This picture was taken before Ellie hurt her leg.  She saw a yellow butterfly outside and decided to sit by the window and draw "all of the butterflies outside."

Now that Ellie is back in school, Clara has begun to do more of her own activities again.  It has been nice to have a couple of months of one-on-one time with her before her baby sister arrives.  One of her favorite things to do is go to Zoo Tots classes.

Posing with a friend at another Zoo Tots class.

 Clara learning about fire safety during story time at the library.

I looked behind me for Clara as we were leaving Old Navy one day, and found her making friends with the mannequins!

 Barn Bash at the farm for Ellie's school.  Fortunately, we were able to find a few things that she could still do!

 Our neighbors have two little boys that are 6 and 4 that the girls have become good friends with.  Here is Ellie at the 6 year old's birthday party with the "Reptile Guy."

  

Clara enjoyed the party for awhile, but went home for a nap just before the reptiles arrived.

 Hanging out with Mary and Ruthie at a family wedding.

 They had a great time at their first wedding!  Both girls were in awe of the bride and Clara could have danced all night!

Our first (and hopefully last...) cast.

 Ellie broke both her tibia and fibula this past weekend : (  

Our mall has a play area with large zoo animals for kids to climb on and we stopped to play for a bit at the end of a shopping trip on Friday evening.  As Ellie will say, "she jumped off of a panda's neck" and landed on the seating surrounding the play area.  She wouldn't walk on her leg, so I carried her out of the mall and headed to our hospital's pediatric urgent care.  I knew she was hurt, but was shocked when the x-ray came back with two broken bones!  We are hoping for a good prognosis when we go to the orthopedic doctor on Monday!

 She was pretty uncomfortable and upset over the weekend.  I took several pictures of her after they put on her cast before I got to the one above where she doesn't look quite so miserable.  However, yesterday she was in a much happier mood as her pain eased, she began to figure out how to get herself around, and friends began visiting to wish her well and sign her cast.

 It's great that she has a built-in friend to keep her company : )  They've had fun playing together with the activities that her friends have brought by to help keep her busy.

 She has become quite good at using this little walker to get herself around!

Autumn Apples & Festivals

 Getting ready to go apple picking with the Winner family!

 Face painting at the First Friday Festival.

 Clara's is slightly scary...

 Checking out the pumpkins from the carving contest at the zoo's Fall Festival.

 You couldn't pay me to do this, but this little girl didn't even hesitate to volunteer!

One of Ellie's new friends from school, Kelsey, joined her for "bring a friend day" at her dance class.