Halloween Fun!

Yes, I do realize that this should be two, maybe three separate posts. It's a long one, that is for sure. But I'm under a time crunch people! I'm just happy and proud that I posted about an event (or season) within weeks of the event actually occurring!

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I have to say that the time surrounding Halloween is one of my favorites - so many fun activities in which to partake! Pumpkin patches and costume-making and jack-o-lantern carving and yummy treats to make (and eat) and pumpkin spice lattes to enjoy....so much to do and such fun to have!

We kicked off our Halloween season this year with a fun evening with some of our dearest friends.


Yummy food, watching Charlie Brown on a sheet outside, pumpkin carving, and the company of good friends - you just can't beat that!


Oh yeah, and don't think for a minute that Emmerly carved that spider by herself! Or that she had much part in it at all, really! She insisted on choosing a design from the book, insisted that SHE would do it! And of course, who ended up with a pumpkin on her lap (a lap with not much room to spare, by the way) and painstakingly carved a stinkin intricate spider on the dang pumpkin? Well it wasn't Emmerly!!



Our pumpkin patch visit this year was with our home school group, and to the same patch we visited last year. It's great because it's at a local high school, so it supports their educational efforts, and it's just plain pumpkins - no rides or carnival games, just pumpkins. The patch was a little sparse this year due to the fact that they lost their first crop, but the kids had fun just the same.


Nola enjoyed pointing at each and every small pumpkin, which was basically ALL of them, and Em enjoyed collecting beetles in her bug catcher - no surprise there!


Last year we noticed these beetles crawling all over the pumpkins, so Em was especially excited to go this year, and could not forget her collecting equipment. Last year I just thought it fairly gross that there were beetles everywhere you turned, but this year, we learned that these beetles actually help to pollinate the pumpkins - who woulda thunk it?!



So, my Em is a planner and most likely it was the day after Halloween 2010 that she told me she wanted to be a mommy next Halloween (that would be this year). I thought it was so cute and asked what she would wear? Curlers in her hair, baby on the hip....and she gave me the strangest look. "Ummmm.....no.....you know, just wrap me up with rags or whatever." Oh, that would be a MUMMY, dear! So, this year we had two rag girls - Raggedy Ann and a glamour mummy. :)


And thank God for no-sew, cheap costumes this year!! The Raggedy Ann was sewn by Scott's mom 35+ years ago for Scott's oldest sister Tiffany, and worn by Em when she was 3 and I was pregnant with Nola (so sweet).




..and the mummy was just strips of fabric I cut from a white sheet - fabulous!




Boo at the Zoo has become one of our favorite Halloween events - cruising the zoo at night, getting to hang out with Auntie Jen, and getting candy and fun prizes - again, can't be beat!



Nola even found herself a boyfriend!



And, at long last, the actual day arrived! The girls woke to fun pancakes...




And that night, they again donned their rags and we headed out to trick-or-treat. For the last few years we have visited a near-by neighborhood where everyone is so friendly and you really get a great sense of community. It definitely makes for a fun night! So, Nana joined us and we rang doorbells and shared stories and visited with our neighbors. Oh, and collected free candy!



And of course, then we came home and spread out the loot! Sorted, traded. The best part! The girls definitely scored this year, so Mommy and Daddy were happy campers!!




Then we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - definitely a favorite in our house, and an appropriate Halloween movie, seeing as how it's all about candy! Brushed teeth, then off to bed.....and of course my planner is already talking about next year.....now she DOES actually want to be a mommy! :)

It's My Favorite!

I cannot say or think that phrase now without making my eyes go wide and slightly crazy like Buddy the Elf….and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, where have you been? You must go see “Elf” tonight. It will put you in the Christmas spirit! But I digress…

Some of my favorite (or fravrite, as Nola would say) moments are those not captured by the camera.

Like last night, when the girls set up a magic show for us in the dining room. Emmerly used a big Target box that had just been delivered as her prop table, and set up 3 seats for us – a tall chair for me, a kid chair for Nola, and the fishy bean bag for Scott (fishy as in it is a fish, not suspicious or anything). Emmerly has shown us these tricks dozens upon dozens of times, and yet we still applauded like crazy and acted as if we had no idea how she’d done any of it! It was so cute to watch Nola’s face light up with admiration for her sister, and wonderment at the tricks she was seeing. She clapped the loudest and often said “Good job Emmerly!” Then would whisper to us, “I think that was really magic!”

Or like when an infomercial is on for the Chef Basket – you can use it for a colander or a deep fryer or a steamer, and wait, if you buy it now….you know the drill….and Emmerly says she wants one for Christmas. To which Nola replies “I want one for Christmas too!” And then Emmerly responds, straight face, no joke, “Now WHAT would a 3-year-old do with a Chef Basket?” I chuckle every time I think of it….

Or like the daily, yes daily, dress-up/dance parties....although some of those are captured on film...

Or when Nola says she thinks she’d just like to ‘adoct’ a baby when she gets older because she doesn’t want her belly to be cut open, and she “do(es) NOT want that doctor to pull that baby out of my BUM!”

Or like when Emmerly and Nola make me a special breakfast, which they’ve been doing a lot lately, and I have to pretend to still be asleep, and then they walk down the hall singing “Choo choo here comes the food! Choo choo here comes the food!” (Don’t ask me where we got that….I think Scott may have started it years ago, but now, whenever we bring breakfast in bed to a member of our family, that’s what we do!) And I “groggily wake up” and am so surprised to be getting breakfast in bed! Half the time, they end up eating most of whatever it is they made for me, but it’s one of my favorite times of all.

Or like tonight, snuggling in bed with them for just a few minutes, and Scott and Em start giggling uncontrollably….and then Nola, who had just been talking with me says “Excuse me! Can you please stop, I’m trying to sleep!” Which makes Scott and Em laugh even harder.

So many of these moments happen without warning, and in the midst of them, or afterward I think, “I wish I had been recording that!”

These are the times I want to bottle up. These are the times I’m trying to soak in as I approach the last days of having only my two girls. Our life is about to change! I’m so excited about that, and look forward to seeing exactly HOW it will change. But change it will, and we will never again be just a family of four. And while I am so excited about that, and so truly blessed to have been given the gift of this new life, it does bring a tear (or two….or a hundred…) to my eye.

But I'm excited about the new memories to be made; about the new moments to soak up. If we have this much fun with four, I can only imagine what fun will be had with five!

A Fall Tradition

While most people associate fall traditions with costumes, pumpkins, apples and turkeys (don't get me wrong, we do too!), our family has developed another kind of fall tradition that has nothing to do with any of these things, and everything to do with dancing! Every year, the girls eagerly anticipate the Daddy Daughter Dance at Scott's school. Scott first took Emmerly when she was just 2 years old!


Since then, it has become a beloved tradition. (For some reason I can't find 2007 and 2008 right now....oh well...this will have to do!)

2009

2010

The girls love every aspect of the evening. Picking out the perfect dress.



Doing their hair just right.



And of course, the photo shoot.



This year, we even got some shots from the actual event, thanks to our new iPhones, and some lovely moms helping out at the dance. The girls enjoyed the candy bar and ice cream sundaes.




But the best part is dancing the night away with Daddy. Emmerly and Scott even took away 2nd place in the dance competition this year! It sounds exhausting - dancing for a half hour straight! Their prize? A $50 Starbucks gift card! Score one for Mommy! ;)



Apparently Nola fell asleep before the competition even began, but Em and Scott prevailed with flips and twirls and ballet moves and even a little bit of Thriller. They both came home with bright eyes and stories to tell....and very sweaty clothes!

Em is already plotting next year's dance - what she'll wear, and what moves they'll have to employ to take home first prize! And perhaps there will even be another little girl next year to dance with her Daddy!

Round here...

we've been.....

exploring with our home school friends

finding snails... and lizards....



getting lasik (no more glasses! yippeeeee!)

skating with Brownies

enjoying a visit from Mormor

learning to play the piano

going to football games

crafting

conducting the National Anthem at Angel Stadium

learning

playing at the House of Mouse

getting bigger (29 weeks)

and bigger (35 weeks)

anticipating Christmas

and so much more! Including re-decorating our living room, which will have to be it's own post...but did y0u see our new wall color? It's in one of the pictures above, and so fun! We're also counting down the days til our new bundle arrives - just one week to go!!