Happy Halloween!

While this is not my favorite holiday of the year, the girls love the opportunity to dress up and walk around in public that way.  The candy is an added benefit.  (And an ongoing battle…)  This year, they picked out two great outfits – a Gypsy Princess and a Witch.  Unfortunately, it was so cold outside, their outfits were pretty much covered up during the trick-or-treating.  Still fun.

We went to Living Water Church for their community trunk-or-treat event.  I know this is a ministry/outreach opportunity as well as a community event.  I hope that it reaches people beyond just the candy.  This year, there was an area that gave out 365 Devotions for Bedtime book; our kids will use that in the morning for breakfast devotions. 

So, down to business.  We had Grandma Yoh and Grandma Ediger as reinforcements this year.   And Jeremy donned the Chewbacca snuggie as his costume!

         

We had fun looking at all the creative trunks; every year, I am so impressed by the creativity displayed.  The girls walked the plank to these pirates for candy and were tossed treats by the castle guards at another.

    

There were also activities – the train (too cold the girls said), the bounce house, the slide, “cross fit” for kids station

    

And animals – a horse, a miniature horse, some lion head bunnies (the babies were like tiny white balls of fur…almost no face, just eyes on a ball of fur!), goats, and … a skunk!

   

We also had some tasty food (Thank you, Dutch Kitchen!) and hot chocolate before heading for warmer quarters.  The girls showed off their costumes to Grandpa Ediger and worked on their photography skills before heading home for the night.

        

Until next year… (and I am sure I have not seen the last of these outfits!)

So, I am adding a bit to yesterday’s post.  Today (actual Halloween), the girls went on a Halloween scavenger hunt in the house.  I used clues I found here.  I figure it is good to share in others’ creativity.  The girls loved it.  They both figured out clues and gave each other a chance to find the clue or think of the object.  All the clues were simple household items.  Here are some of the pictures from their fun:

         

Ramseyer Farm

Last year was perfect.  This year was mostly perfect.  The weather was good… mid-70s and sunny.  The people… were overwhelming.  We went on a Friday night last year; this year, we went on a Sunday afternoon.  I think next year, we will choose a Friday night again.  The lines were noticeable, but not unbearable.  There are enough things that the crowd spreads out between all the activities.  At any rate, we had fun, so it was a success.

The girls started with the corn crib slides, followed by the spider web.

          

They stood by the sign to see how tall they are. They both grew quite a bit since August; Ellie continues to be just a bit taller than Madison.

    

Then, we did things like milking a cow, running the rat race tubes and the hamster wheel.

    

We did other favoriites like the hill wiith the tunnels and slides, and the pedal vehicles

     

We had a great time on a new area of the farm – the Tires… tire swings, big tires to look at, tires to climb over, tires to balance on, tires to walk on, shredded tires.  It was a lot of tires.

      

Before we went pumpkin picking, we took advantage of a few more photo ops

   

And finally (after more playing in the corn crib) we picked some pumpkins.  Pictures did not go so well – Madison really didn’t want to be close or touch Ellie if she could help it.  They were tired and hungry by the end.  I am guessing we won’t have time to carve these pumpkins, but we’ll see…

    

 

Hoping to get one more blog in this month with trick-or-treating coming up this weekend. Until then…

October Round-up

It has been awhile.  I feel like October has rushed by and was filled with a lot of paperwork at school – IEPs due, parent-teacher conferences, report cards, progress reports, lesson plans, etc.  I just couldn’t sit in front of the computer one second longer to do this.  But I have about 30 minutes right now, so I am taking it!

We have done various random things this month:

• ballet practice AND Nutcracker ballet practice
• watching Sam’s flag football game and Lilli’s volleyball game
• watching the DMS volleyball games and a football game
• Fall parties with friends and SYF
• And some more I got pictures of…

Two library events – a jungle themed puppet show and an apple night – reading a book, tasting different apple varieties, and making applesauce

    

Cousin sleepover with Megan – This was the first time that the girls had a friend over since they had moved into separate rooms.  They decided that they would have a living room sleepover.  They put up MANY signs to let everyone know to be quiet and not disturb.  We also read Megan’s favorite and only book choice when she comes over, The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak.  This is a picture of their favorite page:

    

Kidron Fall fest – always a fun, laid-back night with hot dogs, s’mores, pumpkin coloring, and BINGO.

    

And the weather – it has been crazy warm this October (although it is only about mid-40s as I type this today).  So, we have had some nice days to be out.  The girls realized you could take black and white photos with my phone, and Ellie captured this