October's Over???

I mean, really, where did it go?

October is usually a pretty full month, but I feel like much of it this year was a blur.  It started with several home study interviews (more on that in a separate post!) ended with an under-the-sea Halloween, and had lots of school activities and fall festivities in between.  This is another picture heavy post (I know, aren't they all???) so I'll keep the writing to a minimum.  Our favorite fall festival of the year (at Fifer Orchard in DE) and our Halloween memories will be in a post to follow!

Maelee & Lilee loved spending the morning at our friend's home on the first Saturday of the month while Steve and I had our 

first home study visit!

Lilee with her sweet buddy, Logan :)

Just loved this shot of my two little bookworms!

Also on the first weekend of the month, we spent an afternoon at a little fall festival in Fairfax.

The girls loved pretending with the green screen!

Painting pumpkins is serious business!

The animals were, of course, the favorite!

And some not so serious painting with apple stamping with Chloe!

The highly anticipated return of Nana & Pop-Pop from their 2 week Japan trip to see Uncle Dan!

My parents had an incredible time with my brother in Japan and their pictures and updates every day made me so happy! The girls sure missed them though and were happy to have them back.

(As were we:)

Happy Reunion :)

The 2nd Saturday of the month began with a rainy stop at a local church who does a huge pumpkin patch each year to benefit local charities.

It was worth braving the weather!

Then I got the special treat later that night to celebrate my cousin, Colleen, at her 50th birthday!

A sweet mini reunion of sorts.  Such a fun night!

Ending the weekend with dinner at Nana & Pop-Pop's where the girls got to open Nana & Pop-Pop's gifts from Japan!

They loved their beautiful "Japan dolls!"

But the highlight of the evening had to be the karaoke videos :)

Watching my family singing at the top of their lungs (especially after a few drinks...) was hilarious. 

Lots of laughter that night!

Helping out at Maelee's school for "lunch-on-the-lawn" for all the kiddos who completed their summer reading!

Enjoying more sights of fall at another local farm stand!

Happy Fall!

Caramel apples with the neighbors :)

Sporting their adorable shirts from Japan-

Maelee loves doing the peace sign in pictures now (which she learned from my folks as that is the favored pose for pictures in Japan!) and Lilee just sticks out her whole hand which is hilarious.  

And  adorable.

Cupcake decorating and enjoying with Chloe!

The final Saturday of the month was the 

Marine Corps Marathon Fun Run!

Hundreds of kiddos from the area ran one mile in the Pentagon parking lot and Maelee's School had over 250 kids enter.  The weather was perfect and everyone had a blast!

Lilee loved the free watermelon being passed out but still kept referring to this guys as an alligator :)

We did it!

Happy girls.


And finally, below are some precious shots of our sweet Lilee loving preschool :)

 

More pics from Oct:
https://pix.sfly.com/Cp6ra7

More pics from Lilee at school:
https://pix.sfly.com/buU2gY

And that'll do for a little sum up of what was a very full month.  Plenty more pictures to follow in the DE/Halloween post!