I scrubbed it, cut it up, and we ate it as a little appetizer before dinner. By the way, did you know you should avoid peeling your carrots? That's the most nutritious part so I try to always just give them a good scrub. We look forward to harvesting more carrots this week and I'll try to take a good photograph so you can see all of their beautiful colors.
A few posts ago I mentioned that Grant was going to be working even more than he usually does and I'm happy to report that we survived the first insane weekend without him. He does a lot of work for the country band Gloriana. They're actually pretty good - you can check out their website here, and here are links to some of the work Grant has done for them. This is one of my favorites. Also, I should warn you that he didn't do all of the videos on here and some of their older stuff is not good, so I would hate for you to think that my talented husband made those.
Here's from the top.
Here's a close-up of her face.
Adorable.
Last summer Maggie watched "The Incredibles" for the first time and absolutely fell in love with it. She loved it so much that it actually inspired her superhero birthday party that we had earlier in October (sorry, no photos yet...). When we were deciding what everyone would wear for Halloween it was quickly decided that there was no choice BUT The Incredibles. In case you've been living under a rock, The Incredibles is an animated movie about a family of superheroes. Each parent and the three children all possess some amazing super powers. It worked out pretty perfectly - there's even a baby Incredible! Okay, he is a boy named Jack-Jack, but it didn't really matter to me if Carolina went as a boy, baby superhero for Halloween. I lucked out by finding a little boy's Dash Incredible costume for a good price at Target, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money ordering costumes for the girls (shipping, etc.) Plus I thought I could make the costumes pretty easily. I simply bought red, long-sleeved t-shirts and red leggings for the girls, as well as a black mask for Maggie (I knew Carolina wouldn't wear one even if I could find one small enough for her!). I drew the Incredibles logo onto freezer paper and created a stencil for each shirt. I did have to paint some of it freehand because of the multiple colors on each on. For more on creating a freezer paper stencil, click here. Anyway, I did it all during a two-hour nap on Halloween, so you know it couldn't have been too difficult.
The last three years we've gone to my sister Erin's neighborhood to trick-or-treat because they have a little parade, a million kids, and Erin hosts a chili dinner afterwards. It's a really fun tradition for us now. Last year Finn didn't really get the whole "trick-or-treating" thing, but this year he had so much fun knocking on doors and picking out his candy. It was so fun to watch. And last year Carolina was a week old! This year she still had no idea what was going on but she really enjoyed being around everybody and all the commotion. Here she is in the stroller during the parade.
Here's Finn, showing off his cuteness and muscles.
Finally, here I am with Carolina, wearing the tiny cape I made for her to wear at Maggie's superhero party.
And if you're like me and love Halloween but hate all the candy and figuring out how to control it, you may want to check out this interesting blog post from a nutritionist/mom.
Here are two funny Finn sayings that he's recently picked up. He will say, in a whisper, "Mom, can I tell you something?" And when I lean down to hear what he has to hear, he won't say a word. He just likes asking if he can tell me something.Who needs a pool? from Howardyoudoing on Vimeo.
(Here's a photo of Finn showing off his favorite funny face. He'll run up to us and say "Look at my funny face" and then make that face.)
Here's a photo of my sister-in-law, Kajsa, with her little guy Jacob, my mom, and Carolina and Finn. Look how big my kids are compared to that little peanut! He's about two months old now.
Love, love, love my six-year-old!
Finn and Lily Kate (the gray and yellow blur) were freaking out about them (in a good way).
Even Carolina was captivated by them. 
I think it's fun, too, but I can't be in there without remembering the time we were there with a member of the family (who shall remain nameless) and he was pooped on by one of the Lorikeets. It makes me verrrry nervous.
Carolina didn't want to leave the swing. Here she is with a big smile.
And here she is with a HUGE smile!
It was a perfect day!
This little sweetie...we just love her. (Duh!) Here's what she's up to lately. 
You may remember that Maggie's preschool teacher, Miss Heather, is Australian. Maggie now loves all things Australian and the other day when Carolina laughed Maggie said, "I think that was a dingo. If not a dingo, then a kookaburra." Hmmm...
Yesterday my sister Erin and I participated in the Warrior Dash. In case you don't know what that is, you can check the website or here's my quick explanation: It's a 5K (3.2 miles) run on an obstacle course, culminating in a mud pit that you MUST climb through (there is barbed wire over your head, forcing you to stay low). Wait. That kind of doesn't sound fun. I promise, it was so much fun.
I'd been wanting to get back in shape since Carolina was born but I just hadn't made the commitment to get to the gym. Erin mentioned the Warrior Dash about two months ago and I thought it sounded fun, signed up with her, and then realized, "Oh, hey...I guess I better start exercising again." So I worked my way up from exercising for 30 minute chunks, running three minutes, walking one minute, over and over, all the way up to running 3o minutes without stopping. It took me about 3 weeks to work my way up to running the whole time. BUT, I got used to running on a (flat) treadmill in air conditioning, and I'd only run outside one time in the last two months, until yesterday. Folks, it was HOT and I think I didn't hydrate well enough before the race. I had to stop and walk way more than I wanted to because I kept thinking I was going to vomit. I also got tunnel vision onetime and although it is in my nature to push, push, push, I reminded myself that I am the mother of three and wife to one who need me and it would not be good to pass out in the middle of a field. I really had pictured myself sprinting from obstacle to obstacle and then going full force over the obstacles and that is NOT what happened. Maybe next year!
Going into it I also was really hesitant about climbing a wall and I thought I might have to skip that obstacle. It turns out that there were at least five walls we had to climb (some with ropes, some with slats to climb up, and one even had a fire pole we had to slide down. But, those actually turned out to be my favorite obstacles and I'm proud that Erin and I did every single obstacle. The two we liked the least were climbing up this wall of hay bales which we then had to jump off of (we were afraid we'd break our ankles jumping into the soft hay) and one where we had to crawl through a long tunnel that was pitch black, through dirt. At the very end there were two fires we had to jump through and then the infamous mud pit. When we got to the fire we saw my dad there, cheering for us! He drove all the way out, about an hour and a half, just to cheer for us and take photos. Isn't that so sweet?!
