Happy Halloween!! from Tinkerbell and a Bumblebee

Easiest year EVER for Halloween Costumes!!  The girls both knew in September what they wanted to bee.  Livie is into the new Tinkerbell movies and wanted to be Tinkerbell.  As it turned out, my sister was Tinkerbell, and with one safety pin, the costume fit perfect and looked great!
We did try something new though... Hair Spray Paint.
 

Have you used this crazy stuff?  It is NASTY!  Our recommendation, fix your hair first and then spray.  We made the mistake of spraying and then trying to pull it into a ponytail...NOT GOOD.  Your hair is like cement!!
 

She looks soooo weird.
 

Livie was the bumblebee a few years back.  It was right up Claire's alley.  It has a tutu and "You can STING people!!" 

We trick or treated Great Grandparents the night before.
 

 

 

This Grandma has LOTS of candy.  When Livie got in the car she said, "WOW is ALL I can say!"  We're talking bags empty to bags full in 1 stop!
 

Halloween began at Grandpa and Grandma Connie's where we met up with The Man in the Yellow Hat and Curious George.
 

 

Then on to Trick or Treating with Friends!
 

 

 

 

But, the BEST part was handing out candy in our neighborhood.  We are the Halloween Neighborhood.  Everybody in town come to our neighborhood.  It's crazy... like 400-600 trick or treaters.  Not quite what we are used to, but the kids LOVE it.  We always run out of candy.
 

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

I LOVE traditions.  Whether they are only yours or may be every other families as well.  I LOVE looking forward to something each year or each week whatever it may be.  It helps us create great memories and our family feel stable in this crazy world.

Well, one of ours is carving pumpkins. We picked our pumpkins at the pumpkin patch just for this!
 

The girls always draw their faces and Daddy is the official carver.
 

I love watching them develop each year.
 

Livie made a plan on paper first this year.
 

Even though Daddy works a LOT.  He always makes time for our traditions which means the world to me.
 

 

 

 

Neither of our girls will really get in there... they BOTH asked for spoons. )
 

 

The finished product.
 

I LOVE how Jed carves it exactly as they drew it.  So Cute!

Hope you're enjoying your traditions!

Halloween Activities & Snacks

It seems like we've been twice as busy as any other year, and I'm not quite for sure why?!  A little more homework, Livie played soccer, I've added a Bible Study and helping in Sunday School... I've been asking the question,
"When do we play CandyLand?"  Is this what happens?  Every year gets busier and busier?  I'm scared.
However, we have made some time to do some Halloween Activities. 
First, we made Spider Snacks for Preschool.
We made these last year as well. 
Click here to see what we used and basic instructions... not that you need much!
 

Claire had a ball making these; however, many of her spiders had 12 legs! :)
Thankfully, her creativity was my inspiration for an activity for Livie's class party.
 

I'm giving them the same supplies and they can create any kind of creature they desire... monsters,  minions, spiders, you name it!
 

She brought Spiders and Apple Slices.  She was VERY proud!
 

We have also had a few Themed Days... some people (not mentioning any names Carissa Thomas) do not appreciate Themed Days.. (you know tree day deer day :) )

We read Mummy Stories and ate Mummy Dogs.

 

SkippyJon Jones in Mummy Trouble, Skeleton and Mummy, and there's a Magic Treehouse Book which takes place in Ancient Egypt.  We have already read that one and just discussed.
Yes, Claire is wearing pieces of her costume. :)

Livie lost ONE of her front teeth at this point!   As you may be able to tell, the other is also loose!

Claire wanted the same picture!

And then, Monday she came home from school like this!!

We tried all weekend to get that tooth to come out... We had family pictures on Sunday and I REALLY wanted both teeth out, and I DIDN'T want a snaggle tooth in the pictures... Oh Well.  Turns out, she REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to lose her tooth at school because the office then gives you an AWESOME tooth holder!!

 

Can you say, "All I want for Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth!!"

 

We also had bat night in which we read my FAVoRITE Halloween Book, Stellaluna.  If you haven't read it you should.  It's super sweet.  We then watched the movie which was a good lesson because it's not near as good.

We also made loads of Orange Playdough!

They're looking at me!  We took these to Livie's Party.

One last fun activity...

It's a Scavenger Hunt, and you know how I like a good scavenger hunt.  I put Livie's words of the week on our Halloween Decorations around the house.  She had to find the decoration and write the word on it on her paper.  Claire told me the colors on each decorative thing.

We had so much fun we did it with Livie's class as well!

Halloween Pictures coming SOON!!

Pumpkin Patch

Yea, it's FALL!  Beautiful weather, beautiful tress, and the beginning of lots of fun holiday decorating and get togethers!

We went with my sister to our favorite FREE pumpkin patch, and had a great time.
The girls could spend all day on the slide.
 

Look it's Jed! 
 

Livie found the perfect orange round pumpkin for carving!
 

Claire needed some uplifting during her search.
 

Climbing the tires.
 

 

And finally, the pumpkin slingshot which our family took VERY seriously. :)
 

 

 

Guess who won the bet and hit the target?  Me Of Course!!
 

Don't worry, she's having fun!
 

Our Haul!
 

Happy Fall Ya'll!