"C" What We've Been Up To This Fall

This fall has been full of fun happenings!  And they are all brought to you by the letter "C."

"C" is for "Cousins."  At the end of September, we got to keep little Cousin Cate for a long weekend while Aunt Abby and Uncle Adam went to Florida.  It was so fun to have a little one toddling around again.  Libby and the boys adored her, and she seemed to enjoy being one of the "big kids." 

 

Sweet little Cate...so happy to be with big cousin Libby!

Just a couple short weeks later, we welcomed a new cousin -- Cousin Claire!  I had the privilege of going down to Augusta to visit Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Kyle and baby Claire for a few days after they came home from the hospital.  Claire might possibly be the sweetest newborn I've ever met.  (Big ups to Steve for holding down the fort here at home while I was gone!)

 

One of my favorite pictures of Claire all sacked out, sleeping like only a newborn can

 

"C" is also for "Costumes."  All of us had the opportunity to dress up this fall!  First, Steve and I were invited to a fun 40th birthday party for some friends.  Pete and Amy were both turning 40, and 40 + 40 = 80.  So...we all dressed up as 80's TV characters.  Steve went as Magnum PI, and I went as Blair Warner from "The Facts of Life."  We had such a good time assembling our costumes!  At the party we mingled with characters from "Charlie's Angels," "Dallas," "Miami Vice," and "Cheers," among others.  I was proud to win "Best Female Costume."  I was not quite so proud to realize during the TV trivia games that I have quite an impressive knowledge of 80's TV trivia.  Hmmmm, what did I spend an inordinate part of my childhood doing? 

 

Magnum PI and Blair Warner

 

The kids got to give their Halloween costumes a trial run at their school's Boo Bash a few days before Halloween.  Andrew and Adam had some awesome Mario and Luigi hats that our talented neighbor Tonya had made for her son's birthday party last year, so the boys wanted me to make them Mario Bros. costumes for Halloween this year.  That presented somewhat of a problem as I can barely sew a straight line with my machine.  But, thanks to the miracle of Pinterest, I was able to find an unbelievably easy Mario Bros. costume pattern online, and I managed to make overalls.  (This was purely the result of my genetics...I must have a latent sewing gene inherited from my mom and Grandma Polly.  Thank goodness this gene decided to make an appearance just in time for Halloween!  I am hoping it doesn't go dormant again because I am rather enjoying sewing lately!)

The Mario Bros.

I have to admit that after my success with the boys' costumes, I totally phoned in poor Libby's bunny rabbit costume.  Next year there will be some sort of tutu-ish girly-ness involved, I promise.

My sweet little bunny in her sad little costume...

 

"C" also stands for "Craziness."  Which is what we experienced on Halloween.  Steve and the kids were trick-or-treating while I held down the fort here and passed out candy.  So I didn't get to witness the craziness personally, but here's what I'm told happened:  Libby went up to a house a few blocks away to ring the bell and say "trick or treat."  Inside the house, right by the door, was a (very ill-natured) parrot sitting on a perch.  When Libby put her finger up to the doorbell, the parrot attacked, punching a hole through the screen door with its beak and biting Libby's finger.  Libby screamed (and bled).  A neighbor, who happened to be an ER nurse, came to Libby's aid and took care of her finger.  Steve went up to the parrot house's door and told the man inside that his parrot bit Libby.  Parrot Dad said, "No, it didn't," and turned away to walk up his stairs. (!!!)  ER Nurse, finished with Libby, began yelling at Parrot Dad because she knew the parrot had bitten Libby.  A screaming match between Parrot Dad and ER Nurse ensued.  Steve was like a deer caught in the headlights -- what just happened here?  The upshot here is that Libby's finger is healing fine.  Our pediatrician's office did not think we needed to worry about any strange tropical bird diseases festering in Libby's finger, so that was a relief!  And now we will always have a crazy Halloween story.  In Libby's (oh, so serious) words:  "I put out my hand to ring the doorbell and get candy.  Only I didn't get any candy.  I got bit."

 Finally, "C" is for "Corn Maze." October got a little wild, and we just could not squeeze in a visit to our cool local corn maze/pumpkin patch/kitschy fall farm place before Halloween. (Naturally this was the year I had bought a Living Social deal, so we had to go because we'd already purchased the tickets.) We decided to go today, even though it's November, and we had a terrific time! The weather could not have been lovelier, and the kids were so much fun. Once again...(almost)9, (almost)7, and 4...best. ages. ever. My heart just swells with loving this season of our lives so much. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.