Halloween Festivities

Our Halloween festivities actually started a couple of weeks ago when we made and decorated some sugar cookies with Megan, as seems to be our tradition. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures.

On the 28th, we had an evening filled with Halloween fun at my cousin Cat's house. My Aunt Jennine invited us over for pumpkin carving (which we missed due to Felicity's nap), dinner in a pumpkin, bingo, a scavenger hunt for the kids, and pin the nose on the pumpkin. We had a great time, and once again I failed to take any pictures. :-(

We ended up carving our pumpkin as part of our FHE the following night, and here's how it turned out:

 

On Halloween, Bridget's preschool teacher put on a Halloween Carnival which included the kids performing their Halloween songs.

Bridget is standing next to her friend Kaleb, as usual.

 

And now for a better look at our little princesses. This little photo shoot was just as difficult as I thought it would be since getting Felicity to stand still or smile on command is nearly impossible.

Our little Cinderella

Our beautiful Rapunzel

Magically, I was able to capture one decent picture of the two of them together actually looking at the camera.

Most of our attempts looked more like this with Felicity running away from Bridget as fast as she could.

This year, I made both of their costumes which meant I had to start in August to make sure I'd have them done in time and without a bunch of stress. Felicity's dress was my first attempt to make something this detailed without a pattern. I followed an online tutorial which was somewhat helpful although I had to change a few things. It certainly was a learning experience and not something I would attempt again on such a little person who refuses to try things on during the process. Needless to say, I had to pull things apart and redo the dress 3 times to finally get the fit right due to her lack of cooperation. At least it turned out in the end.

Raking, Raking, & More Raking

Now that fall has officially arrived, it's time to bust out the rake and start raking up the billion leaves that will fill our yard over the next 2 months. With 4 large trees in our yard plus our neighbors 3 along the fenceline that also drop into our yard, there's plenty of leaves for the girls to play in. Because our trees drop at different rates, it really does take clear until the beginning of December for them to all fall. I just hope the next home we live in doesn't come with so much fall cleanup. At least this chore is fun for somebody.

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Bridget's preschool field trip this month was to the pumpkin patch. Apparently nearly every preschool and grade school in the area goes there because she went to the same one last year, and this place was so busy while we were there. Last year I opted to stay home with Felicity, but this year we decided to make it a family event. The girls definitely had a good time and didn't want to leave even though it was way past Felicity's nap time at that point. Here's a few pictures from our outing:

 



The 3 and 4-year-old preschool classes

Try as we might, we could not get Felicity to look at the camera because she was too interested in the ginormous pumpkins.

Bridget finally decides on a pumpkin

The tractor ride back from the pumpkin patch (and Felicity refusing to look at the camera again)

Felicity was quite interested in this goose because it was being so noisy.

The girls loved riding the train so much that we couldn't get them to get off after one ride, so they got to take two in a row.

18 Months

I truly feel like the last year and a half since Felicity was born has flown by. It must be a sign that I'm getting old. Anyway...

Felicity continues to keep us on our toes with her curiosity and desire to learn new things. Here's a little bit of what she's doing these days:

• We moved her out of the highchair and into the booster seat pictured above so she could join us at the table. She loves it, and can climb up into it herself. I love that she can still be strapped into it. :-) It has certainly helped since she doesn't throw food on the floor as much as she used to.
• Also feeding related, she prefers no help from us with eating which can lead to big messes and her frustration at times, but she really is doing pretty well with a fork and spoon.
• She LOVES books! She would be content if someone would read or look at books with her all day. Sometimes we read the same book probably 20 times or more in a week, and she rotates which ones are her favorites. I just hope she always loves to read this much.
• She continues to be a girl of few words, but that doesn't mean she's quiet. Grunting, squawking, and pointing work pretty well for her, and we're able to understand what she wants most of the time. Right now she says dada (her most frequently used word), mama (rarely used because she often calls me dada too), hi, uh-oh, eye, ah duh (meaning all done), ya, woah, and oof (her way of saying woof).
• Much to my dismay, she climbs on everything, and I often have to remind her to get off the kitchen counter or table.
• She's very good at following directions, and is happy to help with lots of things I ask or don't ask her to do. If she sees me doing laundry she'll start handing me the dirty clothes so I can put them in the washer. She's even pretty good at helping clean up. If I start, she jumps right in to help.
• Her blanket and stuffed Curious George are still her favorite comfort items.
• A couple of months ago we made the transition to one nap. The transition went smoothly and has helped her sleep better at night. Most nights she sleeps for about 12 hours straight and then takes about a 1.5-2.5 hour nap right after lunch.
• Even though she continues to be stubborn about a lot of things, she has a definite sweetness to her personality. She's very affectionate and loves to cuddle, give kisses, and blow kisses. And her laugh makes me smile every time.
• She loves to try and be like her big sister and tries to copy everything she does - good and bad.

Hopefully the next few months bring lots of words because I can't wait to hear more of her cute little voice.

Here's her stats:
      Height: 33 inches (85th percentile)
      Weight: 24.4 lbs. (50th percentile)
      Head: 18.5 inches (60th percentile)