October (Quick and Dirty Recap)

Before I get to the actual post, I just have to say that I'm so far behind in posts that it'll take me a few days to catch up.  Bare with me!


This fall we were really able to enjoy all the perks of having a second car!  I signed Y up for several of the free programs offered at our local library and many of them she was able to do with a friend from church.  We started with a story time one day a week and another program called Music & Movement.  She wasn't a big fan of just sitting during story time but she loved Music and Movement which incorporates singing and dancing in with story time.

They also offer several seasonal activities at the library, I signed her up to attend a Halloween/Trick or Treat activity at the library that she was able to do with her friend E.  They were able to dress up in costume and go around to different locations in the library and were given many non-candy treats.

We were also able to spend a day out with friends from church.  We went to Wolcott Farm where they were able to see all the different farm animals.  Y is not at all a fan of barns so any animals that were inside them she didn't really care to see.  After walking around the farm for a bit we sat down for a quick bag lunch before heading over to Blake's Cider Mill.  I've lived in Michigan for 7 years and had never been to one so it was a real treat for me as well.  We were able to see how the cider is made from start to finish as well as buy some of their yummy apple goodies (apple donuts, apple cider, and an apple cider slushy).  They also have a little carnival type activity there for the young kids but we didn't venture to that part of the property.  It was a great day and boy did it tire us out!

We had a rather large and unwelcomed guest come visit us on our balcony this month as well.  It was my first time seeing a Praying Mantis in person and it scared me quite a bit.  So much so that our beautiful pumpkins (posted above) never made it outside.  It wandered around our balcony for a couple days and then it just rested above the sliding door wall that leads in from our bedroom.  It stayed there through the freezing cold.  It stayed there through the wind and rain of Hurricane Sandy.  So naturally I assumed it was dead, though I still refused to go out on the balcony.  One day when the in-laws came to visit I sent my father-in-law out to remove it's dead body (B also refused to go near the thing).  Turns out, the sucker wasn't dead after all!  I was so very glad that I didn't go out there!  My FIL ended up sweeping it off the balcony into the grass and from there I don't know what happened to it - nor do I care!

I'm going to lose my Mother of the Year Award again this year.  Even with my best intentions I didn't get a really good photo of both girls in their Halloween costumes.  The only half-decent photos were 2 I quickly snapped at our church Halloween party when I went to get them dressed in their costumes.  Halloween night was a mad rush and to top it off it was rainy.  Y spent the majority of the night crying that she was cold and wet and wanted to go indoors.  Q was a pretty good sport about it though, she just road along in the stroller making no sounds at all.

Super Girl

Baby Lamb



Carving Pumpkins

Until this year I had never carved a pumpkin!  I had previously bought a pumpkin with the intent of carving it but it never happened.  I had watched B and Y carve Y's first pumpkin last year.  But since I had never done it myself, I never really knew all that was involved in carving one.

And that is likely why I thought it would be a great idea for each of us to have our very own pumpkin this year!  Yep, that's right 4 pumpkins!!  Keep in mind that we have 2 very young girls who cannot yet carve their own pumpkins and so the brunt of the work would fall on me.  B warned me not to do it, but I didn't listen - that's nothing new though.  And so I bought 4 pumpkins, each one representing the person who that pumpkin belonged to.

It was an interesting experience, but I think next year we will be painting our pumpkins.  At least until the girls are old enough to help in the process.  Y was pretty good in getting "some" of the seeds out of B's pumpkin but it wasn't even a dent in all that needed to come out.

Anyway, here are some of the photos from our pumpkin carving night:

Before

Y, hard at work



After



Q

Y

U

B

Halloween

This year we actually went to trick-or-treat in the same neighborhood as last year, but with different friends (last year we went with the Moss' and this year the Davis').  The neighborhood REALLY gets into Halloween and Y got quite a bit of candy...and we only went around one block. 

Y was excited the whole day and just couldn't wait to get into her Tinkerbell costume, I've never seen her so cooperative when it comes to getting dressed and getting her hair done.  I think her favorite part of the night, aside from the candy obviously, was the ride in the wagon.  I think when Q gets a bit bigger it may be a good investment for us to buy a wagon for the two of them.

After a chilly night of trick-or-treating (it was much warmer than last year) we went back to our friend's home for some cider and donuts with both sets of friends from the neighborhood (we know them from church) and their neighbors.  It was a great Halloween and on the drive home Y commented a few times that she was sad Halloween was over and that she didn't want it to go.  I'm sure for a 3 year old telling her that it'll come again next year is no comfort.  She's struggling to grasp the concept of a week's time so trying to explain another year was way too much of a challenge.



I think she makes the cutest Tinkerbell I've ever seen, but of course I'm a bit biased!


And now that Halloween's over...she's just excited that she gets to dress as Tinkerbell EVERYDAY!

Trick or Treat Trail

This year we heard about an event called the Trick or Treat Trail which is put on each year by the township in which we live.  They have different characters to come and the kids are allowed to hug them and take pictures of them, neither of which Y wanted to do but she agreed with Elmo and Big Bird.  She agreed to stand in front of Dora, Diego and boots in order for us to get a picture but that was about it.  They give the kids a Halloween bag to collect the goodies in and then they follow the trail to each station.  At those Stations they are given candy or little trinkets, most of it is little trinkets which I prefer seeing as she'll be getting more than enough candy next week.  You have to pre-register your child and it cost $8.50 and at the end they get to pick their own little pumpkin.  Even though Y didn't really want to interact too much with the characters she said she had a lot of fun and has been talking about all the different characters she got to see.  B is going to help her carve her little pumpkin tomorrow so she's pretty excited about that as well.  Below you will find some of the pictures.

Q before and after.  She fell asleep about 5-10 minutes in.

Here's our little Tinkerbell!  I think she and B look adorable in their photo together.

She's not too crazy about any of these characters though she recognized them all aside from the Monsters Inc. guy and Big Boy.  She actually asked if Big Boy was the 3 Little Pig's Daddy.

Strawberry Shortcake and a few Disney life-size character boards

Big Bird, Elmo, Snuffie, Bert & Ernie.  These were the first characters she actually interacted with.

Aside from the Dora crew and Blue she's not really familiar with any of these other characters.

Here she is posing for a photo at the end of the trail, picking out her pumpkin with B and a photo of all the goodies.

Happy Halloween!

This year for Halloween, Y dressed up as Abby Cadabby!  For those of you who haven't seen Sesame Street in the past few years, she is their newest (2006) addition to the show and she is a 3 year old fairy-in-training.  She has a segment which Y absolutely loves called Abby's Flying Fairy School.  It was super easy to get her into her costume, all we had to do was tell her it was time to put on "Abby's dress."  She loved wearing it with the exception of the wings, she pretty much refused to wear them until I told her that she had to wear them in order to get candy.  Then she let us put them on her but that only lasted about 15 minutes.  Anyway, here are some pictures of her in her costume at home and last night at our church Trunk or Treat activity.  I should also mention that she won a prize for cutest little girl in costume!

The Cutest Lamb You'll Ever See!

Y was supposed to be a Ladybug for Halloween. However, in my ignorance, I thought that buying a Halloween costume in September would allow plenty of time and a store definitely wouldn't be sold out...I was WRONG!!! So after that total disappointment, I went home and started looking on the internet but I couldn't find anything I really liked at a price I really wanted to pay. So I went to walmart.com and settled for a bumble bee costume. I wasn't excited about it, but it would get the job done. Then I found THE cutest costume and after a little encouragement from my mother-in-law I decided that I was going to return the bee and Y was gonna be a lamb instead. Last night was our ward Halloween party and of course I took pictures. Here are some for you guys to enjoy! Love ya!

Trying on her costume

Too Cute!!

Sleeping in the car on the way home...guess she was exhausted!