October

A little catch up:

These kiddos are little book worms.  They could sit on my lap all day, snuggled up with some good books.  I gladly accommodate them. :)  Logan is really into the Magic Tree House series... and Mia loves everything... especially reading spanish books to her "beautiful pet dolphin"

We experienced our first "Nor' Easter" a couple weeks back.  It was super windy and rained and rained.  Ry really wanted to see the huge waves the storm caused, but didn't get home until after it was dark..... here is a picture of the kids in the middle of a Nor' Easter, in the dark at the beach. :)

We had all the Young Men and Young Women in our church over for a pumpkin carving/apple pie making activity.  It was lots of fun!

Mia was super into carving her pumpkin, and stayed and helped until it was completely finished.

She loved the ooey gooneys

She really loved stabbing it...

And thought it smelled good. 

Logan scooped up one hand of pumpkin goop, declared it disgusting, and spent the rest of the evening charming the young women.  I expected nothing less.  

Olaf and Captain Barnacles.  Mia loved her pumpkin so much, she wanted to sleep with it.  And eat with it.  She called it, "My Olaf."

Fall

The weather in Maine was bipolar this past week.  We took advantage of the sunny days and took a hike up Bradbury Mountain.  It was so pretty!  So pretty, in fact, that I accidentally left my jacket and keys at the summit.  Luckily, my faith in humanity was restored when someone found them and turned them in.  Ryley is currently on OB and has caught his 10 babies!  Logan is being super clingy all of the sudden, Mia is super independent.  I have survived yet another craft extravaganza that I was forced to put on, a broken down car, two sick kids, a lost purse, a lost jacket, lost keys, a homeless man sleeping in the church building, and the aforementioned clinginess of Logan and independentness of Mia.  All in all, a good week.

At the summit of Bradbury.  I wish we would have gone a week earlier.  A lot of the trees had already lost their leaves.

Mia missed her nap so we could hike.  This is what happens when Mia doesn't nap.  

She did like sitting on the "broken tree" though. :)

Sometimes the forests in Maine look like something out of Lord of the Rings.

:)

Heading up the mountain.  I love our bob.  Too bad our kids wanted to walk the whole way. 

Logan at the summit

Mia kept finding little puddles in rocks.  She was very confused because she couldn't find any hermit crabs in them.  Can you tell we have spent the last 4 months at the ocean?

Logan took this picture.  It is pretty awesome to have a kid old enough to actually do things. :)

Tree hugger

Swinging at the base of the mountain.

Their "throne"

Because we had to go back to Bradbury mountain today to retrieve my lost jacket and keys, we took advantage of the drive and stopped at this old looking cemetery on the way there.  Some of the graves were so old they didn't have markings anymore.  The ones that we could read dated back to 1813!

Mia kept hugging all the headstones and telling me that she "loved all the people."

Our backyard has a lot of foliage.  The kids like to hide in it and call it their "secret hideout"

Mia being naughty while staying up to watch Frozen, her all time favorite movie. She requests, "For the First Time in Forever" to be sung to her every night at bedtime.  She now only wants to wear her silver, "Frozen Elsa dresses" to church, and every time someone is in the bathroom, Mia knocks on the door and sings, "Do you want to build a snowman?" Silly girl. 

I'm not entirely sure what was happening here.

Mia dressing up in all her "beautiful things"

Fall in Maine

I thought I couldn't love Maine any more, and then the leaves started to turn. :)  Maine has changed the way I view seasons... We have had blueberry/beach season, raspberry/thunderstorm season, and now we are into apple/leaves season.  It is so beautiful here!

Apple picking (again!) with Logan's preschool class

He was so excited he could reach the apples by himself.  Also, apples are a million times better when you pick them off the tree yourself.

Prouts neck hike.

Prouts neck

Tunnel in the bushes from one of the houses to the trail head...notice the baby, blanket and purse that come with us everywhere.  

Logan and his crab

A typical picture of our family while exploring. 

Logan shouted, "Mommy, I found a magical moment!"  Here is that moment. :)

And another one

The "magic" was due to the fact that this berry was apparently flowering. :)

Our backyard

This is on my way to Walmart.  Yeah, I'm pretty lucky. :)

And some quotables:

Overheard in my room:
Logan: "Mia, when you were younger, you weren't this ferocious."

Conversation with my 2 year old:
Me: "Mia, stop whining."
Mia: "I'm not whining.  I'm talking to you."

Apple Picking!

Yesterday we went apple picking with some friends.  It was so much fun, and afterwards we all enjoyed hot apple cider and apple doughnuts.  Ryley made 3 apple pies this afternoon, and barely made a dent in our bushel of apples. Yeah for fall!

Some updates on this funny kid:

She has learned the meaning of the word, "but."  Whenver I ask her to do something, or more likely, to stop doing something, she replies with, "But I'm...playing, eating, sleeping, itchy, sad...."

Mia is super possessive.  Of everything.  I can't even tell her I love her eyes/belly/nose without her shouting, "No!  My eyes/belly/nose etc"

Case in point:  Today Ryley asked her if she needed to urinate.  She yelled back at him,"It's not your inate, it's MY inate!! Not yours!"