Fantastic Fall Days

It has been a wonderful fall season for our family.

To start off, even though we were a little late, we did get to build our sukkah this year. Last year, we were in Austin for my husband's sister's wedding during Sukkot, so we didn't put it up. The girls were so excited to get it out this year!


As you can see, they were a huge help.
They wanted to eat as many meals as possible in there once it was up. Unfortunately, the weather during Sukkot was pretty crummy this year. We left the sukkah up for a few extra days, and ate in it after the weather turned more pleasant, even though Sukkot was officially over.

Yesterday we celebrated the Halloween with our friends. This was the first year that D&G actually put some thought and creativity in their costumes. Also, we tried to repurpose materials we already had, and make as much as we could. D's costume is from clothes she already had, combined with scarves from her bubbe. We did purchase the "pirate accessories" of course. I made G's clown costume, and paired it with a shirt she already owned. I did purchase the bow. We already had the face painting kit - you may not be able to see it, but D has a skull and crossbones painted on her cheek.
We went to our friends' house in Bexley for trick-or-treating this year. We love going with our friends on Halloween! This is D's friend, who is demonstrating his best ninja pose.

The whole crew (mostly, except for the crying ones). Don't they look great!? This is so special to me, because these kids have been celebrating Halloween together since before their first birthdays - my oldest was six months old in their first Halloween group shot.

And here it is! D is in the carrot (it looks like a pumpkin) costume, on the far right, the one screaming and raising her hand. Not happy. The one sucking his thumb, wearing a devil costume, is the ninja pictured above, and the lion, partially obscured by her dad's arm, is the cheerleader with D in the next picture. The kids are still friends with most of the other babies in this picture too, they just weren't at last night's trick-or-treating.

D was thrilled to see her buds!

The husbands stayed at the house and passed out candy ... and drank beer. Don't judge - we were walking with the kids, carrying our plastic cups of red wine!

We had a great time, and the kids gathered tons of loot. D was a little sad because she lost her hook and her pirate earring, but she got over it. G's clown make-up was completely smeared by the end of the night ... there were a few tears shed, but overall, they had fun!!!

Today the weather was really just perfect. My husband got off work early, my mom came over, and we all just spent the afternoon hanging out in the backyard! G was having fun playing "boat" with Nana.

Don't I have a handsome boy? He looks perfect for fall in his orange shirt amid all the leaves in our backyard.

D's hair was still a little crazy after sleeping on the braids leftover from trick-or-treating the night before. She was having a great time making piles and jumping in the leaves!

I was surprised to find that R can hold his own on the tire swing. He is really starting to get around on the playground - next year he will be all over it!!

I am so blessed with such a beautiful, healthy family! I hope the rest of you are enjoying your fall season as well!

Today's workout: (had to work off that candy, right??!)
45 min. run w/ strides (5.53 mi)
25 min. resistance training
15 min. hill elliptical (1.82 mi)
60 min. yoga