Trunk or Treat

I had never heard of trunk or treat and had to do some Google-ing to figure out what I was getting myself into. Actually quite a lot of fun. Here's the idea: a group of people plan to get together for "trick-or-treating" in a parking lot, everyone decorates or dresses up their car & the kids go from car to car; instead of house to house. 

Looks like a great solution for my flood-savaged hometown, Owego, NY  (or watch an important video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbTt7bmAFx4) which has always had a big community turn-out for their annual Halloween parade. 

Here is a picture of the girls in their costumes:

Our van in it's Hawaiian Beach get-up

Liv, checking out the Bone mobile

"trunk or treat!"

We played at the playground after.

Until Mimi smeared the lens with lollipop. :)

Creepy Curiosity

Liv's been especially interested in anatomy these past few weeks or months. She asked me the other day: "Do all critters have the same blood and stuff inside them like we do?" I did my best to answer and generally came up with "Yes, all animals that don't lay eggs are all pretty much the same inside." and "next time we're at the library lets find some books." And of course, she remembered -- and asked the librarian to help us find "a book about blood & bones" after storytime last week. 

Last weekend we were having our breakfast on the patio and a poor dumb mourning dove flew right over the table and smashed full speed head and shoulders into the window - killed instantly. Liv and Asher had to fight over who got to play with the dead bird first. eeeww. 

So, when I encountered a coyote skeleton when I was out running , I was pretty sure that Liv would want to check it out. 

I even printed out a picture of a dog skeleton so we could try to identify the bits. 

Definitely not an exercise for the squeamish, but well, educational I guess...

Mama and Mimi

Camila  is about 21 months old, she's talking more, she's a playful, defiant, loving child. We have a lot of fun together. (Especially when she chooses to listen to her mother, lol)
She's started calling herself Mimi - which I LOVE, and encourage! 

Asher Update

At nearly 4 months old, Asher is growing into the look of a Russian Blue, long, lean, shiny -- but we're 100% sure she's just a domestic mutt. 

She loves the girls' feather boa, of course!!

and who doesn't love a nice sun beam?

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

Jeff and I took the girls to the pumpkin patch & corn maze over the weekend, and then we went again with MOMS. I can not believe that I forgot the camera on the first trip; I'm pretty glad I got a second chance! 

Little Miss...

Hay Ride! 

bump, bump. bumping down the hay bale tower. 

Meet & Greet with the piggies after their "race." 

And their favorite: the Corn Box! 

(poor Camila was so tired... she just rolled around in the corn. lol)

Happy Morning Under the Climbing Tree

We've had a couple of beautiful days up here on the hill. And have spent hours in and around our lovely oak trees. Today I managed to take a few pictures as we collected acorns, sticks, and leaves; poked around in squirrel holes, explored dry ponds and creek beds, and climbed a bit in our favorite tree. (this isn't our "climbing tree" but another nearby oak). 

Animated Livvy, telling me some wonderful story.

Asher, playing panther:

"CHEESE"

posing.

Planting acorns.

A Typical Good Day

 No big adventures, nothing special planned, but a nice day -- I didn't take pictures at every activity, but here's a sampler:

Cat lounging on the windowsill at breakfast.

We baked some banana bread, very fun project, the girls were great little bakers, but I did not choose to take my hands out of the project long enough to get the camera involved.  Until after! 

We had several hours of paper play (coloring, cutting, tracing, ripping, writing, etc...) and some fun time outside. While I was making supper I chanced to look out and see Livvie  playing on the patio in her life jacket, (one of the foot stools was a boat... she took me for a ride!) then she started chasing seed puffs across the yard. sweet stuff!

A little music play after supper...

Asher was so worn out she fell asleep grooming her self. LOL

And everyone got to try on Mom's beautiful new rain boots! :)

(different dress, must have been the following night...)