Bits and Pieces: October

This fall has been so beautiful. On Monday, I had the screen door open and a T-shirt on while cooking dinner. I pretended it was summer. Clare wanted to go to an indoor playtime at a local gym and I told her no. We are playing outside as much as possible. We went to the Como Zoo instead.

Baby in leaves. Is anything cuter?

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A few weeks ago we took a trip to an orchard near Hastings. It was a perfect fall day. We followed the orchard with a trip down Highway 35 in Wisconsin and had lunch at Nelson's Creamery. I remember when I was a kid my parents would force us to go on drives in the country to look at the fall colors, which we only agreed to because we were promised ice cream. Now I am doing the exact same thing. It is funny how we turn into our parents in ways both large and small.

Kids in pumpkin patch. Just as cute as baby in leaves?

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I celebrated birthday number 35 a few weeks ago. This year was so much better than last year, when I was sleep deprived and worried sick about Christopher's surgery. I went out to dinner with my sister at Red Cow in St. Paul. It was delicious. Ben and I had a date night/birthday celebration a few days later at Craftsman in Minneapolis. Also delicious. We really need to find a babysitter so we can have date nights more often. (Katie and Andrew graciously helped us out on this occasion.)

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Ben's Dad came over to carve a pumpkin with Clare. She loved it. She carefully drew a face on her pumpkin (admittedly, it was a bit abstract), and helped scoop out the goop. She didn't want to touch the pumpkin's insides with her hands, though. Luckily, she is good with a spoon.

We put Mr. Jack O'Lantern in the garage, hoping to protect it from the squirrels. Instead we had pumpkin soup when we took it out on Halloween. Oops. Luckily, Clare didn't remember that we were supposed to put it out. Her mind was on one track: candy.

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Clare has had some delightful fashions lately.

And this one. She is wearing her Christmas dress underneath the blue polka dot dress. Which is on backwards.

The fashion plate at the Como Zoo.

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Halloween was really fun this year. Last year, Clare was timid, not wanting to talk to neighbors or trick or treat. This year, she was all for it. She charged from door to door, collecting as much candy as she could. (Yes, I am sure the candy was a huge incentive.) Halloween morning, we went to a party at my friend Sabrina's house. It was really fun, seeing all the kids in their costumes. The best one by far was my friend's son who went as a garbage truck. It was a great costume. Certainly not something I could ever make myself. His younger brother went as a trash can.

We all ate lots of sugar. It was a good day. Oh, and Clare dressed as a butterfly princess, while Christopher went as a strawberry. Did a lot of people think he was a girl? Yes. Do I care? No.

Hope everyone had a great October!

I made Clare's wand. As you can tell, I am not crafty at all.

By the way, her wand spelled words, just like Princess P's on Super Why.

Cute face painting courtesy of Sabrina. Costume courtesy of Barbara and Iain Innes. Your Christmas present from last year went to good use!