October is one of my favorite months - and not just because of my birthday! ;) I love fall and all that comes with it. Living in Texas I've had to adjust my weather expectations for fall, but I still love it nonetheless.
Early in the month we made a visit to our favorite and close-by pumpkin patch. We met up with some friends from our old home group on a weeknight and it couldn't have been more perfect. The weather cooled off as the sun set and the crowds were light. I sat and chatted with the other moms while Keenan and the dads chased the kids around -he even snapped these pic's for me! Lovely!
As Ari entered his second year in Cub Scouts, his den grew by 4 boys. This put the total at 14 so the den leader asked if someone would be willing to co-lead and split the group to make things more manageable. Keenan stepped up and has been doing a great job and having lots of fun as well.
Last Friday night we carved our pumpkins. As I mentioned before, the fall weather in Texas is not always fall-like. I thought I had learned my lesson in carving pumpkins too early (they turn moldy and mushy in no time flat with the warm temps) and figured a week out was close enough. Well I was wrong this year! The next 2 days were in the 90's and by early this week the insides were black with mold and Asher's pumpkin had caved in. Gross! Oh well. We invited our newly-wed neighbors over for the carving fun and enjoyed pizza, wine and their company. This was Asher's first real carving experience (he napped through last year's time) and he was completely grossed out by cleaning out the "guts." It was hilarious!
The 3 dark orange pumpkins are the real ones. The others are foam decorations I use to supplement. I tried to get a decent non-flash pic to no avail. Obi photo bombed this one with the flash on. At least he's black!
For trick-or-treating this year we met up with friends from school and our new home group in a neighborhood a few blocks away. Our plan for the past 2 years left me so stressed out and exhausted, I couldn't take another try (the moms take the kids around while the dads sit around a fire pit with beer. Not fair at all!). This year was awesome! So many families and kids and so many houses giving out candy. The weather was perfect on top of it all which made me happy! It was also nice that it was a Friday night and didn't have to rush home for bed time. After making the rounds in the other neighborhood, we came back to our dark and lonely street (still can't figure out why...) and saw a few neighbors who were sweet enough to make special goody bags for our kids.
Our costume theme this year - The Lego Movie! Ari was Emmet, Keira was Wyld Syle, Asher was Batman, Keenan was President Business and I was Princess Unikitty. Keenan and Asher's costumes were things we already owned. Keenan hadn't worn his suit in 8 years and those who didn't know better thought he came straight from work. Funny! For Keira I found a black hoodie on clearance at Old Navy and used pink and blue duct tape on that and some black knit pants she already had. Pink and blue hairspray were easy enough to grab at WalMart one day. Ari's outfit was the most labor-intensive, but still not bad. I bought and orange t-shirt at Hobby Lobby, cut off the arms and sliced it up the middle and added reflective duct tape. I bought orange fleece material at HL as well and sewed up the pants one afternoon. The blue shirt was another Old Navy purchase, but he can wear it again and again. My costume was a hodge-podge of Old Navy clearance items and a couple of things from Party City. I used the actual Lego piece and Keenan's opaque projector to trace the face onto some cardstock.
Hope your Halloween was Happy!
