Halloween Fun with Playgroup

Claire had a blast today playing with her friends and doing some fun Halloween stuff.....except she refused to wear her costume and I just didn't feel like fighting her on it today! We had a delicious brunch and all the kids ran off some energy...

Then they put on their costumes (except Claire) and posed for a couple pictures! Too cute - and why not get some use out of those costumes!
It's so fun to look back at her friends and how "grown up" they all are now. Here is Halloween in 2008 and then last year we were invited to a party on Halloween night at Owen's house.

Then we did a fun activity - they made mini candy apples and dipped them in all different colored sprinkles. Claire liked licking the chocolate and sprinkles off....hopefully she didn't "double dip" too many times!

I have enjoyed our playgroup so much - getting to know such a wonderful group of moms and watching the kids grow and change. It gets a little loud and crazy with all the kids (and the kids seem to be multiplying!!) but it's so much fun for Claire. Thank you to all of you for making me feel a little less crazy sometimes and for being there for me!

What's Gonna Work?...

...Teamwork! Can you guess what Claire is for Halloween?? She's Tuck, the Wonder Pet! In case that means nothing to you, here's a picture of what Tuck looks like...

Thursday was her Halloween party at preschool. Even though she is obsessed with the Wonder Pets, she wasn't too excited about dressing up so I had no idea if she'd actually wear her costume for the festivities or not! We were invited to come see the parade and Aunt Mere came along as part of the paparazzi:

It was SO CUTE! All the kids come out and parade around the gym a couple times. At first I saw her class come out, but I didn't see her. (Even in the video you can hear me say "hmmm....where is Claire??) but then she finally came through the door holding her teacher's hand. I guess she needed a little prodding! I was cracking up at all the kids in their costumes -there were a couple super heroes in tears.....some kids that were really strutting their stuff......and then there the ones like Claire who had the "deer in headlights" look most of the time. After the parade they did the "Hookie Spooky" and the kids took turns being in the middle. It was a very cute activity and I was glad Meredith and I got to see her and take lots of pictures!! (I might eventually get a video on here)

Grandma's Pumpkins, Year 4

Grandma's Pumpkins has become somewhat of a tradition each year, at least for a photo shoot. Alison and I had it marked on our calendars for weeks so we could get the girls together for a pumpkin picture again this year! (And here's a link to last year when Katie was just a newborn!)

Katie was adorable as always and found herself perfectly entertained with some rocks.


Claire had a good time running around, playing on the swing set, and every once in a while she made sure that "friendly scary witch" on the front porch was staying put.


Now it was time to get down to business and take the "Cousins Pumpkin Photo" which was the main reason we even went. What were we thinking?! Well, I'll tell you what we were thinking...

Me: How hard could this be to get a quick photo of the girls sitting next to some pumpkins?
Katie: Where are my rocks?!?!
Claire: I think I'll pose like a monkey. Mommy will love that.
Alison: My new camera is great, but there is no camera in the world that is going to make this photo turn out good.


Claire couldn't stand still, we couldn't get them to both look at the camera at the same time, and Claire wouldn't smile. Well.....this is the best we could do and I think it's pretty cute anyways!


After we picked out a couple more pumpkins to add to our front porch we sat in the shade for a few minutes. It was a very hot October day!! (nevermind that I dressed Claire in a turtleneck and a 2nd shirt on top)

She was cracking up at Daddy tickling her and Uncle Matt being silly.

Thanks Matt, Alison, and Katie for making the trek over to our side of town! Happy October everyone!

Pumpkin Pickin'

With the cooler weather it's starting to feel like fall around here. We headed to the pumpkin patch today with Mimi to enjoy the day and find a perfect pumpkin.

They have tons of things to do there (they better at $12 per person.....thank goodness everyone but Claire was free today!) They had a bounce house, a corn pit, animals, a hay maze for the kids and quite a few other things. Most of the activities were overshadowed by the "scary people" in the Scary Fun Barn that we walked past. Claire did not like them one bit and immediately wanted to go home. The bounce house got her mind off of that!

After a picnic lunch we took the tractor hay ride over to the pumpkin patch. Claire had fun running around....but I think Mimi and I had the most fun searching for the more unusual pumpkins.


Claire's inspecting our pumpkin picks and giving her approval:



I really liked the bumpy weird looking ones! Here's what we ended up with: