Okay, I know you guys were so upset that I lost a card full of pictures (because clearly I didn’t have enough from October already, right? ;) ), but you’ll be glad to know we found it! (And the crowd goes wild — or, rather, Talie goes wild!)
I’m sad that October is over because each year it always brings big milestones with it. This year was no exception, although I do feel like now that E.V. is old enough to really interact with the world around her, we also did a lot MORE stuff in October than we have in previous years. It was a jam-packed 31 days, so now onto the three-week lull before the Christmas madness begins.
Just so I can put a mental punctuation on October and all of the memories we created, here is my final catch up:
I wrote about our time at Burt’s Farm a few days ago, and here are the last few images as promised. (Yessss!)
Emma Vance’s preschool hosted their fall Picture Day in October. I was too cheap to pay for an official image, but I figured I should at least participate and take E.V.’s picture on Picture Day. Here’s what happens when your toddler doesn’t understand what, “Smile and say cheese!” means. We’re working on that monster grin, but for now it cracks me up!
P.S. E.V. ruins shoes in about 1.2 seconds, and since tiny shoes are so cute, I always have to snap a shot before they turn into what IG resellers call “play condition” — i.e. “trashed.” Ha!
I also figured Cricket should participate in Picture Day. Too bad she crawled herself off the bed about two minutes before I tried to take her picture. (See that red bump on her forehead? Oops.) She didn’t feel like cooperating. I don’t blame her, but I had to try…
Even Emma Vance wanted Cricket to have a good picture, so she tried to help out. However, I think having E.V. “help” her made Cricket’s morning go from bad to worse. ;)
Our quiet, convenient Whole Foods closed a few weeks ago, and the new flagship location at Avalon (a new, huge, beautiful outdoor shopping center) opened. I almost cried when I walked in: It was the most beautiful grocery store ever (they have a wine and tapas bar!) but having it as my main place to shop is scary. (Let’s just focus on one thing to start: PARKING.) Anyways, Ryan, the girls and I went for the Grand Opening, and it was full of events and energy. We had a great time! I accosted the Applegate Farms rep (because I love their products and trust them implicitly), and we became fast friends. She gave us a ton of stuff, including a hotdog-themed coloring book that my little artist is obsessed with. (Oh, the random obsessions of toddlers!) She works on it every day, concentrating really hard like coloring the dang thing is her life’s purpose.
Meanwhile, Cricket just watches her and chews on crayons… 
We visited a ton of pumpkin patches in October, and E.V. now refers to any grouping of orange gourds as a “punkin patch.” Ha! One of our favorite activities was a Halloween-themed story and craft time at the church’s pumpkin patch where E.V. goes to preschool. Ryan was working that particular morning, so I flew solo with the girls. (Let’s just say they came back muddy and exhausted — but not as muddy and exhausted as I was!) Afterwards, the hostess gave the kids treat bags, and Emma Vance got a ring pop, which made it her best day ever. Cricket picked out a couple of mini pumpkins, which we brought home. (I figure that “You Chew It, You Bought It.”)
When we got home, Ryan took a break from editing, and these two proved to me that a heart can melt in about 0.3 seconds when there’s a perfect storm of love and cuteness.
The girls fell in love with those mini pumpkins we got at story time and played with them constantly! Emma Vance also has a fascination with watching cars and trucks drive by Amityville (and trying to get them to honk or wave). Put those two things together and you have our average October afternoon…
Oh, and on this particular afternoon we went to Scottsdale Farms to, yes, another pumpkin patch. So I guess mini pumpkins + car watching + a pumpkin patch really, really represented our average October afternoon. (Although by this time we were all pumpkin’d out, so we just took a hayride, got E.V.’s face painted and enjoyed walking around.)
Emma Vance is quite the creative problem solver, and so this month she figured out how to create stairs up to our table on the back porch. I let her play outside “alone,” and on this particular day, I saw her magically floating in the kitchen window eating her hotdog in midair. I ran out in confusion and couldn’t help but die laughing. I’ve had to be very careful now, but I was very impressed with her resourcefulness. (She likes to sit up there now and peer over into The Russians’ yard, waiting for their little girls to come outside.)
Oh, and here’s Smiles getting SO excited to be playing outside in the driveway while Ryan packed gear for a shoot. He’s always super busy, which is why we LOVE having him office from home. Although he was working, the girls still got to be with him, which is important to us. Plus Cricket got to scoop up pine straw while she watched Ryan, which she loved.
Oh, and meanwhile apparently E.V. scooped up a screw to play with. OOPS!
Okay, that’s it for October, folks! It was fun, but it’s over. Thankfully (even though it’s been SO cold the past few days here in Georgia) it’s still autumn out, so I don’t have to go cold turkey. (November-themed pun intended.) Happy Fall, y’all!
