Pumpkins!

 We had fun with pumpkins this year. We looked a lot at Google for inspiration. Juliet wanted to be creative, so she spent 2 days drawing various sketches of ideas and asking us to vote on which one we liked best. She ended up with the Evil Queen. Leah liked the mean guy with crazy eyes. We made Chris do the one with gourds and the tongue (his tongue carving was so impressive, that I think he should start whittling wood as a hobby in his spare time). I liked the pumpkin eating a pumpkin. I think they turned out fabulously. 

 Earlier this month the girls painted Cinderella Carriage pumpkins. They turned out pretty cute!

Halloween Fun--Birds of a Feather Flock Together.

 We typically buy the girls costumes a year in advance. My favorite is when they want to coordinate. My two favorite years so far was when they were a witch and a kitty and Elsa and Anna. It doesn't always happen, but I always encourage it. Leah really wanted to be a peacock, and Juliet really liked the headpiece of the flamingo. I had to do almost no encouraging for coordinating costumes. Score! 

 Both girls were pleased as punch that their costumes came with fans. Leah loved that hers had a hoop skirt and real feathers, and Juliet liked standing on one leg and loudly saying, "Guess what I am? Guess! I'm giving you a clue!"

 We went trick or treating in DTP and Leah got to be a magicians assistant. I was telling the girls that I remembered trick or treating downtown when I was a kid. My mom always took me on "Devils Night". Is it still even called that? It was nowhere near as elaborate as it is now. But, I remember doing it a few times when I was a kid and always thinking it was pretty cool. Now it's during the day and they close off all the roads. 

 We still don't like Donald Trump. We would have never guessed a year ago when we took this same picture that he would actually become president. What a year. 

 Friends. 

 We also went to a Halloween Daddy/Daughter Dance, but I didn't take one picture. Chris did get a video which was even better. Juliet was a great dancer. Leah was too busy socializing and eating to dance much. 

The girls were very excited for their class parties. I got to go to both of them because they were at different times. I walked the parade with Juliet. She was pretty excited to see all the costumes. 

 My beautiful girls. 

 As usual, Chris took the girls out trick or treating. Juliet lasted about 40 minutes and then was done. She hung out and watched Simpsons and ate about 10 pounds of candy. Leah and Chris went back out and got more candy. They saw a lot of their friends while they were out. It was a great night. We were up later than usual and were pretty tired for the rest of the week, but it was worth it. 

Happy Halloween! 

Pumpkin Patch

 Our normal pumpkin patch was closed this year. The girls were insistent that they needed a "real" U-pick pumpkin patch, and we couldn't just get pumpkins from Meijer or Costco. Google failed me on where exactly a real patch might be--it HAD to be a pick your own--so we just kind of set out driving one day to see what we could find. We found some signs for U-Pick patches, but no patches. Just when we were about to give up, we found a patch. Leah was thrilled. Juliet had fallen asleep on the odyssey. 

 I made Leah run for the last wagon they had available. The wheel ended up falling off as we were checking out. 

 They had a cute set up for pictures. They also had a few cows that you could feed smashed pumpkin pieces, too. 

 The pumpkins were about two and half times more expensive than our typical patch, and the feeling wasn't the same at all. But, it was as close as we were going to get, and we were grateful we got to pick our own pumpkins for another year.