We have had some busy weekends. Two weeks ago we went to a local pumpkin patch. We had a great time. They had a great play area for the kids and a corn maze that was fun for the adults and kids. Alexa had fun with her caterpillar. She carried him around for ten to fifteen minutes before we made her return him to the corn.She loved walking through the corn.
The next week Sky came over to play. The two girls did some painting and then played the rest of the day. Alexa loves to have Sky come over.

Then this weekend was the annual trip to Grandma and Grandpa's to visit the apple orchard. Going to Edward's apple orchard has been a family tradition since I was a kid. The orchard was struck by a tornado last January and suffered major damage to the apple barn and the owner's home. They have rebuilt. I was worried it would not "feel" like Edwards but they did a great job in rebuilding. The most important thing is that the apple cider donuts are just as good as ever! Alexa enjoyed hers.

Alexa insisted on a pony ride. The pony's name was Sammy.

And of course we had to get a picture in the train. Unfortunately Alexa's cousins were not able to make it this year. Next year we will get them all in the picture. We had been worried whether the train had survived the tornado and it did!

And of course to top off the weekend Alexa got pumpkins from Grandpa's garden. What a lucky girl!

Tuesday was my day off. Alexa and I headed to Target for some shopping - she loves shopping! I think that the thing she likes best about shopping though is the fact that she gets a tiny bag of "yum, yums" (M & M's) while we shop. She has decided that she likes the big yum,yums the best. The big ones are the peanut butter M&M's. Later in the afternoon we went to WaterWorks park and took some pictures by the flowers. Alexa's hair is getting longer. Now we can do pig tails once in a while. She is very proud of the fact her hair is getting longer. When she takes a bath she will pull on her wet hair and show me and tell me "hair to shoulder".

She is also starting to tell me what she wants to wear. And she likes dresses. I can usually still get her to wear what I want her to wear as long as I give in on the shoes! And I let her wear dresses a couple times a week to daycare and of course to church on Sunday. She wants to put on makeup when I do also. We limit that to a tiny bit of lip gloss or chapstick when I put mine on. She feels very grown up with her "pretty lips".
I am not sure if I have mentioned this before but this summer Alexa started to use her left hand more and more when using a pen or crayon. Now it is rare to see her with one in her right hand so I am pretty convinced that she is left-handed.

Tonight after dark we took a little walk down the street. A few neighbors have lights out for Halloween and Alexa thinks the lights are beautiful. A month or two ago when we took a walk around the neighborhood Alexa noticed a life sized cutout of a person in somebody's garage. She stopped at the time and asked me who it was. I didn't recognize the person so I just made up an answer so we could keep moving. I told her it was Bob. So tonight we are walking down the street looking at the lights and several people are in in their garages. Alexa stops and points at one of them - "There's Bob!"