Happy Halloween!

Rachel got caught with her hand in the candy jar! She was really into Halloween and, of course loved the candy she could eat, but also really enjoyed seeing the other trick-or-treaters who came to our door. She would stand at the door and look out for them! What a fun night it was!!!

Trick-or-Treat!

Here are Rachel and Rich all dressed up and ready to go out trick-or-treating. Rich is dressed as Bill Lumbergh from the movie "Office Space". He actually won the costume contest at work! We're so proud!!! The pair went out and I followed them to the first house. They stopped across the street at David and Anna's - we have adopted them into our family because they are such wonderful people and Rachel adores them! She calls them Nana and Papa-D!!!

It's no surprise... Once again, Rachel reaches for the lollipops! They're her favorite. Then she offers them to Nana. What nice sharing!

Unfortunately, it started to rain just after the trick-or-treating began...

Thank goodness for umbrellas!

Trick-or-Treating at Daddy's Office

Some of these pictures are blurry, but I have to share them because it was such a fun experience for Rachel! Rachel really enjoyed visiting her Daddy at work and going around to different cubicles to trick-or-treat! It was so cute seeing her little self walking around the office. She was so sweet dressed in her ladybug costume - we received numerous compliments on the costume and many remarks on how big she's grown! Everyone was impressed with the fact that she knew sign language and kept trying to get her to sign. She was thrilled to receive all the attention from Daddy's employees and her favorite treats were dum-dum lollipops. She kept signing for "more" - and of course - no one could let her go without! She sure was spoiled by all the nice people she met in the office! On a final note, I must tell you that many people dressed up, including Rich. When Rachel saw him in his costume with wig and glasses, she didn't recognize him! Then as we left, Rachel spotted her Daddy upstairs through the glass conference room conducting one of his staff meetings and screamed so loud, she distracted him and earned a wave goodbye! What a sweetie!!!

Here comes a little lady bug!


"More" Please!

Introducing Bella Dog!

This is Bella!!! Isn't she super, duper cute? She is my parent's new pup. She is a shitzu-poodle mix and is an absolute love! Bella is playful and give lots of kisses. Rachel just adores her and thinks it's great fun to play chase with her around the house. Best of all, Bella does not shed, so Rich's allergies aren't bothered a bit! One of the cutest things about her is that her nose has cute pink spots speckled over the black base. Plus, she kinda looks like a miniature Bailey - which takes Rich and I back to the days when we first got him... Speaking of Bailey, he seemed to really enjoy Bella once he got over his initial excitement. I think that the two of them will be friends for years to come!

Below are some pictures. (OK, several - you can tell we're in love with her!)

Klackle Farms

Well, Fall is certainly here and what a great time we had at Klackle Farms with our play group a couple weeks ago! We decided to take the kids apple and pumpkin picking, despite the chilly, rainy weather. It was the only time we could all do it, so we decided to make it happen. And boy are we glad that we did. The weather didn't seem to phase any of us! When we arrived, we put all the kids in this wooden wagon - that made transportation quite easy.

One advantage of the rain was that we got take the enchanted pumpkin ride, which usually only runs on the weekends! What fun it was to all pile into the pumpkin and ride out to pick apples and pumpkins!

When we arrived in the orchard, Rachel was excited to see all the trees and apples. She thought it was neat that some had fallen on the ground. She decided to pick one and began to eat it. As you will see from the rest of the pictures, that apple went with us the rest of the day. She was not about to give it up - it was too yummy! And funniest of all was that she had never eaten an apple that it wasn't cut up into slices. I was amazed at how well she ate her apple without ever having practiced before. Actually, come to think of it, I was astounded that she even knew what to do with that apple!

When we were finished picking our bag of apples we headed over to the pumpkin patch to pick a pumpkin. Rachel and Carolyn were both much more interested in their apples, but still enjoyed the pumpkins.

Rachel picked this pumpkin out, so it had to come home with us!

You can see the damage Rachel made on her apple. Great work!
Rachel posed for a fall picture... Inside, she still held on to that apple!

She's all done for the day, laying in the hay!!!

The Zoo goes Boo!

Rich and I took Rachel to the Zoo Boo at our local zoo and we met up with all our friends from our play group. It was so much fun to see all of Rachel's little friends in their costumes! Aidan was an elephant, Caimon was a kitty cat, and Rachel and Carolyn were ladybugs. Rachel really enjoyed the trick-or-treating at the zoo while looking at all of the animals. Plus getting to go in the petting zoo area was pretty neat, even though Rachel thought that all the animals were "dogggies"! And we could not have asked for more perfect weather! It was a fabulous morning adventure and we truly had a blast!!!