A Leaf Hunt

We took a family trip to Pigeon Creek Park one warm evening this month and had a great time hiking around the trails and admiring God's handiwork in filling the trails with such awesome color. Kaitlyn insisted on wearing Dirdsie in a frontpack and she did so for a large majority of our 1 mile+ walk. What a good little Mommy!

Kaitlyn had a wonderful time hunting for leaves and was thrilled to also find some huge acorns and pinecones. We came home with a large bag of treasures. We have since pressed all the leaves and she now has her own leaf collection which she will gladly go through page by page and share details about each leaf!

I guess the walk tired our little princess out because she fell asleep on the way home and no matter how much I tried she wouldn't wake up. So I winged it and hoped that she would sleep till morning. Um... not so much. She woke up exactly three hours later - 9:45 - and was up till 1am.

Outdoor Fun!

We got outside and enjoyed some of the mild afternoon temps last week. Kaitlyn had a blast playing bubbles - I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder, as we haven't played them in probably two months. We also visited the park which is always fun.

Kaitlyn is so into fall leaves. On the way to the park we stopped to exchange our library books and before we could go inside Kailtyn had to grab a handful of the brightest red, yellow and orange leaves she could find.

Outside the library ...

At the park, I think her favorite part was walking through the leaf piles and hunting for the most pretty leaves as well. Its so neat to see her find such joy in little things such as leaves!

At the park with her baby on her back!

Trick Or Treat!

Kaitlyn thought of a great game to play one afternoon. She spread her dolls all around the living room and then I helped her divy up some of our candy stash so that each doll would have a bowl. Then she put Dirdsie in her Halloween costume (a puppy dog - thanks ebay!) and went all around to each 'house' and trick or treated. It was adorable to watch. She even was saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you!"

Playgroup - Fire Prevention

Earlier this month, the theme of Playgroup was Fire Prevention and the letter "F". The kids had a great time playing lots of activites with their pretend fire hoses. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching them to Stop, Drop and Roll! We also setup a pretend house and practiced crawling out of the house and going to the meeting spot and then dialing 911 and giving the dispatcher our full names and our address. And then of course we ended class by dressing up like firemen and putting out pretend fires! My camera battery died in the middle of class so I didn't get as many cute pictures as I had hoped, but here are a few!'Spraying water with their hoses and making an '/F/' sound because the picture card Kaitlyn is holding is of a word that starts with '/F/'. Stop, Drop and Roll!

Popcorn and a Movie!

One of Kaitlyn's favorite things to do in the middle of the afternoon is to get her sleeping bag out and a pillow for me and enjoy popcorn and a movie. It makes for some sweet Mommy/Daughter moments!

Halloween Photo Shoot

One morning this month Kaitlyn was all dressed cute in her Halloween attire so I decided to snap a few photos of her. After I took a few shots of her, she got all her dolls together, posed them by some inflatable pumpkins and took a photo shoot of them. Fun!

Jack-O-Lantern!

Last weekend we set out to investigate "pumpkin guts". We started out by trying to figure out whether the "guts" of a white pumpkin were the same as the "guts" of an orange one. Well it turned out that no matter what tool Jeff tried, he couldn't cut into the white mini pumpkin that we had. So that question remains unanswered. However, we did have fun exploring, but not touching of course, the seeds and guts of an orange pumpkin. Then Jeff and Kaitlyn, mainly Jeff, set out to turn our ordinary pumpkin into a Jack O Lantern. I guess I didn't take a picture of the finished pumpkin ... I will do that!

Roasting Marshmallows

Kaitlyn and Jeff share a passion for marshmallows - something I definitely do not have in common with either of them! And for that reason, Daddy is always the guest of choice when Kaitlyn decides that we should have a campout and roast marshmallows in the living room. Believe it or not, the electric campfire/S'more maker does a pretty swell job of heating up the marshmallows!

GVSU Homecoming

Last Saturday we took part in the "Little Laker Parade" event that was part of the GVSU Homecoming celebration. Kids and parents were supposed to walk about 1 mile from one building to the destination - a carnival. We actually cut the parade short and jumped in 3/4 of the way through. Kaitlyn had fun pushing her new doll "Star Song" (which she got as a reward for taking her nasal spray without complaining for a week - hooray!) in the parade, but she had an even better time playing the games at the carnival. There were only a handful of kids in attendance so she played each of the 6 games at least three times and never had to wait in line. Awesome!

Spiders and Ghosts

We've been reading lots of Halloween books and doing all sorts of pumpkin themed crafts and activities this month. Last month we stretched our Halloween theme to include spiders and ghosts. I used a hoop and some yarn to make a spider web and Kaitlyn had a great time tossing pretend spiders into the web and the counting how many actually got stuck in the web. Later that day we continued with the Halloween spirit and attempted to make a ghost craft using shaving cream and black paper. Kaitlyn drew a ghost in the shaving cream (looks more like a snowman but she insisted it was a ghost). Then I attempted to transfer the ghost to a piece of black paper but the craft was a flop. Kaitlyn had a great time playing in the shaving cream as always.

Colorful Leaves

Last week Kaitlyn and I had fun adding some color to some plain leaves in creative ways. First we dipped golf balls in paint and them rolled them across the leaf pattern to make a neat design. Next Kaitlyn used a variety of sponge paint brushes and colors to sponge paint a magnificent leaf.

Practice Makes Perfect!

I always have to get creative to convince Kaitlyn to get in the tub. She loves bathtime once she is in there, but she just hates to stop what she is doing for bathtime. So last week I told her she could bring some of her "outside" (waterproof) babies in the tub with her. She had a better idea - give the babies a bath in "little sister's tub" as she calls it. What a great idea - we had so much fun! Kaitlyn checked the water to make sure it wasn't too hot before she put the baby in. They she scrubbed it from top to bottom and even washed her 'hair'. She ever so gently wrapped the baby in its towel and then lathered it in baby lotion. It was so precious to watch and gave me such joy in my heart as I anticipate Kaitlyn helping me to bathe her Little Sissy for real sometime soon!

Little Chef...

Kaitlyn loves to help me in the kitchen. Recently she made a whole pan of pigs in the blanket on her own. All i did was open the crescent rolls and the sausage and she did the rest! She likes to call them "People under the covers" instead of pigs in the blanket. So silly! Thanks for begin Mommy's Big Helper, KK!

5 little Pumpkins ...

... sitting on a gate (well actually our entertainment center). :) Nice decorating, Kaitlyn!

Playgroup - "Leaves!"

Last we we talked all about seasons and specifically about fall and the leaves changing colors.

Playing Farmer's Market

Practicing zoophonicsDeciding which season a sled belongs to....Indoor leaf huntMaking a fall tree craft

Mummies ....

Cupcake Party

I am amazed at how long Kaitlyn will sit and play with playdoh. She continues to love to make "cupcakes" with all the colors of clay. Last week she even rolled out the dough, cut out some people using cookie cutters and then had me build chairs and couches for them so they could join the "party" and each get a "cupcake". Such an imagination!

Stuffy Nose and Rainbow Toes

Last Monday Kaitlyn woke up extremely stuffed up and miserable. She had the biggest allergy bags under her eyes - poor little princess. She inherited lots of allergies from both Jeff and I. We had a really low key morning and midday she decided that soaking her toes sounding like fun. So I got the pedicure stuff out and after a long soak in the bubbles and a foot massage, I painted her toes "like a rainbow" per her request!

Annual Trip to Klackles

Last Sunday we bundled up in lots of layers and headed to Klackle Orchards to enjoy some fall fun activities with some ladies I went to college with and their families. Two years ago we wore shorts and t-shirts on this trip - this year - we couldn't stay warm no matter how many layers we wore! Despite the cool temps, we had a great time. Kaitlyn was thrilled to see that they had a baby swing and of course she wanted to check it out. Once we met up with our friends, we boarded a wagon and headed out to the apple orchard to do some apple picking. Grandpa would have been so proud watching Kaitlyn pulling the fruit from the tree- mittens and all! After picking apples, we raced through some of the fun kiddie events before retreating to the food market for donuts and hot chocolate. We cut the trip a little short this year and headed home early due to cold fingers and toes but all in all it was a fun time as always! Great to see you Amy, Dawn and your families!