Fall Festival

Last Saturday was our neighborhood's annual Fall Festival. There were hotdogs, cotton candy, pony rides, inflatable slides and jump things, and face painting. We ran into Madeline's friend, Margaret Kate, and they spent most of their time jumping and sliding. Abigail had fun hanging out with Margaret's baby sister, Miley. Madeline's favorite part was having her face painted like a butterfly.

In other news, Abigail is growing and changing daily. She now says mama, dada, uh oh, and bye bye. She has two bottom teeth and almost two top teeth. The second one is about to come in any day now. She claps and waves and is beginning to stand independently for short periods of time...and of course she crawls everywhere!

Trick or Treating

Madeline could not wait to go trick or treating Friday night. Both sets of grandparents came over to check out the girls in their costumes and Matt's parents stayed back to give out candy while the girls, Matt, my parents and I went house to house. Abigail rode in the wagon and loved every minute of it. Madeline enjoyed pointing out which house to go to next. By the end her candy bag was too heavy for her to carry and Abigail had scored a bag of animal crackers!

In other news, Abigail now says "uh oh", "bye bye" (and waves), and "da da." She still eats everything...including dishwashing detergent...don't worry, it wasn't much. Poison control said she should be ok!

Maddie's Halloween Party

Madeline's halloween party at school was yesterday (she doesn't go to school on Fridays). She was so excited yesterday morning, she could hardly wait! She, again, wore her Tinkerbell costume and Abigail even dressed up in her Tigger costume. At 10:30 the entire school had a parade to show off their costumes and then they went back to the classroom to begin the party.

The parade. Madeline was the only Tinkerbell I saw, but there were several Ariel's, and even 4 spidermen in her class alone!

Her class

Snack Time

Abigail was quite a hit with Maddie's friends!

Abigail & Miley (Madeline's friend Margaret-Kate's sister)

Disney On Ice

Madeline spent most of the weekend with Matt's parents, Mimi and Pop Pop. On Friday night she went to trunk or treat at Mimi's school and on Saturday morning they went to Disney on Ice. She has been excited for weeks! She even wore her Tinkerbell halloween costume to the show. Before the show, they checked out the princess dresses on display. Her favorite princess varies from week to week, but Cinderella usually wins out. I'm sure she was happy that Mimi & Pop Pop took her because she also came home with a Tinkerbell light up spinner thing, a Tinkerbell t-shirt, a program from the show, and a Tinkerbell flag on a stick.

A Field Trip, a Check-up, & a Trap

Field Trip

On Wednesday, Madeline's class took a field trip to a local farm and nursery. Matt took off from work so that he could take her. They were both very excited, but I'm not sure that Matt will ever do that again. He was one of 3 dads attending and was caught in the middle of a lot of mommy conversations, including one about breast milk. I think he felt a little out of place. However, they both had a great time. They learned about different kinds of flowers and plants and Madeline even potted a pansy to bring home. They learned about fall vegetables and animals on a farm as well as went on a hay ride.

(Madeline's teacher, Ms Deanna, is in the blue pullover)

Check-up

Abigail had her 9 month check-up on Tuesday. She is crawling all over the place, pulling up, and cruising. She waves bye-bye and can hold her own bottle. She weighs 19 lbs and 4 oz and is 28 1/4 inches tall. She eats everything!

Trap

Last weekend Matt's parents bought us a play yard, or a trap as Madeline likes to call it. I was really wanting one before Christmas because Abigail is extremely fast and eats everything...I mean everything...last week I had to try to extract a piece of fuzz from her esophagus. I was envisioning Christmas presents being ripped to shreds, Abigail choking on pine needles..etc, etc. Thankfully, that should no longer be a problem.

I just gotta' say...

After checking out my cousin Christy's blog I have to add this to the previous post. Christy made a comment about my parent's tent and I also posted a picture on the previous post with all of the kids in that tent. However, notice the size comparison between my dad and the tent:

I watched him put up the tent from this perspective and it looked small, but everyone was laughing and I couldn't understand why it was so funny until I walked to the side of the tent and it disappeared from sight (this picture was taken from behind). I thought it was a square tent, but it is actually a rectangle and the sides are about half the length of the back.

Camping in the Smokies

Nothing says fall to me quite like camping in the Smoky Mountains. We went at least once every fall while I was growing up. This weekend we went camping with the entire extended Baker family. There were 19 of us spread out between RVs, cabins, and tents. Madeline helped Daddy put up our tent.Madeline and Abigail had a great time playing with cousins Gracie and Dally! As soon as Granda & Grampa's tent was up all the girls piled in...it was just their size!

Our campsite was right on the creek and just down from the playground. The girls chased the ducks, threw rocks in the creek, and spent most of their time swinging and sliding at the playground. We spent most of our time at the campground; however, we did venture out for a meal at the Apple Barn...apple fritters...yum.. and no Baker camping trip would be complete without a trip to ride go carts.

Check out my cousin Christy's blog for more pictures.