Trick or Treat...

A few days ago I asked Bails if she wanted to go trick or treating and she promptly said NO. I asked her if she knew what it was and she also said no. I then asked if she wanted me to tell her what it was and she said yes. I started explaining the process and I think the second I said "we get candy" she changed her mind and was all for the idea; the fact that she got to wear her elephant costume which has a "hat" was just an added bonus. Our trick or treating expedition started right after naps. Sam came home a little early from school so we costumed up and headed over to the shopping center up the street. After about 2 stores she had the concept down pat and was more than happy chugging along and collecting her candy in her little pumpkin. 

 

It was crowded and we moved extremely slow, but she had a blast and it was the perfect warm up to our evening adventures.

 The orthodontist had set up a little maze with an Alice in Wonderland theme and both girls were quite enthralled.

 

 

 At the end they each received a toothbrush, which is quite the prized item at our house!

 Being carried around whilst staring at superhero and princesses for an hour is quite the tuckering process. The little elephant nap may have also had to do with the fact that she decided to forego her afternoon nap that day.

 Dinner was a touch and go battle since Bailey couldn't part with her fist full of dum dums and we wouldn't let her eat one until she cleaned her plate. Thousand of bribes of a sucker and more trick or treating later we all made it out alive for round two!

 

 The little elephant duo did quite well for themselves. They managed to stay up way past their bed times and fill their little pumpkin to the brim.

 

 

 

 

Happy Halloween!

Jack O' Lanterns

Lesson learned: If you go pick out your pumpkins two days before Halloween you may have to try several different stores to find some decent, non-moldy pumpkins. We did finally arrive back home and went straight to the backyard to carve. We set up our carving station with blankets, treats, cameras and pumpkins for the perfect party.

 Everyone lets their 2 year old daughters play with knives, right?

 Hazel got bored after 4 seconds of sitting and crawled off to play with her toys.

 Bails and Daddy hard at work cutting all the 'yucky' stuff out of the pumpkin. She must be my daughter because 90% of the time she is complaining that something is yucky.

  

Hazel is still in baby mode so anything yucky is actually fun food.

 

 Especially when Daddy drops it all over the ground and doesn't want to pick it back up because it is sticky. 

 

 She was using all of her strength to shove the knife through that pumpkin and I am terrified to announce that she was quite successful. Luckily everyone did finish the activity with all their fingers and toes still intact.

 

 Hazel went back to not caring for awhile and she made her way through all the toys in the backyard...

 

And then she decided that raiding the candy corn bowl was much more rewarding.

 

 Typical Hazel getting her mouth cleared out after shoving something naughty in there.

 Thanks to her sister (and a little bit me to stop her from screaming in public) she has developed quite the sweet tooth.

 Candy corn, a pumpkin muffin...

 

or two...If it is sweet, she will actually eat it.

 

At this point Bailey had grown bored with stabbing her pumpkin over and over and ventured off to play.

 Which left Sam to carve all by himself. 

 With a few visitors popping in every now and again...

 

 And we eventually got our pumpkins all carved out and ready for our trick or treaters.

 Good work little girlies and Sam! 

Wheeler Farm

Since we found the little girl's elephant costumes yesterday we decided to dress them up and go check out the infamous Wheeler Farm that we have heard so much about. 

 Right when we arrived we headed over to the hay bale maze and pumpkin patch. We had fun watching some kids run around and then decided to explore the farm a bit before we committed to the Halloween extravaganza.

 The first stop was two floppy-eared rabbits sleeping in their cage. Bails was giggling and pointing and very content on watching them lay still. We finally lured her away with the promise of stinky cows. 

 We then managed to escape the cow pen by pointing out the horses further down. And so it continued for the next few hours. The only way to keep her moving was pointing out the next animal a few steps ahead.

 Hazel was along for the ride, soaking it all in quietly until we came to this guy. We watched him charge the fence at some kid from afar which, of course, made Sam and I start laughing hysterically. He chose not to charge us, thank goodness, because I'm not sure if poor Hazel could have handled the trauma.

 When we moved on and discovered a pen of white turkeys a nice lady asked if we wanted her to pull one out so we could pet it. Bails got really excited and ran over only to get pushed to the very back of the line by a ton of other kids that swarmed in like hornets. She patiently waited her turn and then cautiously gave it a gentle rub.

 As did Hazel without even crying or shaking in fear!

 The no crying spell ended when we came upon this goat. He let out a big baaaa out of nowhere and it sent Hazel into a crying panic.

 These pigs just scooted around snorting the entire time. My girls were quite enthralled. In retrospect all of the animals did a pretty spectacular job at making their respective animal sounds.

 If you tell Bails anything is a little baby she instantly coos and falls in love. It wasn't any different with the little cows.

 It is probably partly that she got to climb up the fence for a little bit and partly because they were babies, but we stayed here forever. She watched and played until...

 

 

 ...one of the calfs let out a loud moo and then she freaked and hightailed it behind the safety of Dad's legs; where she could still safely peer around.

 A shoulder ride for our cute dumbo!

 The girls running/being carried around the farm was quite the site to see. Everyone was constantly oohhing and aaahhing over their costumes and how cute they looked.

 Debating on whether she wanted to go for a little swim with the ducks. 

 After our walk around the farm we headed back over to the pumpkin patch to see if Bails wanted to brave the maze or pick out a pumpkin. We sat them up on the bales of hay to snap a quick picture but then Bails wouldn't let us get her down.

 Hazel on the other hand wanted nothing to do with being up there.

 She straightened her legs and let herself slip off every time we tried to set her up.

 Perfectly content watching some older kids run around and chase each other.

But also making time for her good friend Hazel.

 

 

As it turned out the kids running around the pumpkin patch was somewhat entertaining, so I joined in the people watching for a bit.

 A short appearance from the tickle monster...

 And finally, a little proof that some elephants really can fly!

Wheelers Farms is the place to be!