Meinders Madness :o)

We celebrated the first weekend of November with the Meinders clan. It was my grandma's 80th birthday so we had a party for her and had our annual Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration.

Friday evening we went bowling, which Ava got to try. She loved it even though the bowling ball was too heavy. The Dumont bowling alley is a perfect place to take kids, we had the place to ourselves and it didn't matter that Ava and I had a lane all to ourselves!

Saturday, my grandma had a very good turnout for her birthday party. Saturday night we had our celebration. My Aunt Mari "borrowed" a friend's "man cave" and let me tell you, this place was awesome. Set up in a barn, the place is heated, furnished with tables, chairs, a bar, and the best karaoke equipment you could find! We had a great time! Even Ava sang a little bit of "Twinkle"!

Fall fun

We have been enjoying the great weather we've been having! A trip to the pumpkin farm, playing outside in the leaves, and going to the park have been so much fun in this nice fall weather!

We also carved pumpkins for the first time. Actually, my first time as an adult as well. Darren enjoyed it most of all. Ava didn't like the mess and lost interest pretty fast. I finished mine fairly quickly and poor Darren was left to do his all by himself.

Ava dressed up as a cupcake for Halloween this year. She was excited about the candy and loved carrying her bucket around. We went downtown to Main Street Cedar Falls to trick or treat. All of the merchants sit outside and hand out candy for the kids. She was terrified. There were so many people, and some dressed up in scary costumes. She made me carry her the whole time, so needless to say we made it about two blocks before we headed to Aunt Rachel's to trick or treat. She got plenty of candy for a 2 year old in that time frame anyway.