Halloween fun

Yesterday we carved pumpkins. Caylin requested a cinderella pumpkin and Aiana carved her own. Anika did not want anything to do with them other than just watch.

After carving we seasoned up the seeds and roasted them.

We then got ready for Caylin's school hat parade. She and Anika painted with sponges and glitter. After all her hard work, she had a night of terrible sniffles and it was decided that she was going to have to miss school. So Mimi saved the day and said she would come over to watch a hat parade here at our house! I quickly made Anika's hat so she could march with Caylin in the parade. Caylin was so excited and forgot all about school. She marched all around the front yard.

Back to school night

Back to school night fell on a very busy weekend. But we were able to make it long enough to check out Caylin's cool classroom. She loves school again this year and is learning so much. She comes home every week teaching us new sign language and songs. I love how proud she is to show us around.

Sunbutter lover

She may not be able to have peanuts but she loves sunbutter!

Mother daughter tea

Aiana's small group had a mother daughter tea the other night. All the moms and daughters got together for a Mary K facial party. It was such a pleasure to be out with my big girl. I love her so very much!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Well I didn't make it out to the patch I wanted to visit because it was just too darn hot. So we settled for a local patch that was at least better than a parking lot pumpkin patch. But still very hot and dusty. But the girls enjoyed a tractor ride and a corn maze where Caylin was amuzed by the corn.

Thank goodness for our neighborhood cat...

Because mama will not get a cat, but the girls love cats and dogs. So I just let them love on the neighbors animals. They love Tiger who comes to visit everyday.

When we want a quick getaway

We go for a walk in our backyard.

More Fall fun

I love the smells of Fall...pumpkin, cinnamon, etc...So I was excited to try this cinnamon play dough recipe! Caylin had a blast making "cookies" with this yummy smelling play dough for daddy with Fall leaf and pumpkin cookie cutters. Then, of course, after "making cookies" Caylin pretended the play dough was her baby.

Cinnamon Play Dough

Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup salt
5 teaspoons cinnamon (I also added all spice)
2 tablespoons of oil
1 cup warm water
2 or 3 drops of food coloring

Instructions
Combine dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
Add the oil and food coloring to the water before adding to the dry ingredient mixture.
Keep stirring until the dough forms a ball.
If the mixture seems too dry, add a small amount of water. If the mixture seems too sticky, try adding a bit of flour.
Knead the cinnamon dough mixture on a lightly floured surface until it becomes pliable.

We also had a yummy baking day. We made gluten/egg free pumpkin bread that was actually pretty tasty. I just followed the recipe on the back of the Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Flour and substituted pumpkin for bananas. Also sprinkled brown sugar on the top. Since we use an egg alternative, the girls went to town on the batter (with out worrying about salmonella, which I sure don't remember worrying about as a kid, but whatever).

Some funnies:

Me: Caylin you smell like cinnamon!

Caylin: Yeah, cause I been a mommy.

Anika came out with a box of tampons wanting to open them like they were food and Caylin said "Those aren't treats, those are knee pads"

Can you tell which one is the real grandpa Dave?

What a way to make friends

We had some friends over for dinner for the first time last night. Caylin was so excited to have their little son over, who is about 2 years younger than she is. She told me how excited she was to have "her little brother" over. We were enjoying our evening and the kids were playing great, when their little guy came in and said "she said she wants to smell my butt".

Yeah, little embarassing! We had to explain that she has probably heard dad tell Anika the same words when needing to check for a dirty diaper, and that Caylin LOVES to pretend that all kids younger than her are her baby! Thank goodness we were all able to get a good laugh out of that!...Now if this behavior continues into the teen years we'll be a little worried!

Silly girl

Whenever I put this silly girl down for bed, she always whispers "I lub ew". I won't miss the messes she makes, but I sure will miss that sweet little whisper.

At least once a day...

Caylin puts her baby down for a nap. She closes the blinds, turns on the fan, and shuts the door. Oh what a good mama she'll be one day :)

Fall Fever

We are going through our first round of Fall colds. I fought it for 2 days, then Anika for 2 days, now Caylin's on her 2nd, and hopefully last, day with a fever. Yesterday we handled our cabin fever by diving into Fall a little. We went out and bought a couple pumpkins to decorate the front along with a couple scarecrows, and a few little crafts.