Cookies!

Last night after Benson was in bed we let Alli stay up and decorate Halloween cookies. She is so creative and knows exactly how she wants things to be. She was great at giving us directions about what to do and then taking over from there. Truthfully, we pray that she can always remain the little leader that she is. 

Cornbelly's

We were amazed at all the fun October/Harvest/Halloween fun they had there. 100% though the winner was Pumpkin Princess Playland. We spent a lot of time there. Allison loved that they had a sparkling horse drawn pumpkin carriage, princess dresses for all the little girls (and more costumes for the boys), a stage to dance on, a little market, a castle bounce house, and more. She was in little girl heaven! There were so many other fun things to see and activities to do, too. Benson loved all the slides and horse swings. If it hadn't turned so cold and if Allison was not terrified of the giant scarecrow wandering around we could have stayed for hours more. 

Pretty sure we have a new tradition to add to our list. 

Pumpkin Patch

 Alli was quite nervous when we had her sit by these scarecrows. It didn't help that we started walking away and told her they were her new parents. Mean, maybe too mean, she is afraid of scarecrows now. We are sorry little love. 

Love them.

Basket o' Fun

September

 

 Every year the State Fair happens in September and every year we love to go. I am a believer in keeping traditions and this is one of our favorites. It is fun to see lots of animals, eat "fair food", ride ponies and, our favorite, the big yellow slide.

 Allison loves taking pictures. This day she asked to take my picture and wanted me to make funny faces. We took turns taking pictures and made funny faces, kissy faces, sad faces. This photo shoot ended with her request of a picture of her dancing. She is a beautiful girl. I love playing with my best friend.

 We had a Labor Day/end of Summer party at my mom and dad's house. It was a great day full of new toys, lawn games, swimming, water fights, and yummy barbecue. Oh, and the highlight may have been my 6 foot 5 inch brother climbing in and hanging out in the wading pool with his little girl Eva. It was quite the sight!

 The kids and I asked Labu Phillips to go on a date with us to the children's museum Discovery Gateway. This was Benson's first time there and there was a lot of exploring and playing to do, for both kids. It seemed Allison's favorite thing to do was to pick up the mail from all the different mail boxes and then re-deliver them. She did this over and over. But she said her favorite thing was playing in the house. You know, the house she spent the least amount of time in. :) Guess we can't read minds. Benson loved the helicopter and both of them loved the Chinese Dragon that came through while we were there. Alli just needed a little reassurance and an explanation from Labu.

At Thanksgiving Point they had The Harvest Festival or as we like the call it, The Pumpkin Party. We watched a bit of the giant pumpkin weigh off, met the Pumpkin Princess, ate lunch, got faces and legs painted, and took a lot of pumpkin pictures before heading through the rose garden and over to The Barn. We visited with the cows, horses, goats, llamas, turkeys, and ducks. Then we went on a pony ride and a wagon ride. It was a very fun day. I consider this to be our official kick-off to Fall and to the holidays. I don't know about you but I include Halloween in the "holiday seasons" because, well, it is my favorite. This is my favorite time of year!