Happy Halloween!!

It is hard to believe that Halloween has come and gone. Arabella was so excited this year and was literally counting down the days to today...just like Christmas! She could hardly contain herself when she woke up this morning. I was surprised she made it through the school day - she came home talking about the cupcakes they decorated at snack time and with a back pack full of treat bags and boo grams - so much so that I joked with her that she had a bunch of treats already, did she really need to go trick-or-treating tonight!

Halloween sunrise was beautiful this morning.

Arabella and her loot from school.

One of the many boo grams she received at school.

Maxton kept busy on the trampoline while Arabella and I did homework. It kept him busy and out of trouble!

As soon as we were done with dinner, Arabella raced off to get ready. It was adorable. She couldn't wait to go door to door with Charli and Georgia, her friends on our street. The girls were so cute and so excited! Max was adorable in his costume as well - and he kept the hat on! After all the times Arabella wanted to name him Pirate Boy, I knew he had to be a pirate for Halloween. Arabella looked so pretty in her blue Mermaid costume. I ended up making the head band for her and she loved it!

While they waited for the rest of the gang to head out, Jay and Arabella lit off a few smoke bombs...they sure did stink! Arabella thought it was fun, but said they were stinky! It was pretty funny to watch them - Max and I took in the show!

Before long it was time to head out. They girls were so very excited and I loved to see the huge smiles on their faces.

Arabella came home with a ton of candy...way more than she needs and can eat...she had fun sorting it and then we decided to leave some out for the Switch Witch. Who knows if she will come and switch out the candy for something else. We will have to see in the morning! Max was a trooper and stayed out for the whole time. He was so tired when he got home, lets hope he sleeps through the night.

Arabella setting out some of her candy for the Switch Witch!

Where did the month of October go. I can't believe that it is almost November 1st! All that aside, we had a great Halloween. We had weather that we are not used to - no coats or mitts needed here. We had fun with our family and friends. And it was a Halloween full of surprises and magic. Until next October when we do it all again, Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

Gone are the days of carving a simple Jack-o-Lantern face on a pumpkin! Yesterday, we spent part of the afternoon in the backyard, yes, outside, carving pumpkins. I guess that is what happens when it is 75 or so degrees at the end of October. besides, it was better to make the mess out in the yard than in the kitchen, right?? Arabella decided that Max needed to have a pirate carved on his pumpkin and she was hell bent on having a princess. She wanted a very complicated and over the top sleeping beauty one and both Jay and I said no way...so instead, I was roped into carving Sofia the First, one of the new Disney princesses. It could have been more complicated, but after 45 minutes, a knife breaking and Arabella wanting to carve, it was as good as it was gonna get. I am actually impressed at how well they came out. Jay took the easy route and just did a bat on his. Max and Arabella had fun playing with the guts of the pumpkins, too! Last night we lit the pumpkins and I have to say, they did come out really good! Arabella loves hers, which is all that matters. The things we do for our kids...Happy Halloween! I am off to roast pumpkin seeds and make pumpkin biscotti.

Cane Creek Park

I decided we needed to get out and explore a bit, so on Saturday afternoon, we drove to Cane Creek Park. It was about a 10 minute drive from our house and we were surprised at how nice of a park it was. There was a great playground, trails (that I would love to do some running on), a lake, boat rentals and other activities. I am sure we will head back to explore more during the fall and spring. Arabella had fun playing on the playground and then we explored the lake shore for a bit. She enjoyed throwing rocks, pine cones and leaves in the water. Max just had fun watching and taking it all in. We rented a paddle boat for 30 minutes and had a good time being out on the water...although I did all of the the peddling when it was the 4 of us in the boat. Arabella even tried her hand at peddling when she and Jay took it out by themselves when Max was eating! It was a beautiful day and I'm glad we took the afternoon to get out and explore a park near us.

On the way home, we stopped at a pumpkin patch. Arabella picked out a pumpkin quickly and Max enjoyed exploring all the pumpkins around him. We decided to only pick up one at this patch as they were very, very expensive...I mean they had pumpkins at were $36!!! Insane if you ask me and they were big, but not worth $36! We stopped at Food Lion on the way home and picked up 2 more pumpkins for $10...much more like it!

And then when we got home, we put up Uncle Bill's Halloween blow up. Arabella was so excited and she had fun helping Jay set it up! I think we are finally ready for Halloween!

FINALLY!!!! A TOOTH!!!!!

it seems as if Max has been teething for about 5 months. He will bite on anything, his hands are always in his mouth, and the drool...let me tell you about the drool...I have never seen so much of it! All kidding aside, he has one itty, bitty tooth poking through. I noticed it a week ago when I was feeding him. I barely could tell it was a tooth - I thought it was a piece of napkin on his gum, since he will put anything and everything is his mouth - when I tried to get it out, I realized what it was and called for Arabella to come quick. Like it was going to disappear or something. She confirmed that it was a tooth and she did a bit of a celebratory dance for Max before running back to her playing. For the past week, I have been trying to snap a picture of the elusive tooth and yesterday I finally did it. I can't believe Max has passed another milestone...slow down baby boy...although you are happy now that you can start eating some real food!

Autumn Randomness

I am going to try and get totally caught up on the blog today...that is if Mr. Maxton continues to cooperate and stay asleep. He is so tired and the teething and runny noes he has doesn't help. And we need to help supervise Arabella's Thanksgiving Spectacular rehearsal this afternoon at school so I am hoping he continues to nap for a while!

Instead of doing random posts on some of these things, I am going to throw them all into one! We had chilly weather last week and we broke out some of our cooler weather gear. It was by no means even close to the fall weather we are used to in Montreal, but it was a nice break from the warm weather. Arabella looked so cute in this outfit one morning, she loved wearing her pumpkin tights. And Max looks so adorable in hats!

Max loves this toy that was Arabella's. She was excited to show him how it worked. They love to play together.

We got "boo'd" by one of our neighbors. This is a new concept for us - it isn't something that happened in Canada - one of your neighbors leaves a Halloween treat on your doorstep and then you are supposed to do the same for another neighbor and so on. Arabella was pretty excited about it and thought it was fun to do.

I love how they get along so well!

And call me a sucker for marketing, but I love the packaging and pictures on Max's baby food. They are fun and happy and make me smile. He loves this brand so we will keep buying it until his teeth pop through! Besides, the combinations are actually pretty yummy!