The girls had a GRAND time this year at Halloween! Kelsey in past years has been rather hesitant about trick or treating but this year she was ALL over it! She had no qualms about going up to people's doors and shouting trick or treat ;) At least she remembered to say Thank You each time! Josie also had a lot of fun going up with the big kids and grabbing the candy. Both crashed out when we got home!
Enjoying a mini-pizza party with the neighborhood kids before heading out
Our little bucket head
The gang - Josie, Alivia, Tehya, Kelsey and Matt
First house of the night
Matt was so sweet with Josie. He took her hand at one point and said "do you want to hold my hand sweetheart?" She stuck with him most of the night and refused to hold anyone else's hand. So adorable!
Josie has really become quite the chatterbox lately. Every day she seems to have something new to say. Here are a few samplings from snacktime today
She has also started using the potty occassionally. Yesterday she peed at least five times in a two hour span (she found it so exciting she kept going in to try) plus pooped once. Hopefully she transitions a little more easily than a certain 3 year old did :)
We've been having a blast doing different Halloween crafts here at home and at school. Here are some samplings of Kelsey's work. The ghosts are her and Josie's cute little feet. My favorite is Kelsey's witch - complete with broom.
After our trip to Bob's Corn we carved up one of our pumpkins. Kelsey requested a happy face on her pumpkin - I'm not quite sure we achieved it but she was happy with it! This was Josie's first experience with helping and once she got the hang of it, she really got into pulling out the pumpkin innards. She even helped me separate out the seeds for toasting!
Kelsey decided one pumpkin carved was enough so we painted the other one - a few times. Thank goodness for washable paints!
Josie was not happy about having paint taken away since she kept trying to eat it! Maybe next year she'll understand its for pumpkins (or paper) only!
I found the best website for toddler activities called No Time For Flashcards and they had the cutest (and easiest) idea. You take plain paper, glue and marshmallows and make your own pictures. Kelsey has LOVED this and we've done it three times now. She of course gets to snack on a couple marshmallows in the midst of it all so I'm sure that adds to the fun :)
Recently Nana and Papa came up for a visit so they could take the girls to Bob's Corn and Pumpkin Patch. The girls had such a fun time picking out pumpkins, going for a hayride, splashing in the corn maze puddles and checking out the animals. Thanks Nana and Papa for such a great time! Such a fun tradition!
We had a stretch of gorgeous weather so we decided to head to Carkeek Park - one of our favorite places on a nice day. Even though it was sunny it was quite cold and windy. The girls had a grand time playing on the beach and the play area. Kelsey even climbed her first tree (the first of many I'm sure!)
We went on the preschool field trip out to The Farm again this year to pick pumpkins. We lucked out with nice weather while we were there (a storm hit about 2 hours after we left) and there were lots of great pumpkins to choose from. The girls had a blast! Kelsey was especially excited to get to hang out with Calvin again. He's in a different class this year and we don't get to see him too often. It was like time had never passed between the two of them. So cute!
The near impossible task of taking a picture of part of Kelsey's class. The boys wouldn't sit still and the girls were always looking in opposite directions. One of these years we'll get a good group shot :)
I shot this video on Saturday of Josie feeding Kona. It was so cute to watch them! She originally was grabbing a piece of food, putting it into Kona's bowl and then getting her a new one. That moved on to Josie taking the bowl to the food, putting it in and then giving it to Kona. As you can see from the video poor Kona hardly had time to eat the piece(s) before Josie would take it to refill it. Josie entertained herself for at least 20-30 minutes like this. Kona thought it was great too as she was getting free food outside normal meal times!
Sadly, this is the last video we'll ever take of our beloved dog. Two days ago Kona stopped eating (highly unusual for her!), became lethargic and wouldn't go on walks, had labored breathing and a fever. Yesterday she was diagnosed with autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Basically her body began attacking her red blood cells. It is a fast moving disease and in Kona's case it moved even faster than usual. She fought a good fight but in the end wasn't able to beat the disease. Chuck and I were able to visit her one last time today and take her outside to enjoy the sunshine. I'm so glad we were able to have that last moment with her. She shall be missed so much by all of us. Rest in peace dear sweet girl!
We met the Worsley's at Classic Nursery to check out the salmon swimming upstream to spawn. We've been having typical fall weather lately (think raining and getting colder) but Saturday it was gorgeous and 73. What a perfect day!The kids all seemed to have a grand time watching the fish...or Old Mamas as they became known - thanks Jami! :)
Hiking the little trail to get to the stream
Heading into the water for a closer view
After the salmon we went back to check out the frogs
