Saturday, October 30, 2010

Hobgoblin Fair

Our Halloween eve was VERY busy this year! It started at the Roaring Brook Nature Center's Hobgoblin Fair! Before going on the nature walk, Lily got to try all the crafts they were offering! She made lots of cute stuff!

Making sand art:

Making a nature collage:



And a sunflower!




Making a Halloween card:



And outside she got to dig through leaves to find a little gift! Lily found a spider!


Inside again (still waiting for our walk time!) Lily decorated a cupcake! I think this was her favorite craft!




Finally it was our turn to go out into the woods on a walk! Along our way we met a lot of forest creatures getting ready for the winter! The first we came upon was a mushroom!



We then found a rabbit, who told us about her burrow!



We also met a flying squirrel, who told us he really doesn't fly, he glides!

And then we met a woodchuck, who was looking for food to bring back to his burrow for the winter. Lily helped him out by giving him the acorn that she had found! He was very grateful that she shared!


We also met a butterfly, caterpillar and spit bug on our walk! We all had a lot of fun, and maybe Lily even learned a few things! I'm glad we found this event so close to us! A great way to kick off Halloween eve, and a great activity to go on with Nanie and Papa!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Lily Signs Happy Halloween!!

Today starts the official Halloween weekend for us! We have events planned all the way through to Halloween night trick or treating! It's going to be a fun weekend!

AS some of you may know, Lily and I have been learning sign language together! Lily has a special signing Halloween message for you all! I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween!

(To learn more Halloween signs, watch this video with Rachel Coleman! She's our Signing Time Hero!)

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photography Workshop, Day 28: The Great Pumpkin

So I'm seriously far behind on my Picture Fall class, but today's prompt was something I've taken a lot of this month, pictures of pumpkins! I cheated a little, and am using a picture I took over the weekend when we were decorating our pumpkins. (Those pictures are coming...I had like 300 to go through!)

I love how beautiful and unique pumpkins cam be...so this assignment is right up my alley, and you know I will be pulling out my camera today to get a few more pictures for this post! I also have my previous post on the gray pumpkin, found here for some other plays on an unusual pumpkin!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Trick-Or-Treat #1


Last year we discovered that our favorite shopping area held a safe trick or treat night each year a few nights before Halloween! Of course we are always game for anything Halloween, and it gives the girls another excuse to wear their costumes...I think it has now become a Halloween tradition! So tonight we got the girls all dressed up to take Lily trick or treating for the first time this Halloween!


Lily gave me a few twirls before getting in the car:



The girls all ready to go:

(Poor Ella, her costume head keeps coming down over her face! I ended up getting a new costume tonight because of this!)

We got to the shops just as Lily's friends G. and M. from Little Gym were getting there too! What a fun surprise!! We ended up walking around with them the whole time! It was nice having friends joining us!


Lily all ready to go:

G. all ready:

First stop:


Lily showing the boy how it's done:


M. Getting a treat:



Lily and G.:


Trick-Or-Treat!! Lily was so funny, she was racing ahead, leading the way for us all! She must remember this from last year!



The girls still hanging in there! I think they had a good time people watching!


Like last year, we had a great time! It was even better this year to have friends to walk along with! What a great night, and a great kick off to Halloween week!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Old Sturbridge Village


This Sunday we went out to Old Sturbridge Village. We've always loved this living museum, and love sharing it with the girls! This time of year is also so beautiful there! The colors are so vivid, and the gardens are full of their squash harvests. It is no surprise that we quickly decided we wanted to renew our membership!

Our visit this trip started in the lobby with Lily trying out the sleigh and dress up cloak:


Lily posing for a picture on the stone wall:


Lily loves trying out this game every time we visit! This is the first time she's actually gotten the concept of the game, and how to hold the sticks!


Of course we stopped to checkout the sheep! Violet and Ella were fascinated! And my smarty Violet was saying "Bah bah bah!" the whole time she was watching the sheep!






Lily and I checked out one house where you could try out a lot of the old objects! Lily made herself right at home on the bed:


And checked out the shaving set:


And then she played dress up, trying on all the outfits they had out to play with!





Of course Lily had to try her hand at pumping water:


We were very impressed with how good she did at waiting to take her turn! She was behaving far better than the other boys who were a few years older were!



I took Lily into one of our favorite houses, where there was a women talking about the food they would have been cooking this time of year:


There was a pie, warm coleslaw, and baked bean. The woman was telling us about her beans, being heirloom variety back then, were sweet enough themselves that they didn't need to sweeten the baked beans like we do now:


I was very impressed with Lily, who seemed fascinated by this woman, who she called a Princess! Lily stood quietly and took in everything the woman said!


Out in the garden behind the house from above, with all their squash harvest out in a row. Lily was walking on the planks like a balance beam, and jumping over the squash!


Pretending to eat the corn (which we saw being harvested as we were coming into the village)


Lily was all about running today! She took long runs whenever she had the opportunity! We told her she could go run down this path...which just happens to be my very favorite part of this whole village! I find this path so peaceful...and the perfect photo location! I love this picture, catching Lily in mid air while she's running!


Way ahead of us on the path, waiting for us to catch up:


Being my favorite place to take pictures, I had to do a mini shoot with the girls of course! Unfortunately there is just so much to look at, making it hard to get the girls to look at me!









Digging in the dirt:


Back up at the farm, Lily climbed into the hay, and was grabbing handfuls to bring to the bulls in a near by field. She kept falling in the hay, and just having a really fun time:


She found the sawmill fascinating too!


Watching the water that powers the mill:


Watching the printer:

She was such a good girl today, so we let her have a treat from the store...and of course she picked a lollipop!


She wanted so hard to move this wagon by herself, but it was to heavy for her, and kept tipping! She didn't give up though until I helped her successfully move the wagon!


Of course being such a beautiful setting, and with such beautiful fall colors, I had to play around taking some pictures of things! I took a ton of random photo's! Here are a few that I liked:


I'm so glad this October had 5 weekends, so we could fit a trip to OSV in while the girls were still babies! It's nice that we have a membership again too, so we can go back whenever we want this year! I think our trips there are going to be that much more enjoyable now too, now that Lily is enjoying listening to the history or the Village!