carving pumpkins

Last, but not least of the halloween festivities was the pumpkin carving. We held off and did it just before Halloween--because it was so warm, we new they'd rot!  We have the perfect venue to carve at this house and we love it--we ordered pizza and took our tools out on the patio.

Cora dug right in (literally) while Amara wanted daddy's help and for it to be perfect.  They both got in on the action of scraping, seeding, and punching out the holes in the gourd.

Cora has such a steady hand, I let her take a stab at the sawing. With a little help, she was able to really get the hang of it fast!

I think they did an awesome job of listening and working together. We got washed up and enjoyed our pizza on the patio--Amara had to go back and tweak hers (always the perfectionist) but we enjoyed seeing (all 4) of these smiling faces for our Halloween evenings.

trick or treating

Tiffany and John were kind enough to invite us to trick or treat this year at their house. We had gone with Irelyn the last 2 years, but since Natasha was being induced that night, it was a great reason for a new tradition. Ironically, they live near the Copper Ct. house, so we hit up the old hood. We got there early to get ready and let the girls play--but it turned into a festival of makeup and wine for the moms :)

Cora was a purple witch--at first she didn't want her cape or hat...but as the temps dropped, that quickly changed. Amara was a beautiful peacock--and also got cold fast, lol.

Grandma and Grandpa Jahn poppped over to see the girls and tagged along with us a bit to trick-or-treat which was awesome. It was a great night with no rain or snow, and temps in the 60s. I LOVE this pic.

Cora chugged right along at her own pace--we fell behind the group, but it was ok. We enjoyed watching the bigger kids from afar, and neither of them were really all that interested in the candy anyway, lol. Whose kids are these anyway?

This is kind of the only pic I got of the 2 of them together--Amara's makeup was mostly rubbed off and Cora was tired. This was almost the last house they did. Right after this, we went back to Tiff/ John's, had some snacks, and then Cora actually walked to the car and told us she was tired and wanted to go home. 

Amara and i stuck back and enjoyed the bonfire and our friends a little longer--Amara had school the next day too, but we wanted to stay and make the night last as long as possible. It was such a great night, we have really had such a great fall, I don't want it to end.

Haylee's Halloween party

We were super excited for Haylee's Halloween party this year and we picked out some fun play dresses to wear for the big day! It was cold, so we had to stay in, but Brandy had set up some fun games for the kids, compete with yummy food, candy, and friends.

Amara was glad to see her friend Autumn there (a first grader at DD) and some new friends too. Cora stuck to me a little (being the youngest there) which was fine by me :))

The girls loved the pinata event in the garage--they all raced for the candy, and with a team of softball players there, he didn't last long. We stayed a long time and had a ton of fun--yet another night of sleeping well for the girlies.  Awesome party as always from the Roberts--they are super awesome people too :)

playing in the leaves with the Blacks

Eric and John decided to clear some brush in the yard, so Tiff and I and the girls decided to make a day of it. They brought the golf cart, I made sloppy Joe's and we just played and played and played. In the barn, on the coaster, in the yard....nothing was off limits.

At one point, the little quiet ones (Cora and Kennedy) even played in the playroom together with dolls and toys, before going back out with the big sisters.

I convinced John to strap on the leaf blower, and it was on. There were a ton of nice, fluffy leaves back there and the girls loved it! I lost track of how long they were back there playing honestly.  John kept circling the leaves into piles and the girls would tackle them just as fast.

They also took us all on rides on the cart while we got the bonfire ready for dinner. We had smores, dogs, chips and Moscato (that we darn near busted a lightbulb opening in the kitchen!)  We literally were outside ALL day until it started getting chilly as the sun was setting.

Payton had school the next day too--so we packed up our friends and all our toys. I think that was officially the DIRTIEST bathtub I have ever seen after 2 girls in it. Cora had leaves embedded in her hair--i had to wash and comp and de-leaf her, lol.  

If the goal was to PICK UP the leaves, we failed miserably, but if the goal was fun, 5 gold stars!  I hope we get to do that one more time before the snow shows up for good.

Maize at Darby creek

I'm SO, so glad we have been kind of flying by the seat of our pants this fall with activities. We are ALWAYS heavily scheduled, but we had a running list of things that we just popped over to as time allowed to.  We missed the Maize at Darby creek last year because of Disney--but we really wanted to hit it this year and we managed to make it on their very last day open.

The girls LOVE any time they get to spend with animals and the goat feeding was no disappointment for either of them.

Next, the giant jumper. They ran from one end to the other, in short sleeves in late October, and jumped themselves silly!  I don't know how much time we spent there, but we loved it.

The girls both took turns with the different cannons they have there too. not that i could have one of THOSE, but they are SO cool.

And the sweet, tame bunnies just needed some TLC apparently. Despite the suggestion not to pick them up, Cora couldn't help herself.  We took a break for some gatorade and a snack too--before heading out to the pumpkin patch. We had a million from mom and dads, but we grabbed a couple more to have that were perfect for carving too ;)

We got back to the car with our haul just as the sun was setting on a great fall day. The girls loved it all and seeing pics like this just makes my heart melt.

Upward awards

The last game of the season was also the awards ceremony for the Upward girls. It was nice enough to not need hoodies and gloves for a change and it was sunny! We had a nice morning, and enjoyed the last cheer, and as an added bonus--they brought in some food trucks, and Loops was one of them!

We visited them several times--the girls LOVE their fries and Eric and Master John enjoyed sandwiches and gyros!

We all moved inside to the church where the kids were all recognized by team and they performed the half time show we had worked all year. They didn't do a formal trophy presentation but Amara was thrilled to get it from her coach Jody at the end. Even though it was long and COLD at times, we had a fun season (with the Black fam) and watching the girls cheer.  Next year Cora is looking forward to it--but not sure if Amara will keep going. We will see.

Circleville Pumpkin show with the Blacks

We decided to take advantage of a nice October day and run down to Circleville with the Black family. We had a BLAST! The nice weather brought out the crazies and it was packed, but the girls loved having their buddies along and they had even more riding partners. 

The swing ride was a HUGE hit. i want to rent that thing for a party sometime!

Amara took a stab at the rock climbing wall--she has always enjoyed those. She was the only one--love that girls ambition and drive!

However, Cora was into the spinning pumpkins WAY more, and Amara was not impressed (look at her face compared to the other three).  We also hit up some "fair foods," carmel apples, cotton candy, fries, etc.  We also experienced Amara getting lost for the first time. We were all walking down the main fairway--there were so many of us, we all thought the other had the kids. I went forward, the others went back--and we found her at the orange box in the center of the show.  She was fine, it was fast, but scared us all. We hugged and cried and I hope she remembers it. My little dreamer likes to wander, but it's scary.

We let the kids play some games at the end, so we didn't have to carry animals around. They won dolphins (which Amara is obsessed with now that her school is the Darbydale dolphins) and road a coaster, and we really had a blast. 

Everyone was tired and getting cold, so we headed our separate ways for cocoa and blankies on the couch. We are so super lucky to have the Black family as friends--they make the fun events even better!

Young Fall Fest '14 (4th annual)

The exciting time for the girls' fall fast rolled right up on us this year--FAST! We had barely unpacked from our whirlwind vacation at Hilton Head and had to jump right in, BUT we pulled it off and it was a blast.

Maria came to do face-painting again--the kids always love that and she is great with them, not to mention Amara and Cora love her and boyfriend Josh ;)

Sarah made her AWESOME cookies for both a treat AND a craft for the kids--which they and the mom and dads LOVED. I didn't have to remind anyone twice to take those home with them.

For craft, the kids decorated trick or treat bags and got to take those home. Some of them went a little nuts (unsupervised) with the paint, but i saw some pretty creative bags.

And the normal stuff too, lots of great food, great friends, a scavenger hunt, etc. Old man winter reared his head with some wind gusts and even some sleet on and off in the day, but we braved it out, enjoyed the fire, and really really had a good time.

The hayrides were packed--I think we made it out three times. Last one was in the dark!

Cora helped me prep, and also put things away--

And Amara liked labeling the decorations.  I couldn't ask for better friends or their kiddos. It's so awesome to see all their school and activity friends without the birthday party pressure--I have grown to love this event I think MORE than their parties, and I know lots of the other families have grown to enjoy the tradition too.

Colt and Kam visit

One Saturday, Matt and the kids popped down to watch Amara cheer. Cora and Coulter shared snacks the whole game, while Amara cheered and hung with her team ;)  Kam was pretty much with daddy the whole time, but the lot of them did get into a bit of a tag game there at the end. It was cold, but they all had fun and it was great to see the cousins support Amara.

Happy birthday Grandma Jahn!

Grandma's birthday fell on a Saturday, so we were thrilled to actually get to celebrate with her! She came to Amara's upward game early--then the girls rode with her to their house. We followed with gifts and treats.

Amara and I had made her snowball brownies the night before--as our after school activity (and chocolate chip cookies for grandpa who HATES coconut), so we had our two plates of treats, a big old princess bag full of presents and we couldn't get the candles out fast enough!

After some singing, we cut up the treats and opened presents, before the girls wanted to play a bit. We didn't stay too long--Raven gets to Amara's allergies terribly and grandpa is still resting from his heart cath 2 days ago, but we enjoyed our visit there and hope grandma Jahn has a great year ahead--last one in the 60s!!  xoxo