However, since Amara now watches a little TV, we enjoyed watching a few shows wtih her about Trick-or-Treating and costumes and that kind of thing, so I was really wondering how she would handle things over other years.
Because Amara (and Eric) have gotten really into inflatables lately, it seemed only fitting that her venture out would start with a visit to her pumpkin friends. She gave them quick hugs then headed out, jumping all the way (something she had been watching her dinosaur counterpart on Ni Hao Kai Lan do all week long).
We recently baked pumpkin breads for our new neighbors, so I think they were kind of expecting us. It was fun to visit again--Amara remembered mostly the dogs at each house, and they seemed to remember her too! The grandmas' had fun walking her up to the houses, and I enjoyed waiting on the other end, video camera rolling, capturing the "Mama, mama," and excitement to see a tootsie roll or sucker in her ghost pail.
I think we made it to the 2nd house before the candy went in the mouth. That's ok :) Trick-or-treat is not the time for willpower!
It got a little chilly and memaw Jackie brought her car around, so we could get warmer and sit down--you never think about how far away from home you're going to be when things tucker out, so we tried to be prepared! Daddy got in the game being escort too, while the grandma's warmed up...and the grandpa's stayed home to wait on pizza and hand out candy too.
Both sets of Grandparents were there to see our little dinosaur out into the cul-de-sac and we all had a blast! Back at home, we checked out our goodies, this bag was some smores cereal mix from Memaw Young that she shared with everyone :)
Next came the candy let down--she doesn't really have a lot of candy ever, so I figured this might be interesting for her, but she ate some with me, and had a little candy, and got to play with papaw Young in the playroom too, it was a super fun night and I am pretty sure we were all exhausted--Amara did have a hard time getting to sleep with all the excitement though, so I'm sure she'll recover...next up, Halloween party at Aunt Charlotte's, so she has to, right?
We have also been invited to a friend's trunk-or-treat at their church on Sunday, so we'll see how weather, etc. plays out--if she wants to put the dinosaur on again, I won't discourage her, but she sure is a cutie!
Amara has been recently showing more and more interest in what her animals are 'doing.' She often has rolling commentaries about someone being sick, needing food, wanting to play, etc. 
She gave them each assorted snacks (blocks) but also shared some of her plastic fruit from her grocery cart :) I recently got an update from one of the parenting sites I subscribe to, about how sharing and 2 year olds don't mix, that it's an acquired skill or trait and not to rush it, but this girl is a sharer. Sure, it's usually on her terms, but this shows me she is at least aware of it and wants to. So sweet.
Swinging on the bar, then falling down. She got a lot of practice on this one over the summer, as Eric bought a bar and hung it from memaw's apple tree--a spot where they spend a lot of time!
I picked up several crafts for us to do, in the wake of Amara being super sick a while ago, and my mobility being limited. Among them were the Wilton premade haunted gingerbread house kit--something I'd seen and wondered about, ever since Eric and I started making our own homemade ginger bread houses. 
I should explain the pre-made part by saying the only thing premade are the walls/ roof panels etc. You get baggies of candies and packages of icing powder, you also have to make. I'm kind of a traditionalist and would normally do all of that myself, but given the desire to involve Amara, it kind of needed to be quick and easy. 
We unpacked the pieces and dug in. I cemented the walls as Eric directed--harder than you'd think because of the 'haunted' design, it wasn't clear really how the thing went together. As she waited patiently, Amara began to decorate, poke, sample, and experiment. By the end of the time, once the house was all standing, she really wanted to handle the piping bags herself, and I figured, hey, icing washes off, why not?
Well, it didn't take long for her to lick a finger or two and try it out. I don't think it was that the icing was particularly decedent, but more that she could do it all herself. She and I took turns 'gluing' candies on, and drizzling icing all around. She actually got quite into it and we maybe spent a half hour or so decorating (a LONG time for her) before she finally announced she was done.
Even though we got our big giant pumpkins from dad, we still felt the need to venture out and try some fall events. Amara never makes it up late enough to enjoy any of her cousin's hay rides, so we thought we'd try Circle S this year.
We actually picked a PERFECT fall, Friday afternoon (Eric caught wind that the weekend was going to be nasty) and it was great, not to packed or anything!
We started off with the hayride, which is an old wagon with sides on it, and it takes you out to the patch to pick one. Like I said, having a porch full at home, we were more interested in the ride than another pumpkin...
So, she and I had fun tossing hay up in the air (like I said, not busy, so we weren't annoying any other riders)
Then daddy got in on the games too!
We were learning to 'sprinkle' the hay into the wind.
After the hayride and pumpkin in hand (bag,) we headed into the big barn-o-hay to check it out. Other than being so hazy with hay dust that you could barely see :) it was awesome. Lots of soft, fluffy and SLIPPERY hay to climb and giant slides perfect for daddy and bean to fly down together!
Back outside for fresh air and to check out the vintage tractors. Not quite like papaw's John Deere.
And making silly faces in the animals with dad--though, the sun was DIRECTLY in their eyes, so not really that funny.
BUT, a stop in the gift shop on the way out fixed all of that. Included in the price of admission was cider and a doughnut, but a sprinkle coated carmel apple caught her eye instead. Apprehensive, Eric got one for her--I figured we'd be one bite and done, but hey, what do I know.
SHE LOVED IT! She loves sour things anyway, but she loved ALL of it!
First it was bites, then nibbles, then pulling carmel off, and sprinkles, always washing down with a gulp of their wonderful cider--thanks daddy for buying me a big jug of it!
Just about all hay-rided, sliding, apple-eating, out'd here. Sipping juice and stopped to take a rest on the (VERY SHORT) walk to the car--I was thinking Eric would have to pick her up between the exhaustion and the sugar crash!
This year, like recent ones, we wanted to head to Papaw's pumpkin patch to get our decorations. Dad was worried because normally he has thousands of pumpkins, gourds, etc. for the picking, and I guess they didn't take off this year--but there were still plenty for us!
We headed to the farm and it was easy to spot the giant orange monsters. Bean did her job of spotting from high atop dad's shoulders, safe from the giant pumpkin leaves, some taller than she was! We got down earlier in the season than last year, I guess, judging by the fact that not many of the vines had died off. 
After picking out a half dozen big ones (I mean BIG) Amara got up the courage to scavenge around a little and found a few of her trademark favorite 'tiny pumpkins' which daddy promptly cut free for her and made her day.
For as long as I can remember, we've done apple pies at mom's in the fall. In the past, it was mom, granny, sometimes aunt Charlotte, and I--recently, Eric jumping in as needed. Sometimes we'd crank out a dozen or more pies, sometimes less--but always with the goal of stocking the freezer with mom's plethora of apples to enjoy at Thanksgiving and during the cold Winter months.
This year, Beanie decided to get into the game. Once she saw that apple crank operate, she was hooked--not to mention getting to sample the lovely thin cut apple slices. She was all for turning and cranking away, as quick as we could get apples loaded for her.
I did get this shot of her sampling her works, but the best was when she sampled the apples after the cinnamon and sugar was added, priceless. She took one (apprehensively) from a giant bowl of the filling I was making and kind of walked away. In seconds, she returned asking "want more apples" and when I handed her one I'd just peeled and cored, stated "no, the OTHER ones," I'm pretty sure she knew the difference.
As usual, we didn't bake one of the fresh pies, they all get wrapped in heavy duty foil and put into the freezer for safe keeping. We can't tell exactly how yummy they will be until we actually bake one, months later. This round, we had used some of our Jonathan and Jonagold apples from a recent Lynd's trip, mixed in with mom's mystery apples from her tree, but I'm sure they will be delicious!.JPG)
