iphone photos from october

October began with a quick porch makeover, including 5 white pumpkins (which Ryan made fun of me over for the entire month) and a new wreath. 

And of course, October also means engagement season is here! As soon as the leaves start to change, my job gets reaaaally busy. 

Speaking of work, it was time to order the client gifts for 2015 brides! Love this part of the year :)

I hosted the book club ladies for the second time, but it was the first time in our new place. It was awesome to fill the living room like this! So much wine, so much good food...

A motherhood miracle happened early in the month: both babies napping soundly in their cribs, along with all of my work finished up for the day. This meant: bath time and digging into the October book!

The antique tool chest that I bought back in April was finally complete. Here's a little before and after :)

And speaking of antiques, I was absolutely devastated to learn that Gendron was closing its doors :( I went by one last time to grab a few things from their very limited supply. 

Jilly wore a hoodie. Enough said.

The motherhood miracles kept coming... So much alone time this month as Jilly becomes a napping all-star.

It was the perfect end to Thanksgiving weekend --  a visit from Uncle Kevin and Auntie Anna!! It always seems like way too long between our visits. This time there was a new member of the family. 

Not sure which photo I like better...

A set my alarm and headed to Gatineau Park for a sunrise shoot one morning this month! The sky rewarded me for waking up so early :) 

As of October 18th, Ryan and I have been together for NINE YEARS! A little flashback photo I grabbed from Facebook:

Preparing for Danielle's stay with us means getting the guest room ready! 

And a new canvas for the house :)

The children of barre childcare <3 This is one of Cooper's many lady friends, Cora.

More iPhone photos from engagement season!

Our walks to the plaza are starting to change. Cooper decides he would like to walk once we start walking home, and we've been trying to figure out exactly what point to let him out of the stroller. Too early and we end up carrying him for a chunk of the walk, too late and he's still going strong by the time we get to the house and gets really angry when we go inside.

Cooper makes a mess downstairs while mom works. Typical day around here.

Tuesdays and Thursdays, while Cooper is in toddler school, look very peaceful. Jilly sleeps in her crib and I get all the things done :)

Auntie Kalaigh is home from Australia! She told us stories about her trip and read books to our babies. 

My birthday gifts from Ryan had a theme this year: food, wine, and relaxation. Our first stop was dinner at NeXT, which is conveniently located right down the road from us. We went on bring-your-own-wine night and picked out two bottles for the occasion. 

We opted for the 8 course blind tasting menu expecting 8 tiny bites on huge plates but we were surprised to find ourselves getting full around course 5. Everything was delicious! We would definitely recommend this place :) Those tiny mugs held a soup that changed my life. And the last photo was introduced to us as "beef with asparagus," but we later found out it was tuna with some fancy green beans. The service wasn't great...

The birthday celebrations continued on Halloween day when we went to the wine & food show! 

It was really fun to get dressed up and roam the show with a glass of wine in hand. 

One of my clients from earlier this season surprised me in this photo below :)

After the show it was time to get ready for trick-or-treating! My hope was that Coop would be able to do about 3 houses before getting either tired or frustrated. I pictured him throwing his football into people's houses, crying because we weren't eating every piece of candy as it entered the basket, etc. 

But in reality, he was a Halloween all-star. My mom and I were so proud! Mom pushed Jilly in the stroller and I took Coop up to each door. All in all, he did 8 houses while managing to hold his football AND his basket the whole time. He must have been practising at school because he definitely knew what to do.

Stittsville gets pretty crazy with decorations apparently!

November is going to be a fabulous month, I can already tell. Highlights will include: Danielle's visit from Banff, Christmas preparations, and a family photo shoot!