Trick or Treat!

Trick or Treat!!!!

Happy Halloween!

One of the bestest holidays EVER!!

Just ask any child.

Especially either of these two.

Josie dressed as a wish fairy-- she put together her own costume with items she already owns--mostly by herself with just a little help from me.

Clara Rose has been talking about dressing as Bat Man since July!

Seriously, I have no idea where that came from.

She picked out her outfit from a store.

Today they had a fun Halloween Party at their school, but nothing quite compares

to going out door to door, at night, getting candy from all the neighbors. 

Josie in a Fairy pose.

Bat Girl!

Clara Rose is VERY serious about being Bat Girl!

The first house.

The second house.

The Third house-- Oh boy!

They are really in a groove now!

Running from door to door!

They even braved the houses with tombstones in the yard

and skeletons sitting on the front porch. 

Nothing was getting between Bat Girl

her candy . . . 

Or the Wish Fairy and her candy! 

It was a fun and satisfying night for both the Wish Fairy and Bat Girl.

Making Faces

The day after visiting the pumpkin patch we all found

time to settle in and carve our pumpkins.

Jie Jie and Josie hard at work on the kitchen floor.

I cut into Clara Rose's pumpkin for a big surprise . . .

Bugs.

Yuck!

We moved her pumpkin event outside.

She was quite excited to have the creepiest

pumpkin for Halloween.

Meanwhile, Jieg and Josie worked on their pumpkins.

Josie drew a happy face on her pumpkin

for Wim to carve out.

Jieg spent quite a bit of time on hers--

being the artistic one.

She did a really great job!

Who can recognize this character?

Pumpkin Patch

We had fun time at the pumpkin patch this weekend.

It was an unusually warm day, but a bit muddy from rain the day before.

Gabrielle and Josie were off, each in search of

their own perfect Halloween pumpkin.

Clara Rose needed some big assistance with her chosen pumpkin. 

Josie prefers a pumpkin she can handle all on her own. 

This pumpkin patch never looked sweeter! 

Everyone was feeling very pleased with

their finds . . . and warmth of the day. 

It was such a nice day to be out in a pumpkin patch. 

The girls enjoyed a ride on a little tractor train. 

Of course we took some time feed the Llama and donkey. 

Nothing brings on the suburban giggles quite like feeding livestock! 

Reading

We are avidly sounding out words and learning to read.

Josie phonetically sounding out letters for 'water':

"W_ a_t_?e?_r"

"Mom! What is that?"

Me: "You are doing it right, sound it out again."

Josie: "W_a_t_r"

Water!

Me: "yes, that is right, water!"

Josie: "Mom! There is a slient 'e' in the middle of the word water!

That is stupid!"

Jack's Back

Last night the girl's and I made our annual trek to the Jack-o-Lantern spectacular!

 Rightfully named, because every year it is spectacular!

The last couple years we have gone during the week because the lines on

the weekend are horrendous!

What a big treat to be out at night,

on a school night,

looking at thousands of jack-o-lanterns.

5000 Jack-o-Lanterns! 

I love the changes in Clara Rose's facial expressions

as we made our way through the pumpkin forest. 

There are your somewhat typical jack-o-lantern carvings--

in that they have a face, most more intricately designed than

I could manage even with a stencil!

Others are carvings of people, scenes from movies, animals, etc.

This year's theme is "all the worlds a stage"

So lots of movie stuff.

This was pretty cool-- the tornado from the Wizard of Oz. 

I think this one is a take on the cookie monster. 

There were lots of creepy faced carvings

this year, which I thought were really cool. 

An all time favorite movie for me! 

Clara Rose feeling a little pumpkin-shock. 

All time faves of the girls! 

If you look closely,

Sponge Bob and Patrick are being eaten

by the pumpkin. 

This picture doesn't come close to doing justice!

The pumpkin is about the size of a large

wooden office desk.

The carving is the scene from the

Titanic, when half the boat was sunk. 

Josie, "Hey! Look at that weird monster! He doesn't have eyes or a nose.

Is he crawling out of the toilet?"

Clara Rose, "Toilet! YUCK!"

The big finale- lots and lots of pumpkins

at a big laughing tree.

Think, the laughing music from the song,

"they are coming to take me away, Ha ha." 

You can barely make out the girls silhouette

in this shot. 

With the flash! 

Clara Rose's face says it all . . .

We are in for one spooktacular Halloween!