Fall Festival at John Knox

Saturday afternoon was breezy and cool but dry.
Dressed in their Halloween costumes, the kids headed with Nana to John Knox for the Fall Festival. Rob and I met the girls at the church.

Lillian checks her bucket before trolling the cars for Trunk or Treat.
She loved reaching in and getting her own candy.

Madison loved her chocolate lollipops

while Lillian preferred "chewies"- Tootsie Rolls

Lillian did not quite understand "Just 1"

Off we walked for more treats.

Our little Stinky was the most beautiful Skunk of the day.

More baskets.

Daddy was even able to join the girls for a round in the parking lot.

With the trunk or treat complete, Madi headed off to play a few carnival games while Lillian returned to help Nana "sort the pretzels".

Her favorite game was fishing for prizes.

I think she caught a big one!

Ladies and gentleman, we have a winner!!!!


After the games, both girls headed to the Bounce House.

Sisie to the rescue.

Off she jumps

Skunk full of smiles

We had a great afternoon and then it was time for a nap.

Story Time with Mommy

Madison and I are enjoying reading the Sisters Grimm series. We are currently reading the #3rd book- The Problem Child.

While Lillian enjoys her Ba of milk with Daddy, Madi and I sit on the green couch for a chapter or two.

Some evenings as a special treat, we enjoy a mug of hot chocolate with squirty cream.

Little Miss Do it herself

Lillian loves bath time.

She has her own wash cloth- which she picks out from the drawer before climbing in the tub.

Don't forget to wash your face.

Are my piggies clean?

I think I am done!

Morning Snuggles

Lately, Lillian has been waking up when Madison gets up for school at 7am.
After she is dressed, she waits for Madi to get ready.
Today she decided it was too much work to get her music table out of the closet and decided to play with it where it was.

When Madi was all ready for school, the two sisters cuddled on the couch for some PBS kids before the bus came.

Just too cute!

Wild Thing

Check out her bedhead!

Papi visits the Zoo

Wednesday afternoon we headed to the zoo. Even Rob was able to join us from work for an hour (he wanted to test out his new camera).

Because we went at the end of the day, there was NO ONE at the shark petting area. Madi had a ball touching all of the sharks.

Taking a break between sharks.

The aquarium feature on the new camera was awesome.

The bear reminded us of Lillian- he had backed himself up to the trees to scratch his back, just like Lillian and the kitchen cabinets.

Check-out that Rhino

Even the giraffes

Time for a family photo (of course- Lillian being Lillian refused to take the picture)

still crying but at least facing the right direction.

The trees were finally changing colors and were gorgeous.

What a pleasant afternoon together at the zoo.

A water softener for us

A visit from Papi would not be complete without asking for his assistance on a house project.
This trips project- a water softener upstairs.

This also meant a trip to Greenwood Mall to visit Sears to pick-up the supplies.

Driver Madi raced Passenger Lillian to the store before its 8pm closing.

And while waiting for Daddy and Papi to make their purchase, Lillian tested the various vacuum cleaners- the yellow one was her favorite and the perfect size.

Then it was home again for installation.

Papi's Beauties

We were so excited when Papi arrived last weekend to spend the week with us.
Madison had fall break- Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and it was the perfect time for a family visit.

After church on Sunday, the girls headed into the backyard with Papi and Daddy.

Sister kisses.

Slide time

Look how high Madi is going.

Both girls looked beautiful in their new dresses from Papi.

Pumpkins for the Sparkles

On Saturday, we made our annual family trip the Beasely's Orchard to visit the pumpkin patch.

Lillian just had to have some caramel corn and enjoyed sticking her pudgy hands into the bag for another handful.
Pops was visiting from Florida and made the cold and windy trip with us through the fields.

We rode the hayride out the the pumpkin field- Madi and I loved hanging our legs over the side

while Pops, Daddy and Lillian preferred resting in the back of the wagon.

As the picture captures, Lillian was less then enthused for the trip- it was very cold!

She did however cheer up as when we found a pumpkin almost as big as her, and when Daddy gave her the bread from her sandwich to eat.

It was very difficult to find the perfect pumpkin.
Could this be the pumpkin for us?

Or these two?

Hey, I like this one!

I think we found the two winners!!!!!


We also went through the corn maze. We chose the American History Passport questions to guide us through the maze. It was very muddy but fun to answer the questions.

Which way do we go Madi?

Heading for the finish.



Leading the way


While it was a very cold day and there were a few meltdowns- but it was another great day for the Sparkman family.