Pumpkin Carving...

We finally carved our pumpkins last night, way to wait til the last minute right? We've had them for a couple of weeks if that makes it any better. As with everything we do, I wasn't sure what Audrey would think about the whole thing. She was interested in it for a very short period of time, especially when Charlie cut open the first pumpkin.

Her top 3 favorite things about pumpkin carving turned out to be:

3. Transferring the pumpkin guts from one container to another (yes, she is a sorter), whether it was from the pumpkin to the bowl or from bowl to bowl. She would only use the spoon we gave her and not her hands. I don't blame her, it is kind of gross...

2. The lids of the pumpkins, she liked the taking them off and putting them back on.

1. Eating all the pumpkin seeds, straight from the pumpkins of course. She couldn't get a enough of them and kept walking over to one, taking a couple and walking away.

The rest of the time she was bopping to the music we had playing (pretty funny to watch) and walking back and forth to "check" on Charlie and I's progress. It is a joke in our house how Charlie finishes his pumpkin before I have even cut the top open. Yes, I am not fast, but I also enjoy doing different things every year, where as Charlie has a standard that he does not veer from. This is shocking considering our personalities right?

One more day til Halloween, and Friday for that matter... Hopefully it is a fun one, I will let you all know...

Cozy Coup...

So we joined the ranks of every other family in the country and purchased a Cozy Coup for Audrey on Sunday. As many of you know, I hate big plastic toys and have tried my best to not get any for Audrey. I'm a mean mother, what can I say, but I can't stand looking at the stuff. We were at a neighbors party last weekend and Audrey went straight for the Cozy Coup (she is familiar with the car from day care) and drove in it for at least a 1/2 hour. I've never seen her so excited except when I put her in her Exersaucer for the first time (the other big plastic thing I refused to get forever). Driving is kind of misleading, she backed herself up quite well though. So Charlie started souring Craigslist to find one for her and after a failed attempt due to a poor Craigslister (too bad they aren't rated like on e-bay eh?) he drove and picked one up for her yesterday afternoon. The women asked if Audrey needed to test drive it and Charlie laughed, no, we are all set thanks. So she was thrilled when Charlie took it out of the truck and she got to play in the driveway with it.

I have to keep reminding myself that there are worse things in life, and thank goodness this thing gets to stay outside and not in my house... Plus the smile on her face is so worth looking at red and yellow plastic...

Tough Season to be a Fan...

I have got to say, this football season has been a rough one. All of our teams are less then stellar, Michigan, Purdue and even the Pats (I won't get into professional football in this post but god do I miss Brady!). We can usually count on one of our teams having an awesome season, heck maybe even more then one of them. But this year has been brutal, especially on the college front. We decided to put Audrey in her Michigan cheerleading outfit on Saturday for the big Michigan/Michigan State game. Figured they could use all the luck they could get. Well, obviously the outfit was not enough. But she looks darn cute in it, I guess that is a plus? (On a side note: I'm pretty sure that this is her Halloween costume since she had no issue wearing it and it's kind of costume right? Good thing it is supposed to be warm on Friday... )

Here's to a better rest of the season. We've got to win at some point right?

Here is Audrey ready to cheer on her team....

And here she is devastated at their loss...
Charlie called this a complete look of agony...

Honey Pot Hill...

Well, we finally made it to the local apple orchard this past Sunday! I say local, Honey Pot Hill Orchards is a decent drive, 45 minutes or so. Though it was quite crisp out (the cool weather has finally arrived in New England and I am not sure I am ready for it!), the sun was out and it was a nice day. The drive out there was very pretty, the leaves were not all turned, but the majority of them were and it made for a very scenic fall drive. The orchard is neat, it has animals for the kids to look at and feed, hayrides, a store that sells apples, gourds, cider and most importantly hot cider donuts and an area full of pumpkins to buy. It was a little strange, they are not letting anyone pick apples anymore so we had to settle for a 1/2 peck in the store. Apparently the weather was so good early on that they already maxed out on their apple picking??

Audrey really enjoyed the trip this year. We took her last year and while I thought she would enjoy the animals and things she really had no interest. We did get some good pictures though, that's the important part right? (We got some great pictures this year too, though life is a little different photographing a moving target.) She loved the hayride which kind of surprised me. It was a little cool and windy but that didn't seem to bother her. Her favorite part of the hayride (and Charlie's) was eating the hot donuts, and really who can blame her? She very intrigued with the goats and feeding them. I swear she was saying "goat" though who knows where she would have gotten that from. She also loved the "pumpkin patch". She ran in the pumpkin area and started going up to the pumpkins and touching them and trying to pick them up. We actually got her a pumpkin she can carry which is good, she has 2 small ones at home that look her size, but she can only lift them and then drops them on the floor because they are too heavy. All in all we had a lot of fun!

Halloween Costume...

SO not happening this year! I came to the realization last night that there is no way that Audrey is wearing a typical Halloween costume this year and I am extremely saddened. I have been contemplating her costume for this year for awhile now, at least a month. I wanted something cute, but girly (why are most Halloween costumes so masculine??) but not a princess (I have plenty of those years coming up I am sure). I had no luck finding what I envisioned, so my friend Talin was nicest enough to pick up a cute Panda costume for me. I tried it on Audrey when I got home and I kid you not I have never seen her freak out worse! It was a 1 piece costume and I basically forced her into it and she just stood there grabbing at it and screaming. Ok, so that got returned. I then ordered a Monkey costume from Old Navy, it was cheap and cute and 2 piece and figured why not try. So I finally tried on the top piece last night and we had a total repeat of the Panda costume. I made monkey noises (much to Charlie's disgust) while putting it one so it was "fun", yeah right, not so fun. She hated it and screamed until it came off. Ok, so that is going back now too. I'm so bummed. She was so cute last year (she was a Pink Butterfly) and I really looking forward to her Trick-or-Treating finally this year in a cute costume. I need to get over it obviously, the girl has an opinion on everything, not sure why I thought she wouldn't have an opinion about a costume... My last resort is a Michigan Cheerleading outfit that I got from my friend Colleen for my baby shower awhile back that is like a dress and I am crossing my fingers won't be a big deal to wear. Plus, I figure Michigan can use all the cheering they can get this season, right????

Jackie's Day, Take II...

I just returned from 4 days in Columbus, Indiana, the hometown of my good friend Jackie. She had her 2nd wedding there this past Saturday (her 1st wedding was in Serbia where her husband is from). Holly, the MOH and I made our way there on Thursday to help out with any last minute things. Little did we know the list of last minute things was fairly long and we were put right to work. We had some quality bonding time over gluing programs and doing numerous other arts and craft projects. If you know me at all you know I LOVE details, especially at a wedding, and let me tell you Jackie had every detail thought out and perfectly executed. With the help of her sisters and mom (and us bridesmaids of course) nearly everything for the wedding was made by hand. Even the rehearsal dinner food was cooked by one of Jackie's sisters and her mom, plus her mom and aunt baked 160 mini loaves of banana bread for one of the favors. Is she lucky to be surrounded by so many people that love her or what? We did have to put a halt on the DIY stuff Friday night so she could enjoy a little bit of the weekend, which hopefully she did. We spent the morning of the wedding at the hair salon with the bridesmaids and all 4 of Jackie's nieces that were flower girls and junior bridesmaids which was a lot of fun. They did a great job on everyones hair and make-up, especially the bride, she looked gorgeous! Here are a couple of pictures of her details. Her colors were green and brown and carried this theme, in addition to polka dots and stripes, thru-out. The flowers were all green and were gorgeous. Below are the flower girl baskets, they were adorable!

All in all it was a beautiful wedding and a ton of fun! It was great spending so much time with Jackie and Holly, and seeing a ton of friends that I don't get to see very often.

Congratulations to Jackie and Alex, here's to many many happy years of marriage!

Apple Orchard....

We had an unplanned trip to the Apple Orchard this past Sunday which was a ton of fun! The Bed & Breakfast we stayed at in Pittsfield was a mile down the road from this cute orchard, Bartletts Apple Orchard, so we decided to go Sunday morning. A bunch of cousins met us there, we all got our bags to fill and off we went. Audrey actually really got into the whole thing. Other then loving running after her cousins, she really seemed to like picking the apples from the trees and then eating them. We stuck with the Cortland apples that are my favorite and brought home a 1/2 peck.

After the apple picking, we headed down to the store for some hot cinnamon donuts and apple cider, YUM! By far one of my favorite meals, I love fall...

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our excursion...

Here we are, actually a decent family photo which doesn't seem to happen very often...

We got a bunch of really good ones with Charlie & Audrey. Here they are picking apples...

Sharing...

Dad and Daughter, too cute...

Mother/Daughter Bonding...
Audrey with her cousins, Justin, Nick, Jamie & Julianna...

Fall Weekend in the Berkshires...

This past Sunday was my Aunt Joan & Uncle Bob's 50th Wedding Anniversary (how impressive is that??) and we all headed out to Pittsfield in Western, MA to celebrate with them. My mom and her boyfriend, my sister and my brother all drove out from Michigan for the event which was awesome. We got to spend all weekend with them which was great because we don't see them enough. They don't get to see Audrey enough, and my sister hadn't seen her since January, which was way too long for Aunt Danielle!

It was a perfect fall weekend. The weather got crisp and the sun was out and while the foliage was not at it's peak, the leaves had definitely started changing and it was gorgeous. Pittsfield is in an area called the Berkshires which is a low mountain range in Western, MA which is known for its foliage amongst other things. The Bed & Breakfast we stayed at ended up being a mile away from an Apple Orchard so Sunday we got to go there with a bunch of cousins which was a lot of fun. I will post pictures from, we took a ton. Audrey LOVED the apples and was really into picking them and then eating them. Really cute.

We got to see a ton of family all weekend which was great. This also meant we ate a ton, as you don't go hungry ever around the Monteleones. There are tons of cousins and Audrey had a blast with all of them. She is the baby by several years, but the older cousins seemed to like playing with her and she definitely enjoyed running after them. The main event, the Anniversary Party, was Sunday afternoon and was beautifully done and a wonderful time. I will post separately about the party too, I have tons of pictures from that as well...

All in all we had an awesome weekend! Hopefully my family makes it back to Michigan ok, the are driving as we speak...