Halloween

Gavin's first Halloween !!!

His little monkey butt looked like this! So cute!

And turn him around and he looked like this...

And of course there were beautiful ladies dressed as a bride and a princess.

With their cute little monkey brother!

A few nights before Halloween the gang carved their pumpkins and roasted their seeds. Those were the best seeds ever. Gavin admired the girls' work and posed for a picture with the pumpkins.

Gavin smiled for the pumpkins.

And then he needed a bath after getting pumpkin goo all over his hands.

But Gavin's still the cutest little monkey ever!

The Friday before Halloween Olivia's class dressed up and had a party and a parade.

Guess who led the entire school in the parade? Yip!

Our little monster liked the idea of Olivia being the leader.

Ava's class had their party on Halloween day. She traded costumes with Olivia and went as a bride too. She also told me she will never get married so she can live with me forever. She would miss me too much. I just love that little girl.

Here's Ava with all of her loot. We should have rotten teeth in no time.

With all of the Halloween festivities the kids had plenty of time to Trick or Treat. They met up with some friends to trick or treat the weekend before in the streets of BW and followed it up with a BBQ and watching Cars 2 in the backyard with their friends and a whole lot popcorn.

They also went Saturday to the outdoor mall's Trick or Treat festivities. They both went to the pumpkin patches and I think they have had enough of Halloween. Now we are ready for Liv's birthday and Turkeyday. Amen.

Harvest Festival

Today was the annual Harvest Festival so we went to soccer and then headed on over to the festival. There were pony rides which the girls couldn't get enough of... Dave entered a pumpkin pie eating contest and came in a close second. Nick and the girls made some arts and crafts and went through the haunted bus after bouncing around on the jumpy slide. But the best part came later in the evening. Trick or treating in the streets of BW.

The kids all wore their costumes and trick or treated most the stores in BW. Nick, Hayden, and Hunter were there too so it made the night a lot of fun. Most of all, the girls came home with a lot of loot- candy, toys, toothbrushes (my favorite), pencils, and all sorts of other goodies.

like these masks....:)

Gavin had to get in on the fun too.

Since he couldn't trick or treat he played with the pumpkins...

And when the girls were full of candy and tired as ever Gavin and I had a chance to play before going to bed.

Yip, that's my boy right there. I just want to squish him and smooch all over his little face.

He, other the other hand, wants to show off his ability to stand.

What a fun day for everyone. Gavin slept through most of it as he should being 12 weeks old in just a few hours but the girls -- they could have gone all night if we let them. I think besides Christmas this is their other favorite day!

Fieldtrips

Olivia had her first field trip with her Kindergarten class last week. She got to ride the school bus which she has been waiting to do since she saw Caillou do it on PBS. Dave chaperoned and was able to join her on the bus. They went to the pumpkin patch and picked out some pretty great looking pumpkins.
Ava had her field trip today and was also chaperoned by Dave. I couldn't go because I had to be able to pick up Olivia when she got out of school and I had Gavin's 3 month pictures scheduled in between. Ava also picked out some big juicy pumpkins.

Ava and her best friend at the pumkin patch.

Both field trips went smoothly. The girls had fun with all of their friends and their daddy. After it was all over they created these little beauties for our front porch.

Olivia wants it noted she carved her pumpkin all by herself. She did a wonderful job too.

Halloween Party- Olivia

Cinderella looked beautiful for her ball at school. Liv has this thing about dresses and how she only wants to wear the ones that go out as she is demonstrating in the above picture. If they don't twirl, they don't get worn. Thankfully this gown does both.

Here they are on the march to school. These kids can't wait to get into the classroom.

A few of the kids arrived early enough to snap a picture. The boy sitting next to Olivia used to be in love with her but now he's smitten on Liv's best friend who happens to be sitting on the other side of him. Chaos at an early age. It's all OK though. Liv has a new little love interest. She's going to marry him. (This is what you get when your kids get hook on The Little Mermaid. There's got to be a wedding everyday.)

Thankfully Ava hates boys. Today she has to sit in between two of them and she tried to move her chair. Her teacher told her she has to try it and that it wouldn't be nice if they said they didn't want to sit next to her. We'll see how this goes later today. It's Ava first PJ party and picnic at school.

So as far as Liv's party went all the kids came out with hoards of candy and toys. Sunday, the real Halloween, was followed up with the daytime trick or treating at the outdoor mall. Liv ran into one of her school friends right when we got there so she and the friend and Ava all held hands and trick or treated all of the stores together. It was liberating being able to talk to the girl's mom while Dave, a.k.a. Super Dad, shuttled them all in and out of every store. He worked up a sweat and looked great doing it.

Later that night we did the run through our neighborhood. Tori and Brody hooked up with us after awhile and the kids ran up to all the houses together. Barb and I hung back while Super Dave toted the kids around. It's good that I have an excellent husband. If I didn't these kids would wear me out right down to the ground. Thank God for some miracles. Now if only he could win the lotto....

Ava- Halloween Party

My little Tinkerbell had her first school Halloween party today. Can you say excited??

Almost there, if only Papa would move a little faster.

Ava's teacher as Minnie Mouse. Let the festivities begin.

Ava was super excited to tell me what all the other kids came dressed as, what they did for their party, how they exchanged candy, and best of all- she promptly gave some candy to her sister with any asking on Olivia's behalf. She simply said, "Olivia, I got this for you." That's my Sweetheart. My little Lovebug.

Decorating

The Pumpkins are being carved and decorated. Ava has her scissors and glue stick working hard.

Later today I'll post the pumpkin patch pictures from Ava's first school field trip yesterday.

Train Museum

Last weekend we went to the train museum with our friends. This wasn't just any ordinary train museum though. This train took us straight to the pumpkin patch. It takes us where???

The girls with Nick on the way to the patch. They are beaming with excitement.

The stop.

Here we go...

A tractor for hay rides and a bunch of scarecrows started off the adventure.

And the best of all things- a giant two story hay maze that the kids can climb on, over, and into where there's ladders and slides.

Can you say GIANT? Or perhaps, "Dave, I think we are never leaving here."

The gang at the top finally held still for one picture.

When these nice people vacated the tractor we all hopped on and headed for a ride through the spooky forest.

The girls, Nick, Rachael, and Eric.

Ava got her spider painted on her face.

Liv went for the butterfly.

Dave's most favorite part of the whole day- launching pumpkins with his girls.

What a fun day. When you have had enough you hop right back on the train and it takes you back to the station.