Can I get my hair cut short?

Tonight Leah, Elizabeth, and I all had haircuts. Before it was her turn, Leah asked me if she could get her hair cut short. She had mentioned a similar desire after Elizabeth donated her hair and at the time I didn't think that she would be happy with short hair so I convinced her not to. However, tonight when she brought it up again I knew she wanted her hair cut and so I let her do it. She is very happy with it. Tim was super surprised when he first saw her. We both think she looks really cute!

How do seeds grow?

Lately Leah has been very interested in seeds. She started collecting them after eating an apple. Her idea was to replant them in our backyard this spring so we would have an apple tree. Then she grabbed pumpkin seeds from our jack-0-lanterns. Tim bought her some sunflower seeds so she could eat them, but instead she put them with her seed collection after eating only a few. The last group of seeds that she has are popcorn seeds. Maybe she'll add cherry seeds next!

How many ways can the candy be sorted?

Elizabeth and Leah helped me sort through their Halloween candy tonight. Together we tried to come up with different ways to organize it all. We thought of putting all the same colored candy together, grouping them by size, separating those in boxes from the ones in bags, making a soft candy group and a hard candy group, and also organizing them by shape. In the end Leah was adamant that we group them according to kind of candy. We made 3 different piles. Elizabeth had her pile, Leah had hers, and the last pile was reserved for Tim and me. I wonder which amount will be gone first?

How was Halloween?

Yesterday was a chilly and windy day, but Leah and Elizabeth still dressed up for Halloween. Leah was an Indian princess while Elizabeth was a pumpkin. In the afternoon we ventured downtown Grand Haven to go trick-or-treating by the stores. Later on in the evening we walked around our neighborhood collecting more candy. The pumpkin bags are now full of sweet treats!

Should we carve our pumpkins?

It took a long time for us to get to carving our pumpkins, but we finally did today. It was a great way to celebrate Halloween on the actual holiday. This year Leah wanted to paint her pumpkin and Elizabeth liked that idea too. Instead of using paint they colored with Sharpie markers. Tim and I still carved some pumpkins and displayed them outside tonight. They didn't stay Jack-o-lanterns very long because the wind kept blowing them out. Oh well, we still enjoyed carving out memories together.

Did you enjoy the Fall Festival?

Great Lakes held the annual Fall Festival tonight and it was a big event. With lots of games and small candy prizes the girls were definitely entertained. Some of the favorite activities were the ring toss, Bingo, and musical chairs. We were unlucky with winning any of the big raffle prizes, but Leah was fortunate to win the first time she did the cake walk. She chose to bring home some yummy pumpkin cupcakes. It was fun for the whole family!

How do you practice patience?

For the entire month of October our family has been practicing patience. As a culminating project for the month we created a patience pinata. It took 5 days to complete and helped reinforce the need to be patient. This afternoon the girls tried to patiently wait their turn at bat. Their days of practicing patience was finally awarded with a Halloween flashlight and candy corn kisses inside the ghostly pinata.