Happy Halloween from Minnie Mouse!!

We've been celebrating Halloween this whole week; doing lots of activities around the community and giving Minnie some practice at trick-or-treating.

On Saturday, Oct. 24th, we attended the Fall festival at our community center. They had a costume parade and lots of vendors doing fun crafts and activities for the kids.coloring a pumpkin picture - in her Minnie costume with her Elmo balloon hatdecorating ANOTHER pumpkin! Halloween 2009 Lexi had a total of 4 pumpkins (3 small & 1 big)making a flower necklace

On Monday, Oct. 26th, we did some trick-or-treating from all of her favorite storytime teachers.On Thursday, Oct. 29th, we went to watch the Little Bunny's Halloween puppet show and decorate cookies at the supermarket.

Friday, Oct. 30th was a Halloween costume party at the park with some of Lexi's friends.Someone really liked the chocolate cake ice cream conesLizzy (giraffe), Giavanna (kitty-cat), Lexi (Minnie Mouse), Ailey (ladybug), Olivia (princess ballerina), Valentina (princess) The boys at the party didn't want to partake in the group picture.Luke the pirateBrady the Bears football player

Halloween eve we finally carved our pumpkin - daddy made sure Lexi had a Mickey pumpkin for 2009 since "mice" was this year's theme.Daddy cuts, while Lexi scoops out the seeds with her shovel.This little girl was SO EXCITED about her "Mickey" pumpkin!

Oct. 31st, HALLOWEEN & TRICK-OR-TREATING!!

We went to Malloween at one of our local shopping centers during the day because Radio Disney was going to be there. Well guess who was the announcer, Minnie!

Lexi loved Trick-or-Treating and was so excited about the other "kids" in the neighborhood.Little Minnie on Halloween night with her Mickey pumpkinsEvery night, the whole month of October we had to go see the "Witch and pumpkins" in our neighbor's yard."ding, dong", "Trick-or-Treat", "Thank you" and then she would say "next one"We did a little trick-or-treating with Lexi's friend Lizzy and her baby brother, Sammie.

Lexi's 1st Report Card

Lexi got her first report card today at swim lessons and she has passed Parent and Child and is ready to move on to Level 1 next year.

Garbage Truck

Whenever Alexis hears the garbage truck coming down the street, she runs to the window to watch it. So today, we made arrangements to go learn all about the garbage truck. It was an interesting field trip for me and a lot of fun for Alexis. We watched the whole process from weighing the full truck when it comes in, to dumping the load, to filling the truck that takes the garbage to the landfill.
Her favorite part: sitting in the driver's seat beeping the horn

Another trip to the farm

Lexi just can't get enough of pumpkins this year. Today, we took a little drive to a small local farm. It was perfect for her and she had a wonderful time. It's just so nice to be able to be outdoors and not cooped up in the house.We had to sit by the really large award winning pumpkins.Isa and Lexi measuring up to the big pumpkin
"Look Mommy, I found the perfect pumpkin."decorating their pumpkins with stickerstrying to find our way through this hay mazeposing with the animalswe ended the day with a tractor ride around the farm

An Arizona Pumpkin Patch

There are many reasons why we choose to live in beautiful Arizona, but the desert's version of a pumpkin patch just can't compare to the real kind found in the Midwest. We still try each year to go out and visit a farm, though. This year we took a day trip to Chino Valley and had a nice sunny day at the farm. There was lots to do at the farm; including drive tractors, pick pumpkins, walk thru the corn maze, hay ride, petting zoo, and even a carousel.Driving the tractor, I think you could make a little farm girl out of her.Lexi and the "skee-crow" in the corn maze.She had so much fun petting the goats and sheep, she wanted to hug them all.We walked thru the pumpkin patch for the experience because almost every pumpkin is rotten and ends up costing a fortune (you know, you pay by the pound). We always buy our pumpkin at Wal-mart, $4 and a great selection.
We left the farm with a small pumpkin, a fun day filled with great memories, and a squash.

Isa's Princess Party

Today, we helped Isa celebrate her birthday at her princess party. Every girl got a tu-tu and a crown. They were all so cute dressed up in their tu-tu's and crowns.Yes, even princesses can play in the dirt in their tu-tu's.All four princesses drawing with chalk (Isa, Olivia, Giavanna, & Lexi).

Spending some time in Iowa

Alexis and I made an unexpected trip to Iowa last week to celebrate the life of my grandma and her great-grandma. Grandma had a long good life and was ready to go see grandpa. One of the last things she said was "It's been a long time since I've seen Walt". The whole family gathered together just like we all used to for holidays at grandma & grandpa's house to celebrate her life and all the wonderful years and memories we had with her.
The grandchildren & great-grandchildrenEating "chips" with Papa Tom and Gramma Cindy. I think all she ate that day was chips.
When I think of fall, some of the best memories are times spent at the apple orchard in Iowa as a child. It wouldn't have felt right to be in Iowa in the fall without taking Lexi to one of my favorite places that I remember growing up. So we bundled up and headed to the apple orchard. The apple orchard also has a pumpkin patch this time of year.Lexi wanted to touch every "pup-kin" in the patch.Great-Grandma Shirley helped me find the perfect size pumpkin.Cutest little pumpkin in the whole patch!Lexi and cousin Trystin standing by the apple tree (and of course, they tried to pick the apples). It was so cute when Lexi and Trystin saw each other, they immediately recognized one another and called each other by name. We have a picture of Trevor and Trystin in the hallway and when asked who's in the picture, she calls them both by name.And you can't leave the apple orchard/pumpkin patch without buying any apples or apple cider because it doesn't get any fresher any where else.
On Monday, Gramma Cindy wanted to do something special with Lexi so she decided to take her to ride the choo-choo train in Boone, Iowa. Lexi had a great time!First, we had to ride the small version in the lobby.A quick photo with the conductor.And a kiss for gramma to thank her for the fun train ride.