Sherry

Finally, Some Real Trick Or Treating

Last Wednesday (aka Halloween) marked Clara’s first legit trick-or-treating adventure.

We got rained out last year and the first year she could barely sit up unassisted, let alone knock on doors begging for candy. So it was a treat in itself that this year the stars aligned and we could take Clara out for some good ol’ fashioned T-or-T-ing.

The verdict? She loved it. As demonstrated by this pic (the only one that we got of her smiling face, since she spent most of the adventure dragging us down the street so we just had a view of her braid).

She proudly donned her homemade Jessie the cowgirl costume, grabbed her pumpkin bucket, and marched with us to about 8 or so houses.

We left Burger at home because, well, he only wears his costume for about 10 seconds before shaking it off and he’s the shy one of the family. Meanwhile Clara could hardly wait to see all of our neighbors and shout “trick or treat!”

It got darker faster than we expected, so our photos quickly became blurrier and grainier than we had hoped. But there were at least a few sweet moments that got captured on film.

And we probably would’ve made it to more houses had a band of tweenagers dressed in scary costumes not crossed our paths (and by scary costumes I mean no costumes at all, except for a couple of bloody masks). Clara, whom we’ve learned is easily frightened by realistic Halloween decorations, was immediately a crying mess and just began wailing “I want to go to my house!” It was a pretty clear sign to call it a night.

Her loot was pretty meager, but that’s more than fine by us. And once we got home and she calmed down she had fun answering the door with me and handing out candy to the rest of the trick or treaters. She was so into the game of “What is he/she dressed up like?” that even this week she still asks us questions like “What is the tree going to be for Halloween?”

How was your All Hallow’s Eve? Any especially spooky costumes or houses? Any full size candy bars on your trick or treating route? Clara got one and we were like “wow, they’re high rollers.” It was awesome.

Apple Picking

So we’re a bit behind in actually writing this post, but anyone who follows us on Instagram knows that we took Clara apple picking a couple of weeks ago. It’s this awesome spot about an hour from here called Carter Mountain which is on top of (surprise) a mountain and overlooks Charlottesville, VA – home of my alma mater.

They’ve got plenty to do. Pumpkins. Hayrides. Even little educational pieces – like this board about bees. Guess we’ve got a kid after our own hearts, right?

But we were there to pick apples. Plain and simple. As simple as spelling the word “Fuji.” Okay, maybe that’s not as easy as I thought…

Clara had a blast just running around, which was good because the first section of the orchard we went into was pretty picked over.

She was pretty proud of herself when she spotted apples on the ground – of which there were plenty – so we had to break it to her that we wanted to take apples from the tree.

Eventually we spotted some, but they required a little bit of a boost.

But isn’t that what dads are for?

We eventually made our way over to another section of the orchard to hunt for more easily accessible fruit.

At first, we encountered the same scenario. Lots of apples on the ground. Few on the trees. Boo.

At least that gave Clara an excuse for more running.

Eventually we made it deep enough in to find a bounty of lower-level apples. Victory!

Someone was in love.

She was so proud of the apples she gathered that she was determined to carry them back to the car all by herself.

Eventually we sped up the process by giving her a hand. I just love this photo because it looks like a paparazzi photo. You can blame it on the flash going off for some reason. Well, that and Sherry’s giant Angelina sunglasses.

All-in-all, it was a beautiful fall day atop a mountain in the Blue Ridge.

And oh yeah, those apples were eaten by about 5pm the next night. Clara was addicted.

Septemb-agram

Another month gone. Another chance to look back on some (but not nearly all) of our Instagram highlights from the last 30 days, in case you missed them on Facebook & Twitter as they happened.

As for our personal favorites o’ the month, I just couldn’t get over this shot of the open-faced lemon sandwich (topped with salad dressing) that has become a staple at Clara’s play kitchen. She even pretends to eat it and then says “yucky yucky – so sour!” while puckering up her face. Gotta get that on video…

John once again picked a photo he snagged during one of his morning runs. I mean, if you know him at all, you know that he couldn’t NOT pick the shot of the bicycle. He says it also gets him excited for fall.

When we asked Clara her favorite one of the month, she initially picked the same one that I chose (probably because she had a hankering for a lemon sandwich) but when pressed for a second option she chose this one. It’s a covert image I snapped of John during a meeting at our house (yes, he wore this to a meeting). When I asked Clara why she picked it she simply said “I like Daddy.” Heart officially melted.

What was your September like as far as Instagram goes? Any favorite ‘grams this month?