trick or treat

hannah has been looking forward to this night for months. she decided probably at the end of august that she wanted to be rapunzel for halloween. she's changed her mind between now and then, but i lured her back into the idea with "the long hair" - though the wig was kind of a pain and didn't last long. and libby was our cute little pumpkin. every baby should be a pumpkin, right? hannah loved running around the neighborhood with the sweet older girl from next door. when we got home, of course, we spilled out all the candy on the floor. libby even loved going through the colorful packages and we gave her a couple of treats too.

pumpkin patch #2

after having one trip to a pumpkin patch rained out a couple weeks ago, hannah's class went to lazenby farms monday. this is a fairly new pumpkin patch, and it is only 5 miles or so down the road from her school. libby came along with us, too. all the kids enjoyed it - there was the usual hay ride and pumpkin patch, a hay maze and a playground. they also have a beautiful cotton field and the kids got to pick some cotton. but i think playing in the big box of corn was the thing they all enjoyed the most. we definitely need to go back to this one next year.

pumpkin carving

sunday was a perfect fall day. we slept in a little, ordered pizza for lunch (so i didn't have to wash dishes alll day), had some fun one-on-one time with hannah at target where we spent a little too much, and then we came home to carve our pumpkin. hannah pointed out that, "when we carved our pumpkin last year libby wasn't here, she was in our hearts." awww. that made me all the more thankful for... everything. i sure do love our family of four, and the addition of libby makes us so much more complete.

hannah's only request was that the pumpkin have eyelashes, so of course i had to oblige.

hannah's current obsession

lately hannah has been OBSESSED with talking about her future. like, her way in the future-future. stuff i don't want to think about because i'd like her to stay a little girl and live with me forever. she randomly likes to ask, "mom, who am i going to marry?" "where am i going to live?" "what am i going to be when i grow up?" we talk about these things several times a day every single day. last night she told me she was going to be an "exerciser" and "do running." i said that was a great idea, and maybe she could teach me to run. she has also wanted to be a chef, a teacher, a dentist and several other things... sometimes she says she wants to be a momma and other times she tells me confidently that she doesn't want to have a baby. she's also said that she wants to live in atlanta, and when i told her that was too far from me she said, "it's okay i'll come to visit." and she said i could come to her house and take pictures if i wanted.

please hannah, please don't grow up too fast. i'd like to hit the pause button right about now.

11 months

this month with libby has been wonderful. she continues to be more and more fun. there are a couple of games she has started playing. sometimes she will repeatedly sort of bang her head into ours so that we will give her kisses over and over. she loves kisses, which works out for me as i love kissing her. she has the sweetest cheeks. there's also a game she started playing on hannah's bed. i will sit her there, and she will fall back, i'll sit her back up, and she will fall back. we can do this for quite a while, laughing the whole time.

pumpkin patch

october is my favorite month. there are beautiful sunsets, colorful leaves, nice weather... and pumpkin patches! here's a few from our visit yesterday.

this week, in libby news

wow, libby has learned a lot this week.
she has started:
clapping
blowing raspberries
getting up on one knee, like she's about to stand up
pointing to something she wants at the dinner table
yesterday morning we were all in bed together and she looked at tim and said, "hey daddy" - so clearly!
kissing dolls / stuffed animals / pictures in books

we went to the park this afternoon, and she loved trying to climb up this slide. she thinks she's about 4 years old too, just like sister.

she has definitely kept me smiling this week. i love this girl so much. she brings me such joy.

don't mind the mess or the out of focus pictures...

this is real life. i've said it before, but i love rainy days with the girls when we have nowhere to be and nothing to do. as a bonus today we even had tim around. he stayed home with a cold. we had a picnic lunch in the living room in our pajamas, followed by reading time. sometimes libby will disappear, and we will find her in her room. she LOVES her room, and will play in there quietly by herself. one of her favorite things to do is get books out of her basket or off her shelf and she will sit and look at them for the longest time.

tim will kill me for posting this picture but i think it's hilarious.

we had our favorite halloween candy for dessert: the orange-colored kit kats. i look forward to these every year. last year we couldn't find them, but last week we snagged two bags from kroger. libby stuffed her mouth FULL, but managed to get it chewed up. she loved it.