Here's our little sweet pea all ready for Halloween! I know a lot of people have been dressing their daughters in tutus this year, but it really made the most sense for Rosalie, since she already has plenty of bodysuits and leg warmers. In any case, she sure does make a cute mini ballerina!



I just love all her different facial expressions! She was pretty interested in both the bright green grass and her shiny tutu, so I had to enlist Tim's help in getting her to look in the general direction of the camera.

This shot was Tim's idea, and I think it turned out great! What a sweet, little girl!

Now here's a costume you definitely don't see every day, though! As I pondered what Joseph should be for Halloween, my mind kept coming back to the fact that there's just nothing he loves better than numbers. I wondered if I could make him a number costume, but since I'm not a particularly talented seamstress, it took a lot of head scratching on my part to think of something that would both look decent and not be too hard to make.

In the end, I'm pretty proud of the way it turned out, and Joseph is extremely excited about dressing as a big number 8! I sewed it together really well (unlike Rosalie's tutu), so it should be something he can play with in the days to come!

After our little back yard photo shoot, we headed off to the trunk-or-treat down at our church. Here's our traditional green machine monster...



Joseph opening his Halloween card from Grandma and Grandpa Gedlaman...



and Rosalie checking hers out in the usual baby fashion, by tasting!



Speaking of tasting, I think these shots speak for themselves in describing how Joseph felt about tasting cotton candy for the first time. It's possible he's finally found something he likes even better than numbers!



Meanwhile, here's Rosalie hanging out and making friends inside the trunk-or-treat carnival!



Joseph had the most fun inside before it got too crowded. Here he is climbing on and off this little stage (with his cotton candy, of course)...

and throwing a bean bag at this green target (after he got knocked over and inadvertently sat on his cotton candy in the process, poor guy)! It's getting pretty late now, but we're hoping to make it through to the actual trunk-or-treating. It's been nice to be able to spend this Halloween night all together!

Here's our little smartypants showing off his developing pattern skills. It's hard to believe he's not even three years old yet!

I've been madly working on Rosalie's Halloween costume this afternoon, and she's having a lot fun playing with these strips of tulle. They're so light and, of course, have an interesting texture. We sure love watching her learn and explore her world!

Today, the Houstons met us at church to visit their old ward (they actually used to live in our same neighborhood) and then came home with us for a couple hours as part of their trip back home from AZ to PA. Here are the kids exploring a bit after their arrival!

Jonathan was pretty excited to meet his cousin Rosalie and even spent a few minutes teaching her all about colors before it was time for her nap!

Some of the highlights of our afternoon were: unwinding from church together in the living/play room...

watching the locksmith unlock the Houstons' big van after the keys got accidentally locked inside...

listening to the ocean in Lindsay's seashells...

playing with the ever-popular alphabet magnets...

lots of chatting, of course...

reading (Jonathan read this entire book while they were here)...

decorating Halloween cookies with icing...



using lots and lots of sprinkles...

and hanging around outside by the sandbox!

Rosalie finally woke up just as the Houstons were getting ready to leave, so we couldn't resist snapping a few shots out by the van. Here are all the girls...

the two girl cousins...

and Rosalie recognizing a friendly, loving aunt when she sees one!

Joseph sure enjoyed having them all here, but I think he was particularly drawn to Allan. They spent some time together at church when Joseph needed a break from nursery and both Tim and I were teaching, and he just seemed to respond well to Allan's personality. We sure were grateful to be able to see the entire Houston family today!

Here we are at the pumpkin patch and harvest festival this afternoon out in Medina, TX! Joseph, Rosalie, and I were supposed to come here with friends a couple weeks ago, but it rained and we ended up at the zoo, instead. So we're glad to have had another chance today, and we've got Tim with us to boot! We headed straight to the pumpkin painting station, where Joseph is getting his first crack at using a paintbrush. He's really excited about using all the different colors, and about painting every part of the pumpkin, even the stem!





After leaving the pumpkin in the sun to dry, here we are at the hay maze! I tried going with Joseph at first, but as it turns out all he really wanted was for me to go away so he could do his own thing! Every once in a while he comes back to the entrance to check that Mommy, Daddy, Rosalie, and the big number 7 are still there, then he's back to running amok inside. I think he could keep it up all day!





Although Joseph has never shown a particular interest in horses he's seen in books or on the side of the road, we wondered if actually riding on one would afford him a little different perspective, so here he is on his very first pony ride! He only seemed nervous for a moment until the pony started moving, and now he's all smiles. I'm not sure he's going to be too happy about getting off!





Before heading back home, we couldn't resist taking a few shots with these fun photo ops! Poor Rosalie is getting tired, so she sure didn't like that scratchy hay on those delicate baby legs! All in all, though, it's been a fabulous autumn day out in the hill country!

Here's just a little update on Rosalie's developing eating skills (for grandmas and all other Rosalie groupies). She's tried sweet potatoes, applesauce, squash, peaches, and now carrots! She seems to really like them all, and is getting much better maneuvering the food to the back of her mouth and down (rather than to the front and out). It's fun watching her have so much fun with food!

Although this isn't the first time Joseph has finger painted, he sure is having fun with it this morning!

Tim took this picture of Rosalie looking cute during lunch today. He decided to stay home because we're both a little under the weather. Despite feeling a bit miserable, it's been really enjoyable spending so much time together without other pressing obligations!



We even made some Halloween cookies this afternoon (after all four of us took a nap), and now it's time to decorate them as part of our family night! Joseph is definitely excited about putting the icing on, but he's having a really hard time not stuffing all these cookies in his mouth right away. Considering what a nice day it's been in many ways, maybe it's worth it getting sick every now and then!

Rosalie is getting pretty good at moving herself around when she wants to! She's not crawling at all yet, but rotates, rolls, and reaches, sometimes getting quite far from her original location!

We found this snazzy climber and slide on Craigslist a week or so ago, and even though it was intended to be a Christmas present for the kiddos, Tim decided it would be fun to go ahead and set up it early. Joseph could hardly stand to wait while I put the pieces together this morning! He was hovering around saying things like: "Want the green part to go in!" and "Want it to be ready!" I finally got it figured out, and he's been playing on it ever since!

This morning, the three of us were supposed to join up with some friends from church to visit a local pumpkin patch, but the weather was pretty soggy (not too much rain, but threatening), so the farm decide to cancel all pumpkin-related activities. Since we were all ready to go, we decided to come here to the zoo intead! We've already spent some time checking out the bears and monkeys, and now we're eating lunch and drying out a bit from the muggy weather. Both Joseph and Rosalie really seem to be enjoying themselves, and are being patient with the occasional waiting inherent in group activities.

Here we are a little while later up in the Africa exhibit. Joseph was pretty impressed with this zebra sitting so close below him! It's been nice to get out and about with some friends this morning, even if it wasn't quite what we expected!