Halloween Box and Fall Leaves

With October comes the unearthing of the Halloween Box....

A whole new giant box of toys

Em was so excited to find this bat and she named her Stellaluna and immediately began imaginary play with her.

Addie found the spiderman mask that had been missing from her spiderman costume. Woo Hoo!

Trying on the witch fingers

Addie has been wearing her Spiderman suit A LOT since August, and she's been brainstorming ways to incorporate Spiderman into her Halloween costume. 

At the end of August, her thought was a nice combo of two of her favorite characters to create....

Spidermanelsa

 

But then our neighbors gave us a fireman costume, and Spidermanelsa quickly morphed into Spidermanfireman

 

But then, when she found the mask in the Halloween box, she settled on just going all out Spiderman. I made her some shoe covers so she could have Spiderman feet, and she couldn't be more excited about being straight-up Spidey

Emily is going to be Anna from Frozen, and Elizabeth is going to be a monster, but she always clarifies to anyone who asks, that she will be a NICE monster. Not scawey.

Our neighbor has a great big maple tree in the front yard, and we just love making big piles with all their leaves. When the leaves first started changing color, the girls began begging for leaf piles, and a couple weeks ago, the leaves began to fall and the leaf play began.

And because I don't think I ever posted any fall leaves pictures last year, here they are!

Fall Leaves 2014

I just love this last one of a tiny Elizabeth, clutching her fall leaves. And the really funny thing is, two years before this one was taken, Addie was wearing the same dress in the leaves! Click here for a little flashback!

Beauty in the Sky

On October 11th, Emily looked outside and announced that we all needed to see the sunset. We sure did, it was absolutely amazing. The brightness of the colors mingled with the crisp fall air and the song of the crickets to create an absolutely magical landscape. While Chris and Elizabeth finished up dinner, the big girls humored me with some poses in front of this fantastic backdrop. Their smiles turned to total silliness which had us all belly-laughing. What joy!

PS, I named these photos October Sunset, and when uploading them to the blog, some year-old pictures popped up that had the exact same name. I looked those up and found that a year ago it was still Emily who brought our attention to the sky. Click here for a little flashback. 

Oh Emily!

Another lovely September evening...we were watering our newest tree (Scoomadon Chim Chom according to Addie, Little Tree according to Emily) and Em saw that running hose and just couldn't resist.

PS, if you'd like to hear the tree names, see below:

A Hike with Grandpa

We spent one of our days up at the Dome with Grandpa John, hiking among the mountain wildflowers. 

My little hair-twirler got her finger stuck on our drive up to Idaho Springs. I had to pull over at Genesee to help her out.

The dome, wildflowers, and my dad - hiking with Parkinsons. So much to be thankful for.

I couldn't stop looking at all the different colored flowers. My dad just kept pointing these little guys out. He seems to know the location of every little cactus on Mt. Pisgah.

Grandpa shares his water

Laughing with Grandpa

Life is Good.

An Evening with Dee Dee

Elizabeth spent the last few days in June in the hospital with pneumonia. It was incredibly scary, and it was awful to see her feeling so miserable. 

The silver lining is that she and I got to spend a few one-on-one days together at home after we got home from the hospital. Chris and the big girls took the scheduled flight to Michigan, but Elizabeth and I postponed travel for a few days to make sure she was healthy.

We spent the first evening with Dee Dee, and Elizabeth just soaked up all the attention and beamed.

Seriously cute little ham

Mmmmm, fresh summer fruits blended with ice and vodka. Not bad.

Trying DeeDee's sugar-rim

She had some raspberries with dinner. Can you tell?

Seriously hamming it up

Elizabeth showed DeeDee her newest trick of laying her head back in the tub

Is there anything more darling than a child's wet eyelashes?

Mowing the yard at sunset

A Nice September Evening

September is...well, it's just nice. Know what I mean? The sun's still out. The trees are still green. The sky's blue, and the breeze is just right. 

The big girls started soccer on Saturday. We had a pre-season picnic with our team, the Unicorns, and this morning, Emily begged Chris to play soccer with them after work. 

So this evening, The girls headed to the park with Chris, and I hung out with Elizabeth in the perfect 72 degree air with the sounds of crickets to keep us company. (I did it!)

Addie's telling Keegan all about how her dad is the soccer coach

Yep. Feeling pretty proud.

Squirt. You.

Shin Guard Ready

Hands. Toes. (she's adding them to the person)

Happy September to you!

Last Day of Preschool

At the end of May, my little babies finished their first year of preschool. Emily's school, Little Lights, celebrated the end of the year with a sweet little performance and a potluck. The songs and food were supposed to be enjoyed outside, but our super cold and rainy spring didn't break for the special day and the party was moved inside.

Emily's in the second row on the left

Emily with her wonderful teachers, Miss Jenn and Miss Michelle

A little playtime outside afterwards

Addie got a sweet graduation cap on her last day at Tarver.

Addie with one of her teachers, Miss Peggy

This past school year, Addie got to ride to school with Chris because her school started pretty early so he was able to take her on his way to work. It was so fun to watch her get ready to leave every morning, wiping toast crumbs off her face to run to the garage door where she'd slip on her shoes and jacket, sling her backpack over her shoulders and wait on the top step in the garage while Chris pulled the car out. Then she'd skip-run out to the car, so excited for school.

Addie and Dad on her very last day of preschool

Emily and Addie both had their last day on a Friday, and Chris took Emily to school, too.

Emily and Dad on her very last day of preschool