Trick Or Treat

We had a really nice Halloween day.  We started out the Halloween fun with costumes and a visit to our favourite art gallery for some art projects and face painting.  I love the sassy fairy pose both girls have adopted when their costumes are on.

 

Once we got home it was time to carve the pumpkins.  Granda came out to visit and was a big help!  Every year we make Kyle stick his hand in the pumpkin for a picture, he can't stand the feeling of having his hand in there (yeah, I know, parenting at it's best...but it does make for a funny picture). 

And finally it was time to bundle up (we had snow this morning!) for trick or treating.  Here are the kids with their many layers all ready to go.  And of course the annual dumping of the bags onto the kitchen table at the end of the night, always far too much candy (and yet we manage to get through it all, hmmmm).

Fairies live in my house

Leah put on her Halloween costume for a party at her friend's house.  Once Leah found out Jillian would be Tinker Bell for Halloween it was settled, Leah wanted to be a fairy too.  Since purple is her favourite colour I went out to find all the purple accessories to make the perfect purple fairy costume.  And she loves it!

 

And here's a preview of Tinker Bell from when Jillian went to a Halloween themed birthday party of a classmate.  She insisted on having blond hair just like Tink so I found this wig and she loves it.

sisters

Jillian and Leah are really cute together, it's neat to see their sister relationship evolve now that Leah isn't a baby anymore.  Two years ago it was always Kyle+Jillian together and then the baby.  Now it seems more often than not the girls will play together and Kyle does his own thing (by his own thing I really mean playing DS or reading...the reading happens mainly when I won't let him play DS anymore).

Aren't they just the cutest together?

potty trained

I can hardly believe it!  Leah is doing so well.  We transitioned out of pullups a few weeks ago and so far the accidents are few and far between.  Leah has even started giving us warning before she has to go (and I'm once again experiencing the joy of visiting every public washroom when we are out, love that two year old sized bladder).  She's still in pullups for nap and bedtime, but otherwise it's underwear all the way. 

Leah tells me all the time now that she's a big girl.  And she really is getting so big.  This is such a milestone to have Leah potty trained.  I had only brief moments in time without diapers...by the time Kyle and Jillian were each out of them, there was a baby on the way so I was stocking up on newborn and size 1 diapers whenever they went on sale.  To have Leah out of diapers and pullups throughout the day is yet another leap out of babyhood for us.

I wonder how much longer I'll still have the urge to stock up on diapers/pullups when I see them on sale?

how cool is this place?

This is the Cheltenham Badlands.  It's a very cool place to run and slide and my kids love playing here.

 Jillian may be a true girly-girl who loves pink, princesses and wears dresses and skirts almost all the time...but she's also happy to be outside having fun.  She doesn't mind getting dirty and loves to play in the backyard catching bugs.

Is it any surprise most of Kyle's clothes never make it to hand-me-downs?

playdough

The girls love playdough. I love how it keeps them happily occupied for a long time. And I love seeing how they come up with new ideas each time.

visiting Nana and Granda

apple picking

It's become a fun family tradition...each fall we visit the apple orchard to pick apples, go on a tractor ride and visit the pumpkin patch. Lots of fun was had by all on this year's trip to a local orchard. Kyle and Jillian picked almost all the apples which filled our bag, they did a great job finding the best apples!

First we had playtime on the hay and visited with farm animals. Then it was through the corn maze and into the pumpkin patch.

Picking apples was fun for everyone, and there's nothing quite like eating an apple freshly picked from the tree. Leah ate the whole thing (core and all!). 

 

 

 

what a preschooler does with the craft table scissors

Yes, it is my fault for leaving the rounded child scissors on the craft table as easy access for the kids when they are doing crafts.  I've learned my lesson, they are now kept in a drawer out of Leah's reach.

So now instead of sporting her cute bangs, I keep Leah's hair clipped to the side...which is just as cute in my humble mommy opinion!!