Halloween and other festivities!

The weekend after we got back from visiting Granny, Olivia reminded me that I told her we would try to go to a pumpkin patch close to our house.  So we loaded up after church and headed to Old MacDonald's farm.  It was a gorgeous day, which meant it was super crowded!  We hit the corn play areas first:

Then moved to the slide and petting zoo:

Daddy may or may not have went down the slide with Livi and busted the seat of his pants.  Luckily for Daddy, things like that don't bother him (especially in hypothetical situations).

Paige was not cooperating for pictures!  Too much to look at:

This was the best picture of the two of them:

Not my best, ha! 
There were large tables set up with birdseed for the kids to play.  Olivia liked it, so I sat Paige in it, thinking it would be a good sensory experience (if I could keep it out of her mouth!).  She flipped out!  Then she would cry if we got near it.  It was comical:

We had so much fun, we decided to carve our pumpkins later that week. 

Naturally, Olivia wanted a Cinderella pumpkin.  I'm actually pretty proud of it!  Michael enjoyed seeing one of his children use a power tool:

Olivia's dance class participated in Dayton's Pumpkin Fest last weekend.  They did a tap dance and a pom-pom/baton dance.  They wore their Halloween costumes and Olivia was so excited:

That's not a super tall 5 year old.  One girl got stage fright, so the teacher's helper filled in for their partner work.

Michael videoed the performance, but it's almost 8 minutes long.  I'm sure we can arrange it if anyone would like to see it!

That brings us to Halloween:

We stayed in Dayton this year and hit up our neighbors and a few neighborhoods of friends.  Olivia and Paige were both thrilled with the loot:

And just like that, October is over!  Looking forward to Thanksgiving, a 1st birthday, and Christmas!

Fall Fun

We've had a great start to Fall!  Michael was out of town at a conference for a few days.  When he was on his way home, Olivia decided we should all dress up like princesses to surprise him.   That included me- I had to put on a long dress, since I couldn't fit into any of her dress up clothes.  Then she loaded us up with crowns, necklaces, etc.  It was cute, so I had her sit beside Paige and I to take a picture:

Then Olivia said: "Take a picture of me hugging Paige."

Ha!  Paige looks thrilled.

Olivia's social calendar has kept us busy.  She's been invited to 4 birthday parties in the past 3 weeks.  One party was a circus theme with games (and prizes!) set up.  Olivia loved it!

Paige continues to get into anything and everything:

I turned on the shower to warm up and she crawled right in:

She is still not a fan of her car seat.  One day while I was getting gas, I was making faces at her through the window.  This is the look I got:

I gave Olivia my old wallet for her purse and Paige found it yesterday:

This past weekend, we went to visit Granny and go to Fender's Farm with her church.  The girls had a blast!

Paige and I only made it through half the corn maze, so we hung out with some scarecrows and swings while we waited:

There was a petting zoo, so Olivia was happy:

Although the highlight for her was the zip line and sunken bouncy house:

They both loved this PVC slide:

Paigey was getting sleepy by this point:

Olivia was worn out, too:

We headed back to Elizabethton and had a quick visit at Pal's house.  Pal gave me his mother's antique sewing machine table.  He held Paige while Dad and I loaded it in the van:

Then we headed back to Mom's and visited with Lilo, Papaw, and Uncle Al.  Fun trip!
Mom saves everything and Olivia pulled out my old cheerleading uniforms:

(That skirt is not buttoned or zipped and the top was cutting me in two, but Olivia really wanted us to both be in uniform for a "cheer show.").  She was cracking us up with her cheers.

Some random pictures from the past couple of weeks: