Halloween!

Oh, what fun Halloween is when you have little ones!  Before I had even thought about Halloween costumes for the fall, I spotted a 2T Ladybug at a consignment sale for $5.  It took less than 5 seconds to decide that Margaret would be a ladybug this year:)  A few weeks later, we asked Andrew what he wanted to be.  Without skipping a beat, he said he wanted to be a football player and that he wanted to be a cheerleader. Of course!  Why hadn't I already thought of that!  But since Margaret was already covered, we somehow talked him out of that and he said he really, really, really wanted to be Buzz again.  And since his Buzz outfit from last year still fit...done deal!  The $5 Halloween was on! 

Saturday before Halloween, we went to a schoolmate's party and carved our two big pumpkins.  Down a pig tale and with knife in hand, Margaret was pretty scary, but fairly helpful:)


While I was at work on Sunday, Michael helped them carve their little pumpkins that we had gotten at the Greenfield Farm the day before, where we had a great hayride in a HUGE tractor, a fun stroll through the corn maze, saw lots of farm animals upclose, enjoyed neat slides and spider webs, and also forgot to take the camera.


Andrew looks a bit like Tony Soprano here and Margaret seriously looks stoned, but we had two cute little jackolanterns to show for it and Michael promised me they actually had fun!

Think they were excited?!?



Excited to be dressed and ready to head across the street for the neighbors' annual Halloween Open House - chili, beer and hot dogs. Yum, yum!

Learning how to Trick or Treat...and always say "Thank you" and "Bye-Bye" after receiving candy:)



Andrew showing Margaret the ropes.



Margaret, as if to say, "Hey!  It works!"



 

 

Back from Trick or Treating, it was time to teach Margaret how to pass out candy at our house.  

 



Margaret very concerned about the Mum trying to grab her personal space.


Making funny faces with Daddy is the fun part!

 

And after all of the excitement, the night ended surprisingly well.  Margaret dutifully went to bed and Andrew headed up when it was time with zero complaints...and only ONE piece of candy all night!  He seemed to buy our argument that if he ate only one piece now, there would be a piece a day for him to eat for a very, very long time!  I'll admit we were patting ourselves on the back for getting that one to fly with a 4.5-yr-old!



Singin' bout God and Jesus

I am thankful that it's rare Daddy is gone 3 nights in a row, but this time, the timing was particularly bad.  He was all the way near Morgantown WV (4.5 hours away) when Hurricane Sandy was forecasted to hammer the East Coast.  With each day the storm approached, the outlook appeared worst.  While it became obvious that New Jersey and New York would bear the brunt of the storm, we were still receive tremendous rain and winds in VA.  And we have learned in our few years in this neighborhood that when the wind changes direction, we lose power.  So we planned to go spend a night in Richmond, where Mom and Dad have a generator. 

That evening, I forgot all about the storm as I read to Andrew and Margaret at bedtime.  We were in Margaret's room all rocking together in her chair.  As per our usual routine, we read two books and then sang "Sunshine" before saying prayers.  "You are my Sunshine" has become quite the chorus as both kids sing along and we have a verse for every member of the family...and I mean every member.  That includes Molly and baby and this night, Andrew declared, "Wait!  We have two more to sing!  God and Jesus!" How do you turn that down, no matter how tired you are and wishing they were already in bed?!?  So we sung Sunshine for Lord God and Jesus:)...and prayed Daddy would make it back from WV (where Sandy was bringing loads of October snow) in time for Halloween festivities. 

Random Fall Pictures

I am so thankful that our schedule takes me to First Presbyterian and First Baptist on a weekly, if not daily, basis.  The prettiest, old, mature maple trees in Cville are downtown and it just brings a smile to your face to drive down Park St. and see all of the trees that are on fire.  Of course I try not to shoot Park St. while I'm driving, so I settle for parking lot shots to paint the scene.

 A toddler with fangs.  Not sure there are words for this one!

The tire swing a the neighbors has been a HUGE hit this fall and we also hit a MAJOR childhood milestone.  In September, Andrew finally learned how to get himself going on a swing all by himself and then to maintain his momentum.  For a parent, a child mastering that skill kind of ranks up there with finally learning how to swim! 

I had not signed them up for school pictures this fall as we have decided to wait on the professional ones until Kindergarten (in large part because it simply rubs us the wrong way that you have to pre-pay for an expensive package of prints that don't even suit your needs before you're even able to see if you got a decent shot of them or not).  This was spontaneously taken before school and when the photographer delightfully showed me what had come out, I had to order:) 

 

This fall brought with it a significant change in my work schedule, and a plethora or Sunday afternoon birthday parties.  I'll spare the details of work, except to say that I am gone 11:30-5:30 on Sundays:(  Just as soon as my schedule was set, we ended up with 3 consecutive Sunday birthday parties from 3:30-5:00.  Daddy has been a trooper this fall!  He lugged the kids through ridiculous traffic to Carter Mountain for Owen Saunders' 2nd birthday.  Apparently it was a fun, if not hectic, few hours with church friends....and the rest of Albemarle County!  

 

Getting ready for church one Sunday

 

Annie???

 Annie rides a firetruck - why wouldn't she?!?

 Intensely listening to Dad's instructions on how to pose...

we'll see how this goes.

Heading into church

 Posing for Miss Ann in the nursery

With the push toy...currently the most popular and deadliest toy in the house!

 

Playing in the leaves by "the tree" afternoon is rough on the pig tails,

but SOOO much fun:)

Candy apple at the school fall festival as big as her face!  It was cute for a second, but then sticky for hours.  Not sure whose idea these are anyway - they are never easy for the kiddos to tackle and just make a tremendous mess.  Daddy was out of town, so he missed the fun.  Note to self in case you forget next year:  the fall festival is a great fund raiser for the school, but it's little more than a sugar fest with a huge moon bounce that our kids won't get near when there are 100 other kids swarming it.  It will be difficult to get 2 large pumpkins and 4 dozen cupcakes there with 3 young kiddos, so if Daddy is gone again next year, skip the festival and just write a check to FPCP! 

While Michael braved with snowying WV during hurricane Sandy, we retreated to Richmond for one night in anticipation of losing power here.  The Greeks had the same idea. 

Yoga with Dody and Anne. Margaret's pretty good! 

Andrew and Alex doing some position Dody assembled them into.  Proud of Andrew for getting his left foot on top of his right knee!

Margaret occupying herself on the trampoline while the rest of do

some much needed yardwork. 

Fall around the neighborhood

It was a BIG week for us, in only the way a week can be big for a family with a 4 and 2-yr-old.  The fall leaves for which the South is famous finally peaked and began to fall.  The endless piles of leaves make for the best fall play.  But on top of that, Andrew finally mastered the skill of swinging by himself.  He got the tilt and the pumping of the legs timed just right so that he could begin to swing himself all alone.  And guess who is now leaning and pumping as if she can do it, too??? 

 

Fun in the leaves around our neighborhood. 

Not sure there is anything else to say.

 

 

 

 

 

Propped in a tree....a little nervouse at first, understandably so.

Warmed up and got the shot of the fall!

 

Margaret's turn in the tree.  Not so happy.

But Daddy always has a way...

...of calming her fears...

 

and turning that frown upside down:)

Oh, My!