A Dancing Rat

Last Monday was Claire's Dancing Halloween Party.  She had a great time dressing up with Giada.

Claire loved dancing in her costume.

Claire and Giada really know how to rock it up.

So Claire was originally going to be an elephant but that changed into a mouse.  Then last minute on the way to dancing Claire decided that she was not a mouse but a rat instead.  Notice her rat that she brought with her and swung around the entire dance class.

Claire was thrilled to death when Aunt Jacqie told the girls to act like rats and dance around their buckets!

Any spare second that Claire gets during dance class she does this.  She stares at herself in the mirror and sings and talks.  I love my eccentric little mama!

Pumpkins And Lions

Last Saturday we went on our annual family outing to the Pumpkin Patch.

Aunt Erin always finds the best Pumpkin Patches to go to.  This one had lots of animals and tons of fun stuff to do!  Claire and Oliver loved feeding all the animals.

This goat had hair just like Daddy and Claire.

There was all kinds of fun stuff for the kids to do.  These horses were made from recycled tires.

Oliver loved them!  He really wants to do what the big kids do now, so he just follows them around and has to try everything.

And he is usually pretty thrilled with just about EVERYTHING!

Everyone had a blast playing the duck race game.

And then of course Oliver had to give it a try.

The Pumpkin Patch had tons of these tunnels for the kids to go through.

Claire and Owen loved going through them.

Then...Oliver had to do it too.  He would go through and then back up so that he could through again.

The John Deere tractor was a hit too!  Owen loved it!  And it even matched Uncle Brian's hat.

We all had a blast on the tractor!

Claire loved using the diggers.

The kids loved walking across the logs.

Oliver loved it too.

Even Mark had to get in on the fun!

And so did Aunt Erin!

Here is Mark telling Claire that she had to go down alone.  As you can see, she did NOT agree with this.

And down they go!

It was this point that we realized the kids all needed a little break.

After a little rest, we hit up the corn maze.

Poor Oliver, he did his best to keep up!!

Aunt Sara, me, and Claire waiting in line for the Gourd Launch!

We almost hit the target!  Oliver and Mark did pretty well too!

Owen and Uncle Brian launched those gourds super far!

But Aunt Erin beat us all!!  She was the only one to hit the target!

After the Gourd launch, we hit up the wheel races!!

 Even Grandma hopped in!

After an awesome day of fun we headed back to Uncle Brian and Aunt Erin's house for a delicious dinner.  We also celebrated Mark's birthday with a delicious cookie cake.

 Even with his eye infection, Mark had a blast.

Overall, it was great day!!  I can't wait to go back next year!!

The next day Nana took me and Claire to go and see The Lion King.  It was amazing and Claire had sooo much fun!

Claire loved getting all dressed up and going to the theater.

 We really had a great time.  The show itself was amazing but watching Claire enjoy it was far more amazing!!

Claire looked so grown up all dressed up.  She really loved being a "grown up" for the day!

Apple Picking

Today we played hookie and went apple picking!  We told Claire yesterday that we weren't going to school but it was a surprise where we were going!  She was sooo excited!  Then she about lost it when I told her that Giada and Aunt Jessica were coming with us!  Aunt Jessica brought Claire this adorable apple bow (Giada had a matching one of course) and we gave it to her and she had to guess where we were going.  She pointed out the apple and yelled "APPLEBEES!!"   So easy to please, I love this girl!

We all piled into Jessica's truck and headed out!  Last year the weather was perfect when we went (check it out HERE) but today, not so much.  Notice the weather was sunny and beautiful when we left.

By the time we got there it looked like this!  Rainy and muddy!  So we sat in the car (with the wipers going crazy) trying to figure out what to do.  Finally, the rain slowed down and we decided to brave it!  And it I am glad that we did!  It didn't rain the rest of the time we were there and we had a blast!

 Mark grabbed his bags and we headed out!

All packed up and ready to get some apples!

These two were ready to do some pickin'!

Claire got right in there and grabbed an apple (and no that is not a tear on her face, that is rain from the tree).

Giada's first pick was a good one.  She kept yelling "THESE APPLES ARE GIANT ONES!!"  

These two crack me up.  They are such besties, it is adorable.

I am not sure but I think this is Claire doing her "Apple Pickin' Dance".

Giada was a pro in no time.

Claire worked hard to get some apples.

Oliver's first real apple picking trip was awesome!  He loved it!

He got right in there and loved pulling the apples off the trees.

Every apple he picked, he would walk over and drop it in the bag.  I really thought he was going to pick one apple and never let it go but, he did great!

Claire and Giada loved going off and getting their own apples.

And Oliver tried very hard to keep up with them all day.

He was so proud of EVERY apple!

"Check it out guys!!  Look what I got!!!"

 

 "Hey guys! I got a green one AND a red one!"

Me and my little Apple Annie!  

PS the sun did come out for a few minutes!!!

Aunt Jessica and Giada loved their first apple picking experience!

And Claire was thrilled they joined us (and I was too)!

After we were done picking, we started EATING THEM!!!!! Oliver thought this was AWESOME!!

He did share a little with Daddy, but he didn't really want to share too much!

He snatched it back as soon as he could.

Mmmmmmmm......

The girls went to town on the apples too!

Then we took a walk over to see the cows.  Last year we fed them some apples but this year they stayed away.

Oliver loved seeing them anyway!

Then we saw all of the turkeys and pigs and went in the hay maze.  Overall, it was a great day and the kids had a blast!!  Even with the yucky weather today was a great day!!!  Now I just have to figure out what to do with all of these apples!!

Here is a sneak peek at Oliver's Halloween costume:

It still needs some tweeking so stay tuned to see what we end up with!