State Fair AKA Eat-apalooza

This year the visit to the State Fair was all about eating. Our morning and afternoon was already full, so we just went for a very short time in the evening. As you can see from Bella's blue nail polish and multiple ponytails, Bella had a hair and make-up birthday party earlier in the day. Well, it did not seem like we did much, Bella said it was a fantastic time. Besides eating the girls spent a good bit of time jumping on a pile of ice that one of the food vendors poured out on the grass. So, maybe next year we'll make it to the rides, but really what we learned from this experience is that some funnel cake and ice is

only that is needed for a fantastic time.

Cinderella

Bella is now at the age where she can go to movies and plays and musicals, so this year I bought tickets for her and me to several shows - one of which was the Texas Ballet Cinderella. So on Sat afternoon Bella and I and LOTS of other little girls and their mommies went to the Winspeare to see Cinderella. The dancing and costumes were beautiful. And despite having what I think was her first sinus headache, Bella did a great job of sitting still and quite through the whole show. This month we went to a Sunday afternoon play of "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake". It is a special children's series that the Eiseman center in Richardson puts on. It was cute and just right for little ones. It's fun to have some special one on one time with Bella. I think she likes it, too.

Halloween

The girls were a lot of fun this Halloween. We actually got to do some pumpkin activities this year. Last year it was too wet to do too much. We picked out a pumpkin at the little pumpkin patch near the house on the way to school. I guess it has become a tradition. And I took off early one day and took the girls to the Owens Farms pumpkin patch. We went on a hay ride, feed the goats, did the maze, and picked at some pumpkins. Bella also taught us a halloween and fall song. And as is also becoming a tradition, we had a costume controversy. Initially Bella said she wanted to be Spider Girl. And then a pink superhero. A pink super hero that can make flowers bloom and rainbows. And she can fly, and she take me along with her. She told me all this on the way to school one day. So when I saw a pink super hero cape, I thought I'd found the best costume. But then, the girly princess kicked in, and she ultimately was Belle. And actually she put that dress on any chance she got. We also went to the festival at the girls' school. That was fun, but we missed all the trunks of treats. Then we also did trunks of treats at our church before they went trick or treating. Needless to say we did it ALL!