Following the Fowlers: October 2011

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Halloween, Part 2

Tonight we went to the Chamblees' house for our annual small group Halloween costume party! We all want to wear costumes, but nobody every wants to put much effort into their costume, so there are always some wonderfully creative ones! This year I also felt inspired to make some fruit creations as treats.

Here I put fruit on skewers and stuck them into a pumpkin. Then, around that I have apple smiles, an idea I got from my sister.

I was trying to get Charlotte to pose with me, but she just kept begging for more roasted pumpkin seeds.

Charlotte is Goldilocks and she has the three bears on the front of her costume. So Mark and I are bears, but we are the bears' neighbors who saw the break in and informed them to come home! It is impossible to get her to smile for a picture these days.

Jacob - a lumberjack

Logan, Cari, Emmie - ghosts of Christmas future, "pregnant", and past

Michelle and Caroline - the mirror on the wall and Snow White

Rachel and Avery - "Best Stage Mom" and her ballerina

Justin and Alli - E-male (email) and attachments

Sorry I didn't bet pictures of everyone in their costumes. We also had a football player, hunter, and pregnant "Juno".

I love watching Charlotte play at this age. Mostly she either plays by herself or follows the older kids around. She did some of that tonight and really enjoyed eating at the "big kids" table. However, I also walked in on her playing with Beau. She really likes Beau! He is one of the only names that she says regularly. It was great to watch her take the lead and engage him in play. She started by playing his music table for him. Then, she was handing him toys. She also crawled around with him (because he is now a crawler!) and she tickled him.

Handing Beau a toy

Playing with Emmie in the toy box

Crawling under the table and tickling Beau

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Halloween, Part 1

Last night we attended the first of three fun Halloween events this year. Our church had a "trunk or treat" in the church parking lot. I was very excited for Halloween this year because last year Charlotte was adorable, but didn't have any idea what was going on. I was a little scared that she wouldn't like trick or treating because she can be very shy in large crowds or when people she doesn't know walk up to her. However, this mama did not have to worry! Considering trick or treating involves getting to carry around a bucket (which she loves to do) and receiving candy, she caught on really quickly!

Here is our adorable Goldilocks with her three bears

"You mean all I have to do is walk up to people and they will hand me candy?"

We paused for a moment to take a family picture. Charlotte is eating a Skittle!

This little miss was not shy at all! She would wedge her way in if there was a large crowd and went back to several cars more than once!

Of course, we had to pause for a popcorn snack break!

We were also very excited to run into a few good friends!

What a great time! Charlotte will be so excited to find out there is more to come!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Mommy's Little Helper

One of my favorite things about this time of year is that it gives me an excuse to make (and eat) my favorite iced sugar cookies! Yesterday, Charlotte got to share her first experience with me in making these cookies. I'm sure there will be many more to come! She was beyond excited to put on an apron like Mommy, and get to crawl up on the step ladder to see all of the action.

Hard at work

The finished product.

For now, she simply got to watch and think she was helping to cut cookies. She had no hand in the actual decorating process. As she gets older, it is going to be hard for me to give up some control and let her actually decorate. I sure do like my "perfect" pretty cookies.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Pumpkin Patch Extravaganza

This morning we had some family fun time at the Owens Farm pumpkin patch in Richardson. It was great! It is geared towards little kids and there was lots for Charlotte to do and plenty of space to run. The weather was beautiful and we all had a wonderful morning together.

She was so happy to find pumpkins just her size. She can say pumpkin. It doesn't sound much like pumpkin, but she says the same thing every time she sees one, so I know that is what she is trying to say.

We have noticed some very OCD tendencies in Charlotte. Here she is lining all of the pumpkins up.

Here Daddy got some great pumpkin pictures of her.

We got to go on a short hay ride around the farm.

There were also plenty of animals to see.

We had fun with you, baby girl! You are growing so fast and we are having the best time getting to watch it all!

For nostalgia sake, here is Charlotte in October last year at the Arboretum.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Training her early!

Charlotte has the right idea!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Look alikes

Last week at church Charlotte wore this beautiful dress we borrowed from her friend, Mallory. On the same day, her friend Ty wore his borrowed outfit from Jake. Jake and Mallory are twins, so these two blonde buddies were matching for the day.

P. S. It is hard to get two kids under 2 to stand still side-by-side!

Following the Fowlers