Fall is most definitely here

Last week Brett took advantage of another time-honored holiday enjoyed only by government employees and bankers. Veterans' Day. Yes, while the rest of the country was hard at work and wondering why their mailboxes were empty, half of the city of Charlotte had a play day. We went to one of the huge parks here and enjoyed the paths and picnic tables and playgrounds.
Another fall favorite is the leaf pile. We've got some very large, very leafy trees in our yards that make for great leaf-jumping.
In case you were wondering, most of those leaves are still there. It's a week-long process.

Halloween

This year on October 31 we participated in that time-honored ritual in which children dress up in overpriced, flimsy costumes from Target and collect pounds of sugar and fat from strangers. Happy Halloween! Only kidding! (sort of)
This year Makena was a ballerina and Reese was a ladybug ("radybug") and we made the most out of our costumes with appearances at two parties and our neighborhood social.
Believe it or not, we did have other things going on on that day that proved more exciting than Milky Ways and Snickers. We moved Reese into a big-girl bed! She LOVES it and has asked me at least once a day for the past five days if it's night-night time yet. To make the event even bigger, once I finally chose the bed I wanted to buy for her, we wound up buying one for Makena, too. She had been in a big-girl bed for over a year, but the bed she was in was an old daybed I've had for years. Now they both have their own new beds...which had better last them until college!