Five Little Trick or Treaters

Halloween and Christmas are definitely the most fun holidays when there are kids in your family.  In keeping with the usual tradition, I told the kids they had to use costumes we already had, so here is what they decided:

Caleb is a hobo (Will Work for Candy); Noah is wearing a cute costume from Mima, a dragon or dinosaur; Jackson is wearing the Woody costume that has been around since Caleb was 4; Lillian is wearing a kitty cat costume that my Mom sewed for me when I was a little girl (which Ella also wore a few years ago), and Ella made up a fairy princess costume using a flower girl dress and other various things from their costume trunk. We started the night trick-or-treating at a friend's house from church, then headed to see Uncle Austin and his mom.  She always has fun treats for the kids.  After that we headed to Trunk or Treat at the church where Lillian's preschool is, then to our neighbor's house to hang out with our friends from the neighborhood.   Luckily the kids didn't get a ton of chocolate so I am not tempted to sneak a piece here and there. :)

 Lillian and her teacher

 First time trick-or-treating not in the stroller

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Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving Time!

Every year we have a pumpkin carving party at our neighbor's house.  We did go to the party this year, but it was on our date night so we weren't able to stay for the whole thing.  Our babysitter met us there so the kids could stay and play, but we decided to carve another night.  This year it was the boys' turn to pick a design, and they actually went with a simple one in the book that came with the carving tools.  Scott got off easy this year!  We made the kids hot chocolate and got to work digging seeds out and watching Scott do his carving magic.  We will see how long the pumpkin lasts in the Florida heat and humidity!

Gatorween 2011, a Pictorial Recap

In keeping with my stance on not spending any money on Halloween costumes, I tried to think of something for this Halloween using things we already had.  It is a bonus when I can work everyone's costume around a theme.  This might be my favorite year so far, although I am still hoping someday to dress the kids as The Jackson 5. 

Mind you, this could have been a lot more fun had we not been getting our tails kicked all season, most recently by Georgia, but luckily most Gator fans are not bandwagon fans.  And who can resist five cute kids dressed like this? (Yes, Lillian is the Gator mascot but she wanted to be Alberta so she wore her Gator cheerleading outfit over the alligator costume.  Clever!) :)  Caleb's football costume was handmade my our neighbor Christy and the best part of all was that Scott was able to get it autographed by Danny Wuerfell this past weekend in Jacksonville.

We started off at a local church Trunk or Treat, stopped by Austin's mom's house, visited some friends of Scott's, went to Mima and Papa's, and then finished the night seeing some of our neighbors.  What a whirlwind!  I told the kids at the end of the night that in no way would I be responsible when all their Twix bars disappeared.  Luckily they had no idea what I meant by it.

Happy Halloween!

Fall Fun

Wednesday was the first ever fall festival at our church, put on by Student Ministries.  The mosquitoes have been brutal this year, so I was glad to learn once we got there that it was being held in the fellowship hall.  There were tons of games, face painting, free family photos and a game of musical chairs that Lillian almost won!

This morning after a delicious breakfast with Scott at Reececliff, we headed to the annual playgroup fall party.  It is always held at someone's home instead of us meeting at a park like we usually do.  We did some pumpkin crafts, ate pizza and decorated cookies.  It gave Daddy some alone time to finish last-minute preparations for his trip out of town.  He is going to Jacksonville for the Florida/Georgia game and a golf tournament put on by Desire Street Ministries.  There will be lots of food, fellowship and fun, not to mention Danny Wuerfell! :)  It took every ounce of me not to ask him to stay home...  I had no problem with him leaving for four days, I was bummed about not getting to go to the football game - I have never been to a Florida/Georgia game!  I told him he couldn't go again unless he took me!

Project Pumpkin 2011

Last night was our annual pumpkin carving extravaganza with some of our neighbors.  This year it was the girls' turn to pick and they wanted a Tangled pumpkin.  I found this template online and they loved it!  Scott carved away until it was time to come home and put the kids to bed, then he finished it up at our house.  It turned out great, as usual.  He has a gift!  I could never sit still long enough to carve such an intricate design!