Trick-or-Treating Night #1

There were only a few houses around our small neighborhood giving out candy, but that was plenty for the girls. Natalie and Aubrey much preferred handing out candy rather than getting candy. Aubrey didn't even want to go up to people's doors, so Natalie got to do all of the knocking!

I didn't see an 'Anna' or an 'Ariel' at our house and my guess is we had at least 80-90 trick-or-treaters. The most popular girl costume was Elsa, of course. The most popular boy costume was a tie between a ninja and TMNT.

Bobby didn't actually go with us trick-or treating since he was riding bikes with Dave, but us girls had fun.

Pumpkin Carving

I feel like I'm slacking in the Halloween department! Usually we have our pumpkins carved at least a good week before trick-or-treating!  Tonight was our last night we could fit it in since Terre Haute does 2 (yes TWO) nights of trick-or-treating. I still think it's dumb to have 2 nights for Halloween, but it seems to work out so we can trick or treat in our small neighborhood the night before, pass out candy the night before, and then hang out with our friends on Halloween.

If the girls had it their way, we would have had a dragon (Natalie's idea) and a dog (Aubrey's idea), but we all know I don't love carving pumpkins that much, nor do I have the patience, time or artistic ability to make fancy pumpkins like my sister often does!  So, instead the girls picked out the shapes and whether they wanted a happy, silly, mad, etc pumpkin. They both chose happy and Aubrey specifically asked for no teeth, but instead to have the tongue out. Natalie specifically asked for 3 teeth.

Both of the girls don't seem to mind the texture of the pumpkin guts, but both enjoyed using a spoon much more than their hands.

I can now say I know how to get candle wax out of hair! While Natalie and I were Skyping with my parents and showing them the pumpkins, Natalie lost her balance and basically somersaulted over her pumpkin, tipping it over and get wax in her hair! We will see how it is in the morning, but just washing it really seemed to work!

Natalie's Field Trip

Today, Natalie's class headed to Pumpkin Works. I could have not gone because it's only recommended for parents of 2 year olds, but I wanted to see the kids Natalie talks about and see how she interacted with them. With me being there, I don't think I get a true sense of how she gets along with the other kids. She tended to either hang out with the much younger children or the taller (maybe older too) children. She had fun, but wanted to sit by me on the hayride, but did play with others on the playground.

Her trip was a little different because the teacher opted for their class to only do the hayride to pick a pumpkin and then get to play on the small straw playground. That seemed to be much better as the kids weren't constantly told not to touch this or that and just got to have fun because let's be honest, preschoolers could really care less about the history of Pumpkin Works ;)

Petunia, the talking pumpkin. Natalie thought that was neat because Auntie Amanda's dog's name is Petunia!

Each kid and adult could choose a pumpkin. This is the first one Natalie picked...a tiny, unripe, green pumpkin :)  As soon as the lady cut it from the vine, Natalie of course didn't want it. I made her keep it anyway and let her pick my pumpkin. She chose the 2nd one because it was more similar to her friends' pumpkins because it was orange. I personally like her first one better because who else would have picked the tiny green one?!

This is an example of a 'deer kiss.' Since deer are unable to bite a pumpkin, they kick it with their hooves to get to the fleshy part. When a deer either gives up or gets spooked, they leave it and then the pumpkin continues to grow and scar over.

Lots of leaves have fallen since last week!

I am very blessed to have a usually super flexible job that allows me to have the best of both worlds: working and stay-at-home mom!

Busy Busy Weekend!

...are you suprised?!

Friday, the girls and I headed up to the Indianapolis Children's Museum and had a blast with Cassie and Gavin! We are hoping to do much more of this during the upcoming cold months!

Views of Fall from Terre Haute:

About an hour or so after the girls and I got home, we loaded up again and headed to Hobson's Fun Farm with the Vandivers for some fun games, corn maze, cow ride, and a hayride. Again, we had lots of fun! The only bad thing at Hobson's is it is not lit at all at nighttime, so even though we couldn't see much, we still had fun.

I was very tired after this day, but the girls were bouncing off the wall from the cotton candy!...bad idea

Saturday and Sunday consisted of photo shoots, party prep, Bobby attending a diaper shower/shootout, grocery shopping for the party, church, volunteering, another photo shoot, more party prep, and finally the couples baby shower we hosted for Matt and Alison! Whew!  I am exhausted just thinking about all that and why am I still up blogging about it???  Because I hate falling behind. That's why 3 out of my 4 photo shoots from this weekend are all done and edited...only one more to go!

The party turned out great and although I get stressed out with the amount of party prep there is to do, I always enjoy hosting!

You may not be able to read everyone's, but just a fun idea for all the guests to write a little something for Matt, Alison, and soon-to-be baby Case!