cold and wet days.

As the weather begins to change and get colder, wetter and darker we are finding some fun things to do inside. 

First, we like to get super bundled before heading outside to the bus stop each morning. And, there is nothing cuter than a little baby in a fleece moose set with blue slippers.

 Then, we come home and put Simon down for a nap so we can play an exciting game of Candy Land. Pretty sure Lucy won.

 After naps it's time to play on the floor, stretch out and each some socks.

 The library is always a hit on a cold, rainy day. Especially when Daddy can come along to cuddle up with a good book.

 Back home for some more floor time and of course, lots of smiling.

 Another morning we went for a play date with some friends to local kids play cafe. Lucy was so excited to dress up like a firefighter (what she wants to be when she grows up!) just like our good friend, Chad.

 Back home, always on the floor. Rolling, drooling, smiling, repeat.

 And now sitting in the high chair! No solid foods yet but at least he can sit at eye level while we eat each night. Although it's really just turned into a game of throwing toys on the floor and seeing which one of us is gullible enough to keep picking them up (so far, Carter and Lucy love this game!)

 Socks now off and toes are in the mouth! I just love this little phase of exploration. So fun and funny!

 And finally, getting ready for the Holidays in new Christmas jammies. He's yet to actually sleep in this crib but at least he looks cute laying here!

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pumpkins, candy, costumes...oh my!

This years Halloween did not disappoint. After going to our favorite pumpkin patch, eating loads of pumpkin treats, burning pumpkin candles and choosing the perfect costumes we were ready for trick-or-treating! A few days before Halloween we went to the ever popular grocery store to choose our pumpkins to carve. Ha! It sounds lame but the ones at the patch were pretty sad looking and the ones grown from Grandpa Vance's garden were almost rotten. The kids thought it was awesome so that's all that matters.

Halloween morning we scooped out the guts and the kids got to draw on their faces. 

 Even Simon got to explore a little. Poor kid had no clue what was going on.

Earlier in the week (sorry pics are out of order) Lucy had her preschool Halloween party. She chose to be an owl this year and although I sort of made fun of this ridiculous costume (because really...a brown barn owl???) she was so stinkin' cute! By far the best costume at preschool, not that I'm biased at all.  :)

 Halloween night we had our wonderful friends Katy, Brad and Ava come over for a pizza dinner before we walked around the neighborhood. This little group turned out to be perfect. Lucy loved having a friend with her and Carter liked leading the group around to each house. We got to see plenty of friends around the neighborhood while we were out too, which was fun. I'm really happy we ended up staying in the neighborhood when we bought our house. We know so many friendly people and everyone really wants to watch out for each other. It's a great little community of friends.

Ava made the cutest little bunny to go along with the owl and Peter Pan (of course!).

 And Simon was a scary tiger! I'm glad he was willing to keep his costume on since the head piece kept falling in his face. Such a little trooper.

 Trick-or-treating hour just happened to be Simon's usual bedtime hour where he just sits, nurses and cuddles with me. So he was a little upset that we were switching up the routine to walk outside in the dark. But, after a few houses he settled down and eventually fell asleep.

 Soooooo cute.

 My favorite trick-or-treaters!

 Roar!

We let the kids come home and dump out their candy before digging in. I took a different approach this year and it ended up working out perfectly. I let them eat as much as they wanted that night, which ended up being about 5 pieces each. The next morning they got to choose 5 more pieces to eat whenever they chose (Matt thought I had lost my mind!) and naturally they devoured it before 10am. But then it was gone. They had decided they wanted to participate in the candy buy back this year to trade in the candy for money, which meant a new toy. So the next day we went and got rid of all the sugar, headed to Target and came home with a new lego set and baby. All the candy was gone!!!! Best decision we've ever made.
Halloween 2015 was one of the best ever!

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