Halloween Festivities

Collins literally got to do a costume change yesterday. With two Halloween parties in one day, I decided we shouldn't assume we could keep one costume clean all day long so...

Costume #1 (last year's adorable candy corn number for the preschool party)

Is there anything cuter than a tiny person wearing a costume? Besides the monkey and the candy corn, there was also a ghost and a zebra in her class.

I wasn't happy with my Halloween party assignment (Capri Suns) so I made these candy corn cookies too. They tasted better than they looked!

Costume #2 (Donna's new ladybug creation for Fall Fest at church)

How fabulous is this costume? Donna could not have done a better job! The antennae stayed on for maybe a minute, but she managed to keep the wings on the whole time.

The Fall Festival concept was scary to Collins at first (large inflatables and people dressed strangely everywhere), but once she tasted her first prize from the Cookie Walk she was sold. She played cornhole, the football toss, the fishing game, and came home with four tatoos. She had a great time!

 

Florida Firsts

We traveled to Florida this past weekend to celebrate the wedding of Brian's cousin, Jenny. We had lots of fun visiting family, seeing the sights of South Florida, and enjoying all the wedding festivities. During the trip, Collins also had the chance to check off lots of "firsts" from her to-do list:

1) First flight- this one gave me plenty of anxiety. I couldn't imagine how an active toddler could handle a total of four flights (connected through Atlanta) without the benefit of a normal eating and sleeping schedule. Well, she surprised us! Although quite wiggly (I turned into a human jungle gym), she wasn't too loud (except when she kept demanding "off", "off" at the end of one flight) or unhappy during the flights. Maybe that was in part because of her...

2) First movie- we have been pretty strict on TV watching at our house so we thought unveiling her first movie on the plane would be a good, long distraction. We watched "Curious George" on the iPad, and the movie worked for about 30 minutes before she moved on to other things.

3) First visit to Florida (we arrived quite weary and hungry)

 

The resort was beautiful! Between the palm trees, the blue water, the calypso music, and the pool waitresses, we really felt like we were on vacation.

 

 

 

 

4) First wedding- this one also caused me some anxiety. But if you don't count the throwing of goldfish crackers on the aisle before the bride came down or laying down on the dance floor with your feet in the air, she did pretty good! Jenny and Kim did a fabulous job with the wedding. It had so many neat personal touches, and their crowd of friends and family were really fun.

 

 

5) First making of friends- Collins was fascinated by the flower girls (i.e. "babies") all weekend. By Sunday brunch, she had made them her new friends.

 

 

Many thanks to Kim, Jenny, Molly and Jack (and the new groom, Kevin!) for such a neat weekend. We loved celebrating with you all!

Two Pumpkin Patches

It's a good week when you get to visit two pumpkin patches in the span of four days.

Sunday we drove 45 minutes into the country to visit Hillridge Farms. This was no ordinary pumpkin patch- it was a Fall Festival on steroids. Never have we seen so many kids, so much hay, or so many photo opportunities!

Today was our first official preschool field trip. We didn't go far- only a block down the road to the neighboring church which sells pumpkins every October. It was a little chaotic, but we managed to get our first class picture!

 

  

Fair Favorites

The State Fair is a big deal around here. Not growing up in Raleigh, I didn't really understand this tradition until I went with Brian a few times and heard all his stories. Now that we have our own little Raleigh resident, I am excited she can grow up looking forward to each October and all the fun the fair entails. Our favorites from this year's visit to the fair...

Collins's favorites: scoring a school bus-shaped eraser at the bus safety exhibit, collecting lots of stickers, and eating roasted corn

Brian's favorites: the ham biscuit and the giant pickle

My favorites: the baby pigs, the beautiful Fall weather, and all the lights on the Midway when the sun went down

Bundling Up

Our trip to the playground yesterday required some extra clothing. For the first time this Fall, it was really chilly outside! But we're going to have to get used to bundling up because we are not going to be trapped inside all winter!

 

Getting Crafty

Collins created her first piece of artwork at school last week. We were very proud!

Coloring is a fun new activity for us, and we braved watercolors last night. I've even been inspired to research possible craft projects for us to do together. Watch out- the creative juices are (attempting to) flow at the Fork household!

Pumpkin Love

I have a pumpkin problem. I love them a little too much. They are a cute shape. They are my favorite color. They make delicious dessert items, and they signal the start of my favorite season of the year. I can't get enough!

Suffice it to say anytime my daughter is near a pumpkin over the next few weeks, she will be extensively photographed.

Here is today's pumpkin installment- caught at the Farmer's Market.

 

A Visit to the Zoo

Turns out Asheboro is conveniently located about halfway between Davidson and Raleigh so we stopped at the N.C. Zoo as we were headed back home on Sunday. It had been a good 20 years since Brian and I had been to the zoo, and we thought Collins might enjoy seeing the live version of the animals she reads about in books.

She did enjoy the giraffes, the monkeys, and the elephants, but she also enjoyed her animal crackers, random rocks and pushing the stroller around just as much. Perhaps she is still a little young for the zoo. :)

This picture pretty much sums it up- the large chimpanzee a couple of feet away gets a big yawn. I was excited though- look how cute that mama is snuggling with her baby!

Again, the large grizzly bear napping in the background was super impressive to me and Brian, but to Collins? Not so much.

The zoo is huge and wore us out, but it was a neat way to spend an afternoon. And it must have made somewhat of an impression on Collins because as we were walking back up to the house, she said "zoo, zoo" and gave us a smile!