A Halloween themed meet-up...

Couldn't pass up another opportunity for H to don her fairy gear...  She played very nicely and made a few new friends today!

 

 Added this pic by another mum, mainly because this is probably a very good example of what I look like all the time these days.  :)  Here I'm helping H with her stickering activity while C snoozes in the carrier....

Green Festival + Air & Scare

Today was a busy day, heading to DC in the A.M. to catch this year's Green Festival, we spent a lot longer in the green home improvement aisle this year, which H found mostly boring, but she did enjoy these hand made hammock chairs...

Then we went to the Udvar-Hazy Center’s Air & Scare where we caught a puppet show and visited 1 treat station but mainly felt a bit claustrophobic, lines everywhere!  This might be attempted again in future years, maybe going earlier when it opens...

H makes a lovely fairy princess though!

Zoo

Some photo highlights from today's last minute trip to the National Zoo, H was more than happy to wake up to being hustled into some clothes then the car for breakfast on the road to meet up with her friends J & E there...

 The kids love to buckle themselves into these communal strollers...

 J shared his sweet potato fries with H (Note:  This was the only polar bear seen on this trip, though H couldn't stop talking about them)...

 Petting the prairie dog...

 Dinosaurs too?!  This is the best zoo ever...

J & H riding the bear....

We timed it just right to see the orangutans make their journey...

H walks the elephant trail...

The zoo is decorated for upcoming Halloween events...

No comments here, just had to get a shot of this one...

And finally C's shot, poor kid never gets out of this thing.  Wearing H's hat and rainbow leggings on his arms as Mommy forgot his coat, but still all smiles.  :)

Fall activities...

Yesterday H helped Daddy put together the new composter, so that we can still compost throughout the winter, reduce our trash and provide good nutrients for our gardens (someday, maybe...)  :)

 And today we went with H's friend R and family to pick apples at Crooked Run Orchard in Purcellville...

Daddy has a handy apple picking device for getting the higher apples...

 Daddy gets a smooch...

C patiently rides with mommy while they pick apples, though he didn't like the long car ride at all...

R has quite the throwing arm, what you don't see in this picture is his grandma off to the left dodging projectile apples...

And finally, two kids really can be totally different, H received many lovely toys (like this teether) as gifts, but hardly played with them at all.  C loves them though so they are finally getting some use now, I guess babies do like toys, go figure!  :)

C's 6 month stats...

No pics but had ped appointment yesterday:  18 pounds, 27 inches, 75th percentile and doing very well with all the things babes of his age are supposed to be accomplishing. Both kids had shots and did great with them. C charmed all the ladies with his smile and H was very professional with her toy doctor's kit we brought with us, ministering to a dinosaur from the waiting room play area.  :)

Costumes

H's costume is pretty big on her, I'm undecided on it though she loves it...

(Mermaid)

C's costume is ridiculously cute (and I love it), the hat is big but we can probably make it work...

H managed 3 outings to 3 different parks on Monday, and all I managed were these pics from our grocery shopping trip, either way she was a cutie wearing the reusable produce bags on her head!  :)

Princess phase...

H is in it deep...

One way we amused ourselves during our sick week was playing dress up, sometimes the wand is involved...

Generally the tutu is involved...

Here is a tower she built that was just a bit taller than she is...

And C is generally happy whether we are inside or out, he flashes that hunky smile to random ladies all the time and they melt just like I do...  :) <3

Cox Farms Fall Festival...

Today H and her good friend R hit Cox Farms, here are some of the highlights from that outing:

 The "Pebble Pond", this was actually one of the highlights for H & R, who share a deep love of collecting and tossing rocks...

The hatchling...

 Some friendly alien visitors from the hayride...

 My beautiful son, patiently sleeping through H's adventures as usual (despite it being quite a bumpy hayride)...

 And then the flying pigs appeared, with dance music and disco balls...

 We even drove through a lake, the octopus was friendly...

 My fearless daughter, I'm pretty sure she was the only kid still in diapers going through the dark hay bale maze...

Climbing up the the hay bale hill, the maze was inside this...

Fall Festival Fairfax...

Catching up now that the kids and I are feeling better, here are some of the highlights of this last week:

We went briefly to a local fall fair over the weekend, despite still being a bit under the weather (tried to keep our distance from others as best we could).

 H pets a bedbug...

 H goes fishing...

 H rides the smallest carousel I've ever seen...

 H rides a dragon, solo!

 But this is the dragon she really wanted to ride, we finally let her after making sure daddy could sit next to her, she LOVED it!

H and her "snowman", she really had fun as this picture shows, especially after being cooped up inside for most of the week...

Travel bug...

Brainy!!!

The day after we came home the kids came down with a cold, we've been stuck inside trying not to infect others, or drive each other too crazy...  :)  Still some bright spots, we've been doing a lot of reading...

And the kids are enjoying each other quite a bit these days, H is a great big sis and C adores her...