Halloween...and the day after

Halloween night was great! It was about 70 degrees, no snow gear needed under the costumes while trick-or-treating, and the girls got plenty of chocolate (for me). Jeremy was asked to be a "spook" at the Foxridge Haunted House so I took the girls around our section to get some candy. Then we sat on our steps passing out candy until it was all gone. The scariest part for Madeline was seeing this probably 18 year old young man dressed as a bat/dark angel or something. He was very methodical in his walking up to us to get candy, then he cast a spell on Madeline in some scary voice and waved his hand in her face. We were all creeped out, but Jeremy saw him in the haunted house (trying to scare Jeremy back) and he assured Maddie (who has been talking about him since) that he's just a big geek. Not sure she understands what that means, but it did calm her fears :)
Abbie helped pass out candy. I love her cheeks in this picture!
Both girls waiting for trick-or-treaters to come. Maddie would give one piece of candy at a time (max of 2) and the kids would usually take off before she could give them a second piece. She would then yell to them, "Hey! You forgot your other piece of candy!" but they never came back for it.
Jeremy trying to spook Maddie - she came to the door when she heard him come home and was a bit hesitant to walk up to him at first. Then he told her about the geek.



AND NOW FOR THE MORNING AFTER.....
Our poor pumpkin was smashed. However, I never cleaned it up...the neighborhood kids would carry parts off throughout the day until it was all gone. Destructive yet tidy kids ;)

Ward Halloween Party

We had our ward party tonight - the potato bar, games, trunk-or-treating, and socializing with so many costumed friends was wonderful. We did lose Maddie at the end during the trunk-or-treating (which was so neat to be able to go outside and get candy without snow gear on)...she escaped Jeremy's eagle eye and we found her inside the gym eating her stash of candy. She got the "someone could take you away" talk...again...
BUT, other than that, we all had a fun time :)

Madeline waving to the adoring crowd as all the Jr. Primary kids graced the stage to show us their costumes.


The adults got to show off their costumes too. I'm a bag of Jelly Belly jellybeans (I won a gold spider ring for the adult ladies costume!) standing on my left is Sarah (the cutest bee ever!) and her husband Justin (a gaucho...he won the best adult male costume).


Maddie giving the thumbs up at the fish pond. She won some smarties :)


Abbie enjoying the best seat in the house - daddy's shoulders are so strong!

A Day at the Spa

Madeline was in need of a trim and I figured that her hair was thin enough that I could do it. I thought it would be the equivalent to trimming bangs. So I sat her down, got the bath salts out and had her soak her feet while I cut off those beautiful curls. I only took an inch, but it was enough to lose all her fine little baby hair so now it doesn't curl like it used to. So sad :(
After the foot soak and trim, I painted her toe nails and then Abbie wanted in on the action too. I can't wait until we all get to go to a real spa together someday, but for now, this was PERFECT!

Pumpkin Carving

We picked out our pumpkins at a local patch and couldn't wait to get our porch dressed for Halloween with them! We made some caramellow dip for our apples and got right into carving up those pumpkins! Maddie was very thorough about keeping each pumpkin seed for us to bake later. She loved pulling all the guts out of the pumpkins. I carved the faces while the girls painted theirs with green finger paint. It was so much fun!

Pre-Halloween Fun!

It was pretty much a boring Friday for our sweet girls. I had LOTS of errands to run and really wore the kiddos out. However, the evening brought lots of fun! The JRC had its Halloween Party at the stake center. Maddie got all dressed up in her pink mermaid costume (which I made, so no making fun of my sewing "skills") and Abbie went as a ladybug (again - it still fit her this year too!). Jeremy had a boy scout camp out so we were on our own, but we still have at least two more Halloween events next week where we'll all be together.
The girls were excited to be dressed up. Madeline was yelling to the kids outside "hey! look at my mermaid costume!"
Maddie behind her friend Maddy at the cupcake walk.Abbie won a cupcake too!


The girls took a break to watch the adults in the donut eating contest.

More Apples!

Last Wednesday I canned apples! I have never canned anything before and actually surprised myself at how quickly (thanks to 3 good friends) and easily it went! I canned about 22 apples with a sauce made for pie filling, which made 7 quart jars. I can't wait to make a pie this Thanksgiving! I still have about 1/4 of my bag left in the fridge to eat and the other 1/4 of the bag had either been eaten or made into applesauce (which was a great ordeal since I don't have a blender).
Here are the apples, just hanging out in the basement waiting to be made into pie or cobbler.

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The girls and I also made some stamps out of a couple apples. We even skewered the seeds and stamped them onto the paper with paint. One big lesson learned: don't use acrylic paint with kiddos! I didn't have any poster paint and didn't want to purchase any, so we used acrylic paints. Not a fun clean up - they had green fingers until bath time that night :)

I suppose I should have given them each a plate of paint - there was a bit of screeching throughout the art project.Abigail stamping the skewered seed.
Madeline said that Abbie "made a mess" and later decided that Abigail just "made one big apple". I thought that was nice of her to be more matter-of-fact than critical (however critical a 3 year old can be).

Monster Toast

I remember making monster toast as a kid and have shared this fun with my girls. Maddie has been asking lately to make it and this morning we had some extra time to spend at breakfast. All you need is a bit of milk, food coloring, a clean paint brush, and bread! Mix milk and coloring, paint your bread, then toast!
Madeline was trying out her ambidexterity by painting with two brushes.
Here are her monsters.
Toasted and topped with butter and honey - yum!

This is October?!

It was beautiful this last weekend. It was a little breezy, but still way comfortable enough to be outside in jammies and bare skin. The girls played out back, enjoyed an ice pop, rode the bike and drew all over EVERYTHING (house, body, etc.) with chalk. I can't believe it's October!
Abbie got the water boots on right before we sprayed the patio and siding off with the hose.

The breeze brought clouds and since Sunday it's been rainy. The girls enjoyed snuggling on the floor together. We loved playing outside in the sun, but we'll enjoy our cozy home until it gets a bit dryer outside :)

Fieldstone Orchard

Today we went with a group of ladies from church to Fieldstone Orchard to pick apples for canning. We each got a bucket lined with a huge bag (about 1/2 a bushel's worth of apples) for $12.50...which comes to about 55 cents/lb...good deal, huh? We rode in golf carts to the designated Johnagold apple picking spot. After picking about 1/3 of the bucket there, some friends and I decided to venture further up the orchard to the Macoun apple row (which is Martha Stewart's favorite apple for pies we were told) and got a bunch there. We picked from a few other trees, not really knowing what the apples were at times or how we're going to tell the apples apart once we get them home, but we picked what tasted best. We were in the orchard for a couple hours just eating and picking. It was such a beautiful day and we all really enjoyed ourselves. Now the canning part...it'll be quite some work, but so nice to have these yummy apples during the winter!!
I thought it would be cute to have us all wear our Alaska Grown t-shirts to pick Kansas produce.Abigail loved the small apples. She'd even eat the seeds before I could get them out!
Here's one just the right height.
She was such a good sampler. I think the girls ate at least a dozen apples this morning!Here we are with our bounty!
My friend Sarah and I showing our apple-filled tummies (she's due in January, I've got 5 weeks to go!)
Here's my friend Michelle and her daughter with our girls...everyone's taking a break while waiting for our ride back. The girls LOVED riding in the golf cart!

There were thousands of apples beneath all the trees. Maddie and Abbie had a few spills from tripping on them and I kinda liked the feeling of occasionally stepping on a rotten one - squish!

The Neighbor's Web

Our neighbor went all out at making a HUGE spider web and even put a big mechanical spider in it. The girls love it!!! They'll walk up to it very cautiously and just stare. It's nice to see Halloween decorations that aren't buried in snow ;)
It's hard to see the black spider with it's glowing green eyes in these photos, but it's in there on the right...

Madeline's Ballet Recital

We signed Maddie up for a ballet class through Parks & Recreation to see how she'd like it before committing to a real ballet class that costs way more. On Saturday, she had her last class and a recital. OK, so it wasn't a formal recital per se, but the teacher had each girl show what she learned in the 5 Saturdays of classes. It was cute to watch Madeline shyly make her way across the "stage"...she wasn't used to having such a big audience of parents. She would scrunch up her nose and point at us when she saw we were watching her, meaning that we should look away. I always find it easier to speak, sing, perform, etc. in front of strangers than in front of my family too.
Walking on tippy toes...not sure of the ballet term - releve is it?She needed a bit help balancing while doing a passe . And here she is relaxing after that stressful pass. Just glad we put shorts on under her dress...