The frost is on the punkin...

... and the fodders in the shock...

Combine selfie from the other week.  

The girls and I went to the HarvestCall work night last week.  We packed shoe boxes and the girls did crafts for a nursing home.  Cadence enjoyed the buffet of snacks the older kids abandoned on the floor. 

Saturday was COLD.  And I had scheduled pictures with my friend Bethany.  I wanted to get some pictures of just the girls, and then maybe jump in a few because I'm never in the picture.  Well, Cadence had other ideas and would not let me put her down so it turned into a mother-daughter session instead.  Oh well.  And it was soooooo cooooold.  It was barely 40 degrees and cloudy.  They were complaining about all the layers I made them wear (two shirts, tights, shorts, socks) under their dresses until we got to the park.  I even brought cocoa for our warm up breaks.  So it was borderline a disaster, although the one sneak peak she posted doesn't look too bad.  *sigh*  Just not what I was picturing in my head.   

It warmed up a little bit, and dried out some, so we picked our carrots from the garden.  They are short and fat, and Bob and I don't even really like eating carrots, so I'd say it was a successful crop. 

We carved pumpkins one afternoon during nap time.  They got to draw the faces with a marker and then I cut it out for them.  The cat, not our pet, was very interested in the process.     

So Halloween costumes this year took way too much of my time.  The original idea was that Cecily would be Zelda, Emmy would be Link, and Cadence would be another Zelda character.... which they were all on board with until I brought home the 99 cent Mario Princess Pattern.  Then Cecily insisted on being Princess Peach and she wanted Emmy to be Princess Daisy.  Emmy was agreeable so I sewed two dresses that were super fussy and took ridiculous amounts of satin (which I am not overly fond of).  And Cadence got a quick t-shirt refashion and a puffy felt Toadette hat to round out our Mario character line up.  
Then Emmy found out that Daisy doesn't wear long elbow gloves like Peach and she had a brief melt down, declared she was NOT going to be Daisy, she was going to be Link and she would not be dissuaded. Thankfully, I was prepared for this turn of events and had a pattern and green fabric all ready to go, so I quick sewed up a green coat with a long pointy hood (that she never put up so you can't even see it...), Bob made her a sword and a shield, and she was happy as a clam.  
They are all Mario Kart characters so I guess we still sort of had a theme.  Little Toadette was not interested in taking a picture in costume.    

Cecily totally has the Princess Peach stance down, and little Emmy is so.completely.delighted to be Link.  Cadence would rather snuggle her kitty and blanky. 

 She kept the hat on when her jacket hood was up.  

 We went trick-or-treating to a few houses on our street.  The Princess was very worried about getting her hem dirty, the little warrior was having a great time, and the mushroom just likes a good stroller ride.  

 Then we went home for supper and the doorbell only rang 3 times.  Probably the least amount of trick-or-treaters we've ever had.  
Emmy in her Daisy dress that she didn't want to wear. So much sewing.  Oh well, it was fun and they wear their costumes for dressing up all the time.

 Little Cadence found a pacifier in her drawer.  She's never actually taken one.  Maybe because we're done nursing she thought she needed it?  Silly kid.

She nursed for 16 months which brings my running total to 47 months! And we had the fewest issues this time around- no tearful calls to the lactation consultants Woot woot!  47 months is kind of a long time and I must admit I'm sort of proud of that number.  Breastfeeding is hard. It's not always intuitive or instinctive, it hurts at the beginning, cluster feeding is BRUTAL,  and there are so many things that can derail it.  It's so worth it though, and I try and keep my mouth shut, but there is so much mis-information out there and it annoys me so much.  Yes! You do make enough- babies are more efficient than pumps and there are also growth spurts and cluster feeding where they are getting plenty, they are just signalling your body to produce more for them to grow!  If it's painful it is fixable! They may have latch/tongue tie issues that a IBCLC should look at!  Yes!  You have to eat to lose weight while nursing!  If your body thinks its starving it's going to hold on to your reserves as long as possible.  You actually need 500 extra calories while nursing which I am going to miss greatly. Among other things.  :) I'm not an expert (yet. haha) but I have learned a lot over 47 months and I know and have used lots of great resources for when there are issues. If you really want to breastfeed, don't let anybody tell you it's not possible without a really good medical reason. And the best advice I've heard:  Don't quit on a bad day.   
Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox, formula is a wonderful thing and there are lots of good reasons to use it too.  I usually have some for those first few weeks when it's 3 am and I've been nursing for 3 solid hours and I can't take any more, and there are lots of times when it would be soooo much more convenient.    
We got to do chromatography in class this week, which I love. 

 Bob was home Friday so we did lots of yard work.  We picked up sticks, cleared off the garden, burned the stick pile, and Bob cut volunteer trees out of the vines. This is why I have a love-hate relationship with the vines.  So.Many.Weeds. and nasty scrub trees like to hide in them.  

I started painting the bathroom that night.  I did part of one wall just to make sure I still liked the color and slightly panicked at how yellow it looked.  It looked better and more gray/green in the morning when it was dry and daylight and not surrounded by the brighter green so I put a first coat on everything.  Now I'm hoping a second coat will hide the streaking that is showing through.  Even though I scrubbed the walls prior to painting.  Sigh.  I despise painting bathrooms. 

 Riding bikes on a dreary fall day.  Cecily doesn't need training wheels anymore!  And Emmy's doing great on her "new" bike from Cecily!

 I made "thin pancakes" this morning, which they ate without complaining!  Somehow Crepes are disgusting and terrible and 'why didn't you make pancakes with chocolate chips in them', but "thin pancakes" are OK.  Marketing for the win, because I love crepes for breakfast!! Actually, I love crepes any time of day.  

Blessings.