Thanksgiving

We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving this year.  My Aunt Brooke and Uncle Barry invited us over for dinner, which was a lot of fun.  They have such a beautiful backyard, so I always force everyone outside for a quick picture when we're there.

I love this sweet moment... they really do love each other (most of the time)!

 

The kids had a ball decorating for Christmas... they did a good job putting the ornaments on themselves.  Only 1 broken ornament total!

The Howard Family Halloween

Here's some pics from Halloween festivities.  Taylor came up with our costume idea again this year... we were the family from Clifford the Big Red Dog books.  The kids had so much fun with it, and loved when Brett and I dressed up like Mr. and Mrs. Howard.

 Here we are right before going to our neighbor's Halloween party.  Will won best kid's costume!  :) 

 

The kids also got to dress up for preschool on Halloween... here's Emily Elizabeth giving her dog a hug before dropping him off.  

  

Halloween ballet action!

Will and Taylor really got into trick-or-treating this year.  Will and I finally went home after about an hour and a half, but Taylor and Brett kept going until they hit every house in the neighborhood!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

I have always been a fan of fall, but truly, Vermont in the fall is the best.  We have had a lot of wet weather this year, but that didn't stop us from soaking up as much as possible!  One Saturday, we went apple picking at Shelburne Orchard with our neighbors, Julie and Wayne (and baby John).

 Will usually picks the apple, and then immediately starts eating!

Here we are at the Fall Festival at Shelburne Farms... Brett made Taylor her "fairy crown" from scratch at the festival.  I think he may have missed his calling as a florist.

 

Pumpkin picking with Taylor's preschool class...

 Fresh apple cider... why not lick it out of the cup?

My mom and cousin Rachel came up to see us!  We went back for more apple picking... we are serious about apples up here.

There was a picnic area with some kids slides and swings.  We decided to play a little and have lunch.

 My mom has lost her mind!

 Rachel and Taylor made an apple pie with all of our apples!  Yum yum...

And of course, we had to eat brunch at Shelburne Inn one last time before it closes for the season.

 

Here is our little pumpkin we grew from a seed in our garden.  It's modest, but the kids are so proud of it.

 Finally, it's time to pick!

 I had to include this picture... Taylor is taking fewer and fewer naps these days.  She usually goes into her room for quiet time, but this is how I found her the other day... totally decked out in full Cinderella attire sound asleep.  At least she took the heels off. 

Orange Beach

Needless to say, I am about a month behind on the blogging.  In mid-September, we ventured down south to Orange Beach to spend some time with Brett's parents.  We had great weather, and it was such a low-key trip, which was what we needed!

Will worked his way down into the water as the days passed.  Each day, he'd venture further and further.

 

There was a water slide where we stayed, and Taylor went down it at least 100 times.  She loved it!

 

Will even got to where he loved going down with Brett!

There was also a lazy river...

Brett's brother, Drew, came down for a weekend... we just couldn't get him out of the kiddie pool.

Here we are before dinner (Louisiana Lagniappe) on the last night... we had a great time!  Thanks Grammy and Papa!

Summer Wrap-up

So I'm a little behind on the blogging... here's a quick wrap-up of the end of our summer.  We went on a couple mini-weekend trips... here we are at Cape Cod.  My aunt and uncle have a house there, and let us use it for the weekend.  I had no idea Cape Cod was such a big place... we will definitely need to go back next summer to see even more!

Lots of lighthouses on Cape Cod... the kids (and Brett) weren't too thrilled with them, but I liked them!

A day at Cold Storage Beach...

Will made himself a "mud pit" and pretended to be a pig.  I didn't care one bit, because he actually enjoyed playing in the sand.  Last year, he wanted nothing to do with it and sat in a chair the whole time.  Big improvement!

We had some form of lobster at every meal... here we are eating lobster rolls!  My favorite.

We went on a bike ride and stopped to play at this beach near the Martha's Vineyard ferry.

We also went to Montreal one weekend when Brett's parents and Grandmother were in town.  Even though Montreal is only about 1.5 hours from here, it feels like you have traveled to Europe when you get there.  Everyone speaks French and the culture/architecture/shopping is very European.  We went to the Biodome one day, which was originally constructed for the Olympics but they turned into an indoor zoo/rainforest thing.

In the "old" section of Montreal... with the cobblestone streets and beautiful buildings. 

  We went on a carriage ride to see most of the old town.

 Back in Burlington: such a cute picture at our favorite spot for brunch at the Inn at Shelburne Farms.

Here's some of our favorite summer pics from time at home in Burlington... we went on a bike ride one Saturday and had a picnic.

 Day at the beach in Burlington...

 Back to Preschool!  First day... Taylor was so excited (if you can't tell).

Will started 2 mornings a week at Preschool too!  He was definitely not happy that Tay-Tay wasn't staying with him.  He kept saying, "Tay-Tay stay at preschool." Thank goodness they had a train set though, or I don't know if we could have left him. 

This summer, Will has changed so much!  He is constantly talking... seriously, constantly.  He is speaking in full sentences and becoming very opinionated about most things.  We also "gave" his pacys to Baby John next door, since he is such a big boy now.  And he moved into his big boy bed... he loves it!