HaPpY hAlLoWeEn!!!

Here's our little Minnie Mouse! We were not sure how Annabel would take to the trick-or-treating because she's a little weary of strange things and people right now, but I guess I underestimated the power of free candy! She and Brooklyn went out together, and the just marched up to each door and said "trick-or-treat!" and usually even "thank you." They were scared a few times by some of the decorations, and at times some of the bigger kids in scary costumes, but all in all they did great! We were only out for about a half hour, but that works for us..... she got plenty of candy, even in that short time. Annabel's third Halloween was a huge success!

Annabel and Brooklyn getting ready to go

I took about a dozen of these shots, and in at least half of them these two clowns were making silly faces. They crack me up. :)

....and they're off!

Annabel and Brooklyn with our neighbors, Nathan and Abby. Nathan was a knight in shining armor (and prince!) and Abby was "Fancy Nancy"

Brooklyn was a very pretty Cinderella

Taylor was a casual observer for the night.... she was a good little trick-or-treater, even if she didn't get any of the candy.

It has been another incredible fall weekend in Indiana, and we have definitely been enjoying it! This weekend Nate went out to Death Valley, CA to ride in a 100 mile ride for juvenile diabetes research (riding 90 miles of it in 105 degree heat - not bad for someone who's only been in training for about 3 months!), so Annabel and I decided to go up to Lafayette for the weekend. It's been a while since we went for a long visit and could make some of the family rounds, so it's been nice seeing everyone.

On Saturday morning we went to the Purdue Homecoming tailgate with Annabel's cousins, Hannah and Abby.... there was a birthday cake at our tailgate, so Annabel thought that was pretty great - it's not every day that a 2 year-old gets to have cake at 10 in the morning! We hung out with them until it was nap time, and had a lot of fun trying to keep up with the big girls. That afternoon we went to a pumpkin patch with Grandma and Grandpa and helped them pick out the perfect pumpkins. There were lots of fun things to do at this pumpkin patch, so we spent a while there playing in hay mounds and things like that. That's where most of the pictures in this post came from. Today (Sunday) has been pretty quiet...... church in the morning and then lunch back and Grandma and Grandpa's house (or Woody's house, as Annabel calls it - Woody is their dog). Right now Annabel is napping, and we're waiting for her Great Grandma to come over and play after she wakes up from her nap. Then we're headed home! It's a lot of fun crammed into one weekend, but we've enjoyed it!

Annabel has always been timid with animals at the petting zoos we've been to, but out of nowhere she found a new braver side of herself. She just marched into the pen where these goats were kept, and went around petting all of them!

Favorite part of the pumpkin patch? The big hay mound for sure!

This was a big bunch of hay headed in my direction!

Riding in the wagon with the "perfect pumpkin"

She also found a "baby" sized pumpkin that she could carry

Checking out the prospects with Grandma

"I do it myself!"

Hanging out at grandma and grandpa's house, pushing them on the swing. She helped them go "real high!"