Trick or Treat!

I just cannot believe Halloween is already here and gone. This means that in the blink of an eye, it will be Thanksgiving and then Christmas.

This makes me very happy because I love both of those holidays! But sad because before you know it, they will both be over and the long winter will set in...

Well, let's not worry about that now. We had a very fun evening trick or treating with friends! The kids made out like bandits! Even Chloe got in on the action. It didn't take her long to figure out that ... smiling + looking cute = people handing you candy. :)

Before the "hard work" of trick or treating, the kids needed to power up with some dinner. So Audrey & I made these little mummy hot dogs. (It's just crescent roll dough strips wrapped around hot dogs with 2 dots of mustard for eyes.)

Next up: time for some photos.

My leopard, flower and spiderman

The kids with their neighborhood friends

And they're off!

2 hours later ...
The kids with their respective candy stashes.
It's ridiculous how much candy we have.
And this does not include the candy Chloe collected (although she quit long before they were done trick or treaating.)

A fun night for us all!
Happy Halloween everyone!

Boys will be boys

The other morning Carter came out of the bathroom looking like this.
Why?

Well, didn't you know that wearing your underwear on your head is really fun?

[I didn't - but I think I will just take his word for it.]

Parades, Parties, Pizza & Pumpkins, oh my!

Friday was a busy day for us (and probably most families in America) ... the kids had their Halloween parades and parties. Can I say this? Sometimes people ask if we "celebrate" Halloween. I always feel uncomfortable with the term "celebrate" ... I know Halloween has its origins in satanic worship and such, so I wouldn't say we "celebrate" it. And we certainly want to have nothing to do with satan. But we do have fun dressing in costumes and collecting candy from our neighbors and carving jack-o-lanterns, and I think that that is all in good, harmless fun. We don't made a huge deal out of it aside from that.

The morning started with convincing Carter that wearing his costume was a good idea. :) But ultimately he put on his Spiderman costume (minus the mask that scared him) with no problems and had a fun morning at preschool, parading and partying throughout the morning.

This is how Carter looked for most of the parade....

What is going on here? And why are all these people looking at us and taking pictures?

I did get this good shot of him.
I love that he is parading between 2 girls. When I ask him who he played with at preschool, most of the time, he lists a few girls' names. Can you tell the kid has grown up with sisters and a neighborhood full of girls? The good news is he will be one darn good husband someday!

Home for lunch, and then off to Schuylkill Elementary!

Audrey, my little leopard.
The school has a theme and this year it was "Reading around the world" - the 1st graders were assigned to choose something from Asia, Australia, New Zealand or Antarctica.
Obviously this included the animals ...

Audrey's class

Audrey and classmates enjoying cupcakes at their party.
I didn't want to put too many party pictures up ... some people don't like pictures of their kids on the internet.

I made homemade pizza for dinner and then we carved pumpkins.
Well, Chad and I carved, the kids scooped out the guts.
And Chloe went to bed for most of this activity.

Carter designed his own face for the jack-o-lantern.
I was pretty impressed!

Happy with the results!

Happy Trick-or-Treating!
from the Audrey, Carter & Chloe Pumpkin family :)

Leaf fun

A Fun Fall Party with the Neighbors

So ... what makes a fall party "fun"??

A big ol' howdy and hug from your besty :)

Eating and chatting with your friends
(One of my favorite things too!)
And as a sidenote: Have you ever listened to a group of kids talking?
First there was the discussion of whether the Eagles or the Steelers were a better team.
Then a little convo about the Phillies.
Then Morgan says - "Well, enough about this ... who likes SHOES?"
I knew there was a reason I like that girl so much. :)

Sliding with Daddy is always a good time.

Did we mention the food table??? Nuff said.

Decorating pumpkins!

Audrey's finished product

Everyone's finished product!!

Chloe and her not-so-secret admirer Rebecca

Bobbing for apples

Yay! Got one!

Now it's Carter's turn.

And .. he got one too!

Happy kid!

Thanks to the Zinks for hosting us once again!

Truly amazing

Yesterday morning an amazing thing happened!

Audrey and Carter got up at 7 a.m. on the dot (on Saturday morning - sheesh, don't they know it's the weekend?) So being the great parent I am, I promptly went out to the living room, turned on Disney Channel for them, and headed straight back to my bed.

A few minutes of peace and quiet went by.

And then the amazing thing happened.

Carter yelled out ... catch this .... he yelled "DADDY!!!! DADDY!!!!"

What is so unusual about this?

The kids NEVER, EVER, EVER(!) call Daddy when they want or need something. It is ALWAYS Mommy.

After recovering from my shock, I almost sat right up and sang the Hallelujah Chorus!

But I was too comfy under my covers while Chad went out to get the kids drinks and cereal. :)

15 months old

At 15 months we are in the thick of the "exploration" stage. Everything is about -What does this thing do? What happens when I bang this against the table? How fast can I run before I wipe out? What does that taste like? (which is why I had to call poison control yesterday ... and just in case you were wondering ... eating a small bite of deoderant tastes disgusting but is not really dangerous). :P

So Chloe pretty much spends her day exploring everything she can get her hands on. (Which is why my house pretty much constantly looks like the toy box threw up.)

But despite the messes, the bumps and bruises, and the constant motion Chloe is in ... this stage is really so much fun.

She is learning so many new things - like how to show us her belly button and how to moo like a cow (all important life skills, huh??!) She is not saying many words but she sure is a constant stream of jibber-jabber. I think right now she is focusing on all these physical skills, and then one day a few months from now she is going to wake up one morning and have sentences start pouring out of her little mouth!

Here are a few of the other new things she is learning:

How to sort shapes

How to climb up on stools and get into stuff

How to give Mom a dirty look when busted with contraband
(and apparently also how to overaccessorize!)

How to sing and dance

And last but not least ... Chloe has learned to be so cute that it is hard to be upset when she creates all sorts of mayhem around the house :)

She is a ton of fun these days!

Carter's prayer

At dinner the other night, Carter volunteered to pray. This is new for him, and I think preschool is encouraging his confidence to pray. (Hooray for preschool!) Anyhow, it went a little something like this:

"Okay everybody -
Open them, shut them, open them, shut them, give a little clap.
Open them, shut them, open them, shut them, lay them in your lap.

Now this is the serious part. Fold your hands, close your eyes, and bow your heads!

Dear Jesus,
Thank you for today. Thank you for ALL our blessings.
{Insert a minute or two of indecipherable jibber-jabber here.}
And give thanks to the Lord for He is good.
In Jesus' name, Amen."

It was all I could do to not bust out laughing. So sweet and cute and humorous all at once!

Peek a boo!

Somebody discovered the little open shelf in our island.
Now she spends her time going back and forth through it like a little worm!

Have I said how much fun this age is?
It is so. much. fun!

It had to be done.

The other day I went to Target -- and bought a moisturizer that included the descriptors "firming" and "anti-wrinkle".... my 30's are just speeding by and before you know it ... well, I will be older.

But hopefully wiser as well!

Bed Head

No explanation necessary. :)

Apple Picking 2010

Yup, if it's October ... it must be apple picking time!

Last year we went to a different place called Varner's and we loved it. Not only is it close by, but it is smaller and not so crowded and "commercial." So ... we went back this year. They have a number of free things to do that are perfect for our young kids.

For example:

Sitting on big ol' tractors and pretending to drive them

Riding little pedal tractors

Hay bale mazes

Checking out pot belly pigs, chickens, ponies, goats, etc.

Prancing among the pumpkins

Splashing in puddles

Riding in little wagons pulled by a tractor
Isn't Chad a good sport on this kiddie ride with Chloe?

And of course, there is the apple picking.
Although that is NOT free.
But you DO get to take home a bunch of delicious apples when you're done!

This year Chloe could actually participate in apple picking.
Although she kept trying to pick rotting apples off the ground and eat them.
She even picked up an apple with about 5 yellow jackets on it and put it up to her mouth to take a bite ... but thankfully no stings!

Enjoying the wagon ride while eating an apple

3 cheers for apples! :)