A fall trip to the park

None of the pictures I took of Molly _at_ the park turned out very well, but the pictures from the trip there and back were lovely.

Molly took this one

Molly took this one too

Halloween prep

Bucket head

At the Library Halloween party--but not what she's wearing to trick or treat

The start of a Luke Skywalker costume

Concentration and cooperation

Family affair 

Final results

A Trip to the Orchard

Halloween

Carving the pumpkin

Now that we are cozily drinking hot chocolate and watching It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, as per our post-trick-or-treating tradition, I can share pictures of our Halloween.

Ninja,  James Bond,  Cow

Our bat pumpkin 

The gang--Dougans, Gentrys, Allisons

Two trick-or-treaters=lots of candy

Family-full weekend

This is the first full weekend I've been home in a month. Hence there was a lot to do! Yesterday was swim lessons, some alteration projects, yardwork, grocery shopping, and no nap for Molly. Yesterday and today was lots of Legoing for Leo--he decided he wanted to sort his Legos by color, which took us a very long time to do, and then Molly dumped out several of the containers as we were working. Might be a good idea in theory only.

Today was homemade gingerbread scones for breakfast and the pumpkin patch (which was a zoo!)--including apple cider donuts, the corn maze for L and J, a bouncy slide trip for L (M tried but she couldn't quite do the climbing necessary), and of course picking pumpkins. Molly really wanted to ride a pony, but she'll have to wait until next time. I wish I had gotten some mums like I usually do, since I love them so much, but we had let the kids each buy a small stuffed animal and I thought I should probably save the money. I much prefer the farm we went to for pumpkins last year--it just has pumpkins and is much calmer and more enjoyable, but we heard they had already sold out for the year. The afternoon was some beading time for me, lawn mowing for J, fence-climbing for L, and no napping for M.

Sliding at the pumpkin patch

I have no idea why she made this face

Driving the tractor

Our pumpkins

Someone else's pumpkins, but the stems were impressive

Halloween

I had a hard time getting good pictures this year. We started out in Mason's crew, but then ran into another school chum and Leo decided to head off with him--and they were a much faster group. They hit many more houses and got a lot more candy. Halloween was a lot louder this year too. Even Molly got in on the action. I thought the dark and the chaos would freak her out, but she insisted on going up to the houses herself and getting candy.

Attaching the extra spider legs. They didn't want to stay on.

We just put out the jackolantern yesterday, and already he looks like this.

A rare front view. I ran out of glow in the dark paint to finish the web on the front and his web wasn't stiff enough--after run from house to house it looked more like an inverted umbrella on his back.

Molly didn't spend long in the wagon, but loved her costume.

Action shot.

Molly posing for the camera.

And now we're continue our tradition of hot chocolate while watching It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

"Slow" weekend

First there was a little boy with a stomach virus on Friday night. 

So, no swimming Sat morning, instead a trip to the Library.

  Later some yard work.

Then today was busy--Le Peep for a pre-Mama's BD breakfast, grocery shopping, then lunch and a nap for Molly.

While Molly napped we watched the Packer game (before she went to sleep we taught her to say "Go Packers". I think that's why they won), and I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Molly enjoyed the cookies when she got up from nap.

Then she did something she loves--coloring. After that we went and had some pictures taken at Meadowbrook (we won a free photo shoot with a photographer trying to build her portfolio). It was cold and we were not dressed warmly enough.

So when we got back Leo and Papa had hot chocolate--and Leo mirrored his sister's chocolate face.

Pumpkin patch and mums

We tried a new pumpkin patch this year and this is our favorite so far--and it's just pumpkins/gourds--no games or food or animals. Best prices in the area.

Fall display inside

Fall display outside--can't wait until the mum blooms all the way!

I've always liked decorative kale and cabbages but this is the first year I've tried it.