Halloween

Halloween seemed like a very long holiday this year!  We had lots of things to do and it was spread out over the whole weekend.  The Tuesday night before day care had a family night where the kids dressed up and then each classroom had different stuff to do.  Her room was the 'haunted house'.  Which she would normally be terrified of, but they got to help set it up during the day, so she was okay with it.  Friday Jocelyn had a party at day care.  She insisted on dressing up as Elmo again this  year, even though I had bought her a cute monkey costume already. 

 She had fun at the party - they went trick-or-treating to each classroom and then had a party back in their room.

 Friday afternoon the downtown business do trick-or-treating.  We went, but it will probably be the last year we go.  It's always so crowded, and really, who needs more candy?  Here she is with her first piece of gum!

 Monday I convinced her to wear the Monkey costume.  It's so nice and warm, and so cute!  We took her trick-or-treating for the first time, just up and down the block.  Neither of us love to do it, and she didn't really care either.  She had way more fun passing out candy to the kids at our house.

 This is the grossest, scariest mask.  We've had it forever, my parents got it years ago.  It took a lot of convincing for Jocelyn to even sit by him for this picture!

 Going out with Ama and Mommy.  At one house, she knocked, said trick-or-treat, then walked away without getting candy!

 Knocking on our door for the kids to come and get candy.

Cities

The weekend before Halloween we headed over to the Cities for the day.  My aunt and uncle were in town from California, so we headed over to see them.  And, we hadn't seen Henry for way too long, so then we headed over to Moe and Nicole's for the afternoon.  He's getting so big, and so cute, and is way too little to be almost walking!  He was so happy and smiley and we had fun playing with him!

Adam, Angie and Elliot came over for a bit too so we could see them!  Elliot looked so cute in his dragon costume.  Isn't he a sweetie?!

We love having nieces and nephews!

Bad Blogger

I have been really bad about keeping up with the blog lately!  I was sick a few weeks ago, and that just totally threw off my whole plan.  Luckily all I had to miss was 2 days of work, but I still got nothing accomplished at home!  So, be ready for lots of pictures and lost of posts - it's been a busy month!

Enjoying a carmel apple - yummy!

 Still dressing herself....

A beautiful day for a fall hike at Lowes Creek Park.  The dogs loved it and so did Jocelyn!

Ellie is so patient with her - she's such a great dog with kids.  She often tells her "Ellie, you're my best dog ever."

 Even Ginger was putting up with her since she was holding the leash....

Jocelyn loves to draw circles.  I can already tell which pictures at day care are hers...she has a distinct coloring style!  She also loves to write her name - it's towards the top - the backwards J followed by a bunch of lines.

 Playing dress up!  I think Kailee secretly loves it when Jocelyn gets out all these fun toys...I guess I secretly love it too.

 Kailee's getting pretty good at the clarinet...the dogs don't run away nearly as often anymore.  And, she got her 1st quarter report card on Friday...all A's and B's!  We're very proud of her - she's really gotten better this last month or so about studying and paying attention.  Middle school definitely has been a transition for all of us!

Pumpkin Fest

For the last few years we've always gone to Festival Foods to get our pumpkins.  They have a ton of them, they're always really nice, and they're only $2!  Plus they have food and an inflatable thing for the kids.  I wish there were a pumpkin patch closer, because that would be fun.  But this is nice and convienent!  Last year was really hot, and so was this year! 

One of her tamer outfits, but had to wear the pumpkin ponytail holders to be festive....

She is normally NOT a fan of these things - she always gets scared and I usually have to go up and get her.  Kailee went up with her this time, so she was okay going up, but was terrified going down.  She did go a second time, so it couldn't have been too bad....

Apple Picking

Last weekend we went to the apple orchard!  It was a beautiful day, and they have other fun stuff to do besides just picking apples.  We did get our yearly bag though, and have so far made just a crisp - the rest we've been eating.  It's been too hot out since then to bake!  I wanted to get some cute fall pictures - it's my favorite time of year to take pictures.  I hope to get more with some nice colorful leaves later this month.

 Enjoying some hot cider...she didn't pick too many this year...guess it's not that cool anymore....

 Jocelyn thought this giant hay bale pile was pretty fun - she spent a lot of time climbing up and down

 We made it thru the corn maze and didn't get lost!