halloween fun

Halloween is coming! Autumn is here!

Last year, I was newly pregnant at this time of year, and felt just awful. I didn't enjoy any of the months of fall. But this year will be so much better...especially as Lara is starting to enjoy it more and engage more in the events. She has decided to be Ariel for Halloween, and yesterday she enjoyed making bats-now we have bats on our curtains and in our flowers and on our pictures!! I love halloween, but I am very wary of introducing anything scary and gruesome to our very sensitive almost 3-year-old. We've hung some paper pumpkins, and the bats, and that's about as far as we are going to go. We also visited the pumpkin patch last week, but I was really disappointed. I didn't realize the various activities are mostly only set up on the weekends, and we do our family things on Monday, so there was mostly idle wandering on our part.

Fall also means beautiful scenery, and I'm already starting to line up clients who want Autumn pictures taken!!

We are working on a fun trick-or-treating event at our church this year. Stop by if you are in the area!

I cannot keep up with Claire and her crazy growth spurts. About once a month, I have to completely update her wardrobe with bigger clothes. I'm on to the 9-12mo tote of clothes now. She went through an "unheard of" growth spurt this summer, according to her doctor's visit. On top of that, it has been suggested to me by a number of people that Claire might be teething. Her gums are a little hard and white, but I just can't believe it. I started Claire on solids tonight. When Lara was born, the rule was no solids until 4-6 months. Now, the rule is not til 6 months, period. But with Claire having the body of a child who would normally be on solids, well, I did it. She did great. She chomped down on that spoon and kept some down, like she had been asking for it for awhile!

Here is Claire's 4 month picture. It is really cute to watch her play with her feet. She almost got them in her mouth tonight. I've always thought it cute when babies do that, and Lara couldn't because of her muscle tightness.