Happy Halloween!

Happy halloween! Harper is still a little young to do the whole trick or treat thing. But she enjoyed the holiday with some dress up. Here, she's sporting some cute pigtails and a trick or treat shirt.

At daycare, they do the "Monster Walk" and dress the kids up and bring them trick or treating at the hospital. Parents can go along too. This is Harper with her best friend Evan, otherwise known as Evie Evie. He's a gorilla and she's a witch.

With the mommies.

Getting the hat on before we ring G'ma's doorbell.

Heading to G'ma's door...she didn't know we were coming! 

Such a cute, sweet, witch. We also went to Amy's and the orchard. She had fun - especially saying "trick or treat" and "happy halloween"!



Is Fall Almost Over Already?

I probably sound like a broken record, but I can not believe tomorrow is November 1. Soon, snow will be falling and the days will be extremely short. I can't say that I'm looking forward to that - but going into winter this year is much easier than last due to the VERY nice fall. Even today, the last day of October, it's a gorgeous day outside.

Harvest is done for almost everyone. Noah and Caleb are finishing up some work for some others, and overall everything went very well. Orchard season is wrapping up too and it was another record year. I am looking forward to having my weekends back...lots to catch up on around the house!

Enjoy some photos...

Noah driving the grain cart and Caleb in the combine. A very dry harvest season this year - very much welcomed after the flood this summer.

Harper driving the tractor. She literally took us around in circles. She thought it was so much fun.

Wearing some new "Elmo Feet" - or slippers.

The mornings are getting colder - time for the stocking hat. Usually by the time I pick her up in the afternoon it's so warm that she doesn't even have a coat on. 

This is how she relaxes when we get home. We head to my bedroom to change clothes, and she "chills" on the couch with a short cartoon.

When you work at the orchard, you don't often get to enjoy it. So Amy and I took the kids one night to makes sure we could have some fun. Harper LOVED the super slide. She squealed the entire time. We went down 3 times.

She also loved the hay maze. It's the perfect size for little ones like her. Max & Mollie would go ahead of her and call her name, and she'd run around finding them. 

Ah, the jumping pillow. Another HUGE success at the orchard. Kids of all ages love this...Harper, M & M included!

A nice walk one afternoon - trying on Amy's sunglasses.

Harper received some blocks from her Gyolai cousins, and she loves building towers and knocking them down. 

Tis the season to receive many catalogs in the mail. Harper loves to look thru the ones with toys in them. Here, she and Noah are studying the catalog. 

Where did September go?

It's been a very busy month!  Hard to believe it's already October.  Orchard season and harvest are well underway and both going great.  Yields are not the best due to the VERY wet summer, which is disappointing. However, we've had almost 14 days of sun, which has made for some very productive days.

Some updates on Harper, now that she's 21 months old:

• Her vocabulary is growing every day. Her favorite things to say are the names of the kids in her classroom, the names of her family (in context - she will name all the Sandquists, then will name all the Gyolais - she knows who goes with which family), and all the Thomas the Train characters.
• She loves to call her friend Evan in her classroom - Evie, Evie, Evie!  And when she sees Evan's mom - she calls her Evie, Evie, Evie.  Pretty cute!
• She's still a VERY picky eater - which drives us crazy. Favorite foods right now are applesauce, banana bread and chocolate chip cookies.
• She can count - it goes something like this: Mommy says 1; Harper says 2; Mommy says 3; Harper says 5; Mommy says 6; Harper says 7; Mommy says 8; Harper says 9; Mommy says 10. She somehow forgets 4. 
• She likes to have her teachers sing ABC's to her.  She will say to them "ABCD?" - so they will then sing it to her.
• She will not sit in a cart when shopping anymore - unless it's in the back of the cart. If I put her up front in the cart/seat, she grabs onto my neck and pulls herself out.  So it makes for a very difficult shopping experience.  Noah now has to come with me - and he pushes Harper in one cart (so she can ride in the back) and I push a second cart that we fill with groceries.
• She loves to sit at the kitchen table - in a regular chair - and draw, play or climb up onto the table.
• She's getting a little sassy - especially with Mollie. She will tell Mollie "no, no, no - mine, mine, mine". So last night Amy and I tried to teach her to say "mine please" so it would come across a little less sassy.
• She's loving her time with G'ma, Max & Mollie while Amy and I work at the Orchard. She loves to play dollies in Mollie's room.
• I've learned she's doing some "environmental reading" (someone at work told me this). While I was looking at the Target ad in the Sunday paper, she comes over and points at the Target logo and says "shopping".  Wow!  Do we do too much shopping at Target or what?

Enjoy some photos below...

Harper coloring on her new chalk mat that G'ma bought her at a craft sale. It's really cool - and Harper loves it.

 Harper "feeding" mommy while playing up at Amy's house.

A great photo of Max, Mollie and Harper. 

Harper playing with Mollie's dollhouse...while holding Gordon, from Thomas the Train. She LOVES Thomas the Train right now. She walks around saying "Thomas the Tank Engine Rolling Along". 

Do you like the monkey's on my feet?  I do!

Enjoying a snack with Mollie while up at G'mas.

Chillin' in her chair watching Thomas. Notice her cute "locally grown" t-shirt.

Playing with bubbles outside.

Yes, Daddy is STILl reading his Warren Buffett biography - so Harper likes to pull his bookmark out and lose his place. It's funny!

Went for a ride in G'pas new combine. Yes - he got a green one! First time I've ever seen a green combine in a Sandquist field! It's a new era. 

Silly girl putting her bowl on her head like a hat.