October In Numbers

Friends, October was one crazy busy month!  Sometimes I look back on these month in numbers posts and I'm shocked at how much happens in such a short period of time.  As I reflected on the month of October, I thought it would be fun to use single numbers to share just a few of the things that were a part of my month.  (Plus, I share a fun announcement that you may have missed!)

5 - Halloween parties.  Between my two kiddos, we had a decent number of Halloween parties to go to: my daughter's kindergarten party, my son's preschool party, our neighborhood party, a dance party with the little dancers I help teach at my daughter's studio and a birthday/Halloween themed party for a neighbor.  Phew!  With this being my daughter's first year in elementary school, I wanted to make sure I came and watched her in the costume parade.  She was so cute and waved to all the older kids as she led her class around the school.

4 - Crafts made.  October was a crafty month for me!  I shared most of the crafts I made here on the blog, including my popcorn box witch, embroidery hoop pumpkins and Owlette and Catboy PJ Masks masks.  The only one that didn't make it onto the blog was a wood craft I made with my sister in law one morning.

3 - Visits to the pumpkin patch.  I was actually hoping we'd make it over to the pumpkin patch at least a couple of times a week all month, but it just didn't happen.  However, the times we did, my kids had a blast playing in the giant corn pit, sliding down the tube slides, climbing on haystacks and looking at the animals.  Our local pumpkin patch is easily one of my kids most looked forward to activities in the fall every year.  (If you're in Utah County, definitely come check out Jaker's Jack o' Lanterns during the month of October!  It's one of the best kept secrets around!)

2 - Big announcements.  That's right, I shared TWO big announcements last month!  First, I am pregnant with baby #3!  If you've been following my blog, you may know that I've had three miscarriages in between my second child and this one.  It's been a long road and I'm so very grateful that we'll be adding to our family in March of next year.  The second big announcement was our gender reveal!  We took our kids with us to the gender ultrasound and then had fun making a little movie for the reveal.  You can watch it below to find out if my kids will be having a little brother or little sister! *wink*

2 - Years blogging (aka blogiversary).  You guys, I can't believe I've been on this blogging journey for two years!  I have learned so much about myself and community and making friends.  I'm planning on doing a full post on my two year blogiversary and hopefully there will be a giveaway to go along with it!

2 - Cute PJ Masks costumes.  A few months ago, my kids got into a show called PJ Masks, so when I asked them what they wanted to be for Halloween, my daughter said Owlette and my son said Catboy (or Gekko depending on the day).  This is the first year my kids have wanted to dress is coordinating so it was fun to put that together for them.  Plus, I totally have to pat myself on the back for finding costumes that didn't cost a ton of money AND are multipurpose.  For example, my daughter's costume was just leggings and a hooded t-shirt, both of which she can wear again as regular clothes.  And my son's costume is a two pack of pajamas (one Catboy and one Gekko) that he can wear during the winter.  #winning

2 - Pirate costumes.  Even with as many Halloween parties as we had in October, I didn't actually want my kids to wear their costumes until the day of.  So for our neighborhood Halloween party, I went to the dollar store and picked up a couple of pirate vests, swords and bandannas.  Then we just used clothes they already had to complete the outfit.  Easy peasy!  Plus, they can wear the costumes as dress ups.

2 - Times riding horseback.  My family and I got to go to a fun family event organized by my friend Natashia at Canary Jane in conjunction with the release of Sandra Boynton's new book Hog Wild.  They had tons of fun family activities, including pony rides.  I actually grew up in a rodeo family, but never got into riding much besides here and there on the weekends when I visited my dad (my parents are divorced).  However, I loved it whenever I got to do it.  I can't actually remember the last time I got on a horse so when the lady asked me if I wanted to ride, I got really excited and said yes!  So my daughter and I rode next to each other and it was such a fun moment for us.

1 - Family staycation.  With me being in the first trimester during the summer and a number of other circumstances, we weren't able to do a family vacation this summer.  Knowing that it's probably going to be a while before we're able to do any vacations, I suggested to my husband that we do a little family staycation over fall break.  So we booked a hotel in the next city over and had a mini "yes day" with our kids where they got to choose the activities we did and the places we went to eat and the order we did it all in.  The kids loved having the choice and my husband and I enjoyed being able to say "yes" to their simple requests.  When we asked my son what he wanted to do after we went bowling (my daughter's choice), he said he wanted to go to the hotel and just hang out in our room for a little bit before dinner.  All in all, it was a fun little weekend getaway for our family and our kids loved it just as much as if we'd gone somewhere farther away.

1 - Visit to a dairy farm.  You might laugh at this, but I love cows.  Especially babies.  I don't really even know why.  But when a mom group on my neighborhood made plans to take their preschoolers to a dairy farm and invited me, I totally said yes.  I might have even been more excited than my son.  The drive was a little out of the way and we had to leave early to get back in time to pick up my daughter from school, but overall, it was a lot of fun!  When we walked into the area where they keep the newborn calves, my son immediately plugged his nose and kept it plugged until we left about 15 minutes later.  The farmer teased him and said, "Does something smell funny?" and my son just nodded enthusiastically.

1 - Beautiful day in the canyon.  One of my favorite things to do in the early fall is to go up the canyon and walk or hike along the trails and see all the leaves changing color.  A favorite quote of mine about fall says "Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower." (Albert Camus)  My kids loved picking up leaves and acorns and running along the trail in the sunshine.  I've always loved that my birthday is in the early fall because of the beautiful leaves and crisp air.

And that's October!  It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is already next week and that Christmas follows soon after.  This year will be over before we know it!  But that also means we're getting closer to meeting our newest addition to the family and we're super excited for that (minus all the sleepless nights *wink*).

You can check out my other month in numbers posts below:

February Month In Numbers
March Month In Number: Orlando Edition 
April Month In Numbers
May Month In Numbers
June Month In Numbers 
July Month In Numbers 
August Month In Numbers
September Month In Numbers

I'm linking up with Deena from Shoes to Shiraz to share my month in review!