Michie Tavern

Sunday was a beautiful day, and we decided we needed to get out of the house. Over Abby's objections, we decided to tour the Michie Tavern, a local historic site that we had long been meaning to visit. Despite their reservations, the kids loved it, especially the outbuildings (a three-seater outhouse!). We forgot our camera, but snapped a few pics on the blackberry:

More Facepainting

At a holiday open house.

Leaf Piles

Turkey Hands 2010

Side by side with last year's hands.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lady in Red

Well, little girl in red, at least.

Revitalized Dress-Up Box

A week after Halloween, Abby and I tore threw the 90% off Halloween clearance at Target. We were able to pick up a bunch of new play dresses and costumes for a dollar or two each, and Abby has been thrilled. The result has been an insistence on a costume change any time we sit down to do anything. Here she is getting ready to do math flashcards after school yesterday.

I'm Shickering

Luckily, Benji does not seem to mind using Abby's hand-me-downs. In fact, he gets upset when he can;t have the exact same item and color as his big sister (thus explaining the meltdown when he could not wear purple socks yesterday). Here he is in his favorite towel, right after bedtime. Shortly after this picture was taken, he announced "I'm shickering, I need to get my cozy PJs."

Face Paint, part 2

Abby was devastated when she accidentally washed off her Halloween carnival face paint last week. Luckily, we ran into the same face painter this weekend at the apple festival, and she got a second chance. She opted for a unicorn this time.

All Hallow's Eve

We were invited to spend Halloween at the Pierces', celebrating Elayna's birthday. Here are the kids all dressed up and ready to go. Yes, we did buy Benji *another* knight costume (this one he deemed "cozy") and Abby decided she was going to change to a flower fairy:





The party started with the ever popular bubble machine:


Followed by a parade:


And a scavenger hunt:



Of course, it wouldn't be Halloween without our best friend:

Well, as Abby put it "only another 365 days until Halloween!"

The Morning After (or trick-or-treat part I)

We raced back from NJ to be home before noon on Halloween morning. And, we came bearing lots of goodies. The kids tore threw packages from grandma and pop-pop:



And Abby was thrilled to find a treasure trove of favors from the wedding:








And all this before trick-or-treating even started!

A Halloween Themed Wedding

Pumpkin ice sculpture:



Masks:

Carving Pumpkins

We had so many this year, we did it over several nights:




The results:



(Abby chose the design for this one).

Law School Halloween Fair

More Halloween fun. Benji opted to wear his superhero PJS over a costume:

Trick or Trunk (or Halloween, part 3)

Pin the tail on the pumpkin:


Making a cookie spider:




Bowling with pumpkins:

Halloween Party

We held our annual Halloween Gathering on Sunday the 26th. We had a lot of fun making the food:






We decided to try having the kids make caramel apples this year:




I think they enjoyed it, but it was messy. When we finished the apples, we moved on to a scavenger hunt:


Followed by s'mores:


Then we let the kids go to town on the car, to help us prepare for trick or trunk later in the afternoon.




The kids were having such a great time, we hated to have to wash all this off the next day (but Kevin insisted).

Downtown Halloween

We had nearly a full week of Halloween activities (yippee!). We started on Saturday 10/25, with the downtown Halloween Festival. Abby loved the donut race:


And we got our only copies of Benji in this costume, which he then refused to wear any further (apparently it was itchy):


Watch out for more costume changes to come!

Anachronism

More Halloween events and photos to follow.