Catching Up: October

It doesn't seem like almost half a year since I posted! I left off in October, so that's where I'll pick up -- and rather than cram everything into one post, I think I'll take it a month or two at a time.

We celebrated Rosa's October birthday with a visit to a local corn maze (we missed it last year by one day, and I was determined not to make the same mistake again!). The littles had such a delightful time, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.

This year I made her a unicorn cake, one of my favorite decorating experiences so far -- my husband contributed the 3D-printed unicorn horn (his 3D printer is his new favorite child toy).

Even the homemade ice cream was purple! Though it's a bit on the grey side, since I was stingy with the natural food dyes... *wink*  How can my baby girl be 8 already?

The beautiful weather continued, so we explored a bit further afield -- a bit of nature, a bit of history. 

The littles surprised me by tackling a two-mile hike -- even Scout walked the first mile uphill, and I only carried him most of the way back so that we'd get home before dark (short leg problems!).

I'll miss these sunsets when we move:

One of the highlights of the month was finding a pair of goldfinches with a nest (which seemed late in the year to me). Rosa and I found them on a walk, but by the time we returned with the boys, the babies seemed to be gone.

Just as we were about to leave, we discovered a tiny fledgling right where we had been standing a few minutes before. I'm so glad we hadn't stepped on it by mistake! It was such a sweet, downy little thing, and the littles were so excited to hold it. Even Scout was gentle.

Laddie combined several historical eras while he was playing, and I had to snap a photograph. Don't you just wish knights had actually ridden dinosaurs?

We studied the Reformation in school in the days leading up to the 31st (basically an excuse for mama to buy more books...), and the littles contributed some of their own artistic efforts -- Rosa made a Lego Martin Luther, and Little Man drew his own Luther Rose. Remembering the efforts of Luther and the other reformers was a lovely way to close out the month.