Pumpkin Carving!

We finally got around to carving our pumpkins last night. It was a gooey, slimy, fun mess! Emma was more into gutting and carving hers (surprise, surprise) while T.J. thought it was kinda gross. But he got in there and helped as well. Emma was irritated that she didn't get to do more of the actual cutting and carving, but she did a great job with scraping the guts and helping design the face. I think they both turned out really cute. The kids were so proud of their creations!

Bass Pro Shop Halloween!

Karen & I spent yesterday afternoon at Bass Pro Shop with the little ones. This store is so awesome. You could spend hours walking around in there and not even spend a penny... although there is plenty to buy there if you are so inclined. I keep telling Karen that going here is like a trip to the children's museum (crafts), the aquarium (giant fish tanks, duh), the museum (taxidermied animals), and library (kid corner with comfy chairs & books to read) all wrapped up in one! She is less impressed than I. :)
We still had a lot of fun though. The fish tanks, animals, and glass evelvators are always a hit. Emma & T.J. got to make and paint balsa wood bridhouses in the shape of pumpkins. I'll never understand how my daughter can actually get paint on her back while doing her craft! She has also informed me that she wants a wooden pop gun for Christmas... and a $300 quad. Yeah right, kid. Focus on the gun. You are more likely to get that one! We also got their picture taken (for free!) with a Great Pumpkin backdrop which was so cute. I love how it turned out.
We finished up the day with dinner at Joe's Crab Shack where the kids got to play on the playground after their dinner while we ate in peace. It was a fun afternoon.

Pajama Day!

Friday was pajama day at Emma's preschool. They do this instead of a costume party. I thought it was kind of cheesy, but I guess it saves a lot of headaches for the teachers in avoiding dealing with overly ornate costumes, problems getting into and out of costumes to go potty, ruining them before Halloween, dealing with idiot parents who dress their kid up in overly scary garb. Not to mention the families that don't celebrate Halloween. I mean, everyone wears jammies, right? Anyway, Emma was not put off by this substitution in the least. She was so excited for it all week. In fact, Friday morning she woke up and looked at me as I told her it would be time to get up for pajama day soon. Then she jumped up, ran to go potty, eat cereal, brush her teeth, and get dressed. She was rushing me out the door for once and, as we got in the car, I realized we were actually FIFTEEN MINUTES EARLY! Unheard of for us on a weekday. :) So we got to school and Emma was way excited to show off her new jammies and matching ponytail holder. The kids got to carve pumpkins and make caramel apples, which was very cool. They also do a daily "newsletter" and Emma was very excited to show me that her name was on there and that she had told Miss Johanna about going to the library the day before.

Library Halloween Party!

Emma & I went to the Halloween Party at our local library Thursday afternoon. Oh My Goodness, that place was CROWDED! It's such a neat library and the staff is so great. So we have kind of gotten used to the fact that their community events like these always have a large turn out. There were too many kids gathered around the tree in the center of the room, so we skipped the spooky story time, but Emma still got to make a spiderweb, complete with plastic spider, and a magnetic foam picture frame. Then we spent some time looking for new books and a new movie to check out before getting chips from the vending machine on the way out. Apparently getting chips a couple of times in the past has lent itself to becoming a tradition of sorts and now Emma tries to cajole a bag out of me every time... "Please Mommy. I'll share with my cousins..." Now how can you say no to that?

A Morning at the Park...

We headed out yesterday morning to meet up with Erin & Sophia & build flapping bats at Lowe's but, by the time we got there, they had run out of kits. So we decided to take the kids to the park for a while. I love the fact that, of the 2 hours we spent there, only about 30 minutes of it was spent on the actual playground. Emma, TJ, and Sophia much preferred playing on the rocks and hiking around the trails. They even found a circle of mounded rocks that they dubbed their "pool" and spent quite some time playing in the "pool" with their "kids" and "pets" (large rocks, to the untrained eye). I think it so much better for their imagination and just so much more fun for them to play in a more naturalistic environment.

Disney Store Halloween Party!

We spent yesterday evening at the mall. The Disney Store was having a Halloween Party where the kids got to come in costume, play a couple games, dance a bit, and walk in a mini parade around the mall. So we met up with some of our friends and, although it was a little crowded and somewhat unorganized, we all had fun. Emma & I love seeing our friends and the kids looked so cute all dolled up in their costumes. Emma actually surprised me last night when it was time for the parade. I figured there was no way she was going to agree to participate and then, when it was time to line up, she wriggled her way right to the front of the line and led the whole darn thing! Go Emma! We finished up the evening with a dinner of pizza at the food court, a trip to the indoor playground, and an ice cream cone on the way out. What a fun way to spend a Friday evening!

Easy-Baker!

Emma got an Easy Bake Oven from Uncle Scott and Matthew for her birthday last week and she loves it! We used the pretzel mix this past week and, after 40 minutes of mixing, rolling, forming pretzle-ish shapes, glazing, sitting atop a lightbulb, and cooling, we had THREE pretzels! Tah-dah! She was so excited. I wondered why we had to glaze the pretzels (pre-baked) with a brown powder mixed with water... turns out a 100 watt lightbulb doesn't actually brown your food, it just heats it. So they looked exactly the same when they came out as when they went in, just drier. The pretzels didn't actually taste half bad though, and she sure seemed to have fun, so I guess we will be Easy-baking on a regular basis now.

Ward St. Pumpkin Patch!

We went to check out another pumpkin patch with our friends this afternoon. The weather was chilly and drizzly, so we had the entire place nearly all to ourselves. The girls had a good time checking out all the different sizes, varieties, and colors of pumpkins they had available. They also got to spend quite a long time in the bounce house as there were no other kids waiting for a turn. This place had a honeyhouse as well, with lots of bees and we all got to try some freshly maid honey. The animals were a big hit as well and the little OGC members spent a while feeding the llama. This animal had no fear and came right up to to the fence to visit with the girls. The funniest thing to me were the creepy old foam skeleton couple sitting on a porch. They looked like some kind of macabe "American Gothic" painting. Ironically, Emma had no problem going up on that porch, poking the "Grandma" (as the girls nicknamed her) in the hand and posing for pictures. But Mickey Mouse, at Disneyland which we visit at least once a month, still freaks her out with "him's giant gloves." Hilarious.

Emma's Birthday Party!

We celebrated Emma's 3rd birthday with a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party at the park yesterday! We had such a good time. There were probably 20 kids there, between all her cousins and friends. She had a giant Mickey pinata filled with candy, a pin-the-flower-on-Minnie game, a game where the kids took turns tossing Mickey heads into a bucket, and Mickey scratcher tickets on all the goody bags. Even the cake was Mickey, EMMA, and friends. Emma got so many presents... games and books, clothes and a personalized embroidered towel, art supplies and science experiments, even pumpkin and carving tools, and LOTS of Barbie dolls! Emma is getting very into Barbies lately (*sigh*) so she was thrilled. Emma chose pizza for her party food and all the kids seemed to enjoy that along with the chips and fruit salad we had for lunch. The weather was great and it was just a practically perfect day. We are so lucky to have such a great group of family and friends who love us both so much. This truly is a blessed life we lead...