Last Little Halloween Tidbit

Leiden made this a couple days ago before our ward's trunk or treat.  I didn't get a picture of it until now.  It's really very funny.  Get it?

Halloween!

We dined on bug pizza, tonight, before the girls set out with Brad to trick or treat.  Can you see the big spiders crawling about?

We were finally able to get Mimi to stand still long enough to take a sisters' picture before the main event. 

Mimi came home before the others, and she got to enjoy a tootsie roll before heading off to bed. 

Mac and Leiden came back a little later, and Leiden immediately set to on sorting her crazy stash of candy. 

Mac was going to sort, but we asked her to get her jammies on first, as it was already past bedtime.  On the way up the stairs, she said, "Mommy, I'm sleepy."  I asked her if she just wanted to go to bed, and she said yes!  So off to bed she went, happy to sort her candy another day.

Hope your Halloween was spooky, silly, and fun!

Halloween Daytime

Brad's work did its annual trick or treating, but it was right during Leiden's school day, so just the younger two went.  They were super cute, and we even received a very-quietly-given-so-as-to-not-offend-others comment that our girls always have the best costumes of anyone. 

A compliment that perhaps means a little less when the costume is store bought!  But she is a darn cute pirate, nonetheless.  I started to try to put on her 'facial hair', and she started crying, so we went as a girl pirate.

And this little pumpkin is the cutest one in the patch!  (And the compliment was deserved in her case!) 

Leiden got to have her Fall party at school, which she was able to change into her costume for. 

She came off the bus with her face painted very nicely. 

Half Marathon Finisher

This morning was the half marathon in St. Paul.  I have been training for months, and started the race with high hopes that my knee would not hurt as it did last year.  I finally determined that I had a tight IT band, so as soon as I started stretching and working it, my knee stopped hurting.  Amazingly enough, that was really all it was!  I was able to finish the whole race with no knee pain (although my right inner shin hurt) and faster than last year!  I shaved off 16 minutes from last year's time, coming in at 2:39.  Awesome time, and I'll totally be in for next year.

Here are the girls, waiting for me to get to the finish line.  It was a pretty chilly morning.

And here is the video footage of me!  Leiden joined me for the last bit of a stretch.  Woot!  If you listen really close at 0:37, you can hear them announce my name.

I actually kind of look like a runner!  I have my medal for finishing, and my flowers from Brad and the girls.

A friend from our ward, Laura, up and decided yesterday that she would be running the race.  We stuck pretty close together, and I am astounded that she did so well, as she didn't train at all!  If I had tried that with no training, I would have permanently lost the use of my legs!

Church Halloween Party

Our ward Halloween Party and Trunk or Treat was tonight.  The girls have been very excited for this weekend! 

Here is our ballerina:

Our pumpkin: 

Our pirate: 

And me, the resident raven: 

There weren't too many pictures taken--arriving late, dinner, carnival games with three kids running different directions, and then trunk or treating kind of precluded lots of photos. 

Here is Mimi with her little friend, Isabelle, who is moving with her family tomorrow.  We will miss the Wrights!  (Check out that facial hair on Mimi.  Wow.) 

Preschool Halloween

Mac's preschool had a fall party today, and the kids were allowed to come in costume, as long as they brought a book in that had something to do with it.  I guess that's how they get around all the 'necessary' political correctness and gross offensiveness of Halloween.  Sorry, got carried away. 

Mac was so excited!  She has been asking for days when her school day and party was.  Finally it is here!  They sang us songs, and then got to eat a cookie they had decorated.

What a cute pumpkin!  (If I do say so myself!)  I thought I'd be free of making any costumes this year, but I couldn't find a pumpkin costume I liked enough to buy it.  So I made it.  At least the other girls are 'recycling'! 

Mac and her peers on the front porch. 

Halloween Art

The girls are excited about Halloween, and their art is indicative.

Mac's little pumpkin.  I am in love with the curly vine. 

And another favorite, a pumpkin with a hat and arms.  It occurs to me that she was probably drawing herself in her pumpkin costume.  Super cute. 

Carving Pumpkins

We had some friends over tonight for s'mores and pumpkin carving.  Leiden was really set on doing it herself.  Here she is drawing her jack o lantern face, but she also cut it out herself.  She saw on the packaging that the little saw knives are for 6+ and she insisted that she be the one to cut it out.

Mac wanted to do a classic jack o lantern face, as well, but her improving eye hand coordination for drawing on paper was not translating to drawing on a bumpy pumpkin and she kept getting discouraged.  She finally asked me to draw it for her.  Triangle eyes, triangle nose, and a smile with square teeth.  Those were my orders.

Leiden did cut out most of hers all by herself, but got stuck in a couple places. 

Leiden's is the second from the left with the awesome crooked smile, while Mac's is the second to the right, with the big triangles.  The small one and the shark were our friends'. 

They were very happy--perhaps except Bryn (the screaming one:)) to take a picture in front of their masterpieces.  Also note Brad in the back, sticking his tongue out.

Apple Orchards and Pumpkin Patches

Today we took off to an apple orchard/pumpkin patch.  Leiden was so excited to go pick apples.  It was a bit of a frosty morning, so the kids had on coats and mittens.  But they LOVED playing outside in the haystack!

Mimi kept trying to climb through this hollow log, but couldn't quite maneuver it right.

She also really enjoyed the little kid maze.  So much so that she wouldn't come out.  She would round the corner where she could come out and she would see me and turn around and run the other way. 

It really was cold, so we went to the cafe and got hot cider and cider doughnuts.  Delish.  Covered in sugar. 

Leiden and Mac spotted the flavored honey sticks and chose mint.  ? 

 

I didn't put Mimi in a stroller because I wanted her to run around, but then she wouldn't come when I called.  I would walk to get her and she would turn her head the other way.  If I don't see Mommy coming, maybe she doesn't see me! 

We took a (long) ride on a wagon, which took us out into the orchard section, where there were literally no apples left on the trees.  Leiden was disappointed that we wouldn't be traipsing out to pick apples off of trees, but I promised her we would go earlier next year.  She recovered quite nicely. 

Mimi was a little pill on the wagon ride. 

Then we rode the cow train! 

 

I actually rode with Mimi--there was no guarantee she would stay in her seat, and the little train went around a whole field. 

 

A fun morning at the orchard! 

Being Pretty

Mimi loves to 'look pretty'.  She comes to me all the time with a hair clip or headband or sunglasses to put on.  This time, she managed to get my phone and this headband, which she put on her own head.  Looking pretty, indeed.

Mimi spent the better part of this afternoon running around in this shirt that is obviously too big for her.  She was fine in it unless she was trying to go up the stairs.  Then it got in her way.

Happy Halloween--Early!

Halloween packages came yesterday from Grandmere and Bapa.  The girls are so spoiled, and this wasn't even the first Halloween care package to come!  A few weeks ago Grandma sent the girls a Shrinky Dinks Monster Lab, which the girls got out with Brad one day when I wasn't around.  They loved making the little monsters and they REALLY loved hanging out by the oven door and watching  their creations curl up and shrink.

Mac looked less than impressed.

And then she found the window clings.  She thought they were pretty cool.

Who doesn't need a Halloween snow globe?  That also plays spooky music?

This was a random picture from breakfast this morning, unrelated to Halloween care packages, but I thought the four Kix stuck to her stomach were pretty funny.

Mimi got a little Halloween stuffed Frankenstein, which she loves to give loves to.

And, a little stuffed mummy, which she runs around the house with saying, "nunny, nunny".  It's pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Thanks for the good times!