She'll be comin round the mountain...

Apple picking was a stop on our way to visit Pop-Pop and my extended family in Cashiers. Grayson had a blast cooking with my Aunt Julie, exploring the apple trees and grape vines with Pop-Pop, opening purple bean seeds with Aunt Judy (saved to plant in our garden next year!), and "smelling trees" on her walks through the woods with Uncle Mark. We also had so much fun with my cousin Stacy's children on Saturday night for dinner, as the kids played and helped Aunt Julie in the kitchen.

I promise Finley was there, although she was only pictured in one group shot here. And Pop-Pop, you were there too, right? (wink, wink) Not sure how you got left out of most of the pictures too!

Apple Picking

Mid-October we met Aunt Ali and cousins at Sky Top Orchard for a picnic lunch and apple picking fun. There were only a few apples left on the trees but I had fun picture-taking as Ali and Justin hoisted the kids up for turns to pick. It was such a fun place and we had perfect weather. If you go, definitely try the homemade apple doughnuts...mmmm. And we are still eating the apples from the fridge! Pink Ladys and Fujis were our favorites this year.

Apparently she wants to help...

If only I could get this excited about unloading the dishwasher.

Cousins!

Now getting four children to smile at the camera was a whole different ballgame. It's a happy time with cousins in town for a visit!

Costumes Continued

Seriously, I could not decide which pictures to post. If only they took pictures this well all of the time!

Costumes

I couldn't choose just four pictures of the girls in their costumes so I've got to load multiple posts. Amazingly, there were too many good ones! They were hamming it up for the camera. Maybe it was because they have a silly daddy who was jumping around behind me.

Look at those cheeks!

Sweet flower

Whenever anyone asked Grayson what she was going to dress up as, she would respond in one long fast run-on sentence: "I'mgoingtobeabeeandFinleyisgoingtobeaflowerandMaddieisgoingtobeabeeandTaylorisgoingtobeaflower..hahaha!" Our good friends dressed their girls up as the same duo without us even talking about it ahead of time. When Grayson found out she thought it was the best thing in the world.

Cake

Justin's 30th Birthday Cake:

"Smith Island Cake" from the Cake Mix Doctor Returns cookbook (with a few variations):
-yellow cake mix poured into 7 disposable cake tins
-layered with homemade chocolate frosting topped with chopped up snickers
-topped with same chocolate frosting that was not-very-pretty-because-I-poured-too-much-on-top-and-it-hardened-too-fast
-inside of the cake was thankfully still picture-worthy
-tasted much, much better than it looked from the outside!

Fall Festival Fun

Hey Sweet Girl

When Finley gets tired, she sucks her right thumb and then rubs her head with her left hand.

Cutest. Thing. Ever.

Happy Pumpkin Carving