Fall Fun

This is my catch-all fall post. We have enjoyed a lot of fun fall activities over the last few weeks, including HUGSR's annual Fall Fest, Highland's Trunk-or-Treat, a trip out to Priddy Farms, and Halloween. And I have fallen a bit behind on blogging what with all the other things we have going on -- like team meetings, packing, and getting ready for our move to Michigan at the end of the month.

This year, for the first time, Alex was old enough to really participate in Halloween and trick-or-treating. He and Mackenzie were quite the pair in their Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber costumes:

Hi, Bob! Hi, Larry!

So cute.

We enjoyed participating in the Highland church's Trunk or Treat this year:

The parade of costumes

"Trick-or-treat!"

One Saturday in October, we took a family outing to Priddy Farms. It was such a neat place. They had all sorts of toys and play equipment for the kids, a hayride, a pumpkin patch, and a really neat "choo-choo wagon" made out of old barrels. Alex loved it, and he cried when it was time to leave. Unfortunately, we left our nice digital camera at home, so these pictures were taken with our camcorder, and they are not the greatest.

The hayride out to the pumpkin patch

Alex in the "choo-choo wagon"

We carved our jack-o-lantern two days before Halloween this year. Alex picked out the design, but that was the only real hand he had in the process. I wanted him to help me scoop out the pumpkin guts, but he didn't want to get his hands messy. Go figure! He thought it looked really cool with the candle inside, though. We don't have any pictures of the actual carving process, because Rusty was at work, and I wasn't about to attempt to take pictures and carve a pumpkin at the same time. But here is the finished product:

Happy Halloween!

On Halloween night, we went to a Fall Carnival at the Methodist church where Alex attends Parents' Day Out. We invited the Gearsons to come with us and had a really great time. There were lots of games for the kids to play, a moon bounce, a mini trunk-or-treat, and free food. Alex and Mackenzie had a great time, but I was officially "Halloweened" out after this event, and glad that we weren't going to be bringing home anymore candy!

Playing ring toss

Alex and Mackenzie were both fascinated by this monster doll that danced and sang when you got up close to it.

And the Winner Is...

...Jamie Custer who guessed, A BOY! (Jaime, email me you mailing address -- rustyandlaura AT gmail DOT com). Since only four people guessed correctly, my job of selecting a winner was made pretty easy. I thought Teague had let the cat out of the bag when she said she thought it more likely that the tech noticed boy parts right away, but people still kept guessing "girl." By the way, that is exactly what happened. In fact, the conversation went something like this:

Tech: Everything looks great. There's the heartbeat. Placenta looks good.
Me: Wonderful!
Tech: Oh! (slight pause) Do you want to know the sex of your baby?
Rusty: How sure are you?
Tech: 100%
Me: Well, it must be a boy, then!
Tech: (nodding her head) It is.

So, Alex is going to have a little brother, and it looks like I am destined to be the only girl in this family, at least for awhile! :) We are truthfully very excited. I am glad that Alex will have a brother fairly close in age that he can play with, and it does make it easier on us since we can reuse all our "baby boy" things. Oh, and, they can share a room for the rest of their lives!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our little game... I had no idea so many people were reading our blog! I will have to have contests more often, I suppose. Also, thank you to those who left comments on this post. I have enjoyed reading your stories and thoughts and plan to follow up soon with more of my own. It's not too late to leave a comment if you would like. Just click the link above, or scroll down two posts.