Pumpkin Patch, Pretend Play, Appleseed Day, and R.A.O.K.

 Well fall is officially here! Although it was almost 80 degrees when we ventured out to Black's Farm this past weekend with a bunch of our buddies to let the kids see the animals, go on a hayride, wander through a corn maze and a hay bale maze, and take lots of photos! See for yourself! What a great tradition with our original QCP crew!

 This is such a cute outfit from Camp Nan and Pap that Riley still loves to dress up and wear as he pretends to go on "Bear Hunts" around the house. Thanks Nan and Pap for the hours of fun these props have provided for our little explorer!

 I orchestrated a pretend dress up day myself on Friday, Sept. 27th as we celebrated Johnny Appleseed's Birthday! The kids and I got dressed up in plaid shirts and jeans or overalls and put pots on our heads (Riley's was the only one that really fit though!).  We then ate all kinds of apple treats--like crockpot applesauce, apple smiles, and apple chips (the previous two are pictured below).

 Riley thought it was especially neat that if you slice an apple horizontally, you'll find a star hidden inside! So when it was time for Maggie's morning nap, he and I did some apple star stamping and several other Johnny Appleseed crafts including an Apple Tree blessing made from fingerprints, apple tree math, color-by-number, and label the parts of Johnny sheet. It was an exciting morning!

 Here's a picture of my 2 little monkeys with some masks that they found in Mommy's old school stuff!

 We did another canvas print this year to add to our Halloween decor on the mantle. Last year, we did the Boo ghost footprints and this year we did the handprint "spider" which kind of turned out looking like a cross between a bat and a bird, but oh well! We tried! :)

 Last Friday, we randomly went to the York County Natural Gas Customer Appreciation event in Rock Hill. The e-mail mentioned there would be trucks.  So Riley and Maggie wore their "trucker" shirts from last year's Come See Me Truck Event. I was hoping for at least a few big rigs, but all they had for the kids to see was 1 van and a couple of cars! So that was a bummer, but at least Mommy got free barbecue and the kids got to eat their picnic lunch I had packed along with a few free snacks from the event as well. And we met several nice people along the way! So it wasn't a total waste!

Speaking of nice people, this month's character focus that I'm working with the kids on is kindness, (specifically using kind words and actions towards others.) Two weeks ago, we wrote our mail lady a thank you note and Riley wanted to give her some candy in the envelope. So here he is with the candy in his hand and a smile on his face! The following week, we packed a goody bag for our trash collector. Riley got a little freaked out by the noise of his truck as it went to grab our trash can, but I was eventually able to get him to get close enough to hand the nice man the Ziplock bag of snacks and candy. Our neighborhood has been participating in the "You've Been Boo-ed" treat bag tradition. So we got "boo-ed" with a basket full of treats on Sunday and were able to in turn "boo" two other families. I loved watching Riley "sneak" up on the houses using his tip-toes! He wasn't exactly quiet as he crunched on every leaf possible and laughed out loud, but it was cute! 

We're going to try and visit a nursing home in the next week or so to continue our Random Acts of Kindness. It's been an important reminder to me as well that no matter who you meet or see, there's always time to be kind! 

This is a picture of Maggie doing what she does best when she's tired and wants to be held. Most of the time this pose is accompanied by loud whining and "uh, uh, uh" noises. But just this past Sunday, Oct. 13th, Maggie began to really put together 2 word phrases. We believe she is saying "hold me" (although sometimes it sounds like "hold you") and she says "help me" (minus the actual "h" sound) whenever she wants to get up on the couch or needs help getting a toy out of the toy box. She'll also sign and say "thank you" which is really sweet to see. Another hilarious Maggie antic these days is that whenever I announce the supper is ready, that girl makes a beeline to her highchair just as fast as she can! She gets a big smile on her face and says "up" (or "dup") over and over until you put her in! She's got a thing for food, who can blame her. And she must be going through a growth spurt because this child is about to eat us out of house and home! Between Riley (who says he's hungry 5 minutes after he's finished breakfast or lunch) and her, it's a wonder there is any food left!

Well, the kiddos are waking from their usual nap from 1:30-3:30, so I better put a halt to my blogging for now and actually go participate in real life. We'll make some more memories though and be back soon, don't worry!