For the most part, Julia has left both Christmas trees alone, except for one incident involving candy canes (Bennett had hung all 10 candy canes on one 5-inch section of lights). Her main focus is the singing snowmen that surround the Christmas tree. She likes to turn them all on at once, especially if I'm on the phone. 
Snow set in the Sunday after Thanksgiving. What better time to go pick out a Christmas tree? After searching all over for the perfect one, we finally found an independent grower who had some gorgeous trees. But by then, our helpers were tuckered out and slept through the whole event (check out the review mirror). Maybe next year...
With the freezing weather out there now, it's hard to believe that we were able to play outside only two weeks ago. Bennett eagerly offered to help rake leaves, and was true to his word, after some playtime first. Julia showed a preference for supervising only, but did add to the bags one leaf at a time. 
Bennett and Julia enjoyed getting to see their Grannie Annie and Aunt Sonya in College Station. It was a quick weekend (even though the game against OU seemed to last forever!), but we made the most of if.
OK, so the game wasn't all that great, but it was a fun trip--even though we were there with an all-OU crew! Our seats were right next to the OU band, too. With 60-some OU points on the board, I'm pretty sure Bennett and Julia have Boomer Sooner ingrained, which is just fine with their Grannie Annie. To get away, we took a break for some popcorn late in the second quarter.
One day, our maple tree was fire red and beautiful. The next day, the wind set in and all the leaves were on the ground. So we had a very small window for playing in them (which constituted about one hour after work this week). The oaks in the back hang on a little longer, though, so we still have some potential for more leaf fun. Bennett says he's looking forward to raking them up. I'm sure that will last about five minutes. 
Bennett really got into the Halloween spirit this year. He was like a machine. And Julia, in her quest to do everything Bennett does, quickly learned to follow him up to houses and hold out her candy bucket. I do believe Bennett would have continued all night, but we called it quits after about two hours and 15 pounds of candy. We're sneaking it out of the house as we're able, but Bennett is catching on to our scheme.
Wearing red in KC during football season is a show of your support for the Chiefs. Didn't help them win, though. Neither did switching to Cowboys attire after church. 
But at least she's in Saturday-football appropriate attire. Should I also mention here that he taught her how to do a gangsta stance and say "yo" that same day?
We were supposed to go to yet another pumpkin patch on this day, but it was cold and had been raining, so we decided on a little time at Deanna Rose instead, which is only a few blocks from our house. The kids love seeing all the animals and playing, so it was an excellent alternative.
Bennett has been asking to see Pa-Paw since August, and he finally got his chance in mid October. Julia is a little less sure, but I think he won her over by the end of the weekend, as evidenced in these photos. 
What we've missed in college football this year, we've more than made up for in pumpkin patches. It seems like we hit one nearly every weekend in October. But you have to love fall in Kansas City.
Jeff turned 35 on October 11 and we celebrated with cake--for breakfast, that is. Bennett helped make and decorate the cake (not that I wouldn't have added equally as many sprinkles).
Sometimes, it happens that your hair will simply cooperate. It's usually on a Saturday when you're slated to paint the basement. But Julia got lucky and for her, it happened on a Sunday (also known as photo-op Sundays at the Ratcliff household).
You can't possibly wear a Dallas Cowboys cheerleading outfit and not have pigtails! (Well, at least not if you're under 10.) These were a first for us. Julia was fairly accommodating--at first. Obviously they didn't last the day.
