A striking personality difference

I just thought this was funny, there are so many differences between Piper and Reagan. They are of course two different people but sometimes as a Mom something just stares you in the face and you have to laugh. These are the girls' shoe bins in our mud room closet. Their rooms are often in very similar states.

Piper's - when the shoes actually make it in her bin they are a jumbled mess. Most of the time her shoes are scatterd around the yard and driveway.

Reagan's bin. No matter how often I may just toss her shoes in her bin she goes back and sorts them out so neatly. When she has another pair to add she stacks them neatly as well.

So what does this mean in the long run? That Piper will be a random, messy person? That Reagan will be an organized neat freak? I have no idea, this is just where they are at now and I wanted to have proof as one day it may be completely backwards.

Our trip to Walnut Grove

Back in September, actually September 18th, one month ago we took a little family trip out to Walnut Grove., Jason mentioned it out of the blue and we had no plans for the weekend so we took a day trip. I've read the books so many times and we've also read the series to Piper two or three times already so it seemed fitting that we visit. I think we picked the coldest day to go, it was in the upper 40's. We should have waited a couple more weeks until it was 80 degrees again.

Doing the silly tourist thing

The girls got an up close view of a train rolling through town.

I wish I climbed in with them, Piper was surprised by how small the wagon was. I guess I kind of was too, from the TV series it seemed so big.

This was probably the funniest moment of our day, we drove by some sod house replicas outside of town and Piper took one look and said "what a dump". Jason and I couldn't contain ourselves. She was really confused and thought the top of the corn was the ground, she said it's so short Mom, they must have had to crawl through their houses. We probably should have stopped so she could have gone in them.

At the museum, they have small replica type houses set up on the grounds that you can tour, it was pretty cute!

There was a collection of 1800's dolls, the girls spent quite a while checking those out.

School Master Kocina calling his pupils to attention.

Piper really soaked up the experience, I could see her imagining stories from the book.

I was actually surprised by how much attention they paid to the musuem part, of course it was short lived but they really took an interest in a lot of the pictures and artifacts. Reagan took notice of some old pennies they had in a display case and was really upset that she couldn't claim them.

The musuem has been visited by many of the TV series cast members including Melissa Gilbert (Laura).

We did our own recreation of the photo from above in front of the fireplace.

In the church, I had her sit as still as she could as Laura wasn't allowed to fidgit.

Inside a sod house, Piper was still surprised by how small everything was.

I think I want one of these jails for our yard, it would be a nice time for time outs, I mean a nice playhouse of course.

See, playhouse, look how much fun they are having.

The wildflowers were really pretty, not that there are many flowers in these pictures.

After the museum we drove out to Plum Creek where the Ingalls' original sod house was actually located. The people who own the land didn't realize they had this piece of history until someone contacted them (I don't remember the year) and told them. They were very gracious to restore much of their land to the original prairie grasses and open it up to visitors who wanted to come walk the property. I can only imagine how many cars they have driving through their driveway each year.

Standing by Plum Creek looking at the owner's farm, it was very pretty.

Last but not least, the mound of dirt and depression that once was Laura's house. If I owned the land I would want to conduct an archeological dig to see if there are any old artifacts burried down there, you never know, it would be cool.

A good weekend

Robin's car was used in Northfield's parade so the girls thought they'd pretend they were in a parade of their own, doing their little waves to the crowd of Jason and Claire.

Holly threw an amazing tea party for the girls yesterday. Everyone dressed up, was given a fancy flower to wear in their hair and served a delicious lunch of mini PB&J's and apple slices along with their kool aid - a first for a few of them. The gobbled up the lunch and then found the dessert table, a child version of a cookie buffet complete with wafer cookies, pin wheels and mini cupcakes. Man they were loaded up and ready to go after they cleared the buffet.

After much debate about placement I finally convinced Jason to put up our sign at the bottom of our driveway, he wanted it at the top and I wanted it down below, we comprimised and he picked a spot mid way up so it's visible yet it's still doesn't stick too far out. He really likes being hidden up here but I think the driveway kind of gives us away.

First Day of School

We knew it would come eventually and were excited for it but it still makes Mommy a little sad, both girls went off to school today. Piper goes on Monday, Wednesdays and alternating Fridays all day. Her bus picks her up a little after 8am and she gets home a bit after 4pm. Reagan has the same days but her school is only for 2 hours which is hardly any time at all, she's not ready to leave yet when I come back to get her.

I made the girls waffles, well Eggo made them but I reheated them for a good start to their day. We aren't used to getting up so early as I FINALLY got the girls to sleep in until about 8 am, now I have to get up by 6:30 and get them up by 7:15.

When I picked Reagan up I was trying to sneak in a photo but her teacher told her I was there, she's outside playing in the little park area they have.

Outside of school, she was excited when we toured but we had Piper with. When we pulled up she said, "Mom, I want you to stay for a while". I tried to tell her that Mom's were not allowed to hang out but I could walk her in and get her situated. I thought there were going to be tears aplenty but she surprised me by going with her teacher right into circle time. On her second day I could barely get a hug out of her before she rushed right in.

And here is our big girl, she was so excited but it was tough for me to just put a 5 year old on a bus and hope she would find her way to her teacher and classroom for the first time. She has a really nice bus driver who walked her to her teacher. From what I got out of her, I think there are several of her classmates on the bus but I think she stayed on the bus until one of the bigger girls finally told her she can go. At that point she probably just stood there wondering where to go and he probably brought her over. I can only guess though and she couldn't really tell me. When she got home she was sitting in the front seat and just sat and waved to me waiting in the car. After the bus had stopped and the door opened she was still waving away, I think the bus driver had to tell her to get off. Her thoughts on her bus rides, "it was bumpy".

Showing off her backpack. Piper's thoughts on her first day, she loved art and recess. They have a great playground at her school right outside of the cafeteria, I checked out her lunch and she only ate about 3 bites of her sandwhich and didn't touch her crackers or muffin, she was in too much of a hurry to get outside to play. She was a hungry girl when she got home.

Reagan's thoughts on her first day were that she loved signing Itsy Bitsy Spider and Craft time. She wanted to go back that afternoon and was really upset when I wouldn't take her back. She even told her teacher that she was excited to come back the next day.