Our Own Boo at the Zoo!

Back in mid October we started our MEA long weekend with a trip to Como Zoo to do our own Boo at the Zoo and take in the fun fall/Halloween decor. 

before the zoo Cocoa was playing in and out of our old toy barn.

It was also Lil Explorer day so they had fun lil activities in the entrance of the zoo. We did this A LOT when I was on maternity leave. So fun...and of course free :)

riding a tiger :)

storytime!

Time to check out the outside decorated Zoo :)

so fun to see the wolves up close! its a rare that they are even visible!

We ended our day with some pumpkin crafts. But before that we went to the Dr for Harper's three year appointment and the both girls got their flu mists and I got my shot. Harper is growing just fine, however that speech is not developing on its own as it should. I am big believer in all kids start talking and developing at different paces and there is a big window before I worry, but we have reached the end of that window and we are all ready for some speech therapy. Probably Harper the most. I think she is getting more frustrated and realizing that we dont always know what she is saying. She has gotten what she has wanted in one way or another...Linnea talking for her, her showing us, her pointing but its time to use/learn some more words. We are lucky that after 3 St. Paul Public Schools works with Help Me Grow and offers therapy for free. We went to her screening already and she is definitely below avg for speech and a little developmentally as well so we will do both. I think everything will click fairly quickly for her. Within the last month she already talks more and she does real well when music is involved..especially if it's Annie, Elmo or any version of "where is thumbkin, where is thumbkin, here i am, here i am! Its very cute to hear her trying to say more :)

Fall Odds and Ends

Linnea still hasnt been able to read the mini horse and sadly I dont think she will be able to as the tooth pain/infection/procedure the horse needed hasnt allowed for him to return to the library. But maybe sometime :) For now Linnea gets to read to Gertie the dog who you saw in a previous post and also this cute bunny Finny, whom I dont think has been seen on the blog yet. He is super sweet!

 Linnea go to go to a dance with a friend since it was bring a friend night :)

Her school/grade had been talking about community helpers/heroes and had a dress as your fav helper day....youll never guess what Linnea chose...A Service/Therapy Dog! There were actually at least two other therapy dogs too. I have to agree, the animals are pretty heroic and maybe someday Linnea will be a therapy animal trainer. She is very interested in it!

 I bought my first pack of yummy pumpkin beer of the season :)

Linnea and Emma's soccer season came to an end. It was sure a fun way to spend Saturday mornings :)

After her last game we went to a new apple orchard thanks to a great Living Social Deal. It was way out in Minnetonka but we were there about 3 hours so it was worth the drive! 

White pumpkin field!

We always love petting zoos!

We met some friends there and the girls lead the way through the corn maze :)

 Cute gals!

Kisses for Daddy before the wagon/hay ride! 

Family photo! 

The girls also rode their car/train thing but my phone died so no picture of that. 

We wore her out! I was glad she grabbed a lil snooze since that evening went to an outdoor movie night with our new parent group.

The Halloween movie of the night was ParaNorman and I am super surprised the girls lasted for this since it involved some kinda scary ghosts, goblins, witches and zombies! But it was a kid movie and some very silly parts and since many other kids were watching and laughing I think that helped. The girls went as fairies to this holiday event :)

The next day my mom, Linnea and I helped pack food with Feed My Starving Children. They were doing a big event in Woodbury to try and bag enough food for 4 million kids in 4 days and they succeeded! I am so glad we volunteered our time and cant wait to do it again. I think Linnea really understood that we were packing food up for kids who have nothing.  

Two cute girls at bedtime and one pretty 1st Grader :)

Harper and one of her best buddies, the kitty.

I hope this dance party video works!

Falling into Fall!

We had a lil fire in our firepit to start out October.

Harper likes the idea of roasting marshmallows but definitely prefers them not roasted :)

My childhood friend got married so we were able to go to the reception which was in a mutual friends backyard/house. It was beautiful! Star and I go back to when we were 3 and 4 doing ballet. My mom did daycare for her and we have been family friends ever since! 

Cute homemade centerpieces, including the pickles! Everyone got to take a jar of something homemade on their way out as well...variety of jam flavors, salsas and butters!

Papa pushing Harper :) They had their drink selection in that canoe you see back there. So creative and fun!

These food roasters were filled with pork from the pig that was roasting. They also had mac n chz and cole slaw.

 Linnea was in heaven with this HUGE dollhouse!

I was in heaven with Moose Drool and the wine they had was delicious too..we ended up with a bottle of  it too :)

The girls went home with my parents after the wedding so the next morning before getting them I went for a run and then cheered on some friends running in the Twin Cities Marathon. It of course made me want to sign up for some more races! I haven't yet but will!

We were hoping to go to the Renessaince Festival this year since my friend was able to get us free tix but Chris wasn't feeling real well and I didn't want to go without him so instead I picked the girls up after cheering, had lunch with them and my parents and then I had an afternoon at Fischer Apple Farm with just the gals. What a fun and cute lil orchard!

We did the tricky corn maze and after getting a lil lost....

We finally made it to the end!

examining the pumpkin.

We bought a bag of a variety of apples for $5 and went home and made some apple crisp!

We ended our fabulous day with Linnea losing her second top tooth...I'm quite certain she will be able to sing All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth this holiday season.

This one was quite the battle to get out, but since it was twisting and turning sideways our two dentist friends assured us we needed to just get it out. Daddy had the honors of pulling this one out, she had a lil ice cream and then headed to bed with the tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy.