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

Check out more Wordless Wednesday over at 5 Minutes for Mom!

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?