Our Life on the Farm: Where did September go?

It's been a very busy month! Hard to believe it's already October. Orchard season and harvest are well underway and both going great. Yields are not the best due to the VERY wet summer, which is disappointing. However, we've had almost 14 days of sun, which has made for some very productive days.

Some updates on Harper, now that she's 21 months old:

Her vocabulary is growing every day. Her favorite things to say are the names of the kids in her classroom, the names of her family (in context - she will name all the Sandquists, then will name all the Gyolais - she knows who goes with which family), and all the Thomas the Train characters.
She loves to call her friend Evan in her classroom - Evie, Evie, Evie! And when she sees Evan's mom - she calls her Evie, Evie, Evie. Pretty cute!
She's still a VERY picky eater - which drives us crazy. Favorite foods right now are applesauce, banana bread and chocolate chip cookies.
She can count - it goes something like this: Mommy says 1; Harper says 2; Mommy says 3; Harper says 5; Mommy says 6; Harper says 7; Mommy says 8; Harper says 9; Mommy says 10. She somehow forgets 4.
She likes to have her teachers sing ABC's to her. She will say to them "ABCD?" - so they will then sing it to her.
She will not sit in a cart when shopping anymore - unless it's in the back of the cart. If I put her up front in the cart/seat, she grabs onto my neck and pulls herself out. So it makes for a very difficult shopping experience. Noah now has to come with me - and he pushes Harper in one cart (so she can ride in the back) and I push a second cart that we fill with groceries.
She loves to sit at the kitchen table - in a regular chair - and draw, play or climb up onto the table.
She's getting a little sassy - especially with Mollie. She will tell Mollie "no, no, no - mine, mine, mine". So last night Amy and I tried to teach her to say "mine please" so it would come across a little less sassy.
She's loving her time with G'ma, Max & Mollie while Amy and I work at the Orchard. She loves to play dollies in Mollie's room.
I've learned she's doing some "environmental reading" (someone at work told me this). While I was looking at the Target ad in the Sunday paper, she comes over and points at the Target logo and says "shopping". Wow! Do we do too much shopping at Target or what?

Enjoy some photos below...

Harper coloring on her new chalk mat that G'ma bought her at a craft sale. It's really cool - and Harper loves it.

Harper "feeding" mommy while playing up at Amy's house.

A great photo of Max, Mollie and Harper.

Harper playing with Mollie's dollhouse...while holding Gordon, from Thomas the Train. She LOVES Thomas the Train right now. She walks around saying "Thomas the Tank Engine Rolling Along".