you get a better one of the four girls than the one below? I have various ones where one or all girls have their eyes closed. Let me know and fwd to me if you do!