Fall Festivities

Let me just warn you...there are a ton of pictures in this post! Enjoy!

Friday

After a successful trip to the pumpkin patch a few weekends ago, we knew the time had come to carve our jack-a-lantern.

Marcus bravely cut into the pumpkin and removed all the gooey mess.

The girls were very curious.

Sara is "helping" Marcus by "gently guiding" his arm while carving the face.Sara thought she would be "helpful" by "gently guiding" Marcus' arm while carving out the mouth of the jack-a-lantern.

I decided that instead of wasting the pumpkin, we should all of that we could. So while Marcus carved, I boiled the pumpkin. After that I pureed it in the food processor and then strained it through a coffee filter. Yes...I know I could have just bought a can of Libby's Pumpkin but where would the fun be in that?Looks good, right?

We toasted the seeds while we were at it.


The girls weren't sure if they liked them or not. I think they taste a little like burnt popcorn but that didn't stop me from munchin' down on them.

One thing the girls are sure of is that they love our pumpkin, who's been nicknamed Rufus.
(Don't ask.)

Rufus seemed to enjoy his new home on our deck.

Saturday

We were back in the kitchen Saturday afternoon to finish up the pie process. After the puree cooled in the fridge overnight, we were finally able to add spices, sugar and eggs to make our pie. And yes, we even made the pie crust from scratch.

It may not be the prettiest pie ever made but...

...we all really enjoyed it!
Plus we have at least enjoy pumpkin puree for two more pies! We'll be professionals in no time.

Daddy gave his permission for Emma to have her first manicure since it was Halloween. She was quite taken with the whole process until she had to sit around while I blew on her nails, fanned them with a coloring book and used my hair dryer on the cool setting on them. She probably won't be asking for nail polish again any time soon.

Tinker Bell is ready for flight!

I glued the jewels back on Friday night and Sara was pleased that I fixed her dress.

Giselle posed with her movie.

Emma really liked the flowers in her hair.

After our photo session, we went the the Fall Festival at our church. We started out with hot dogs, Fritos, chili and cookies. We learned our lesson from last year and ate first! Afterwards, we ventured over the the games. Sara enjoyed the bean bag toss and was able to throw one of the bags behind the backdrop for the game.

The girls quickly won cupcakes in the Cupcake Walk and sat down to enjoy them.

Home again for a quick picture and bed time.

Happy Halloween!

Fall Carnival

We had our Fall Carnival at school yesterday. The girls dressed in their Halloween costumes (without their accessories) and modeled their outfits before we went into the building. Sara is Tinker Bell and Emma is Giselle, the princess from Enchanted. Grana worked tirelessly on their beautiful dresses!

I know the choice of tennis shoes and black leggings weren't the best look, but it worked best for school. I was a little worried that Sara might lift up her dress to show that her Tinker Bell dress matched her Tinker Bell panties.

I was able to snap a picture of Sara from my classroom while she was walking down the hall with her class. I wasn't able to go into the carnival area with the girls because I was with my class.

I know the girls had a great time at the carnival because they racked up with goodies! The carnival was held in the gym. There were tons of different games like the fishing pond, bean bag toss and even a little battery operated "roller coaster."

The costumes held up pretty well through the school day but they did get a few little "party fouls" on them so I decided to hand wash them so they would be ready for the Fall Festival at church on Saturday. As Sara and I were hand washing her Tinker Bell dress, we noticed that a few of her "jewels" had fallen off during the day. No biggie...until we saw a bunch of the jewels in the bottom of the sink! Each and every one of them fell off! We rescued them and left them to dry out on a towel.

Sara kept saying, "Oh, no! My buttons are falling off!" We're making a trip to Hobby Lobby this morning to find some super sticky jewel glue! I'm just amazed that there is no glue residue on her costume!

Deacon Ordination

Emma and Sara are proud to announce that their Daddy is one of the newest deacons at our church. Here are a few pics from the Sunday night ordination service.

The new deacon after it's all over. See the relief in Marcus' face? He had to give his testimony in front of the church and he didn't even seem nervous!

The happy parents. Marcus is a third generation deacon in our church.

Not only am I a deacon's daughter, but now I'm a deacon's wife!


Marcus, we are so proud of you!

Pumpkins and Picnics

It's that time of year again! We made our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday. It was so nice that the weather cooperated and it actually felt like fall! Yea!

Marcus' pictures are better than mine but I can't figure out how to get pictures off of his camera most of the time. We'll try later on.

After the pictures in front of the background were done, we put the jackets back on and ventured into the Pumpkin Patch.

Sara and Marcus both liked this interesting pumpkin. You can see the intensity on Sara's face as she tries to pick it up!

Emma's found one too!

We decided on a nice medium sized pumpkin so we followed Daddy in a nice orderly line up to pay.

After the Pumpkin Patch, we drove over to Pier Park. I knew the weather would be nice, so I packed a picnic lunch before we left. We thought of everything...except about the wind!

See the "gentle breeze" whipping through the girls hair?

Can you see Marcus' teeth chattering?

Sara really took to the casual atmosphere of the picnic!

This & That

We haven't really been up to much but we sure are keeping busy. How can that be? Anyway...here are some pictures of our latest adventures.

The girls really enjoy going out to eat at the mall food court. We probably only do it once a month or so but we always have to stop at the coin drop! I just happened to have my camera in my purse last time so I was able to get a quick picture! The girls love to put their coins in and watch them race around. I think it looks like a very large toilet but they enjoy the cheap entertainment.

Emma went to her friend Hailey's birthday party last Saturday. Emma's never taken gymnastics so to get to play in the gym during the party was lots of fun. They had pits full of foam, bars to cross, an inflatable castle, rock wall and more. She had a great time and got rid of a lot of energy!

Sara's hair continues to grow and get curlier! I love to play with it, which she hates for me to do! The only time I get to mess with it is when she is distracted by brushing her teeth. I actually got a little clip in her hair! Don't tell her, but we'll be doing that hair style again when she turns into Tinkerbell for Halloween!

Sara got to take care of her classroom mascot, Joey, a few weekends ago. She was so excited to bring Ms. Karen's (her teacher) Joey home with us!

They put puzzles together and he watched football with Marcus. We had to write about their weekend in the classroom journal and this was the picture we included. Sara also drew a picture of the tracks that Joey makes when he jumps.

Emma continues to enjoy drawing pictures on the chalkboard. She has also been practicing writing her letters too!

This is Emma's drawing of a cat.

We've dusted off the Wii Fit and are trying to exercise everyday. Most days I don't feel like doing it but the girls are great motivators. Here they are running around the short jogging course.

C is for Cap and L is for Limbo

Tuesday was Cap Day at school. The girls have plenty of fancy hats and even a few visors but no caps! So, Sara and I went to Hobby Lobby after dropping Emma off at school to get some reasonably priced (cheap!) caps. We picked out these white hats and some sequin hearts to jazz the hats up a bit. After a coupon, these two caps and hearts cost us a little over $3.00.
Good thing the sequins came in a set of four because Sara's cap came home without a heart on it. Guess my iron was no match for the strength of a 3 year old!

The girls decided to help me with my "spring cleanin" (anytime I clean anything, they ask me if it's time for spring cleanin). While I was dusting in the dining room, the girls were in the living room doing the limbo under the expandable rainbow duster.

Guess there's always time to limbo!

How low can you go?