Monday, October 31, 2011

halloween festivities

Friday:   We were in charge of the photo booth at the ward Halloween party. 
 
10 points if you know who I'm supposed to be.
Here's a hint.

Saturday:  We visited the Haunted Forest with fun friends after eating a delicious dinner at Monty's Old Brick Tavern.



Sunday:  The girls were excited to wake up to a light dusting of snow.

Monday:  We had fun trick-or-treating with cute friends.
My favorite witches wish you a spooky Halloween.






















Friday, October 14, 2011

around town

orange is my new favorite color!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

yesterday...

 ...we enjoyed a little walk in the forest about 10 minutes from our house.

 it was beautiful...

ella wore her cowboy boots...

 sophie tried to squeeze ella's hand as hard as she could...

 
the girls collected leaves to put in their hats...

did I mention it was beautiful?...

 and that my girls' are cute as can be?...

 i think this is what it's like to live in a story book...

Sunday, October 9, 2011

sophie's first day of school


Sophie started preschool this week.  She has been persistently reminding us since we arrived in Vermont that she needs to go to school.  We enrolled her in a small class at the high school with her friend Ethan.  It is a cute class, and there are several high school student teachers as well as the main teacher, so she receives lots attention.  One drawback though was that it didn't start until October.  Six months is a long time to wait when you're four.  Her back pack and lunch box were packed and ready to go back in August. 

Finally, October 4th arrived, and school seems to have lived up to her expectations.  She basically bounces out of bed every morning, bed head and all.  She can't wait to get to school.  She's gotten dressed and ready in record time all week.  On our way to school every morning she makes a mental list of all the things she wants to tell her teachers and friends.  And on the way home she tells me all about her adventures (after first telling me that she can't remember what she did at school, of course).    It's picking her up from school that has presented the biggest challenge.   I've found that I cannot, under any circumstances, be the first mom to arrive at pick up.  That is unacceptable.  And regardless of when I pick her up I am greeted by the infamous Sophie scowl.  It requires a great deal of discussion before she'll agree to put the sand box toys away and get her stuff to leave. Oh, and she about had a meltdown yesterday when we were trying to explain that school isn't in session on weekends.  I hope this enthusiasm for school continues for a while. 

Friday, October 7, 2011

foliage

Fall pretty much rocks in Vermont...cool mornings, apple picking, fresh cider, pumpkins, rainy days, foggy mornings, watching the trees change.

Last weekend my parents came to visit.  On Monday we drove over to Stowe, and up through Smugglers notch with them.  It seems that we were a little early for the peak color...a lot of the trees were still green.  But it didn't really matter because Vermont is amazing no matter what season it is.

stowe

mt mansfield toll road
mt. mansfield toll road
smuggler's notch
smuggler's notch
smuggler's notch