Trick or Treating!

Nemo is ready to go!

And she's off! I don't think she really understood what we were doing but she seemed excited!

Erin handed her a piece of candy before we left, which she played with until we got to the first house. I think she would have been content with just that one piece!

She walked a little while, but like most parents with toddlers, we ended up carrying her for the last half.

Back at the house. The weather was pretty nice so we camped out at the front door to hand out candy.

Such a cute little Nemo!
Makayla did well going to people's houses, but I think she really liked sitting with Erin and handing out candy. Unless the kids were wearing masks, she did NOT like those!

Back inside, Makayla had a blast dumping her pumpkin out then putting everything back in!

We hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween!

Baking and carving

Makayla helped my mom make a few cookies this afternoon.

Then it was time to carve the pumpkins! Makayla was excellent cleaning the guts out!

I'm pretty sure this is cheating...

How cute!

Jason was done in just a few seconds, but the rest of us were hard at work for a while...

Success! Jason's and Erin's.


Mine and my mom's.
And the silly goose!

Modeling

Here Makayla models a few headbands that my mom brought back from Disneyworld. So pretty!

Costume Parade

Friday morning Makayla had a costume parade at school. Luckily my mom had arrived the night before and was able to take Makayla and take pictures!

Check out the tail, it waddles when she walks!

None of these kids look very excited... and my mom had to join in for the group photo!

More from the weekend

Here are a few shots of what Makayla was up to with her grandparents while we were gone this weekend.
Makayla "helping" with the bird feeder.

She took her job of filling the feeders very seriously....

Success!

After the birdfeeder, it was on to cake baking. Makayla has recently discovered the best part of baking - tasting!

She did an excellent job icing the cake.

And even decorated it too!

Our goofball

Makayla had the cutest hairstyle when I picked her up from school today. She was also very excited about it and was NOT happy when I took it out for bath time. First, I tried to get her to show it off with a nice smile...

Then she got too serious...

Here I think she is getting tired of me taking pictures...

So I gave up with those pictures and we headed outside. Makayla loves to play with her bubblemaker and Kona. Check out this action shot!

Busy weekend!

Grandma Mary and Grandpa Ed arrived Friday night just in time for a mini-Thanksgiving dinner. Makayla enjoyed having two more people to shower her with attention! Here she demonstrates her reading skills, wherever she can get a seat!

Saturday morning we headed back to the apple orchard to do some apple and pumpkin picking. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. Makayla was able to do a quick ride on the cow train with Jason before it started pouring, but we didn't have a chance to get out to the apple trees. Trying to tell a toddler you can't play on the playground because of a little rain is pretty much impossible, so the best thing to do is throw on a raincoat and head out! (Easy for me to say as I sat under cover taking pictures :)

Back inside we were able to pick apples out of bins (not quite the same) and Makayla was able to pick her very own gourds. She was very proud of them and would not let anyone help her carry them, even though she kept dropping one. I wonder where she gets her stubborn streak from...

While Makayla napped, Jason and I took advantage of having excellent babysitters and headed out of town. We went down to Massanutten, a little over 1 hour south of here. It was beautiful and there was a ton to do - we will definitely go back! Here is a view from our hotel room looking up to the ski slopes.

This morning we were able to ride one of the ski lifts to the top of the mountain. We were about 3,000 feet up and the view was amazing!

We took a short walk to the other side of the mountain and could see the valley and the city of Harrisonburg below.

This is a platform for hang gliding - no thanks! I'll take the chair lift back down!

A view of the mountain on our way back home. You can barely see the cell phone towers at the top - that's right where we were!

Back home we were told all of the fun things that Makayla did with her grandparents. They made us a cake, went to the playground, planted some bulbs, and put up a birdfeeder. I think they will all sleep well tonight!

Enjoying the sunny weather!

Today was a beautiful day so we spent some time outside. Makayla loves to play on her little swing set and run around in the grass. Tonight she was running up and down the big hill, falling and rolling in the grass and laughing the whole time. She is also doing really well kicking a ball. I think this kid is going to be an athlete - at least I hope so with all the energy she has!

I think I am going to try and copy this look with I carve my pumpkin...

Busy girl

Although it was up to 78 degrees today, earlier in the week it started in the 30's! Here is Makayla ready for the weather!

Yesterday was Jason's birthday and Makayla and I made him a special dinner of chicken parmesan. I'm glad I had my helper to pound the chicken!

Super Sunday

Today was a great day - except it went by too fast and I don't want to have to go to work tomorrow! We started the morning with Pumpkin Pancakes (delicious!), then Jason got back to work painting our room. He was able to finish the whole thing today and it looks great. We definitely have our beach retreat! I'll post pictures once we get it all put back together.
Jason took a break from the painting to make pita pizzas with Makayla. She loves to help cook anything!

The she did some painting (notice the beautiful flowers they picked out for me!)

I tried to get a nice picture of her in her cute outfit that made her look so grown up. But getting a nice picture is a challenge with a toddler...

This is what she did when I told her to smile...

And this is what she did when I told to try and keep her chin down...

Well she isn't smiling, but at least she doesn't look too silly!

Rainy day fun

Today was the perfect day to run a few errands in the morning, then spend the rest of the day cooking and playing - and that's what we did! Jason got to work early painting our bathroom and I took Makayla shopping with me (I definitely got the better deal!) We started by getting a haircut for Makayla. She has had her bangs trimmed a few times by me and Grandma Mary, but this was her first "real" haircut. Like most things, she was skeptical and nervous at first, but after checking things out, she was ok. She did great sitting in my lap and was done in no time! (Literally, it took about 5 minutes. After paying $14 for the 5 minutes, I started to rethink my career choice...)

She was way more excited about getting a lollipop than the hair cut!

After a trip to Target and the grocery store, we were home to start baking. We started with delicious Pumpkin Bread. Makayla was a great helper as always and enjoyed being able to lick the spoon for the first time.

After the bread was in the oven, it was playdoh time!

Jason finished up painting in time to play a little too. Makayla is showing off the pie they made together.

I was trying to get her to pretend to take a bite of the playdoh hot dog, but pretend must not be a concept she understands yet.... After take a bite, she gave me a crazy look because of course it was terrible!