Flashback Friday

Rachael's Halloween Costumes

2005 - Yoda
(mock if you will. it was made of fleece and really warm!)

2006 - Tinkerbell

2007 - Minnie Mouse
(dig those awesome yellow shoes!)

2008 - Cinderella

2009 - Fancy Nancy

Bye Bye Princess Chair

I have been selling stuff from around the house on Craigslist this year, partly because we're working on reducing our debt and it's a good way to make money, and mostly because we have a lot of stuff.

The pink chair was definitely stuff; I bought it years ago to match the sofa (which it does!) but since we got our mahogany piano, it has never looked quite right. And since moving to KY it really hasn't fit in the room anywhere, either. So I put it up on Craigslist.

It sold! To a nice man moving his mother into an assisted living facility. (The drama - wow. Another story). We loaded up into his car and he drove away.

To my total surprise Rachael was in tears! She wanted to know if he would bring it back. (Um, no.) She was despondent. Turns out it was her favorite chair in the whole house and she loved it - it was her princess chair. I told her that the man to took it was giving to his grandma (she's probably named Grandma, right?) and she would like it. Rachael insisted that she herself would like it more. Eventually I distracted her by talking about Christmas (never too early to pull out the jolly old elf). Hopefully she won't complain that it's gone, but I'll bet she asks about it again.

At least she will have a good story to tell her therapist when she gets older. I had the hardest time keeping a straight face.

Happy Halloween!

Sorry for so many posts lately. The grandmas have requested lots of pictures, and this seemed like the easiest way to manage.

Halloween morning: I am the first one up with the girls. We easily decided on sugar cookies and hot chocolate for breakfast. (See, I can be a cool aunt too.)

In a fit of self-inflicted torture, we decided to take all four kids to lunch. (Note to self: one adult per kid was not a good enough ratio for sanity.) Still fun. And really, reasonably well behaved. Especially if you like to eat your pizza sitting on the floor under the table. Also, the restaurant totally wrecked our order, but the short story is that we got four pizzas for about $40 so we didn't complain. At all.

We went to Boyds Bear Country for trick or treating. Lots of fun! (The kids were really thrilled; it was just windy outside so they all look a little windblown).

Bonus! We found a fuzzy caterpillar.

And the main event: Halloween night! Three excited trick or treaters.

And another fabulous parting shot. We get to ride home tomorrow with this girl. Wish us luck.

Pre Halloween Fun

In the afternoon the day before Halloween, Lesley made sugar cookies and frosting and let the kids have fun decorating their own cookies. She is a wonderful aunt/mommy.

Then we went to their ward Trunk or Treat. Kira had an adorable costume this year - she was a bunny. Complete with a tail in the back.

Anika as Storm Shadow (from the GI Joe movie) and Rachael as Grumpy (I mean Fancy) Nancy.

Lesley and I were both witches. Chad went as Scot.

And Ryan was his usual adorable Jedi.

Rachael had a great time!

And Anika!

And Kaelyn too! The skeleton on her costume glows in the dark. So cute.

Ryan attracted his usual fan club.

This picture pretty well sums up the evening. Awesome.
Thanks Lesley & Chad (and Kira, Anika and Kaelyn!) for lots of fun!

Auto Tour Postscript

We figured the Auto Tour really starts in the parking lot... checking out all the different states that were represented. In case you don't want to figure it out yourself, there are 28 states, the District of Colombia, and Ontario, Canada. Plus Kentucky, which we didn't photograph. (As we were in the vehicle at the time.)

Gettysburg

We took the self-guided Auto Tour at Gettysburg National Park today. Except for grey skies it was a nice trip.

Trip to Pennsylvania

We headed up to my sister Lesley's house to spend Halloween with her family. It's been awhile since we visited and we are exited to see their three girls.

The drive takes about 8-9 hours. We left Thursday; we decided to let Rachael go to preschool in the morning, so we hit the road about 12:30. The drive takes us through eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, western Maryland, and into Pennsylvania. It is a beautiful area of the country - we stopped a couple of times just to take pictures of the leaves.

At one rest stop they were conveniently blowing leaves into piles. Feels great to jump into a pile of leaves that someone else worked on!

Beautiful fall color!


Last rest stop of the trip... western Maryland at about 8:30 pm.
We had great weather and a smooth trip! Next up: lots of Halloween fun!

Preschool Parties

Rachael goes to two different preschools, and of course each had their own Halloween celebration.

Building Blocks preschool (Tuesday):

And Little Hands Preschool (Thursday):

She might get sick of this costume before it's over!

Pumpkin

This year's family pumpkin was grown right out of our own garden! It's the only pumpkin that made it.

We decided on a Jack Skellington design... fun!

Pumpkin Patch

Last week we were suppose to go to the pumpkin patch at Baldwin Farm as part of a preschool field trip, but it got canceled because of rain. So Rachael and I went up Monday afternoon to have some fun!

Wagon ride - the princess in her chariot

the hay maze - fun until you trip and fall

the pumpkin patch!

the witch - she thinks this is the face a witch would make

the farmer - I love that face!

and the farmer's sweet wife
(who kids of looks more like a scarecrow to me, but Rachael was insistent)

queen of the mountain... at least until someone else gets there

and my favorite... pretty fall princess!
(this is actually at Million Park; we stopped there to see the leaves on the way home).