Is it time to go, yet?

Franny must have said that 100 times Thanksgiving morning.  In fact, upon waking up that morning, her first words were I want to go to Grandma and Grandpa's, now!  And, she was dressed and ready to go hours before it was time to leave.  When Grandma called to verify some details, and the phone was nowhere to be found,  Rick put her on speaker phone.  Both kids immediately crowded around the phone to listen and talk to Grandma.  Of course, this did nothing to ease Franny's impatience in leaving, but it is always fun to see how much they love their grandparents!

Sibling silliness

Reunion

After several days of rain, a recent break in the showers was a good reason for Franny, Cole, and I to take a late morning, neighborhood walk.  There are some very steep hills surrounding us, but both kids did a great job, and had a lot of fun.  We kept our pace to a slow and steady 'Cole speed', which left plenty of time for exploring and stopping to see and touch anything that caught the eye.   Halfway through our walk, Franny requested that we visit one of their favorite friends, Tigger the Cat.  Tigger was the destination for nearly daily walks the kids took with their daddy during the summer.  He is a very sweet and patient cat, and always will come out to greet them if he is outside.  And, I was very happy he was outside, as Franny's request took us to the opposite end of the neighborhood where we were walking.  But, it was well worth it--both for the walk in the crisp fresh air, and for seeing their sweet reunion with their old friend.

 

Dressing for the occasion

Right now, Franny will change her clothes about ten times throughout the day.  There is no rhyme or reason to it; sometimes she wants to change after lunch or using the bathroom, but usually it's just a presence of her mind to periodically stop what she's doing and change into new clothes.  Although continually changing, Franny will always include one of her nicest dresses, her leotard, and her ladybug outfit/costume in her rotation.  It's quite a change from the days of her not wanting to wear clothes!  A few days ago, Franny went to bed in her usual PJs, but when we later checked on her, she had changed into her ladybug shirt, pants, skirt, and wings.  It just never stops...

Autumn leaves

This weekend, Franny and Cole enjoyed a warm morning "helping" their daddy rake up leaves in the driveway.  Franny, especially, had fun making sure all the leaves were scooped up into the big pile.  It was her idea to run inside to grab their little brooms to help, although Cole adopted more of a supervisory role.  Next year, we'll make sure they have their own little rakes!

Trick or treat

This year, we were treated to wonderful weather for trick-or-treating.  Past years have been very cold or rainy and windy.  Last night, however, was cool enough to feel like Halloween but still warm enough where the kids didn't need jackets over their costumes to stay warm.

And what an incredible time they had.  We started at the neighborhood village center.  There was music, lots of neighbors dressed up in fun costumes, and trick-or-treating at the different stores.  Franny was a little overwhelmed with the older kids in spooky costumes, but she quickly got into the festivities, shouting Trick-or-Treat and Happy Halloween!  It was a little crowded to get Cole into the action, but he soon got his chance when we returned to trick-or-treat in the blocks closer to our home.  We couldn't get him to say trick-or-treat, but he learned very quickly how to pick out his own treats.  After getting more candy than all of us will ever eat (but having too much fun to quit), we headed home where both Franny and Cole had just as much fun passing out candy to the neighborhood kids.  Such a fun night!