Trick or Treat!

Can you believe it is November? I cannot believe that we have started into the holiday season. Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween. The girls had a great time. Thursday we carved the pumpkins-or shall I say I carved the pumpkins. Allison and Leah helped clean out the pumpkins for a little bit, but after that, Allison headed back outside to play. Leah hung out with me a little longer and drew all the faces for me, but after a while she deserted me too. Rachel would have nothing to do with it from the start. As soon as she saw the insides of the pumpkin, she said, "Done", and left the kitchen. Leah wants to roast the pumpkin seeds so I had to separate the seeds from the pulp after we were done with the carving. The seeds are still sitting out on the counter waiting to be roasted. I printed a recipe off the computer on how to roast them, but if anyone has any words of wisdom about roasting pumpkin seeds, please feel free to share.

Yesterday the girls were really excited about trick-or-treating from the time they got up. Before she left for school, Leah pulled her costume out of the closet. When I asked why she was getting it out so early, she stated that she did not want to forget about it and go out without it. I told her that was probably not going to happen-although if she has a memory like me, anything is possible I guess. The girls got home from school really wired. I spent abut two hours pressing Allison to get her homework done. It was not much, but she just could not stay focused. Grandpa arrived at the same time the girls got home from school, so that added to the girls' excitement. At about 5:30pm we started getting the girls ready for the evening. Rachel and Allison were easy, but Leah needed makeup. My newest Halloween lessons are that white face paint is not as easy to put on as one would think; hair really sticks in white face paint; and money spent on a wig is wasted because it is "TOOOOO IIIITCHHYYYY" to wear for very long. The weather was beautiful! For the first time since we have moved down here, we were able to go trick-or-treating without sweating. I actually was able to wear a long sleeve shirt. It was neat to have a little cooler weather for the holiday.

Today, we all got up and took Rachel to her horseback riding session. She was so excited to finally get to go again. Grandpa was still with us, and Allison' friend had spent the night and was still with us too. After the horseback riding, all seven of us loaded up and took Grandpa out to eat. His birthday was Thursday, so we treated him to lunch. Each time I go out to eat with the kids, it reminds me of why I don't do it more often. Allison is my Mom's and Dad's revenge on me. I am a picky eater, and she is as bad as I ever was. Of course she did not like what she got, and she had to pout about it all through the meal. The rest of us enjoyed ours, though. When we got home from lunch, Grandpa packed up and headed home; Allison's friend had to go home; and Mike had to go into work. So now it is just us girls hanging out around the house doing nothing. It has started raining off and on outside so we are just staying in.

Pumpkin carving. Note to self, since the kids are not that interested in pumpkin carving...next year one pumpkin should do!

The recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin seeds. Do you think we have enough?

The finished product. The pumpkin on the left is supposed to look like Spongebob, with the emphasis on "supposed to."

Elvira at age six. Notice I gave up on the white paint on her neck. She had reached her limit on standing still, and I had reached my limit with trying to make her stand still. The look is nothing like we had imagined in our heads. I always wondered why the kids with white face paint always looked so sloppy....now, I know!
A cheerleader, a vampire, and an alien are ready to go!
The trick-or-treating posse is assembled. Notice the little dog in the front in her Halloween shirt?

Rachel had a good time going through the neighborhood. She will probably expect candy every time she walks through the neighborhood now.

I thought this was a funny play on the lawn flamingo....only in Florida!
Home with the loot!!!