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!