Happy Halloween

You may have to turn the volume way up (it's kinda quiet).

Libraries & Pumpkins

I love the public library! They have story times for different ages and always do such a fun job. This morning Emma and I walked over to our library and they read some Halloween stories and sang some Halloween songs. Then the kids got to decorate bags and go trick or treating at the different help desks. They also got balloons, and free movie tickets. Wow. Plus (and I think she liked this part as much if not more than story time itself) on the way home Emma got to crunch every single leaf she saw. And there were a lot of them. Needless to say it took us a long time to get home.

We also love carving pumpkins. It's so much fun to see what you can do. Last year we did quite a few...we couldn't help ourselves. There is one haunted house that we love doing every year. Eric and I take turns carving it, but this year we decided to carve it into a fake pumpkin. This way we can try other things in the future while still enjoying this pattern. Here are some pics from last year and a couple from this year. I can't believe how much bigger Emma is!

the haunted house last year

a pumpkin inside a pumpkin

Emma carving her pumpkin last year

Emma's pumpkin last year

Emma carving this year and her finished product

Our haunted house on our fake pumpkin

Ward Halloween Party

Last night our ward had a Halloween party. I made some chili and took it over a few minutes early, and then after everyone arrived we all ate. Emma was mostly interested in the big bowls of candy at all the tables. She wanted to fill her pumpkin. That's the only reason she went I think. They had some games for the kids, and Emma liked them all. She wanted to go through the haunted house too, so we went not knowing if it would be too scary for her. She did fine. Kids older than her were leaving because they were scared, but not Emma. She jumped a couple times, but would then just growl right back at the people who had screamed at her. When we were done and had exited, she looked at us and said, "That was spooky!" How funny is she? There was a costume parade and then some trunk-or-treating. Yup, this was Emma's favorite thing. She would just hold up her pumpkin after saying 'trick or treat' and expect them to fill it to the top. Rest assured that we'll be working on calming down her enthusiasm for so much candy. She doesn't usually get it, so now she's on overload! She was more hyper last night before bed than I've ever seen her. At least I know she had fun. And she looked so cute in her costume. This time I did her hair a little differently, and it worked really well. Usually I just pull her hair into a pony tail, but this time I tried making a bun to be even more like Tinkerbell. Who knew that a tiny bun could be so cute.

Mini Dance Recital

On Tuesday mornings Emma has her dance class. She loves it. First they do some ballet and then switch to their tap shoes. She is definately the youngest in her class. It is for 3 and 4 year olds, and most of the other girls are already or almost 4. Today the girls were able to come dressed in their Halloween costumes (minus anything that would make it hard to dance in), and at the end of the class they were going to perform a little dance for us. Usually the parents wait outside the room. There is a window we can look through to watch, but I don't usually do this because Emma is somehow able to sense when I'm there, so she'll turn around and then wave at me and stop following the teacher.

So she went in her Tinkerbell costume (minus the wings) and loved being in it. Her tights somehow got filthy during class, so in all the pictures you can see dark smudges on her legs. I had our video camera, but found that the battery wasn't working or something, so I couldn't use it. The camera I had with me doesn't take video, so unfortunately I didn't get to film any of it. I did get some pictures, but Emma was on the end of the row of girls, and was in front of a window that created a backlighting problem. So I only got a few decent shots that aren't silhouettes. Oh well! Luckily Eric had last tuesday off, so he was able to come to her dance class and watched some of the dance through the window - so he didn't miss too much. My mom was able to slip away from work to come watch, and Emma thought that was so cool having her there. Here are some of the better pictures.

This was taken right before they began, and she has a wierd expression on her face, something between utter amusement and embarassment that my mom and I are there watching her.

Again, right before they all started, but here you can see where she is on the far side, the horrible backlighting (sorry, I know it's a little dark) and some of the other cute girls in costume.


And the rest of the pictures are different moves during the routine. She did a really cute job, and I'm proud of her for doing it and for having such a good time.

Oktoberfest

Yesterday my family got together for our own version of Oktoberfest. It started a couple years ago when Eric and I thought it would be fun to get together for some German food (he served in Germany and I served in Austria on missions). My family loved it, and so we've done it ever since. I know we're a little late compared to the real Oktoberfest which is celebrated in late September, but better late than never. Our menu was by no means complete, but it included Schnitzel, Bratwurst, Sauerkraut, Fondu, warm potato salad, and then we rounded out the German selections with some vegetables, green salad, and crackers. Don't forget the delicious apple crisp we had later for dessert.

After eating we started playing some games. The kids all had fun too.

Every October for as long as I can remember my family tries to watch a couple Halloween cartoons from when I was little. At the end of the evening we watched Garfield's Halloween. The grandkids (who were still awake) were very quick to snuggle with Papa and Grandma!

Thanks to John and Heather for hosting it this year, and thanks to everyone for bringing everything to make it a great night.

More Halloween Fun

On Saturday morning Emma and I went to a local gardening store where they had some fun Halloween activities planned. This place was beautiful. I don't mean with flowers either. They had plenty of them, and they were pretty and smelled great, but I'm talking about pumpkins. They had tons of pumpkins. I've never seen such a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors in one spot. The pumpkins were scattered everywhere!! You'd think they were trying to sell them or something. =) Amidst all the pumpkins they had lots of those corny pictures that are missing the faces so you can stick yours in from behind and take pictures. There was a pirate ship the kids could climb on, and Emma definately wanted to climb. This is a girl who LOVES pirates. Remember, this is what she was for Halloween last year......so she would have been content to play on this ship all day if I had let her. Well, I didn't. I'm a mean mom I guess.

We left the pirate ship to try out the corn maze they had (actually made out of hay bales). This was a small one designed for children. She seemed to love it and thought it was funny when she'd choose the wrong path. They had a costume parade for all the kids. They all seemed to think it was fun, and Emma didn't mind that there were 3 other kids dressed up as Tinkerbell! That's right, there were 4 Tinkerbells. Emma has liked Tinkerbell for a while, but I guess with the Tinkerbell movie coming out this month that more girls want to be her. All 4 girls looked really cute (I mean what kid doesn't look cute in a costume!), but it was obvious which parent spent a rediculous amount on her child's costume. I was talking with her before the parade and laughing at the multiple Tinks around, and she told me where she bought hers and what she had spent. I don't know why she told me this, maybe she's proud that she spent so much for a costume that would be worn only a handful of times. I don't understand people like that. But I'll tell you that for spending 5 times as much as I did, her Tinkerbell was no cuter than mine. Her costume was a little more elaborate is all. All I care about is that Emma loves her costume and loves wearing it. As long as she feels like that, I wouldn't care if it was a paper bag (for a Halloween costume- I care a little more about her everyday appearance).

I didn't realize that my camera battery was low, so when it stopped working it took me a minute to figure out the reason. So, I don't have any pictures of the remainder of the activities. Too bad.

After the parade there were 3 different activities the kids could enjoy and receive candy for.
Emma listened to a story read by a pirate, colored some Halloween pictures, and tried a peanut toss game. I'm pretty sure it was luck, but Emma managed to throw a peanut through a small mouth on one of the jackolanterns she was aiming for instead of going through the top. What an arm!

The weather was perfect, and Emma enjoyed her candy! It was a great start to the day.

Fun at the Zoo

Yesterday we went to the zoo. As many of you know, we recently moved back closer to the zoo after several months away. While away I let my zoo pass expire (I knew I wasn't going to be going there very often if at all). Now that we're back I wanted to go and get another pass. I just love going to the zoo with Emma. Our local zoo has more character than any other zoo I've been to. We invited Emma's cousin Timothy to come with us. The two of them had so much fun!! They wanted to see every animal and were able to see some cool things. When we went to see the crocodiles one of them decided to go to the other end of the pond, so they watched him move...very slowly...to the other side. The bears were giving each other bear hugs, the penguins were being fed, the tiger was splashing in the water right next to the glass, and there were baby monkeys and baby meerkats. And this doesn't even scratch the surface. They had fun on the carousel and on the train and enjoyed feeding the ducks and playing on the slides. Having always lived so close to the zoo we would never go for more than 1 to 2 hours (usually an hour and a half tops). Yesterday we were there for a little over 3 hours! Those kids were so interested in everything! And since they were starved by the time we left (even with some snacks provided by Heather - thanks!), I took them to lunch (they both wanted chicken nuggets, so 2 guesses where we went!). It was a great day, and the weather was perfect. Thanks to Heather for letting us borrow Timothy for the day, and thanks to Timothy for being so good and so much fun.

Tagged...Seven Things

I've been tagged by Clancy to list seven things about myself.

1. I love old movies. You know those black & white ones your parents and grandparents are familiar with? Yeah, I love those. I don't know why really, but I have always enjoyed watching them. I also love old movies that happen to be in color too. My favorite movie is Singing in the Rain. I guess it has to do with the actual talent of the actors in these movies. They could really act, sing, dance, etc. They weren't just pretty faces or people with great bodies. Don't get me wrong, I love newer movies and think there are some talented people today, but I will always have a fondness for the classics.

2. I wouldn't consider myself crafty, but I do try to release any sort of pent up creativity that might be lurking within me. For example, I have always liked scrapbook supplies (stickers, papers, stamps, brads, etc.) but have never liked or wanted to scrapbook. Funny? Wierd? Maybe, but I love to make cards with all that stuff. It's fun for me to try to create something cute. And I'm not above copying someone else's good idea, so if you have any send them my way.

3. You know how most women love handbags and shoes? Well, I do too, but in addition to these fetishes I also have a pen fetish. That's right, a pen fetish. I love pens. I have always loved writing, and am always making lists etc, so I use pens a lot. For some reason I tend to like my own handwriting with some pens better than others. Too wierd I know. And I don't think it makes any sense. But an example of how far I will go comes from my scripture marking pens. While on my mission in Austria I was in an office supply store and found a pack of Pilot pens that were very fine tipped. I used them to mark in my scriptures and loved them. They were fine enough to fit all my ramblings along the edges and in between verses. Not planning ahead (after all, I did have some other stuff on my mind besides pens - I wasn't that terrible of a missionary!) I didn't buy more before leaving to come home. These pens are not available in the U.S. Not even from the U.S. Pilot website. Eventually I found a non-U.S. site that I could order them from, and pay huge amounts of shipping because it was overseas. Worth it? You bet. I love these pens. Wierd? Of course, but then again, it's me, so what do you expect? Now, this fetish is not so overpowering that I cannot function if I don't have the right pen or anything. But if I can find it, I will. Usually it's not a problem finding one I like. As Eric will attest, I have way too many pens in my house. But I love them all.

4. I like doing crossword puzzles. But not just any puzzle, specifically the local Tribune's (okay, in all fairness once in Seattle I bought a paper there and really enjoyed it too, but that's the only other crossword I've ever liked). I also like the sudoku and word jumbles that come with it. I do it almost everyday. My dad emails me the puzzles and I print them at home. They are also fun to take with you on road trips to work on together out loud.

5. I'm an avid board gamer. If you have the right group of people and the right game, nothing is more fun. I'm not talking about Boggle or Clue either. Sure they can be fun, but I'm talking about the big, strategy filled, epic adventure ones. Some of my favorites are Mystery at the Abbey, Colosseum, Cleopatra, Shadows Over Camelot & Pirate's Cove. Another really funny one (that's also faster and less expensive) is Red Dragon Inn. My family frequently gets together for game nights. If you're wanting to look at the descriptions of some of these games you can go to http://www.daysofwonder.com/. A lot of my favorites are made by this company. Of course, I also love playing poker. My family has also done that for as long as I can remember. My step-Grandma plays with us too! If you ever want to learn how to play, just let me know.

6. I think that German is a pretty language. Most people think of it as a very harsh and spitty language. And yes, it can sound harsh and some words can be very spitty, but the regular everyday spoken language is extremely beautiful.

7. Once while in Las Vegas I wanted to buy hot chocolate on a 110 degree day. Hey, what can I say? Sometimes you just really want some.

I tag Christy, Janna, Wendy, Kristi, & Angela

My Little Comic

Seriously... could she be any funnier?

Barnyard Boo

On monday Emma and I went to an activity called Barnyard Boo. There were animals she could see and feed, and lots of other activities to choose from. With a punch card you could choose 5 activities to do. The weather was beautiful, and it wasn't too crowded. After many of the activities they would give you a treat. Here are the activities that Emma chose.

a pony ride

Croquet

a wagon ride

another pony ride

In case you're wondering about the 5th activity, she decided to decorate a pumpkin cookie. She ate it so fast I didn't have a chance to take a picture!

Five Senses of Fall

As Emma and I were outside the other day I started thinking about Fall. It's my favorite season and there are so many good and fun things about it. As Emma ran from leaf to leaf to crunch them I was thinking about the five senses of Fall. This is my list.

Sight - the changing colors of the leaves

Sound - the sound of leaves crunching beneath your feet

Taste - hot apple cider

Touch - a warm sweater on your skin

Smell - spices in the air

There are a lot of other things I could've mentioned, but I like this list. What does your list include?

Great Pumpkin Festival

Last night we went out to a farm for their Great Pumpkin Festival. They had free hay rides, a pumpkin patch, donuts and the best hot apple cider I've ever had. You pull up your blankets or chairs and watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown outside. Their screen was actually the side of a white truck. I might have expected more if I was paying to watch the show, but since it was free the truck was fun. It actually really did look fine. They got a pretty good size crowd too. They showed it 3 times in a row, so more people could watch. Emma wanted to watch it twice, so we stayed around longer. She loves this show. She loves the costumes the kids wear and thinks it's hilarious each time Charlie Brown gets a rock instead of candy. As we were walking back to the car Emma said those magic words that make every parent so happy, "That was fun!"