More October

Another month is flying by! In the past couple weeks we've been busy - took a quick trip to Manitowoc to see our new nephew, carved pumpkins, and went to Ellison's first zoo class (horses - she loved it). Plus we've been chasing two extremely busy kids around! Kellen is a little daredevil already and has been climbing, pulling up and standing, and falling all over the place. He's very quiet and stealthy about it so if we aren't watching like a hawk, he gets into all kinds of things. I think we're in big trouble with him! Now I start a stretch of working 6 out of 7 nights (yikes) before Jay and I head up to Door County for our 5th anniversary trip!

We've been doing lots of "fall" things. Just finished up the last of our apples from apple picking - we had 2 batches of crock pot applesauce, 3 apple pies, and lots of apples with meals! The last pie was definitely the best. Yum!!! We still have plans to make a pumpkin pie from scratch - the pie pumpkins have been baked and scraped out, but now we are stuck because our blender and food processor can't handle pureeing them. Definitely time for some new kitchen appliances...

3rd (and best!) apple pie

There's been some Halloween/fall crafting, too. Ellison absolutely loves "projects" so I'm trying to use them to keep her busy and out of trouble! I swear she gets sassier by the day. I hate hearing/reading about how having a 3 year old is so much worse than the "terrible 2s", because I can't imagine her being much naughtier than she is now! Luckily she has more good moments than bad. Most days...

Not much else going on - starting to get excited for the holidays! And of course, stressed out because they are insanely busy!!!

Giving her buddies baths in the sink :)

One of his last whale tub baths - he moved into the real tub this week!

October!

Happy October! Ellison is SO excited for fall and winter. She's been talking non-stop about the leaves falling off the trees and how after that, it's going to snow. She says, "some of the trees are ready for fall". Glad someone is looking forward to winter, because I am definitely not! I think Frozen may have played some role in her excitement.

Tree in our neighborhood - so pretty!

It's been a big month for Kellen. Besides starting solids, more teeth (4 now, with 3 more on the way!!!), and his first haircut, he has gotten REALLY good at moving. Jay lowered the crib because Kellen is starting to pull himself to standing. He can now crawl on his hands and knees but usually will quickly drop down to army style because it's faster. He's very interested in the stairs and will probably be trying to climb them soon. And he does this...

We have gone through all of the stage 1 baby foods and are moving into stage 2. He also had a strawberry, and it was so cute watching him eat it! He's also tried yogurt and some little pieces of chicken!

Ells has been her usual busy self. She's really into "projects" right now, so I am going to try to do more with her on the days I'm home. We've gone to story time at Barnes & Noble the past couple of weeks, and she got to make some crafts there. And she has her first zoo class coming up this month!

Ells and her "yion"

SkippyJon Jones mask (made at Barnes & Noble)

We went apple picking at Barthel's last week, and yesterday I made some applesauce and an apple pie. Ellison said the applesauce was "ucky" but I like it! The pie is absolutely hideous to look at - something went wrong with the crust - but still really yummy. And the house smelled SO good while things were cooking! There's definitely nothing like the smells of fall. 

We also went to a pumpkin farm (Basse's) this weekend. We had never been there before. There's an admission fee, but almost every activity is included once you pay that. Ells went for a pony ride, we walked through part of the corn maze, took a hayride to the pumpkin patch, and a few other things. I think Ellison's favorite was the corn bin - she laid in the corn and made "corn angels"! Only mistake we made was ordering food. I'm not even exaggerating, it took at least 45 minutes to get chicken nuggets, fries, and cheese curds. Don't suggest doing that if you go there!!!

After the pumpkin farm...haha!

Just gotta say it one more time - I can't believe how fast this year is flying by!

Kellen practicing sitting

Ellison at the zoo

E's movie night with Daddy (they watched Brave)

Pulling to standing!

He chews on EVERYTHING!

Stop getting so big!

This picture cracks me up

Trying to take 7 month pictures...

Walked into the living room to see this!!!

Princess Anna of Arendelle

2 cuties!

Here's a couple more 7 month pictures of K-man!

ENJOY YOUR WEEK!