October 19 = Loving Cleaning Day

For breakfast this morning, Liam wanted an orange.  As I was peeling it, I would put a piece of the peel next to me and he would pick it up and take it to the trash can.  He did this for every piece!

 Malia is not happy that she's wearing Liam's hand-me-down jacket... but look at those boots- she's still stylish.

October 18 = New House Day

So I'm still obsessed with these bacon and cheddar biscuits so of course I wanted to make them for my parents.  I got started and the buttermilk I could have sworn was in the refrigerator disappeared.  So I went to Graul's to get some and I notice that the house next to Graul's is having a yard sale.  I see that there's a play house which I have really been wanting to get one for the kids because I thought they would love it.  I got the buttermilk and went to the yard sale right after and got this cute play house for $15!  The man and his dad helped me get it in the car, we had to fold down the back seats and then move the middle seats up as far as they would go but it fit and I was so excited to bring it home!

October 17 = New Kitchen Day

Today was our full day with Grammy & Gramps.  We had to go to chickfila of course- it's Gramps' favorite and the kids love it too.  They did a great job with their chicken nuggets and french fries!

 But then Gramps kicked it up a notch and got a milkshake and generously shared.

Later, we stopped by toys-r-us and Grammy & Gramps bought the kids a kitchen!  When we go to the gym, the kids go straight to the kitchen.  Liam goes straight to the kitchen at the CDC.  They love it and now they have their own.  The only problem is they're probably going to fight over it but what better way to learn how to share?

Gramps' and Liam's favorite place to be:

October 16 = Grammy & Gramps Day

Zachary has duty tomorrow so my parents came in because number 1- they miss their babies and 2- I could use their help!  They left around 8am so they got in around 2pm and brought lots of Halloween goodies- the cutest little buckets and lots of candy and games.  But first- we had to get our day started.  Malia woke up with her care bear close.

Malia loves getting in this chair by herself- look at that face.

Solar powered pumpkin and Frankenstein- Malia loved loved loved watching them bobble around.

I can't remember if I mentioned that last week when preparing for the midshipmen dinner at our house, I attempted to make cupcakes.  I knew I was doubling the recipe so when I saw I needed a cup of water, I doubled it.  I need two cups.  Then I forgot I had already doubled it and decided I needed four cups of water.  Four cups of water with two boxes of cake mix is not a good thing.  I poured that down the sink and Zachary ran to Graul's and picked up some cookies.  But I really, really wanted cupcakes.  And still did the next day, and the next and the next.  So I decided to finally make some today since I had some people to share them with.  Liam decided he'd be the first person to share the cupcakes with me and sneakily grabbed one when no one was looking.

October 15 = Impromptu Playground Visit Day

Since today is Thursday, Liam was at the CDC from 10-2.  Zachary had a late night tonight so instead of returning home immediately, I decided to pass some time at this playground that I've passed twice a week for months now and always looked at but never stopped at.  I'm so glad we stopped!  I could not have designed a better playground for my two kids if I tried- there are three slides for Liam and very low incline ramps so Malia can walk all around too and one of the slides is wide enough for me to go down with her- she was a big fan!  And there were four swings- two "baby" swings and two regular swings.  Malia loves swinging so much so she was able to relax in there while I walked around with Liam between pushes.  And Liam thought it'd be fun to try the regular swing- he did a great job!  It was so much fun that I texted my friends with small kids and recommended we meet here sometime because it's just so perfect for new-ish walkers.

October 14 = Painting Day

I found some little pumpkins and leaves at AC Moore and thought it'd be fun for the kids to paint them.  I tried to stick with just orange for the pumpkins... Malia played along but Liam really wanted some yellow so I obliged.

Then we did the leaves and that was an invitation to use lots of colors.  I squirted red, yellow, orange and green and let the kids mix them all up.

Later, I thought it might be a good idea to have the kids try on their costumes just in case they didn't fit and snapped a quick picture of our little Snoopy!

October 12 = Pumpkin Patch Day

Zachary had today off!  We had planned to go to Gettysburg today but last night, Malia decided she didn't want to sleep so I didn't sleep so instead of going too far away, we stayed local and headed to a pumpkin patch.

Sportin' Dad's hat

Silly girl- eating her pretzels while we packed the car

Liam wasn't a huge fan of staying in the wagon but Malia didn't mind it

They had a little pumpkin house and so naturally, Liam was drawn to it.

Lovin' on momma in the pumpkin house

Liam pulling and Malia pushing - big helpers!

Sunflowers!

Zachary and I picked out two pumpkins but Liam went a different route.

A little too high for my comfort...

We put a sheet down outside and got busy cleaning out the pumpkins.

October 11 = Biscuit Day

I made bacon cheddar biscuits again- this is the third batch I've made and I'm so obsessed.  These will be gone by tomorrow.

October 10 = Fall Art Day

Today Liam made this awesome tree- I cut out a trunk and glued it on the paper but Liam tore up some red, orange, yellow and green crate paper and when I put glue on the paper, he put all the leaves in place.  He picked up as many as he could and placed them on the paper and then I encouraged him to pat, pat, pat so they'd make the glue stick.  I love Fall!

October 9 = Tex Mex Rice Day

Well I have a new favorite recipe!  I saw this on The Pioneer Woman and knew we had to try it.  Usually I'll find recipes I like and I'll pin them on pinterest and one day we'll say let's do something different for dinner this week and I'll consult my "Gotta Try" board and pick one but right after we watched this episode, we added it to the menu.  And it was a good choice- so delicious!

Also, Malia showed us she's a yogi in the making by doing a down-dog on the twister mat.  Grandma got the twister mat for the kids- mainly Liam- and I think he will really benefit from it.  He's not quite ready to play it the way it's intended but after Malia finished her yoga, we played a game where I would tell Liam to place certain objects on different colors so "put Mickey on a red dot," or "put the car on the yellow dot."  These two part directions (choosing the right item and then the right color) are really great for him and his cognitive development!

October 8 = Spider Web Maze Day

First I have to share a picture of Malia with her newest friend, Care Bear.  She got this from Grandma this past weekend and when I went to get her up this morning, she was hugging it so tightly.  I don't know what's going on with her eye in this picture but just focus on how sweet and loving Malia is.

Later in the day, I decided to execute an idea I saw online.  Using yarn and our kitchen chairs and the gate, I created this little "maze" for Liam to get through.  It required him stepping over some strings and ducking under other ones so it's an awesome gross motor activity.  He went from one side to the other and I talked him in to coming back through one more time but that's all I got out of him.  But for those 30 seconds, he really enjoyed it!

October 5 = Epic Mess Day

I went downstairs and folded a little bit of laundry while Liam was watching Mickey Mouse.  Well while I thought he was watching Mickey Mouse.  I noticed I heard some suspicious sounds so I abandoned the warm, clean clothes that I knew would be wrinkled by the time I found another five minutes to fold them, and headed upstairs.  And found this.

We had lots of fun cleaning this up as a family... I hope you can sense the sarcasm.  Liam tried to weasel himself out of it at first but eventually he gave up and begrudgingly helped clean up.

October 4 = Midshipmen Dinner #2

I slept in this morning- woohoo!  While I was down, Zachary did some rearranging and moved the bed Liam never uses down from his room to the playroom- Malia was a fan.

But then it was time for work!  We had lots of midshipmen coming over again and lasagna was on the menu tonight.  We made five lasagnas and it was a pretty good amount for some hungry "kids."  I don't feel quite qualified to call them kids but whatever.  

Again, Malia worked her way into getting some attention.  She brought the Mickey Mouse tin that holds all the little characters Liam got in his birthday present from Uncle Matt & Grace and the guys helped her open it and encouraged her as she took them all out and put them all back in and closed it for her and repeated this several times until she was bored of it and found something else to do.  Sass.