Hair!

 Look who's finally letting me do her hair! Hooray!

Don't you wish this was rotated correctly? Me too. We got a book from the library on drawing Pixar characters so I drew Woody and Paige drew Merida from Brave (obviously). 

Bonding Time

Owen and Paige's school has a great program that hosts monthly events for students and their Dads and this year Paige is old enough to attend. Last year they would go to school early for breakfast once a month but this year they've expanded to include a night event as well. Someone took these pictures of Pat and Paige having a potato sack race (Owen was there too but doesn't make an appearance here)! I get to hear all the stories but there aren't usually many pictures so I was excited to get these, they look like they're having so much fun!

10 Years!

Pat and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary last weekend by taking a trip to Nemacolin Resort in Pennsylvania. We got really lucky with the weather on Saturday considering it's the middle of November! We were excited to do some adventuring outside and signed up for the 40' ropes course and a 1,000' zip line. The pictures of the ropes course look really tame and even when we saw it we thought maybe it was the kids course? But when you actually get that high it's a whole different feeling. It felt great to complete the whole thing and the 1,000' zip line was no problem after that! Other than that, we spent some time walking around, exploring the hotel and it's fantastic art collection and eating some great food!

The front of the hotel

After dinner!

Pat posing in front of the ropes course

The ropes course.

Me, feeling a little unsure about the ascent.

Success!

First Haircut!

We decided it was time for Paige to get her first haircut! She'd actually been requesting one for quite awhile after accompanying the rest of us for awhile and seeing what it was all about. After I had to resort to letting Paige watch Claymation Christmas videos on Youtube to get the knots out of her curly hair I decided having her hair a little shorter wouldn't be such a bad thing... She asked to get her hair done at the salon I go to so her experience was very different from Owen's first haircut, especially since Paige was complimented for being the calmest kid to ever sit in the stylist's chair. We didn't get a lot cut off and with her curly hair you can't even tell she got it cut but I'm glad we did it anyway. She loved the whole experience!

Before the haircut and a little unsure...

Paige thoroughly enjoyed staring at herself in the mirror.

Finally giving in to the excitement!

Dancing!

Usually when I want to see what Paige is doing at dance class I have to look in through a window that all the parents are crowded around. Last month, however, we were all invited into the room for one class! It was actually really exciting to see what happens up close. All the kids personalities changed too, some shy ones were all crazy because their parents were there, some outgoing ones got shy because more people were watching. Paige was Paige, she did great!  

Paige!

I think Paige was feeling extra feisty this day.

Book Club!

Owen has taken it upon himself to form a book club. I'm proud to be one of the very first members and am really enjoying what his book club has to offer: cozy reading nooks, free bookmarks and a nice selection of Magic Treehouse books. New members are always welcome!

Racing!

Owen and Paige's school held a fitness day last weekend that included a 5k, a 1 mile race and a kid's run. Owen signed up for the 1 mile and was very nervous the morning of, even saying he didn't want to go. We talked him through it and reminded him it was totally fine to be nervous/excited and not to worry about winning (because, ahem, I reminded him that I never win but that's not why I run...). Anyway, turns out that Owen did win the race! We were all crazy impressed/surprised/proud of him for doing such a good job. Paige did the kid's fun run and managed to impress as well! She ran the entire time with a smile on her face, it was so fun to watch!

Getting ready at the starting line!

Fun times waiting for Owen to finish his race.

About to cross the finish line!!

Paige showing off her running shoes before her race.

The runners after their races.

Paige's apple heart.

Owen's first place medal!

Mapleside Farms!

We almost missed going to Mapleside Farms this year but got lucky with the weather on Sunday and decided to head over there. We got lucky because it was half price and they were using a trebuchet to launch pumpkins! Super fun! We watched that for awhile then headed over to the playground/giant pillow jumpy area. After that we went down the giant slide, got through the super muddy corn maze, and rode in the Moo-lar Express. Kettle corn and hot chocolates tided us over long enough for another round of jumping and then we headed home. It was a beautiful day! (Pictures from two years ago)

Waiting for the pumpkin launch

Corn Maze!

Moo-lar Express

This picture makes it look like we were the only ones there. Not so. 

See! Beautiful!

October Is Over!

Here are pictures from October that I didn't post with anything else. Enjoy.

This picture is upside down and I am not going to go through the hassle of rotating it (it actually is a hassle, it's not like I'm refusing to push one button). This was a craft with the kids, you have them make fists then paint them orange and have them smoosh them on a paper. The smaller the hand the better it works. I did one too and it looked ridiculous.

Paige and Reed contemplating the beauty of the earth...or something...

Me and Paige!

Owen all ready for movie night-Hotel Transylvania!

Kids were supposed to dress up for the last day of soccer in something they could still run around in. Paige dressed up as Tinkerbell. Sort of.

Pumpkin Carving

I seriously need to wrap up this October business...soon, I promise! So maybe my parents can refresh my memory on this one but I remember looking forward to pulling pumpkin guts out every year when we carved our pumpkins. My kids? Not so much. They each got a scoop and when I suggested they use their hands they both thought that idea was not so great. Sigh. We collaborated on what shapes would be used for which features and you can see the final result at the bottom!

Ready to scoop!

Sketching out the face.

Ready to carve!

I should not have used the Sports section to put under the pumpkin...Owen was very distracted...

I'm not sure what's happening here but I like Paige's expression!