Happy Halloween!

Could there be a cuter Elmo?

 Just a few of the neighborhood crew!

 And here is the rest!

 These three dads took part of the festivities too.

 Two SWAT team dudes.  Can the neighborhood handle it?

 Our favorite Halloween house down the street.  Full size candybars too!

 New thing we did this year and it was amazing!!!!  We went to the nursing home across the street to trick or treat.  We've heard about it but never did it.  They wheel the residents who want to participate into the halls and each one...EACH ONE has a bucket of candy.  Then the kids line up and go down the halls.  Volunteers keep the residents' buckets stocked.  It was Wonderful.

 Darth

 Cyclopse

 and an Angry Bird

 Pretty this was a successful night!

Ghostly Grub

Here was this year's teacher/staff/neighborhood gift for Halloween.  

Cutest Girls in the 'Hood!

Look at these three neighborhood girls who had almost matching Halloween shirts.  They even wanted to take a picture together before school.  Big deal!

Daisies Go To Jail!

Tonight Amara's Daisy Girl Scout Troop went to jail!  To learn about respect and safety!

 They got to meet the 911 operators and learn how to make a 911 call.

 We all got to watch as a 911 call came in too.

 The girls really enjoyed their time there.

Pumpkins!

Nothing like last minute but we got them done!  Wait til you see them on Halloween!

Trunk or Treat and Trick or Treat at Presby Hall!

It was a year of firsts for us this Halloween season.  This was the first year the kids decided to dress seperately and not coordinate.  Alaric and Amara however wanted us to dress up like them so....

This was also a year we set a budget for Halloween.  After years of spending lots of our family costume, each kid had only $5 to spend and Brian and I had $0.  It worked out well.

It also was the first year I had no part in the planning or execution of the event at McKinley since we are now attending another church.  It was weird.  Had a different feel.  Fun but different.

Here is my SWAT team dude!

 And my little witch!

 Brian was Alaric's bad guy and I was Amara's cat!

 Dinner before the Tricking began!

 Grammy and Mara coordinated too!

 So the activities this year we planned were really fun.  Here was the biggest hit.  A diaper/candy test.  Inside each diaper was a favorite candy bar....melted.  You had to guess which candy bar was which

 See, it looks real!

Off we went to trick!

 Then to the garage for games and candy and music.  Cup stacking is always a hit!

 Richard and Julia had an amazing "trunk"

 Pretty cute, right?

 and at the end of the night, Alaric had to arrest a criminal who had escaped from jail.

Grandparents Day

Today was Grandparents Day at Amara's School.  She's so excited to have Nana and Grandpa have breakfast with her and spoil her at the Book fair and Grammy and papa have lunch with her and spoil her too!

A New Plan

Trying to gain some control in my home and get my kids to help more.  They do ALOT already but its hard for Mara to remember all that needs to be done so we are trying a new system.  Clipboards for each of them....

 Mara's has pictures

 Bubba's is a list

 And to help Mara with picking up, here's the newest "thing"

Monticello Tailgate

Today we hosted a Monticello tailgate!  So much fun!

 Brian made this amazing bacon wrapped and bacon stuffed pork loin. 

 We shared pork products with our neighbors...thats what Monticello folks do.

 We had our Pole-ish horseshoes and, of course....people stopped by to see how Brian made them

 Mara with her best friend ( over 6 years old) Lauren

 Night game!

 Love our Monticello friends who have their seats next to ours...this is right before we got kicked out of the game.

Pumpkin Farm

I love Wagon Wheel Pumpkin Farm!  Rather WE love it!  These kids show pure happiness

 We went into the corn maze

 Love that everything becomes a lesson.  Brian showed the kids the amazing roots of a corn plant

 Too precious not to document in black and white

 GORGEOUS!

 So blessed

 Are you kidding me with this cuteness?

 Simple pleasures

 bring so much joy.  Look at those faces.

 Weeeeeeeeee

 My favorite fall pictures!