Can I go as a harried mom for Halloween?

The costume is pretty easy, apparently. It's been consistent madness around here, which is why it's been more than a month since our last update. Caroline went on her first-ever field trip with school, to a local nature center and a pumpkin patch. I think she was more excited about riding on the school bus actually; as we rounded the corner of the driveway to see the huge yellow bus sitting by the side of the building, Caroline let out a squeal usually reserved for meeting a major deity. On top of that I helped orchestrate the kindergarten "Harvest Party" with two other moms - administering a room full of excited kindergarteners on a sugar buzz is like trying to shove an angry octopus into a mesh bag! So of course that means we're also responsible for the Thanksgiving party about a month away....

But, we're also accomplishing lots of other things. We're about to go on our fourth family trip to Disney so have been busy packing and preparing. Caroline's birthday party is scheduled for December 8th at the paint-your-own pottery studio in town. I just bought her beautiful Christmas dress, and scheduled her yearly pictures for after we come back from vacation, so be sure to keep an eye out for the "beautifulest dress ever!" in your Christmas cards this year.

We still have to offload the Harvest Party pictures, so for now you'll have to be content with some pictures from a recent park visit.

Caroline's first experience with marshmellow fluff; it's like kindergartener CRACK! In this 8 oz. mug, she literally had three heaping spoons of Fluff.

At a new park about two blocks from our house.

Hanging WAAAAAAAAAAAY back on the swing.

Let's try out the rock wall too!