Oh what do you do in the autumn time?

Recently my mom has taken me to task for not posting more about her grandbabies, so here's a peek at what we've been up to. The past few weeks have actually been glorious. For the most part, the heat and humidity have faded away and left us with absolutely gorgeous weather for being outside. And oh my, the trees! It is so beautiful here. Every time we go outside, I look down the sidewalk and just stare up at the trees. They are so massive and are beautiful clothed in red, yellow, and orange. And it's simply breathtaking when the light strikes them from the side or when a breeze makes leaves rain down all around us. Maybe it's like people visiting Utah and staring at the mountains, but I just can't get over it.

And we certainly live in a beautiful spot within our area. Sometimes the girls and I bike down to a nearby creek (which I would call a river), where there are lovely walking trails and picturesque bridges and ducks and squirrels that can keep these two little babes entertained forever. Really, squirrels never fail to excite and they are everywhere out here. We also live near a gorgeous park that the girls love. Plus Violet is finally down to one nap a day, and that has given us a lot more time to enjoy the outdoors in the afternoon.

And when we're not outside, well, who knows what we're up to. Whenever possible, Madeline tries to dress like Violet. Aside from these "little sister, big sister" shirts, they actually don't have any identical clothes, so M gets pretty creative. It's so funny how they both try to copy each other these days. Here they are looking like little jailbirds in our upstairs hallway (I'm on the stairs, on the other side of the baby gate).

And this next picture amuses me because it looks like Violet is an absolute giant! Somehow the perspective with that bar stool and the counter is all wacky . . . she hasn't grown quite that much, even though she's slowly easing out of babyhood.

Violet has also discovered the glory of using a step stool to get a little bit taller. She loves getting this stool and putting it by a window that looks into our backyard. It puts her chin just barely above the window ledge so she can see what's going on outside. Rainstorms, the neighbor's cat, birds, squirrels . . . it's all very exciting and liberating for a fifteen-monther. And of course Madeline is right there for any exciting discoveries.

Love these little ladies.