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.