Autumn is the best!

I seriously LOVE autumn and the Halloween season! There are so many fun things to do with the kids (and Fay and Carter too)!  Here’s a little sample of our autumn activities!

Our library randomly had a couple spooky scenes set up for taking pictures. So fun!

Our library randomly had a couple spooky scenes set up for taking pictures. So fun! (Sorry its blurry)

We went to Cornbelly's and did a bunch of the activities ; but the kids liked the corn box best of anything! We parents liked it a lot too!

We went to Cornbelly’s and did a bunch of the activities ; but the kids liked the corn box best of anything! We parents liked it a lot too!

 

This past Monday for Family Party (our new and improved version of Family Home Evening) we decorated pumpkins! The kids used stickers, and they both loved it!

IMG_5918

Fay’s favorite “haunted thing” (as she likes to call them) are mummies. I’m pretty sure that she is the cutest thing to ever pose with a mummy pumpkin!

IMG_5924

With Josh’s help, Carter created a stickered jack-o-lantern for his pumpkin. This is as much of a pose as we could get out of him.

IMG_5928

They look so happy together!

Josh and I carved pumpkins. I forgot to take pictures of ours on Monday, so these are 3 day old jack-o-lanterns. My jack-o-lantern’s top fell in, despite all my efforts to prevent it. sigh…

IMG_5940

Boo!

Josh is especially loving this Halloween season because he can finally embrace his love of haunted house-ing. He has some really cool plans for this year, and though he continues to assure me that his plans constitute “starting small since its our first year,” it is going to be pretty elaborate and exciting! If you’re in the area, come see us on Halloween night! If you’re not close, I’ll post pictures soon after Halloween. Either way, just get excited!
IMG_5910

Of Gardens, Concerts, and La Vie Quotidienne

Ever since Josh and I got married, we have dreamed of having a garden. We did get a garden plot last summer at Baity Hill, and we got a few zucchini from it, but for the most part it wasn’t very fruitful.

This summer, because of the move and the time it took us to get settled, we didn’t know if we would have a garden. We decided, in mid to late June, that we would just try at least something. We planted two tomato plants. Because of our experiences with tomatoes last year (birds, and what I’m pretty sure was a tomato blight), I didn’t have particularly high expectations for the plants. But we have been quite pleasantly surprised! Because of the unseasonably warm weather we’ve been having, we have been getting a good handful of tomatoes from our plants every few days for the past month, despite our late start!  We LOVE having garden-fresh tomatoes for our recipes and just for snacking!

IMG_5874

Here’s Fay, my harvest buddy, showing off the spoils from one afternoon.

Along with our tomato harvest, our rose bushes have been blooming again. We feel so fancy having fresh flowers in our house!

A few weeks ago, we did something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time! We hosted a house concert! There were four performers, and a good variety of music, and I think everybody had a lovely time! It went so well, we might have to do it again sometime…

Everybody dressed up and looked so nice! Sorry that you can't see all of everybody.

Everybody dressed up and looked so nice! Sorry that you can’t see all of everybody. We were so grateful to all who came, and especially the people who watched all the kids!

Another terrifically cool thing we did was a little over a week ago. We went on a family date! We rode the train up to Josh’s work, where we saw his domain (and got free snacks!), then we walked downtown and looked around the mall. We let the kids play in the Disney store and another toy store, saw lots of interestingly dressed people who were there for ComicCon and had lunch at a little burger place. Then we took the train home. It was so fun to see the kids experience a train-ride for (I think) the first time, and also watching Fay try on princess dresses was pretty priceless!

He’s some photographic evidence of the experience.

Waiting for the train.

Waiting for the train.

Fay as Snow White

Fay as Snow White

CAM01116

The boys at lunch: It’s really hard to get a picture of Carter where he knows a picture is being taken and he’s not trying to grab the camera. 🙂

Fay wore herself out. She's so sweet when she sleeps!

Fay wore herself out. She’s so sweet when she sleeps!

 

I know this is getting long; but I do this mostly for myself, so I’m going to do what I want. 🙂

Here are some pictures of every-day life.

What Fay and I do while Carter is napping in the morning.

What Fay and I do while Carter is napping in the morning. She made that face by herself! It’s too perfect!

Carter usually gets bored of the books I read to Fay rather quickly. But he has fallen in love with a book we got from a Wendy's kids meal. He could read it 10 times in a row! This is Fay reading it to him. She can't actually read, but she has quite a gift for memorizing books and repeating them.

Carter usually gets bored rather quickly when I read books to Fay. But he has fallen in love with a book we got from a Wendy’s kids meal. He could read it 10 times in a row! This is Fay reading it to him. She can’t actually read, but she has quite a gift for memorizing books and repeating them.

 

Carter is at that stage (between about 11 months and 20 months) that is pure fun. He is almost always in a good mood, and just loves to explore, play, and be himself. He keeps the rest of us heartily entertained! We love our boy!

Carter is at that stage (between about 11 months and 20 months) that is pure fun. He is almost always in a good mood, and just loves to explore, play, and be himself. He keeps the rest of us heartily entertained! We love our boy!