Chillin'

Turned off the air conditioning this morning. It was already down to 70 degrees in the house so the air wasn't running anyway, but it was chilly enough yesterday to justify wearing a sweatshirt to the park and cold enough this morning that I put flannel pants on. Welcome, fall. I've been looking forward to long sleeves and raking leaves - bring it on!

Let's start with some photos, since I haven't put any up in a while. First, from our trip up to the cabin with Grandpa Dan 4th of July weekend (remember that?), here's an awesome pic of Romelie and Grandpa playing cornhole. Note Romelie's fashion choices. I let Romelie dress herself and really only step in to "fix" things if she's dressed inappropriately for the weather or if I feel like her outfit is too ridiculous for where we're headed (like if she tries to wear an oversized orange tye-died tank top with knee-high green-and-red-striped Christmas socks and too-small purple shorts to church, as she did a couple weeks ago). Otherwise, I figure who cares? She's 3. She can dress how she likes. And sometimes, this is the result.

We've also been going to the park quite a bit in the past couple of weeks. Our local park also has a wading pool which has been drained since this picture was taken two weeks ago, but on this particular day, Romelie was the only kid in the pool, which gave her a bit more confidence than she often has while "swimming." After swimming, we spent our requisite hour or so on the playground equipment. Romelie and Chason tend to do the more active playing while Cori and I sit on a swing or just walk around looking at everything, which is fine by me.

In other news, Cori has started finger foods, which is awesome because it makes dinner time a family experience for the first time since she was born. Cheerios are her favorite, though she's had everything from fruits and veggies to ground beef and chicken to apple pie with ice cream. Yes, I have fed my 10 month old apple pie, ice cream, and pieces of chocolate chip cookie. No, I don't feel bad about this. With Romelie, the first sugar she had was birthday cake, and while she loves candy and treats and desserts, she gets them only on occasion and only in moderation, so I don't see a big problem in letting Cori have two baby-sized bites of ice cream or a few crumbs of cookie considering her diets is mostly fruit, vegetables, whole grains and organic beans.

And finally, I mentioned yesterday that our house is officially on the market. I spent a lot of time cleaning, organizing, packing up clutter, and getting rid of stuff we don't use or need. Chason and my dad took care of landscaping and did some work on the garage. And Ken, our realtor and contractor, finished up our bathroom and kitchen, replaced the carpet on the stairs that the cats had torn up, put a new gutter on the front of the house, and did a few other miscelleneous tasks. Try to ignore the pricing information, but just to see pictures of the finished product, you can click here: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2415-W-60th-St-Minneapolis-MN-55410/1887096_zpid/#9. We've had all of one showing so far, but since we're not in an urgent need-t0-sell situation, we're just giving this a try to see what happens. If nothing else, it gives Romelie (and the rest of us!) some good practice at cleaning up after oneself immediately. Wish us luck!

And even though this blog was much more positive and happy than yesterday's entry, I've decided to include another video to inspire infinite happiness in all.