Trick or Treat!

Whew! We went trick or treating for 2 hours tonight! The weather was beautiful, clear and crisp with crunchy leaves underfoot. I love our neighborhood. It's full of beautiful old homes and most of the people are older so they love to see the little kids trick or treating.

Munchkin was kind of mad at me because she didn't want to sit still for a picture. They were both so excited to go.
They went right up to the doors and knocked, said "Trick or Treat!" and collected their candy.

They got to visit some of our favorite neighbors who stuffed their pumpkins full of candy.

Curly Girl looked up at the sky at one point and noticed all the stars out. She made a wish and I asked her what she wished for. She told me that she wished for Christmas. Talk about rushing things!

We were all tired when we got done! It was a great Halloween.

Check out the stash that they collected. Both of those pumpkin are full in the picture plus the candy on the table and in the bowl.

They each got to pick out one piece of candy when we got home. Of course, they picked their favorites lollipops or "cicle-pops" as Munchkin calls them.


What a great way to wrap up the Halloween season!

Happy Halloween!

Curly Girl had her preschool Halloween party this morning. The kids had a little Halloween parade, sang some songs for us and recited a few poems.
I can hardly believe that my little girl will be in kindergarten this time next year and Munchkin will be at this preschool.

After the program the parents left and the kids are having their special treats.

While the big kids were doing their program Munchkin took advantage and went to play with the kitchen. She had a tea party with Mickey and made some phone calls.

Curly Girl loved it and she got to spend some time with her best buddy. They love hanging out together.

Happy Halloween! May your day be filled with more treats than tricks!

We plan on trick or treating around our neighborhood for a bit tonight, then snuggling on the couch to watch some Charlie Brown and Mickey Mouse Halloween specials.

Pumpkin carving and Mickey Mouse

Guess what we did last night? We finally got our pumpkins carved! Since I'm in school Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights last night was the one night that we'd all be home to carve them together. Even before we had the girls Hubby and I always carved pumpkins for Halloween. Granted, most of those times I was the one that ended up carving them!Munchkin and Curly Girl love to take rides on our shoulders. When no one's around to give her a ride she gives her best buddy Mickey a ride. Here, she insisted that I take her picture with him. On to the pumpkins...
Here's my beautiful Curly Girl working on her pumpkin. In the past we always just let her draw on her pumpkins with markers. This year I actually got a little daring and let them dig into them. Here she is thinking about what she'd like hers to look like. Wow, when I look at this picture all I can think of is how she's going to look when she's a teenager.

Munchkin's getting her markers all ready to draw on her pumpkin. She wasn't really sure what we were doing.
Finally! Pumpkin guts! Both girls really dove right into their pumpkins. There was pumpkin guts everywhere, the table, the floor, their hair, even in Munchkin's ears!

I intended to save the seeds to make some roasted pumpkin seeds but kind of gave up after I started cleaning the whole mess up. Maybe next year!
After a nice bath courtesy of Daddy they came down to see their finished pumpkins. They wanted to take them to bed with them. Yeah, I don't think so!

Think she was excited? She really loved the Mickey and the Minnie pumpkins.

The finished products...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Recipe: Pumpkin Pie Bread

Remember yesterday when I said I was doing some baking? Well, Curly Girl and I tried a new pumpkin bread recipe and it is delicious! Munchkin has already had two pieces. Anyway, here's the recipe for anyone that's interested. It's from Allrecipes.com

Pumpkin Pie Bread

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups white sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup water

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, oil, eggs, and pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture alternately with water. Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. For best flavor, store wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for a full day before serving.

Check out Life As Mom for other fall recipes!

Wordless Wednesday: Halloween 2006

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Rain, Rain, Go Away!

It's really nasty outside today. 40 degrees, rainy and very windy. Not so good for playing baseball but the perfect kind of day for baking! Curly Girl are going to whip up some of this while Munchkin is taking her nap. If it turns out yummy I'll post the recipe later.

Now that I'm finally feeling better it seems as though it's time for the girls to get sick. I took Munchkin to the doctor yesterday because she's had a rumble in her chest when she breathes. Turns out she has a sinus infection too so Hubby's going to go get her medicine today. I think Curly Girl's got the same thing. They're still in good moods though and being sick hasn't slowed them down at all.

I just wish that I didn't have to leave the house tonight in the cold and rain to take my English midterm. Yuck!

Weekend Fun

We tried to cram in some more fall activities this weekend. Thankfully the antibiotics are kicking in and I feel so much better.

On Friday night we took the girls to a local university where the students had set up a great trick or treating area taking up the whole student center. We went with my SIL and my BIL and their two girls. The kids all had a great time! Lots of smiles and lots of candy! You can tell that the college kids really had a lot of fun putting together activities for the little kids to enjoy. Munchkin really got into the trick or treating and wasn't even the slightest scared to go into the spookier rooms. She'd just walk right in and go up to whatever ghost or goblin was holding the candy, say "Trick or Treat", take her candy and move right along to the next one. The older kids were a little more scared but not my brave little girl!

My little kittens

On Saturday it was rainy and cool and very windy so we just hung out at home all day. I still wasn't feeling 100% so Hubby took care of the kids so I could rest in bed. This is what I found when I finally made it downstairs.

Like my ballerina pit bull?

The girls spent the day playing dress up. Curly Girl loves to wear her dance recital costumes all the time. As soon as she gets home from school she changes right into them. They love pushing each other around in their baby doll stroller too.

Curly Girl got started on her Christmas wish list. At least this year she didn't circle EVERY toy in the catalog.
On Sunday the girls and I went to my parents' house for a Halloween party. The girls love playing with their cousins and Mom Mom loves to spoil the kids with whatever they want. Candy? Sure! Cupcakes? Sure! Cookies? Sure! They always have a great time. Here's Curly Girl with my niece and my Mom at her community club house. They have a Halloween party for the kids each year there.

Here's my little nephew dressed up as a cowboy. Isn't he just too cute? His big brother didn't want to wear his pirate costume.
Here's the girls in their costumes. Curly Girl, my two nieces and Munchkin outside the clubhouse waiting for the party to begin.

We've got two more Halloween parties this week, one at dance class on Thursday and Curly Girl's preschool party on Friday. Then I'll finally get around to planning for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

How was your weekend?

Ugh!

I have been so sick this past week. I finally went to the doctor yesterday and found out that I have a double ear infection plus sinusitis. I feel like crap!

Hopefully after a couple of days of antibiotics I'll feel better and can get back into the swing of things.

Have a great weekend!

Tag You're It!

Several blogs that I keep up with are playing a little tag. I'm not going to tag anyone but feel free to join in too!

This is the sixth photo in my sixth folder.
It's my Hubby, Curly Girl and Munchkin. It was taken on October 3, 2006. It was one of the first times that Curly Girl got to meet her new baby sister. Wow! They've both grown so much. I forgot how little Curly Girl was when Munchkin was born.

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Wordless Wednesday: What Happens When You Don't Listen to Mommy

I play along with 5 Minutes for Mom! Check her out to see others!

Wordless Wednesday: What? How does my makeup look?

I'm participating over at 5 Minutes for Mom!

Why do they have to grow up so fast?

My Curly Girl has her first crush! And it's KILLING me! She's been talking nonstop since school started about a boy in her class. She tells us that she's going to marry him when she's a grownup and she's going to wear a dress like I did in our wedding picture and he's going to dress up like Daddy did.

So today we had a playdate at Chik Fil A. This morning when she was getting dressed she insisted that she HAD to wear a dress. Ok, that's fine, I choose my battles wisely. Then she insisted on wearing flip flops. Ok, the weather's warm today and it's probably the last time you'll be able to wear them until spring.

Then she turns to me and says "Mommy, I need some lipstick to look beautiful."

"No you don't" I told her, "You're beautiful just the way you are."

I don't know where she's getting this from. We've always told her that she's beautiful just the way she is and smart and strong and everything else we believe she is. We're trying to help her grow up with confidence in herself and not feel that she has to judge herself by what she sees in the mirror but what she knows is on her inside.

I've always made it a point that when I'm getting myself ready that I don't say anything negative about myself or make a face when I'm not happy about what I'm wearing. Not that I don't feel it sometimes but I just don't want my girls to grow up not feeling "pretty" enough or "good" enough.

Another thing I just don't get is why she feels like she has to be pretty for this little boy. I've always been confident in myself and have never felt like I had to impress the boys. I want her to have confidence and not chase boys. I really thought I'd have a few more years before I'd even have to worry about this stuff.

We don't have any Hanna Montana or High School Musical stuff in our house. She watches PBS when she watches tv or she watches a dvd. I have no idea where she's getting this stuff from. She's always telling me that the little boy is her boyfriend. He's a great kid and his mom's great.

I guess I just have to face it that my little girl is growing up and the more she's around other kids at school the more she's going to pick up. We just have to keep her grounded and build her confidence so that she becomes an independent thinker and isn't influenced by other people who may not have that at home.

I am so not ready for this age yet!

Pumpkins, parties & Big Bird!

Wow! We had a busy weekend!

Saturday we went to our favorite pumpkin patch. It must now be everyone's favorite pumpkin patch though because it was so crowded that we quit early and then went to a friend's daughter's birthday party. Here's some of the pumpkin patch pics though:






Today we used our tickets that we had left to visit Sesame Place. We brought our two nieces with us which was great because Munchkin is just 11 days older than my one niece and my other niece is just 2 years older than Curly Girl. We had an awesome dinner at Red Robin and had Happy Birthday sung to Munchkin and my little niece. Their little eyes just lit up, it was so cute!

They all had a great time and passed out as soon as we got on the road to come home. After a quick bath they went right to bed. Here's some pics from today:

How was your weekend? What fun fall things did you do?

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I was getting ready to leave for class one night. Munchkin was upstairs with me. I was in my bedroom and I heard her talking to her Mickey in the hallway.

"Mickey?" she said, "Mommy fahted."

What!!!? "I did not!" I said.

She looked at me, smiled then turned to Mickey and said "Yes, Mickey, Mommy fahted!" Then laughed and ran downstairs to tell Daddy and Sissy.

I definitely have to teach her to keep some things just between us.