Trick Or Treat.

Carving pumpkins in the crisp fall air is exactly what I remember doing growing up.  Leah really wanted nothing to do with the pumpkin "guts", but Brayden thought it was pretty cool.  "Wow!  That's cool!!" was the phrase he kept repeating as Cavan was scooping out the slimy seeds.  Cavan and I normally carve something we enjoy, but we let the kids pick out the faces this year.  Leah picked out a kitty (I carved), and Brayden picked out Mickey Mouse (Daddy carved... because Mommy was too scared to mess it up!)  The pumpkins turned out so cute.

 We decided to take Leah and Brayden trick-or-treating this year.  We kind of waited until the last minute, so we had to think quick when deciding what they were going to dress up as.  Leah made up her mind right away and dressed as a princess, and Brayden has this super cute coat with bear ears... so I painted a cute little nose and whiskers on him. Oh he looked so cute.  

I can say with confidence, trick or treating was the most fun time I have had as a Mommy so far.  Seeing how timid Leah was at first, not knowing what to say.. "Trick or treat" was more of a whisper in the first few homes.  By the 4th home she was yelling, "TRICK OR TREAT!!!"  A couple times she forgot what phrase she was supposed to say, so she stumbled and shouted, "CANDY!".  My cheeks hurt I was laughing and smiling so much.  Brayden got the hang of it right away, whenever someone would offer the bowl of candy to him, he would grab as big of a handful as he could, many times walking away with more than 2 pieces of candy.  Every time back to the golf cart, Leah would shout to Grandpa and Grandma waiting for us, "Grandpa! Grandma! I got more candy!!  MOM!  Can we go to another house??????"  She was beaming with excitement.  

They ended up with so much candy, and they each got one piece on the way home, and one piece last night... Mommy and Daddy on the other hand have had wayyy too much, but it was seriously the most fun.  I am so glad we decided to go.  Enjoy the pictures!!

Bike.

She rode this bike back and forth, back and forth, back and forth... for hours today.  After we begged her to go inside, within 30 minutes she was pleading to go back out and ride her bike.. I'd say she's happy with her surprise!

Marshmallows and cowboys.

Normally when you think of a nice toasty fire, you think of cold weather.  Well, we kind of jumped the gun this year, but the kids had so much fun that it doesn't really matter!  Grandpa had an idea to give them their first taste of marshmallows... I can say with confidence - they approve.

We played frisbee with the dogs in the field and the kiddos started "riding horses" on the logs in the back of the field.  Leah is so excited to get a horse of her own some day.

I put a little video of Brayden playing with Grandpa's Koi fish... He makes me nervous around the water, but he loves them!!

Sparky

When did my babies get so big??  Leah is going to be 4 in a couple months and Brayden is talking like crazy.  I can't get over how much they learn daily.  They have been enjoying the crazy weather lately.  Cold mornings, warm afternoons, and everything in between.  We've been going to the beach, the park, and for golf cart rides. The dogs are even enjoying a fun frisbee game a couple times a day.  We flew their first kite, Leah wrote her own name, and they even discovered Sparky... Grandpa's watch reflection whom Leah thinks is a real and very mysterious little guy.