Getting into Fall

Mason the mess maker. Mason is really enjoying his new found crawling/climbing/grabbing abilities. He is definitely refining them. He is starting to pull up to a standing position whenever he can and yesterday I caught him "organizing" my recipe's. I guess it's time I organize them myself instead of just stuffing them into my shelf. We are loving what a fun, happy kid Mason is and he and Maya are becoming more and more interactive. He loves to "race" her around the floors and she loves to hug and tackle him. He now has two teeth.

Happy Halloween!! Maya is totally into Halloween this year. We broke out the decorations last week and she has thoroughly enjoyed looking at every little thing. We tried on masks, put up pumpkins, painted her nails black, tried on fake teeth and her new found favorite thing--practicing "trick-or-treating". Every morning when she wakes up she wants to go trick or treating. The first time she was happy with fake candy, but now she really wants me to give her a piece. And not just one piece, she wants to practice about 5 or 10 times in a row. :) I played along a couple of times and then decided that she needed something besides candy corns for breakfast, so I gave her shredded wheat the next time. She was very disappointed, but I explained to her that not everyone gives candy at Halloween. Some people give pencils, crackers, raisins, stickers, etc. and some people give candy. I think she will definitely be on the prowl for candy when we go trick-or-treating.
Maya is also really into her nose--literally. The other day I showed her how to twist the end of a tissue and get all the stray boogers out of her nose. She seems to like that a lot, (which is better than the alternative) and when we went into the YMCA on Monday she asked the lady behind the counter for a tissue. She sat in the armchair and cleaned out her nose and then tried to give the tissue back to the lady. The woman politely declined and I stepped in and took the tissue. Obviously Maya hasn't learned yet that others don't enjoy her boogers as much as she does. (sometimes she hides them in her hand so she can look at them when we aren't watching.--gross)

The Pumpkin Patch. We went to Nashville last weekend and visited with our friends, Richard and Stacey Hopfer, who used to live just around the corner from us. We had a great time. Maya was in heaven because their 5 year old little girl had all sorts of wonderful toys to play with and Gretchen was happy to sit and play with her for hours. We enjoyed staying up and playing Settlers of Catan and visiting. They were nice enough to watch our kids while Brett and I went to the Temple on Saturday morning, and then we all went to the Pumpkin patch/fall festival together. It was a lot of fun and was a nice day to spend outside in the crisp Fall air. I love Fall. It is my favorite season.

Mason, Jenny, Brett and Maya

Parker, Richard, Stacey, Jenny, Mason -- going through the corn field maze

Maya and Mason looking for pumpkins

The proud pumpkin owner

Maya, Gretchen, Mason, and Jenny

Playing in the corn trough

Maya

Jenny, Mason, Maya and Brett