Halloween 2010

The football player and his football!

It sort of looks like he's about to spike the football...

Here's our family, 2010 - Football Referee, Football player, Football, Batgirl, and Mexican Macho.

The big girls were dying to go trick or treating.  Kept asking, "Is it time?  Is it time?"  We had to wait for it to get dark, at which point, Emma ran from house to house, all around our neighborhood! 

Tessa only trick or treated at 2 houses, she really didn't get it - and of course it was "exhausting."  So she came back home with me and helped me hand out treats to the kids.  Here she is rehydrating:

And you know me, have to post a link to last year's Halloween.  Tessa's so small!!!

Big Sister/Little Sister

Kindergarten Costume Parade

Alexa was in the Kindergarten costume parade - only kindergarteners get to wear their costumes to school! - Here she is with one of her best friends, Nikki.

Lex showing off her glowing spooky eyeball that she made at one of the craft stations during the Pumpkin Party!

Here she is with her other best friend, Elise.  Right before they attempt to eat donuts off of a string.  It was very funny to watch!

Fall 2010

With the unusually warm fall weather last week, the girls spent most afternoons playing outside.  Tessa is obsessed with our big pumpkin.  Whenever we are outside, she climbs up our front steps sits by the pumpkin, legs splayed out, and bangs/taps on it as hard as she can.  I think it's the hollow sound she hears that she loves....

The big girls have recently created a "clubhouse" with their next door neighbor, Amanda.  Two trees that are right in between our properties create a perfect little enclace where the three girls have spent many hours playing!  Whenever they are out there, they basically haul all our garage toys into their clubhouse.  Here they are in transit - with the alligator teeter totter:

This is a view of the clubhouse:

At the Pumpkin Patch

Tessa spent almost our entire visit at the Pumpkin Patch hauling little pumpkins on and off this cart.  She was singularly focused on the repetitiveness of the task yet... so cute to watch!

Apple Pickin'

A couple of weekends ago, we all went apple picking at a local orchard.  They are a bare bones operation - no parking/entrance fee - and you only pay for the apples that you pick - so it was a nice change from the crazy entrance fees and contrived atmospheres of other fall festivals in the area.

Tessa loved walking around and picking apples off the ground and biting into them.  Seriously, we'd take our eyes off her for a minute, turn around and there would be the little girl trying as hard as she could to bite into some apple she had found.  (Incidentally, the apple chomping really rubbed off on her.  Recently, I brought home a pomegranate from the store.  Tessa found it, thought it was an apple, and bit right through the skin of that darn thing!)

Yes, she is biting into a different apple in the picture below.  I think Arturo got some apple juice on his head!

The post is titled this way, because at our Kindergarten parent conference yesterday, Alexa's teacher showed us her story journal.  She had drawn a picture of an apple tree.  The caption read, "On my weekend, I went apple pickin" She's a Southern girl alright!

Go Speed Racer!

Golfing can be an Xtreme sport!

How many different ways can I describe the love and patience that Emma has for Tessa?  Emma goofs around with Tessa, makes her belly shake with laughter, and is gentle and loving with her.  And it is mutual.  When Tessa sees Emma's bus round the corner in the afternoon, she immediately plants her feet firmly down and starts waving frantically at the bus.  She looks and looks for Emma to get of the bus. 

This weekend afternoon, Emma spent about 30 minutes outside "playing golf" with Tessa.  She set the ball on the tee, and let Tessa hit the ball.  It was so cute to watch.  I don't know why Tessa is wearing her bike helmet though!!

South Mountain Creamery - Fall Festival

For the last 2 months, we have been getting our milk delivered to our home directly from a creamery (dairy farm).  South Mountain Creamery treats its cows humanely, ensures that no antibiotics get into the milk, and bottles its own milk.  There is nothing like getting milk that was literally just milked from the cow yesterday! 

A couple of weekends ago, the creamery had their annual Fall Festival.  We got to visit the farm, see the cows getting milked, learn about the entire process and see the "behind the scenes" inner-workings of a dairy farm.  It was simply fascinating to learn - for example, the creamery does pasteurize, but only to 164.4 degrees F, which is legally safe.  This kills the bad stuff, but leaves the "good stuff" behind.  Traditional milk factories pasteurizes up to 190 degrees F.  This allows the milk to have a longer shelf life, but it also kills the stuff that's good for you in the milk too.  Little nuggets of information like this all day!

Of course, the kids couldn't care less about all this.  They were just thrilled to meet the calves, see the cows getting milked and play around the farm.  So much fun on a beautiful fall day!

Emma and Lex got their faces painted.  We came home with a kitty cat and a jack o' lantern.

Midway through our visit, one of the farmers came up with his tractor and started asking kids if they wanted to try driving it themselves.  Both our big girls hopped on, and we sent them each off with a stranger, on a tractor.   Lots of trust.

Not only is the milk yummy, but the ice cream they make with the milk is yummy.  Tessa loved it too!