Fall Fun and Mary Poppins!

We have had a fun and busy fall.  Beautiful weather, lots of leaves, pumpkins, friends, and of course - DRESS UP!  This post is long, but you get to see all of October, including the finale - Mattie as Mary Poppins herself.

It all started with a trip to the wonderful Rocky Creek Farm in Bozeman for pumpkin picking and petting zoo time.  Cousin Cash and Jhett (and their driver Amy) were in town, as well as Loni and Marni!   Nona and Jim Pa were with us as always and we met up with Sally and girls and it was a party!

On this particular day, Mattie was feeling very free spirited and dressed herself.  I couldn't bear tell her she had to change, so alas, what you see is her idea of a pumpkin patch outfit.  She loved it and sported the entire ensemble all day.  I think I loved it even more.

That might be my favorite picture of all time - yes, that is my daughter and yes, that was just a "Matine" moment caught on camera.

Some of my girls - what would I do without Loni, Mom and Marni? 

Sally and Camille

Cash Man! 

Amy, Jhett, me, Marni, Loni and Sally

Cousins playing in the hay -they are like night and day! 

I love this picture. 

Jhett refused to crack a smile on this day.  So cute. 

The kids - minus Cash. 

We then enjoyed a nice dinner at our house where we carved pumpkins, had some homey Shepherds pie, and visited ... the adults did most of the carving while the girls played dress up and ran around the house.

Today, on actual Halloween, Mattie and enjoyed a day of "fall crafts."  We decorated our 2nd pumpkin - this time with Halloween stickers, cut outs and glitter glue sticks.  We collected some leaves and made a "tree" picture with our real leaves.  And Mattie anticipated her dress up "trick or treating" by changing her outfit at least 6 times throughout the day.  This child can't decide on WHICH dress up dress she likes best, so she wears them all.

Serious concentration with the glitter glue (notice the sparkly go-go dress)

It was finally time for the finale... Costume time.  We have been looking forward to her Mary Poppins debut for months.  And again, thanks again to my creative and crafty (and organized) mother, Mattie had a handmade costume that cost mere pennies.   We watched scenes from Mary Poppins while getting her dressed and she got really good at saying, "trick or treat thank you" (all one word).

Year three's costume .... Mary Poppins!

Now that you are wooed by her cuteness I will tell you how this all REALLY went down.  I was crazy, cranky and impatient from 1pm on... Mattie refused to take a nap and cried in her room for an hour until I laid down with her.  She woke up crabby and testing my every move and word.  She refused to wear at the hat or jacket (key pieces to the costume).  Now, I know this is not her fault - she is 2.5  - I am an adult.  I needed to just "let it go" and relax, but it was one of those days where I just couldn't.  I wanted to lock myself in a closet and scream at the top of my lungs.  A large glass of wine would have helped the situation, but since I am pregnant, that was out (*^%$#).

Sally (my wife), the girls, and ME... terrifying I know.

She (me) ended up pulling herself together, helped and we had a great time with our friends and loved trick or treating.  That made it all much better, but I still need a do-over button sometimes. Hopefully she won't remember her scary, cranky clown (that was my costume) mom of Halloween 2011 when she grows up.  I was definitely the scariest thing I experienced tonight.

MANY more pictures coming later of tonight... This was all I had on my little aim and shoot.

Happy Halloween.