We have had a great fall season so far, enjoying the red, orange, yellow, and sometimes purple leaves and also the mostly mild weather. Most of the colorful leaves have now fallen in our neighborhood, but they were very pretty while they lasted! I wish we had a beautiful orange maple like this one in our front yard:
One morning we went on a hike around nearby Lake Kittamqundi. It was fun, though going at a toddler's pace, with their never-ending explorations is very time consuming.
One afternoon, Lydia the baker made us some fancy food in her kitchen:
Since we had two pumpkins large enough to carve this year, both Nate and I got to try our handiwork. I carved a bat and Nate made a flamingo under a palm tree. I should have taken pictures of the jack-o-lanterns glowing at night.
On Halloween I took the girls to our HOA neighborhood parade, while Nate was at work. This year we had Rapunzel and a witch. The witch costume was mine when I was little and Karina wore it when she was two, just like Lydia. Karina had been growing out her hair for months so it would be more like Rapunzel's. A day or two after Halloween, I trimmed it several inches, so it would be easier to take care of and brush.
The neighborhood kids were too spread out to get everyone in the picture, but I think there were about 40 participants altogether. Points if you can spot Lydia in the picture. She is hiding by one of the trees in the background. Standing still and posing for an extended period of time did not interest her.
Walking in the parade:
And eating some treats when they got to the end of the parade:
The girls were beyond excited for the trick-or-treating to start. In our neighborhood you had to wait until 6pm to start, so we were counting down the minutes. We took a few pictures while we waited and luckily Nate got off work a little early and didn't miss out on any trick-or-treating fun. When we first moved here, I thought having an official start time for trick-or-treating would be annoying, but after trick-or treating here a few years, I love how festive the neighborhood feels with everyone starting at the same time. Lots of houses have mini parties outside for trick-or-treaters too, with pizza, drinks, cupcakes, etc.
A good picture to showcase how long Karina's hair had gotten:
My costume was a skeleton shirt complete with a baby skeleton over my stomach. Nate was the grim reaper.
Trick-or-treating did not disappoint and we enjoyed seeing all the insanely decorated houses. A lot of people went all out. At a few houses, Lydia announced "This house too scary. I go next house." This typically occurred if there were life-like moving zombies or other over the top decorations. The girls trick-or-treated at many more houses this year than last, and their candy haul reflects that. While we went from house to house, the girls kept dumping candy from their pumpkins into a bag I carried around for that very purpose. There will be enough candy to last into the new year. I did have to separate out Nate's share of the candy though, as he tends to grab a piece every time he walks by. His ~third of the candy won't last long, and he has been told that he cannot touch the girls' and my candy once he eats up his.
A few mornings ago, I woke up to the sound of Lydia singing to herself in her bed (she woke up way too early). As she lay in bed, she was belting out "Trick-or-treat. Smell my feet. Give me something good to eat. If you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear." Halloween lives on in our house, and we have heard both girls chanting that song more times than necessary.
In other news, not too long ago, I noticed that Lydia was cutting a new molar on her upper left side. I was excited for her to get tooth #17! The next night I was carefully examining her mouth and realized that tooth #17 was actually tooth #20. Oops. The bottom set of final molars were completely in, and the final top right molar was mostly in. I don't know how I missed those events and am a little embarrassed about it, as I thought I had been monitoring her mouth for the emergence of the last of her baby teeth. Now she is all done acquiring baby teeth. Next step is to find success potty training.
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