Trick or treat, smell my feet....

 Yes my 5 year old has learned the rest of the song and won't stop singing it!

This year the girls chose to wear their Scottish princess dresses for a second time. There was actually no coaxing involved either! We had plans to dress up as witches, but since the dresses still fit, they wanted to wear them one last time. It suited me just fine! No fuss - we already had everything we needed.

We started off at Pop and Nonna's (thanks to Nonna for having them ready when I arrived!) and then walked through town for the business trick or treating. I love that about our little town. All the businesses down town stand outside their doors with candy and goodies from 4pm to 6pm on Halloween. Its awesome!

 

 

 

 Love this one.....they look so big!

 Waiting patiently in line for more candy!

 Asking Sparky where the candy was!

After finishing up down town, we headed over to Papaw and D's to trick or treat in a HUGE neighborhood close to their house. I swear the neighborhood is endless and they all get into the whole Halloween festivities! The girls love going from house to house filling up their buckets with candy!

We didn't know this little girl and she probably thought we were crazy, but her costume was just too darn cute. Gotta love those southern belles!

After trick or treating we went back to D's house for some good ole Chick-fil-a (and to see all the goodies they had collected). Another successful Halloween in the books! 

Halloween Party ballet style!

 One more thing I love about our new dance studio.....they have parties!!!

The girls had a blast dressing up to go to ballet class last week. They danced for the first half of class and partied the second half. Everyone brought a treat to share, it was quite nice!

I do have to admit something here though.....sigh. October has been a really busy month for us and the days started to get a little jumbled. Sooo, Mommy may have gotten the day for the party wrong. That's right Mommy sent the girls to the dance studio in their costumes treats in hand a whole.week.early. I think I was more embarrassed than they were thankfully. Daddy laughed and laughed and made sure to tell the girls it wouldn't be the last time one of their parents embarrassed them. At least it wasn't a week late!

Phew....had to get that off my chest! ;) Thankfully they had their regular ballet clothes with them and were able to quickly change for class. Here are a few pictures from the correct party day!

 My "Scottish" princesses.
(Queen Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots)

 Little Bit and her tap, jazz and ballet class.

 Little Bit's class saying the blessing before eating....so stinkin' cute!

 Waiting for all her goodies!

 The grand ballet party table.

 Cuteness!

 Miss Priss's ballet class.

 Sweetness!

 Ready to dig in.

 Another grand ballet party table.

 Miss Priss and her buddy from school that's also in her ballet class. They were both beautiful victorian princesses.

We are very much so loving dance class this year! The girls are doing a great job and I can't wait to see their performances at the end of the year!

Mathews Manor Pumpkin Patch 2011

 I can't believe my children are 5 and 8 and this is the first year we have gone to a pumpkin patch! That's crazy! I guess the month of October has so many activities, we've just never had time. Anyhoo....we decided to check out the new pumpkin patch in our neck of the woods this year. It was their first year to try it and I think it was pretty successful. Little Bit really enjoyed it.

Since Miss Priss went with Papaw and D to Georgia for a Scottish Festival, Little Bit and I decided we needed some mother daughter time for ourselves. What better way to spend a BEAUTIFUL fall Saturday?? While Mr.Mark helped weed-eat and clean out gutters, Ms. Rose was able to join us as well.

 

 Getting ready to go in I had to stop and take pictures in front of all the fall goodies. Thankfully Little Bit humored me and smiled!

Once we were in, the first thing she wanted to do was the bouncy slide. 

At first she was a little hesitant without Miss Priss by her side, but she quickly got over that! I think she could have stayed on the slide ALL-DAY-LONG!

 

 

 

When I finally managed to pull her off the slide, we went over to check out the Hay Maze. 

I don't think Little Bit completely understood the concept. She thought it was just a fun place to run around in. We finally convinced her to find the exit so we could go see what else there was to do.

 

Next we took a break for a quick snack. Cute spider cupcakes and some sweet tea!

Then it was off to the hay ride to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins.

 Little Bit walked ALL over the ENTIRE patch to find the perfect pumpkin. 

 She examined each one!

 And finally found her perfect match! It couldn't be too big or too small.....it was just right!

 Mrs. Rose and Little Bit enjoying a s'more as we waited for the tractor to come back and pick us up.

 The farmer was also a photographer or so he said! ;) He did manage to get a nice shot of the 3 of us!

 Concentrating on making sure she painted her new pumpkin just right.

 Last but not least she had to get her face painted. This girl was really good at painting whatever the kids requested. They didn't just have things to choose from, this girl made it up as she went!

 

Little Bit was thrilled about her cat.

After a long day at the pumpkin patch, Little Bit helped me get ready for the afternoon's photo shoot. She said "Here mommy, I'll pose for you!" Now why won't she do that when I'm taking her pictures??

We had a great Little Bit - Mommy day for sure. We missed Miss Priss, but I know she had a blast in Georgia. Miss Priss took her camera this time, so I will be loading some of her pictures from the Scottish festival soon.

The big K-5 zoo field trip

 Last Friday I had the pleasure of going on Little Bit's first field trip. She's in Kindergarten, so of course we went to the ZOO! It was the perfect day for an outdoor trip. We couldn't have asked for better weather. And best of all, the trip just happened to fall during my fall break....so I didn't even have to take a day off (although I would have!)

We started our day on the animal carousal. Little Bit had to ride the tiger to show team spirit!

 

Then we moved along to the barnyard animals. I love that they have added this to the zoo. The kids see "normal" animals that live around here and they get to pet them!

 

 

 She's so funny! She loves ponies and insisted she have her picture made in front of them so I could put it on the blog!

 Just cute!

 Digging for dinosaur bones!

 Little Bit and her little friend we walked around with all day. They were so cute together and just fed off of each others excitement!

 Watching the massive alligator snapping turtle. 

 Amazed by the bobcats.

Okay I thought this was cool. The momma and daddy lions had cubs. They were all so cute and the daddy would just come by and play with the cubs.

 Checking out the giraffes.

 The elephants are finally back!

I had to include the next two pictures because I LOVE my new lens. These were taken right in front of the camera! So cool!!! I can't do that with my other lens. You have to back wayyyyy up to get the shot. This lens is more for those great close ups!

 

 Waiting for the train on platform 9 3/4.

 On the train ride. I think she was little tired of smiling!!

 Riding the carousal around one last time!

This was the funniest part of the day for me. Watching all the kids line up and seeing Little Bit as part of her little school group. They were all like little ducks following the momma and Little Bit was so big. Its hard to watch the grow up so fast. 

 

Another first has come and gone. We had a blast and I was so glad I got to tag along. Its fun to watch them grow, but sad at the same time because its going so fast.