Lunch Date at Tuck

 Every once and a while we meet Josh for lunch in the cafeteria at Tuck. The girls go nuts for the chicken nuggets and chocolate milk, and they think it's so neat to eat lunch on campus with all the grad students.

That's all :)

Halloween Baking and Making

I'm normally not a big Halloween person, but this year I've been able to fit in a lot of fun crafts/treats with the girls. Here are a few of the fun things we've been up to...

I usually don't make sugar cookies except for Halloween and Valentine's Day, so it's always a treat for Bryn to frost cookies. 

I didn't let Mya frost any because I knew the frosting would just be shoveled into her mouth, but she did get to sample one frosted cookie and of course she loved it.

 This black bunting was an impromptu project that used up some old black fabric and bias tape I had from past projects. I love projects that use up old materials and can be made start to finish during one naptime! I pinned up our Halloween table cloth, added the black bunting, and used it as the backdrop for the "photo booth" at our Halloween party.

 Bryn and I dipped nutter butters and mint milano cookies in white chocolate and turned them into ghosts. Fun, easy treat for kids to make....and adults to eat!

I made the Boo banner from this tutorial. Another really simple project.

 Bryn made lots of these Halloween collages during Mya's naptimes. We've got them hung all over our house and they make me smile.

 We hung our Halloween bats again, but this year Bryn thought we needed a witch flying with the bats. She drew it, cut it out, and proudly had it flying with the bats before I even realized what she was working on.

 I had a collection of old bottles from an project, so I decided to spray paint them and turn them into Halloween decor. Most of these cute little pumpkins were grown in my parent's garden and sent to us in a  cute Halloween package. Thanks Mom!

 More pumpkins

My summer wreath got really faded and ugly by the time September rolled around. I was going to chuck it, but then I sprayed it black, added a black ribbon and $1 strand of glittered pumpkins and now it is our Halloween wreath!

 More treats! Oreo bats! Bryn totally loved this project. She helped cut out the wings and dip the oreos, but her main job was putting on the candy eyes. Josh even got in on this project and was in charge of adding the wings to each bat. It was a family affair, and yummy one, too.

Bryn and I gathered rocks from the trails behind our neighborhood and then painted them as Halloween characters. We did this last year, too, and it's so much fun.

It's been a really fun, really busy month. I'm officially crafted-out and treated-out, so I think we'll make it a really low key Thanksgiving month :)

Mt. Gile

 Fall this year has been so fantastic. We've been cramming in as many hikes and outings as we can, soaking up the beautiful outdoors while the weather is still nice. On Friday we picked up Josh from campus and drove about 5-10 minutes to the trailhead of Mt. Gile in Norwich, VT. Hiking Mt. Gile has been on our to-do list ever since we moved here, so I'm glad we finally made it happen. 

I'm sure this hike would have been breathtaking a couple weeks ago when the leaves were at their peak, but it was still really pretty with all the burnt orange leaves covering the ground. 

 When you get to the top of Mt. Gile there is a huge tower to climb for a better view of the area. 

 Bryn is a super hiker! She basically runs the whole trail every time we go hiking and we have to jog along to keep up with her. 

 Hooray for hikes with the fam!

Halloween Party

Josh and I don't normally dress up for Halloween but this year we decided to make costumes and throw a Halloween party. We had it this past weekend and it was such a blast. We've definitely got to make this an annual tradition!

 Colonel Sanders and a chicken | Gru and Lucy from Despicable Me 2

 Nacho Libre and Sister Encarnacion | Hanover and West Lebanon 

(Hanover is the Ivy League town of Dartmouth and West Lebanon is the not-so-Ivy League neighboring town)

 Angry Bird, Cat, and mouse | Mary Poppins and Bert 

Minions | 70's couple 

(These were the actual outfits Sandy's parents were married in! So awesome!)

 Maybe the best part of the night was playing the "Minute to Win it" games. So funny!

Along with "Minute to Win it" we played Clue Charades (so funny) and a couple rounds of Mafia. 

It was such a fun night! We are so grateful to be in grad school with these wonderful people. 

Coloring

Mya's got a new favorite hobby, and I certainly approve. She sits at this little desk everyday and scribbles one crayon after another on any coloring book or scrap of paper she can find. She usually does her coloring time when Bryn is gone at school, so I just sit quietly next to her as she scribbles away and jabbers to herself. It's definitely one of my favorite times of the day.

She started out as a timid artist, lightly making crayons marks on her paper. Now she scribbles boldly, filling the pages with color. Sometimes when she really gets into it she chucks her crayons behind her back when she's ready to switch to a new color. It's so funny to watch her at work!

Apple Picking

 We'd been berry picking a few times in New Hampshire, but this year was our first time going apple picking. It was so fun and definitely got us in the mood for fall. There are a couple orchards close by, but this time we went to Riverview Farms which is just about 5 minutes outside of town. We met up with a couple friends and Josh didn't have class, so he got to join us, too.

It was a pretty hot day, so fair-skinned Mya mostly relaxed in the shade and sampled the fresh picked raspberries.

 (The last three pics are stolen from a friend... Thanks Steph :) )

 We came home with 15 pounds of apples and a couple pints of raspberries. Fun day!