Halloween and more fall fun!!

This month has flown by with all of the fun things we have been doing!  We made two trips to the pumpkin patch, went apple picking, went to the Mel Foster Pumpkin Festival, decorated, painted and carved pumpkins and went to Boo at the Zoo.  We have had so much fun preparing for Halloween!  See my previous post for our Halloween pictures in our costumes this year.

We went apple picking earlier this month and both kids had a blast and did great this year!  The weather was nice and sunny and we couldn't have asked for a better day! Both kids really got the "picking" part this year so we took home a good amount of apples.  We tried some new recipes this year and had some yummy apple desserts!

We went to two different pumpkin patches this year as we always do, Pride of the Wapsi and Buffalo. Both kids had a great time and enjoyed picking out their own pumpkin.  Obviously each year the kids are a little bigger, can try more things, and enjoy it even more than the year before.  I taught Brody this year that we can't pick green pumpkins because they are not ready or ones with holes in them because they are yucky. He followed those rules to a t and picked out a great pumpkin this year.  It was so great that even the squirrels enjoyed a few bites of it on our porch!

Boo at the Zoo was fun as always, a little cold this year but the kids did not seem to mind.  Both kids definitely get the "trick or treat" thing now and did very well getting candy and saying "thank you".  Unfortunately our real trick or treat got rained out but we went to our local Hy Vee grocery store and trick or treated there instead which was just as much fun and we stayed warm and dry.  We decided to hit up both the Hy Vee's closest to our house to make up for not being able to trick or treat.  Between that and stopping at the grandparent's houses the kids have more than enough treats!!

Today Brody had his first classroom Halloween party.  It was so cute and so much fun!!  The kids did a parade around the school, sang Halloween songs, decorated pumpkins and made a pumpkin story.  Very cute!  Briana and I stayed and she was able to join in the fun as well.  I overheard Brody talking to Bryson (who is his best school friend) and he said "I am only dressed like Mickey Mouse but I am still TOTALLY Brody!" SO cute and funny!  I took the kids to a Halloween lunch at Chik-fil-a afterwards.  What a fun day!!

Things continue to go great for Brody.  He is doing well and school and I got to see first hand how well today when I was at school for his party. He has come such a long way with sitting on the carpet, following directions and listening.  It is great!!  He comes home once or twice a week with special rewards for good behavior at school!  Now if only he could listen that well at home! :)  He is now writing his name along with dozens of other letters and words.  He asks me all the time how to spell things.  My most recent favorite is when he wrote "Mom".  He is doing well with cutting and continues to absolutely love art. He enjoys preschool workbooks and loves mazes, same and different and matching.  He is such a bright little boy!  He is still so sweet and loving and loves to cuddle and snuggle.

Briana is every bit of two!  She loves to be independent and refuses help with most things.  She will sit in a high chair at home but refuses when we go out to eat which makes meals a little difficult.  On the other hand, she is absolutely hilarious right now!  The things she says and does make me laugh for days!  She loves to dress up and will wear random articles of clothing like my socks, Brody's hat and a winter glove and it is pretty funny to see.  She puts a blanket over her head and walks around the house walking into things and laughing the whole time.  She will do anything for a laugh and is a little class clown right now.  Her vocabulary just blows us away and she is talking in 7 to 10 word sentences right now.  She can be somewhat

shy around others but when she is with us she is a non stop chatter box!  We are doing a second session of music class that we started this week and she blows me away with how well behaved she is there and how great she listens.  We will continue going to library and art class starts up again next week.

I took Brody and Briana to the Jake and Sofia Pirate and Princess Adventure a few weeks ago at the iWireless Center.  I bough the tickets months ago and Daddy ended up being gone for a week to Colorado so Grandma Barb went to the show with us.  It was a great show and the kids were SO good!!  There was a surprise appearance by Cinderella and I got a little teary eyed watching Briana in absolute awe!!  So cute! Both kids loved the show!  Can't wait for Disney on Ice next month!!

We have a huge announcement in our family as Aunt Kimberly is having a BABY!!!  She told us back in August and it has been hard to be quiet as we are SO excited for her and Craig!  Brody is confident the baby is a boy and he thinks she should name him Bryson Jayden (friends from school of course) and Briana said she thought it was a boy too but changed her mind to girl yesterday and said she should name the baby "Toy" (gotta love two year olds!)  All the talk of Aunt Kim and the new baby definitely has our two asking for a sibling (hopefully they can just be content with a new cousin! :)  We are so thrilled for Kim and Craig and cannot wait to meet our new nephew or niece in April.  Congratulations again guys!!!