October!

 October...Apple Butter, Pumpkin Day, Greg's Birthday, Halloween, nature hikes, cookie-baking, and more. This was a busy month! Here are some highlights!

Hannah is quite the chef these days. Here she is waiting for the pancake griddle to heat up. On this day, she mixed up the batter, poured it on the griddle, and flipped the pancakes with very little help at all.

Lauren and I took a nature hike with some friends one nice fall day when Hannah was in school. Lauren loved playing in the creek and probably could have stayed there all afternoon!

Baking cookies for Daddy's birthday "surprise party". The girls surprised him on the morning of his birthday with decorations, cards, and cookies.

Lauren working very intently on her cookie creation

We headed to Columbia in early October for our apple butter-cooking festivities!

We stayed at Papa A's house and Hannah loved playing on the trampoline. Here's Papa and Hannah playing their game

Keeping busy by picking hickory nuts at GGA's house

Lauren and Greg sorting the hickory nuts

Apple Hunt!

The cousins all eating together on GGA;s floor on apple butter day.

Pumpkin Day was next! This is always a great day to spend time outside and get into the fall spirit. Dad puts in SO much work into the pumpkins and it is enjoyed by so many kiddos.

 Back at home...

Lo-lo and her good friend and neighbor, Bailey :)

Sisterly Fun  :)

Hannah went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese for her friend, Ruby. It was quite an exciting time...the first visit to Chuck E. Cheese!

Princess Lauren with her high heels and wand :) She can walk amazingly well in those things!

Greg and the girls playing a fishing game at the LHS homecoming carnival

Haircut Day! Hannah loves getting her hair cut. I'm pretty sure it's because it involves watching t.v. and eating a sucker :)

Lauren's first haircut! She did really great and held still. She was a little unsure at first, but it helped that Hannah was getting her hair cut at the same time.

Two cute hair cuts! Success!

We officially have a big girl who has said good-bye to her crib and is now in a BIG bed! I just captured a few shots of her before Greg officially moved the crib out.

She made the transition to the big bed very easily and loves her big-girl bed now.

Just a sweet shot of her laughing. Lauren has a really jolly cackle of a laugh, where she lifts her chain and belts out her laugh. I love it :)

The baker hard at work again...cracking eggs.

Leaving church...right before they did their weekly "running of the ramps"

Making Halloween cookies!

A Saturday afternoon at Carolyn's Pumpkin Patch...a fun place by our house that is a pumpkin patch and a whole lot more!

Lauren at Toddler storytime at the library :)

 Trying on costumes for the first time...a few days before Halloween. 2 very excited Doc Mcstuffins'!

Zoo!

The first weekend of the new penguin exhibit! Very exciting!

Hanging out at home :) Despite all of the fun places to go and people to see, the girls almost always choose to stay home if I ask them what they want to do on a given day. Once they are out and about, they have a great time. But they love to just play at home.

Carving Pumpkins!

Hannah and I went to a special concert at church, where a composer was there and the choir sang his pieces. It was also a celebration of the choir director's 10 year anniversary at church. There was quite the reception afterward..very fancy! Hannah and I had a great time and she was so grown up.

Fall Party at Second Friends!

Hannah's new hobby...perler beads! She made this design all on her own. It is REALLY tedious to put all of those beads on the grid to make the design, but she is patient and loves to do it. She wanted to take this picture of it to send to one of her cousins.

Uncle Dave came to visit shortly before Halloween! We had a great time! He went with us to Chick-Fil-A and to a Halloween party at LHS too.

Halloween! We started the night out by going to our church to the Trunk or Treat. Then we headed down to the Liberty square, and then we went back home to Trick or Treat for about an hour. It was a fun night and the girls did great! Lauren managed to say "Trick or Treat" by the end of the night :) They loved to ring the doorbells on their own. Hannah did a great job of helping Lauren, too. Such sweet little Doc McStuffins' they both were :)

Going up to the houses by themselves. They were quite independent with their trick-or-treating while we watched from the sidewalk of each house. Such big girls :)

 

Sorting the candy!