A belated Happy Halloween to all!  We dedicate this post to Lara’s late cousin, Leighann, and think she would have approved of the costumes and our pumpkins.

Tasha and Kat had their second successful Halloween (success defined by us is their willingness…or tolerance…to wear a costume of our choice). They went as the Star Wars desert creatures, Jawas, well executed thanks to their height and toddling. What a difference from last Halloween! This time last year Kat was on the brink of having her feeding tube removed permanently. We still feared she wouldn’t be able to take in enough milk on her own and that g-tube surgery might be in her future. But wow- did she ever prove the naysayers wrong. Feisty Kat took to drinking from a bottle and eventually to eating solids like she couldn’t believe we’d held out on her for so long.  Here are our “now” and “then” shots:

In the spirit of the season, we also managed to visit our first pumpkin patch. A first for all, in fact. Neil had never seen so many pumpkins in his life and still thinks it’s all “slightly weird”. The girls personalities shone through as Kat motored from pumpkin to pumpkin, while Tash stood rooted to one spot making “I’m not sure about this” sounds.

We also had Grandpa Diener in town that weekend for a lovely visit. Tasha decided that feeding him her dinner was the most fun she’d had all week. Kat, as always, enjoyed flying through the air compliments of Grandpa D.

In early October, we were able to visit Canmore. The girls’ third trip there!  The fall foliage was absolutely gorgeous and we were able to do walks by the Bow River, as well as one “hard core” hike with the girls in baby backpacks. Not sure how much longer that will be sustainable as they get bigger and more interested in using their own two feet. And no…Neil did not carry both girls up the mountain…this was a “change of scenery” tactic for Kat after she had a slight meltdown at the summit. Lucky for all, it did the trick.

The girls also had what we’d call their first real “play in the park” experience. The mulch and pebbles tend to be the most interesting part of being outside for them…however, once Neil gave Kat a demonstration of the slide, she was enamored. Tasha marched around the park features to assess them and got up close and personal with the boulder wall (yes, only in Canmore).

Last but not least, we had professional shots taken of the family end of summer. These didn’t make it into the last blog update, so here go some of our favs!

Ms. Natasha Sophia, 15 months

Ms. Katarina Grace, 15 months

The gang:

And bonus shots (we’re impressed if you made it this far). How in trouble are we here???