Halloween Morning...

...began with breakfast mummies and ghost pancakes!

Later in the morning, Jeff decided to take a nap in the middle of the family room. He was quickly surrounded by lots of shoes.

Amelia loves trying on shoes!

Pumpkin Carving #2 - Toothy

It was time to carve pumpkin number two!

Catherine was immersed in her book for much of the night.

Gut removal!

Mary Claire, the designer.

Catherine, still reading...

Presenting Toothy. Named likely because we are awaiting the loss of Mary Claire first tooth, which is very wiggly.

After carving treat...Halloween popcorn balls turned popcorn bars.

Sleepy Gregory and Amelia

After the costume parade, I had two very sleepy babies.

And after our bike ride on Saturday, same thing...

Halloween week is exhausting!

Costume Parade

Catherine and Mary Claire had a costume parade at their school. Here is Mary Claire, a.k.a. The Leopard, with her best friend, Libby, a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty.

Catherine was a Native American.

Amelia and Pirate Gregory braved the cold to watch the parade.

Catherine's teacher, Mrs. Tisdel.

Mary Claire's class. Her teacher, Mrs. Hoover was Fall.

Halloween Cookies!

Halloween week included making and decorating cookies.

Everyone rolled and cut out their cookies.

Quite a mess...

...but lots of fun!

We all decorated our cookies.

Gregory's clothes went missing at some point...

Mary Claire was very detailed.

Catherine worked very hard!

Enjoying cookies!

No words needed!

Pumpkin Carving #1 - Scat

We decided on two pumpkins this year, for carving. As Jeff cut the top off, the kids were so excited!

Gregory thought the inside was completely disgusting.

Mary Claire gave some pretty gruesome descriptions of what the inside of the pumpkin felt like.

Pumpkin #1 was designed by Catherine.

Roasted pumpkin seeds. We tried sugar and spice seeds this time, and they were a hit!

Testing...

Jeff and Amelia approve.

Catherine's pumpkin personalization.

A little Gregory cuteness.

An interesting conversation between Gregory and me that probably belongs on 'Kids Say the Darndest Things.'

Gregory: "Mama, is Halloween this weekend?"

Me: "Yes, Gregory, it is."



Gregory: "Aw Man!!!"



Me: "What???"



Gregory: "I really wanted to go to Space! All of us!"



Me: "Oh well, I guess Halloween will have to do."

Yep, he's cute!

Half way there...

I'm half way through my half marathon training. Part of the Houston Warm Up Series included a half marathon relay on Sunday, which I did with a friend from high school. Lea lives in Houston and is also training for Houston's January race. We named ourselves the Giftie Girls, in tribute to LSMSA. We made awesome time and placed 47 out of 68 teams in the Women's Open Relay!

Of course the kids saw the medals and thought we won!

Fall fun at the Pumpkin Patch.

It's become a Fall tradition to go to the pumpkin patch. A local church has a great little one that we've visited for a few years now.

Picking a pumpkin proves hard with so many choices!

Maybe we need some Daddy guidance.

Gregory was in favor of these!

Mary Claire searched for the smallest one in the patch.

Gregory played the scarecrow's guitar!

One day, everyone will look at the camera, at the same time, but I'll be thankful for a picture with all six of us!

Time to take them home and carve!