A Spook-tacular Hallow's Eve!

Halloween is HERE!!  The girls, especially, Layla, has been looking forward to this for a month!  What would a holiday be, without a craft?   The girls made a Spooky Gingerbread House this year...and could barely make it through without eating all the "decorations"!

The finished product!!   They were so proud!  (Note:  Clearly, Layla couldn't make it through, as evidenced by the black frosting around her mouth!)

It's Mother Gothel and The Good Witch!!  Layla has wanted to be Mother Gothel (from Tangled) for at least 6 months...no lie.  She was pretty happy with her costume...and even happier she got to wear it 3 times this year, for different events!

Our first house...trick o' treating at The Parkers, next door!

Hooking up with girls' besties from next door...Kiara and Avery...to loot the neighborhood!

After trick o' treating for about an hour,  Layla wanted to be in charge of handing out candy to the other kids!  This may have been a highlight of her holiday!  Such a big girl....

Layla and Nona manning the door.  Seriously, Layla wouldn't leave her post until we shut off the porch light!

Love my girlie...

Halloween Parade

Our neighborhood had a Halloween Parade the Sunday before Halloween!  All the kiddos dressed up in their costumes and we paraded around one of our parks.   Thanks for organizing, Jill, the kids had a great time!

Slack-tober

Wow!  October came and went so fast...I didn't even sneak a blog post in!  Big Time SLACKER!  We did do some pretty fun things, though...like the Pumpkin Patch!  I (and Stacy) chaperoned Layla and Dane's 4K Pumpkin Patch Field Trip.    Check it out:

We enjoyed a hay ride to get a pumpkin!

Checked out the baby chicks!

Took a ride in a boat!

Stuck a landing!

Tried NOT to get e.coli.

And, tried our hand at logging!

The kids loved it!  Honestly, I  just wanted to get back to the concrete jungle and Purell hand sanitizer!

4K

What's that??  One of the Riddlettes is old enough to go to school...on the bus...every day??  It can't be!!  Well, it is.  Layla started 4K this year and was super excited to join the big kids on the bus.  She could hardly sleep the night before and was up early!   The first week is down and it was a success.  She still likes it, still wants to ride the bus, and doesn't mind being away from Mommy every day of the week (admittedly, that part makes me a little sad).   However, I must say it's been nice spending some one on one time with Marley.  I had my reservations about being home, alone, with the littlest Riddlette....however, going to the grocery store with just one....has me singing a different tune.      

"Reading" her bus schedule.  She takes 2 buses each way...4 buses total!!  I can't even keep it straight, but she manages!!  

Watching for the bus!!

First walk down to the corner...luckily, her bus stops right on the corner by our house!

The Blue Ridge Trail corner kids!

My baby getting on the bus.  She didn't even look back...that's a good thing, right??  (sniff)

Dickinson County Fair

What can I say?  We've been going to the Dickinson County Fair since I was the girls' age.  It's a small town fair, but there's something about it that feels like home and brings me back to my childhood.  It's awesome going there as a parent (even though, i wasn't quite myself the day after my reunion).  Let's just say i stayed away from all the "spinning rides".  No sense scarring my children by seeing mommy hurl on the tilt-a-whirl.

Had to throw this in there.  Before going to the fair, Marley got to snuggle up with Great Auntie Beesh (GG's youngest sister)!

Who doesn't love the carousel? 

Marley unhappy to be in the gunner position.

Miss big stuff!

Hearing we hit our fun limit and it was time to head home!

Okay...one more time around the kiddy rides!

F.H.S. 20 Years!!

Ahhh....20 year class reunion.  I can hardly type that without having an aneurysm!!  We had a great time swapping stories and reminiscing about the "good ole' days".  Once together, the gang fell right back into the swing of things and it felt like it'd been a couple weeks, instead of a couple decades apart. Thanks for a great time everyone...let's try and not go as long until the next one!!

A giant size beer for Wookie.

Shotgun time!!  

Free's custom bean bag toss.  He and Wenzel had quite the run going until they were hustled by Andrea and her baseball hall-of-fame hubby!

The Fab4...great planning with you girls!!

Old buds back together.  If only Rad could have attended!

Texas 2012: Houston, Part 2.

The last leg of our journey involved an overdue visit with Shane's bestie and my clueless mujera, Paul and Julie (and little Maddy)!  It was great to catch up and see their new house, even if it was just for a night!   Thanks to all for hosting our crazy family of four!  We enjoyed seeing everyone!