Costumes!

The post you've been waiting for!

Etta was ready at 7:15 a.m. yesterday morning. Here she is reading a book about Halloween in her Halloween costume.



Here's the whole crew. A little cow. "Come here little cow," Etta kept saying. A very proud Nemo. And super fun Girls as Thing 1 & Thing 2.



Apparently, as Mae was walking down the sidewalk her tail was wagging away. I missed that part.



Nemo ready to swim.



Bob took The Girls, Etta & Mae about two blocks down our street, crossed over and then came back. This was Etta greeting me after she rang the bell.



And then Bob and Mae stayed home while the four of us did a couple of more blocks in the other direction. This is the first house we went to on my shift.

Scary Treats & Pumpkin Fun

Saturday night I made a frightful meal.

Ghostly potato planks



Mummy wraps



Spider web sides & eyeball salad



And last night we had Grandma & Grandpa & Great Grandma & Great Grandpa over for pumpkin carving & soup with bread.

Etta was not into touching the pumpkin "gunk" at all. I thought that this year she would like it...



Mae was a little interested in what was going on.



Grandpa carved Etta a Nemo!



Mae did get a little closer to the action.



Minnie Mouse & Nemo. Two favorites at our house.

I like how it looks like Minnie is looking at Nemo.

It's Halloween!

It's Halloween season and we have been living it up. I don't even know where to start so I will just start and try to do a post every day until I am out of pics!!

Last weekend we went to the corn maze with The Girls.

We were first greeted by what has become an unofficial motto of the U of I.



But it was on a pretty impressively painted machine!



We headed in with Bob in the lead. He had to have a map of course. But with a 3-year old that is walking, better safe than sorry.



The corn was very tall.



Then the girls got to check out the properly sized hay bale maze.



Mae like it because: 1)She could walk through it herself and 2) she could see over the sides.



Etta really liked being Joe Vandal!



And the girls had to take what was left.



Pumpkin carving and our themed dinner to follow.

Bright Girl

It was slightly overcast yesterday so both girls really stood out in their bright colors. Pretty much every single person we saw "oohed" and "aah-ed" over Mae. She is pretty cute.

Checking out the surroundings while waiting for the other kids to show up.



Check my sweet ride.



Here is a second shot of one that I posted yesterday. Both kids can never be looking at the camera at the same time...



Mae loves her pumpkin!

3.5

Can she be 3 and a half already?

Have 1,277 days already passed since that first day?

Has it been 2 years since The Big Party?

And one year ago (tomorrow) since we last visited the pumpkin patch?

Time flies when you are having fun.

And have fun is what we did today. Today was her very first field trip. "With [her] class! With 5 students in it!" And she was excited.

We got there (really) early because I did not want to be late. I thought she was going to burst. But we had a lot of fun and enjoyed ourselves.

The kids were asked to look off of the bridge and describe what they saw. Lots of answers of "rocks", "water", "dirt".



Standing by the pumpkins that they (I) picked out.



Eating an apple the "regular" way. She kept asking to eat it and I kept saying, "Let's save it for lunch". Her response was, "But mom all the other kids are eating their apples by just biting them!" Can't really argue with that (when it's about apples anyway). And she ate the entire thing!



My girls and I. (If you look closely you will notice Mae was not having a good time by this point. She missed her morning nap.)

Makin' Cookies

Last week Bob & Etta mixed up some sour cream sugar cookies & then cut them out in the shapes of bats, pumpkins & owls. I think that it is going to be fun this winter!

Cutting out the cookies.



Mae doing her own thing.



Bob busted sneaking bites of cookie dough after specifically telling Etta not to eat anymore dough.

Lunch with Daddy

We are pretty blessed to be able to have lunch with Bob every once in awhile. With Mae being at the wandering stage we have decided that it is easier - and probably nicer for the other teachers - to stay in his classroom to eat. That way the girls can just play as they finish up. And risers make the perfect "table" for kids this size!