Dad and Tammie came to visit twice this month! The first visit, we went to the Apple Festival in Cleveland (25ish minutes from here). Olivia had a blast. She got her face painted for the first time:
It was a gorgeous day. There was a small petting zoo, but she was a little afraid of the animals. She loved riding this "train," which was a barrel cut in half pulled by a tractor:
She rode it 3 times! So nice to be close enough for family to visit for a couple of days!
Their second visit involved lots of painting (ha!), which I will explain in a future post! ;)
The next weekend (Oct. 21st), we closed on our house in Dayton. The moving company couldn't schedule us until Monday (24th). Sooooo, we had a whole weekend with an empty house, which just so happens to be the best time to paint! We love the house we bought and the previous owners took very good care of it. They just had some paint colors that weren't our style, so we painted FIVE rooms and a hallway. Wow. It fits us so much better now, but I really don't want to see a paint can in the near future. Luckily, we had help- Dad and Tammie painting, and Mamaw and Papaw watching Olivia! Perfect. We still have a few things to finish in the house, then I'll put up some before and after pictures.
We did manage to see Disney on Ice amidst the chaos of moving:
Nemo was a favorite! If you've ever been to one of these performances, you know about the (extremely overpriced) "merchandise" that is EVERYWHERE. Light-up twirly things, Mickey dolls, balloons, you name it. We were so proud of Olivia, she walked right by it and didn't even mention getting anything. However, during intermission, she noticed the cotton candy. The only thing she asked for, so she got it- complete with a Mickey Mouse ear crown:
She said she liked it, but she was a little scared of Beast (as in Beauty and the Beast) and there were a couple of really loud noises that frightened her. Added to that was the fact that we had spent the previous night in a hotel (we went on Wednesday, Monday and Tuesday we stayed in a hotel, because our beds weren't set up!). She will probably enjoy it more next year.
She also had Wild West Day at school(this was Thursday of moving week- notice the cardboard attached to the floor!):
She's been saying "Yee-haw" ever since.
Then there's Halloween. I love Halloween, especially with Olivia. She went back and forth on several costumes (a pirate, a pirate-princess, Dora, you name it), until she saw this picture in a magazine:
A Swan Princess. And that was it. She wanted to be a swan princess. The costume pictured is hand-made. You could buy your own for $480 (!!!!) OR, you could attempt a swan costume by yourself. Guess which one we did? Here is our version of the Swan Princess (which I kept in the back of my car for 2 weeks, afraid it would get lost in the shuffle of moving):
Those wings are pretty much hot-glued to the shirt, with a few stitches here and there. Her favorite part about the whole costume? The eye make-up:
Her preschool teacher invited us to Trunk or Treat at their church. There really aren't any neighborhoods in this area with houses close enough together for successful trick or treating, so Trunk or Treat seems to be the way to go. Here she is with her teacher (a little afraid of her clown costume!):
She had a great time! The merchants in downtown Dayton also hand out candy, so we went there for a few minutes, too. By that point it was getting dark, so we headed home (much to Olivia's dismay). I tried to get a picture of her with Michael and I and this was the best I got:
Do we look tired or what?! We are ready to be settled (finally). One good thing about an empty living/dining room- a great place to dump and count Halloween candy!
One of my favorite things about our new house is the view. We have already seen a few beautiful sunrises:
The Fall colors have been gorgeous this year, too. I see some landscape photography in my future, ha!
I will leave you with 2 short ballet videos. Olivia has mastered marching:
However, skipping is still a challenge:
Have a good week!
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