Fall = Pumpkins, Pictures and Cool Air

Evangeline and Mommy

 Fall is here. There a few things I love more than a beautiful fall day. Friday Evangeline and I went to pick pumpkins from a pumpkins from a pumpkin patch with her school. It was a blast. We really enjoyed picking "citrouille," playing in the tepee, the hay-bale maze and feeding all of the animals with her school friends. I loved the corn-husk horses the most. We were so excited to spend time with other families from the school and get to know her teachers better.

Riding a corn-husk horse.

Evangeline loved all the activities at Peach Tree Farms so much that I think we should return before the Fall is over.

She's getting so tall

Hay-bale maze with friends.

 Friday we returned home for lunch, a nap and then family photos in the afternoon. +Lollipop Photography did our photos again this year. I can't wait to see how they turned out and get some printed for Evangeline's birthday and our holiday cards. We also went to dinner Friday with our friends Joy and Hank. We had Japanese Habachi, which Evangeline loved. She's only been twice and last time the fire scared her. This time she watched the whole "show" and ate a large portion or fried rice.

Friday night Greg and I also went to see Maiden Trip at the Citizen Jane Film Festival. It is a great movie about a daring teenage girl who becomes the youngest to sail around the world alone.

Saturday we attempted our regular trip to the market and grocery, but it was raining and not much fun. We went to the mall briefly, but spent the majority of the day at home. We also went to her school's Fall Potluck and spent time with other families and kids from the school. Evangeline decorated he pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and ate a lot of Doritos and clementines.

Evangeline playing guitar in the church nursery.

Today we went to Church for Lutheran World Relief Sunday. There were hundreds of hand-made quilts on display. The quilts were dedicated during the service. We also had some good play-time at home with each other and daddy.

After lunch we all took naps. After nap, Evangeline and I went to Wilson's Nursery for their annual Fall Festival. The theme was Monsters' University. Evangeline played in a bounce house, got a balloon, more pumpkins, and got her face painted for the first time. We even met Sully from Monster's Inc. 

This evening we went to the church again for Mission Meal. The meal was to support Lutheran World Relief and a woman who will be teaching English in Malasysia for the next year. The food was all locally grown and excellent. There was homemade applesauce, pickled veggies, squash casserole, potatoes, meatloaf, muffins, and peach cobbler. Evangeline loved the music as well. She really enjoyed listening to the youth play on the drums and piano and dancing to the music. 

This weekend was a great weekend and was a much needed relief from the stresses of PhD school life.

Evangeline listens to music at the Mission Meal.

Starting school and growing up

Evangeline, Greg and I are all in school now. Evangeline is going to Daycare three days a week, she is in a class with two other kids and gets a lot of personal attention. She's also taking French classes twice a week at a local French immersion Preschool. She knows a few words already.
She's really growing into quite the toddler and we've started potty training. I boxed up the cloth diapers last week. She's in 18-24 month and some 2T clothes and size 6.5 toddler shoes.

First day at French school

Weekend trip to Cosmo Park in CoMo

Skyping with Grandma Carri

Packing up diapers and 12-18 month clothes.

Greg is teaching a large lecture and preparing for his comps the first week of October. These are five 4-hour-long exams with completely memorized content. We also celebrate Greg's 30th birthday on Tuesday.
Sorry this update is not longer, but I thought I would at least post some recent photos.

Spring Time- March, April, early May

Spring has been very busy at Chateau Perreault. We had a visit from the Varner family and a lot of adventures around Columbia and St. Louis. It was also a landmark season for birthdays, I turned 30 in April, my dad turned 60 in April (in Texas), and Evangeline turned 18 months bringing more parenting challenges. Several of our family friends are moving this summer, which makes us sad. But we've been spending a lot of quality time with them. It was really cold this spring. Most days were 50 degrees or colder. That meant that our outside time was limited to the warmer days.

Getting quality time in with Claire at the playground in our neighborhood.

Evan and Claire playing at Claire's house.

James and Evangeline take a trip to Shelter Gardens.

My birthday outfit from Mom and Dad.

Evangeline and the shirt she won from Lately Lily.

Evangeline recently learned how to blow bubbles.

And met some fire fighters.

And went to the University of Missouri Vet School Open House.

Here she is playing with James again at Barnes and Noble.

And Wishing Grandpa Will a happy birthday.

And cuddling with her super hero daddy.

She has really gotten into stickers.

Meeting baby Gabe Varner.

Another thing she loves is the swing.

Evangeline has grown so much. She is saying a number of words and really interested in Potty Training. We hope to start that sometime this summer. She loves being outside. Especially playing on the playground slide and swings. She is learning to love drinking things other than milk and water. She tries to taste almost anything with a straw.

She loves cookies and asks for one when she sees anything that looks like a cookie. She asks to "swing" "slide" "walking." She lets you know when she needs "help," gets "stuck," or wants "more." She also says "please" and "thank you" which makes me so happy.  I love having a polite little girl, even if she is a toddler and uses the word "mine" a lot too. She's also started to say the names of her friends "James," "Claire," "Anne," "Gabe," and her teachers and friends at school.