Pumpkin patch

Another year at the pumpkin patch, but this year they don't look like little girls anymore at all.

Happy Halloween!!

Cameron & Brenna are enjoying another year of Trick or Treating in our neighborhood. We had to quell Brenna's desire for a scary, bloody, mask or frightening character. She settled on a Ninja costume, but we couldn't find one in her size. Then she discovered this Astrid costume (from the movie How to Train Your Dragon). In case you're unfamiliar with the movie, here's a picture of the character. She's a young viking girl who is tough, energetic, and beautiful with a strong and determined persona. Sound like anyone in this family?? Cameron chose the Mad Scientist idea several weeks ago, though we waited until the last minute to try and find a white lab coat. Ultimately we had to brave the crowds at Party City, but Bryan had gloves and safety goggles to complete the outfit. Cameron tried to make her hair wild and Bryan added the name tag "D. Mento, Scientist."

Bryan took them around the street for about 45 minutes and they returned with a few pounds of sugar. Any bets how long it will take for them to get in bed and settle down?

Pumpkin Decorating

Both girls wanted to decorate pumpkins for the school contest this year. Last year, Brenna won first place with her incredibly simple design called "Mom didn't want to do anything." This year they both put a little more work and thought into their designs.

Cameron found this idea in a magazine. The original idea called for carving the larger pumpkin with an open mouth and skewering the smaller pumpkins. Unfortunately, no carving is allowed for the school display. So she had to improvise.

I don't remember where Brenna got the idea to do Peas in a Pod, but it came out really cute. Both girls did 90% of the work by themselves with minimal help from Bryan and I.

Neither of them won, but they had a lot of fun.

Girl Power

Batgirl & Padme Amidala ready to tackle the streets in search of Halloween treats.

Home again, counting up their loot. Let the trading begin!

Happy Halloween

Looks like I forgot to put their costumes on the blog. They're posted on Facebook and Mommies Board. For some reason when I try to post photos from home, the computer dumps me off the internet. It can take up to an hour or more to blog if I use more than one photo. ATT DSL is ... a word I won't use on the blog.

Here are our Renaissance Lady and Gold Medalist Olympic Equestrian.

And here is our decorated yard. We had a yard full of Hurricake Ike leaves in bags so we drove to Target to get the pumpkin bags. When we got back home - the city had come around and picked up all the bags of leaves! Then the girls wanted to make tombstones, so last weekend Bryan recycled some foam board we had in the garage and I traced some tombstone art for them. I thought the results came out really well!

All of the wording was Cameron's idea - two were found on an internet search.

Pumpkin Decorating Contest

Today was School Picture day, Pumpkin Decorating Contest, Crazy Socks (Spirit Week) day, and report cards. (Whew.)

Here is Cameron's decorated pumpkin.

Here is Brenna's.

Now here is our FIRST PRIZE winner from the 1st Grade. Boy was I surprised. Boy was Cameron jealous. ;-)

ps - Cameron earned all A's on her report card (writing was her highest grade, see her essay below) and Brenna had a row of "SD" (steadily developing) on hers. Looks like we're off to a great start!

Happy Halloween

Another year, another trick or treat! Can you guess our little tricksters?

If you guessed Cheerleader (thanks again Linda for the costume!) and Hermione Granger (make sure you say it with the accent) then you're right!

Pumpkin perfect

Sunday between church, birthday parties, playdates, grocery shopping, and laundry (whew) we ran over to the annual Pumpkin Patch. I can't get over how much the girls have grown - and I suppose I use these photos as a benchmark each year. (Click on the above photo to see it better.)