More Halloween Fun

 Notice the many big leaf maple trees visible from my bedroom window.  Notice the leaves all over the yard and trampoline.  We just raked the leaves less than a week ago.  It's never ending....

 My Christmas cactus is ready to bloom!!  I'm so excited! We should have bloom by Christmas!

We went to a fun Harvest Party where the girls (and me too) learned how to make apple cider.  It sure takes a lot of apples to make a little cider.  They had over 240 pounds of apples and made a lot of cider.  We took home two bottles full.  Yummy!!

 We had a lot of fun at our church's Halloween Party.  Unfortunately, I was in charge of the cupcake walk so I didn't get to follow my girls around with the camera.  They were happy:)  They told me about all their fun.  I had fun too.

 Trunk-or-treating provided my children with a lot of candy.  They had fun trading candy.  I'm always grateful they don't like Milk Duds, Heath Bars, Butterfingers, peanut M&Ms, Snickers, and so forth.  This is the pile they left for me....

Yummy!!

Halloween Fun

Erin Joy and I made a haunted gingerbread house.  Rachel wasn't interested.  Erin Joy was very interested...notice the evidence from the black frosting on her lips!

Rachel was willing to pose by the finished product.  Yes, they are in their pajamas.  It was a pajama activity....

 The carving of the pumpkins...

 Rachel decided to not carve her pumpkin.  She never wants to carve her pumpkin.  She can't give me a good reason why she doesn't like her pumpkin carved.  She happily helped me carve a jack-o-lantern.

 We cheated and bought stencils.  It didn't work very well...especially when two people started carving one pumpkin.

 Finished!!

 I offered her paint. Nope.  I suggested a nose.  Nope.  She likes her pumpkin with a simple face.  Looks just like last year's jack-o-lantern.

Look what we saw in our yard this morning!  Fun!!

Remlinger Farms

 We had a wonderful time at Remlinger Farms yesterday.  I was worried about the weather because this week has been very wet, cold, and windy.  The day started off drizzly, but some blue sky popped out just in time to have fun at the farm.  During the afternoon, we had to take cover in a barn while we waited for a downpour followed by hail.  The storm didn't last long, but it was enough to scare most of the visitors away.  It didn't scare us away and we continued to enjoy the afternoon without many other people and just a slight drizzle.  Nice!!

I really enjoy summers in the Northwest, but the long, dreary, rainy winters aren't my favorite.  I have decided to change my attitude after reading the following in a magazine:

"Sunshine depresses me.  It's just the same thing over and over; I like days with moods, days as unpredictable as a toss of the dice.  Which is why I believe that, after a long hot summer, this is the best time of year in the Northwest.  Because the real weather is coming."

Sunshine has never depressed me and I certainly need to learn to enjoy these "moody" days.  The weather has definitely been as moody as my daughter and I certainly enjoy her--moodiness and all.  (Those of you who know my daughter will know which one I'm talking about.  The one who was sad as we were leaving Remlinger Farms because she wanted to go on the roller coaster one more time.  I know my daughter--we could have ridden the coaster 100 times and she still would have wanted 'one more time.')

I am going to enjoy the moods of winter this year.  Yes, I said winter.  I think we went straight from summer to winter.  The only sign of autumn has been the beautiful fall colors.  We went from beautiful fall colors in summer-like weather to beautiful fall colors in winter-like weather.

Anyway, we really enjoyed our day at Remlinger Farms are we were very grateful the weather cooperated (for the most part...)

Here are a few pictures followed by a video....

Cartwheels wherever she goes...

 I took several pictures of the girls having fun behind me while riding in the front of the little roller coaster.  It was a bit tricky;)

 Proof that we had hail...

School Pictures

I'm a little disappointed in school pictures this year.  I wish I would have selected a different background for Erin Joy's picture.  I wish the photographer would have noticed Erin Joy's hair and fixed it.  I guess she had fun at recess right before the picture was taken.  I wish she would have smiled a little bit too!  I wish Rachel wouldn't have gotten green dry erase marker on her shirt before the picture.  She told me it was her teacher's fault because her teacher made her use dry erase markers.  Oh brother.

I thought about getting retakes, but we'll just keep these as a memory.  I think they are beautiful, smart, and kind no matter what their pictures look like.   

Erin Joy's Penguin Party

 We began Erin Joy's birthday party by making pizza shaped like fish.

 While the pizza was cooking, some girls jumped on the trampoline...

 Others enjoyed penguin bowling...

 After eating, we played a few penguin games.  We sang a great penguin song too and I wished I would have video taped it.  Imagine silly girls flapping wings and waddling like penguins.

 Erin Joy drew a lovely penguin (with a big head so there would be plenty of room for beaks) and we played "pin the beak on the penguin."

 We had to have a penguin pinata of course!

 Here she is!! The beautiful penguin birthday girl!

 So glad we found a table on Craig's list this week otherwise I have no idea where 13 giggly girls would have sat to eat cupcakes and ice cream.

 Some girls watched movies (Mr. Popper's Penguins and Happy Feet of course)...

 While other girls had pedicures and manicures.

 Waddling while carrying penguin eggs was a bit tricky.

 Even the stuffed penguins got to wear penguin party hats!

 And then the real fun began....the sleepover.

They giggled and played until 10:30ish.  I had them go to bed.  They all wanted to sleep in Erin Joy's penguin/glow-in-the-dark room even though they would have fit better in our large bonus room.  They laughed and giggled in the room until 12:30.  It was finally quiet at 12:30 and I thought they would go to sleep so I went to bed.  I was awakened at 3:30 in the morning by happy laughing, screaming, jumping, running around the house.  I couldn't believe NOBODY was asleep except for the grownup in charge.  Ooops.  They were playing Barbies, kitchen, and PE class.  Fun times.  I hope they created good memories even if they didn't get much sleep.

Here is a video with more pictures....