O-C-T-O-B-E-R

"It's the MOST WONDERFUL time of the year!!!"......come on, sing with me!

Ok, it is at least ONE of the most wonderful times of the year....OCTOBER. I love this month for a number of reasons:

1. Pumpkins
2. Cooler weather, but not too cold. I like to think of it as "hoodie" weather.
3. Pumpkin bread
4. Leaves changing color
5. Pumpkin Patches
6. Lots of birthdays, including Chad's on the 13th, and mine on the 31st.
7. Pumpkin seeds
8. Cute fall decorations
9. Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks!
10. And of course, HALLOWEEN--which means, dress up and candy.

I've always L-O-V-E-D Halloween for the reasons above, but over the years I've added and deleted from my "favorites" list....deleted the "being scared" part (I've turned into one big chicken over the years, I guess.) AND added an even greater love for trick-or-treating since Chalin has been here, especially this year, because he has really gotten into his costume and saying "Trick-or-Treat!"


I'm sad to say with all that we have had going on with the move, getting our house ready, and just being in a new place, we did not make it to the Pumpkin Patch this year; however, we got to go trick-or-treating at the zoo with some wonderful friends.....




....We went to the Lake Arcaida's Storybook Forest, which was AAAAA-MAZING by the way, and will now be a tradition of ours...Seriously, if you have young children, you MUST go to this. They create scenes from your favorite childhood stories (3 Little pigs, Old Mother Hubbard, Itsy Bitsy Spider, etc...) and you walk along a trail and have the opportunity to read these stories and see these storyb00k characters. They also have games, food (hot dogs, marshmallows for roasting by a campfire, hot chocolate), and a hayride!

Chalin and Humpty Dumpty

Chalin at the Gingerbread House

Fishing with Daddy

On the Hayride, which was a HUGE hit!

(Not the best picture of me, but the best I could get on the hayride with my cell phone!)