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From the day after Halloween last year (maybe even before that) Maya has been adamant that she wanted to be “swimming” Ariel for Halloween this year. And by “swimming” she of course meant Ariel in her mermaid form. She has been so anxious for this day to finally arrive so she could put on her costume and go trick or treating. I think today felt like a pretty long day to her as she waited and waited (as patiently as she could) for evening to roll around.
This year we headed over to our friends Nick and Erin’s house to go trick or treating with them. Maya enjoyed having a few little friends to enjoy the whole experience with.
She ended up with a pretty good little pumpkin full of candy. I know she is already dreaming about next Halloween 
Next year we’ll have two little munchkins running around the neighborhood. This year Anna wasn’t all that impressed with getting dressed up. Although, she did enjoy the snuggly little ride around the neighborhood in the ERGO!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween and your kiddos enjoyed the trick or treating experience as much as Maya did.
I’ve got one excited little girl running around my house today. The anticipation of this evening’s festivities are just too much. The waiting is too long. She just wants to put on her “swimming Ariel” costume, grab her bright pink trick-or-treat pumpkin and head out the door. And really, who can blame her 
I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween and your ghouls and goblins have a blast when they head out this evening for a little trick-or-treating.
Happy Halloween
I’ve never been super into Halloween. I remember enjoying it as a kid, getting dressed up and trick-or-treating. But, as an adult I could always sort of take it or leave it, except for the roasted pumpkin seeds, gotta have those. I don’t think I’ve ever dressed up for Halloween as an adult. Now that I have kiddos, however, Halloween has taken on a whole new meaning.
Maya LOVES Halloween. She starts thinking about what she wants to be for the next Halloween on November 1st! The candy is still in her trick-or-treat bag, the decorations still up and she is already planning her next costume. And boy does she get excited once she knows Halloween is just around the corner! We’ve been counting down sleeps for over a month now. She woke up this morning and said she had a dream about trick-or-treating and it was making her so super excited for Halloween to get here
Yesterday I took the girls out after dinner to pick out our pumpkin. Thanks to waiting until the last minute I managed to get 2 pumpkins for the price of one (sweet, twice as many pumpkin seeds!!). Maya had fun searching for the perfect pumpkin to make her “silly happy face” jack-o-lantern.
So, with our 2 pumpkins in hand we set to work tonight carving our jack-o-lanterns.
Maya wasn’t all that interested in helping out with pulling out the gross innards, but she agreed to pretend for a picture.
Anna sat back and watched and cheered us on with a few squeals (her latest trick). I can just imagine the commotion next year when she is big enough to be in the thick of it.
Lorne busted out his jigsaw again this year for the carving. Sadly, I did not get a picture of it this time.
Our finished jack-o-lanterns turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. Maya was very happy with her “silly happy face” pumpkins
I’m looking forward to Maya’s little Halloween party at school tomorrow and to a little trick-or-treating with my girls on Monday. Halloween through the eyes of children takes on a whole new, and enjoyable, meaning.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some roasted pumpkin seeds calling my name
The Missouri Botanical Gardens is one of my favorite places in St. Louis. The acres and acres of flowers, trees and vegetation right in the midst of the city are so peaceful, relaxing and inspiring. It just so happens that Maya adores going to the “Tanical Gardens” as she refers to them, so we find ourselves there quite often.
This Saturday we decided to take advantage of what promised to be a gorgeous, crisp morning and headed to the Gardens for a morning of stopping to smell the roses and running around the Children’s Garden.
The rose garden was beautiful with lots of wonderfully scented roses still in bloom. Maya had fun sniffing all the different colored roses and telling us what she thought they smelled like, things like strawberries, blueberries and cupcakes
After spending some time in the rose garden we slowly made our way to Maya’s favorite part of the Botanical Gardens, The Children’s Garden. We spent about an hour running around the children’s section watching her climb everything she could, put on a puppet show for us and spend some time in the pretend general store.
Anna spent the whole morning partaking in her favorite activity, sleeping soundly in the ERGO carrier with her face pressed firmly against me. I don’t know why she likes to sleep that way, but she does it whether I’m holding her and rocking her to sleep or she is sleeping in the carrier. The little imprints she gets on her nose and chin are too cute.
It was a gorgeous morning at the gardens spending time together as a family and making the most of a fabulous autumn morning here in St. Louis.
One of my favorite things about Autumn is heading to the apple orchard. We have a great farm here in the St. Louis area, Eckert’s which is the perfect spot to do a little apple picking. We try to head out at least once every year.
Maya loves apple picking. I can remember, as a kid, loving our yearly treks as a family to the apple orchard. We’d pick copious amounts of apples and get lots of apple crisp desserts in the weeks that followed
Yesterday, we got together with some great friends and headed to the apple orchard. The day was a gem. Perfect fall temperatures and lots of sun. The kids all had a great time picking apples, especially those high in the trees since that meant being lifted way up in the air by dad. We didn’t pick a ton of apples since it was golden and red delicious in season and I’m not a big fan of either. We’re planning on heading back later in the month to pick my absolute favorite fuji apples.
Maya loved checking out all the pumpkins, gourds and of course, eating apples. She also had a great time pushing her little shopping cart around the country store and picking out a few homemade goodies to take home.
Anna decided that the apple orchard was a great place for a snuggly little nap in the ergo carrier. She spent the entire 3 hours we were there just like this, sound asleep.
It ended up being a perfect little family adventure. I can’t wait to go back later in the season for a little more apple picking and to pick out our Halloween pumpkin.