Costume Time

It's that time of year for the traditional Halloween costumes. Every year I try and get nice pictures of the kids in their costumes. I figure, if I'm going to go to the trouble of getting/making cute costumes I want a record of it!

This year has been kind of warm, and the leaves near us haven't really changed color. So, we went to the mountains. It was a little cold, but the kids looked way cute!

My beautiful Greek Goddess. She's such a girly girl! She love all things fancy and wants to look pretty all the time. She was being a little strange up on the mountain, but when we got back to the house, she really hammed it up for me!

 Riley went with the ninja theme this year. He told us he's a bad guy, but with that cute smile I'm not so sure!

 My little fairy! She was SO cold. So I took her off the icy cold pavement and over to this super cool tree stump.

 She was a lot happier! I love the colors in these pictures. And her dancing with her tongue hanging out is just the best!

Of all the pictures I took that day, I think my favorite is the one below. I just LOVE her eyes and the smile. She looks like a little fairy peeking out of the grass.

  

 I have come to an important conclusion about getting these 4 to all look at the camera. I am just NEVER going to get Ephram to smile when everyone else is!

My cute little monkey. He LOVES Curious George. He likes the books and the show and the movies. I thought would have been really cute if Allen went as the man with the yellow hat. We just haven't found the right outfit, and Allen in yellow might not be so nice!

 

Epham would wear this costume all day every day if I would let him. He says "I monkey, I wear monkey!" It's quite the melt down when it has to come off.

And finally, the costume Beka has been wearing all month:

 

Rocking costumes is such fun. Halloween is a BLAST!

Pumpkin Patch Visit-It's a tradition!

On Thursday Beka, Ephram and I went to the Gilcrease Orchard pumpkin patch with Beka's class. It made me a little sad because their were so many people. Great for business, and they updated a lot, but I still miss a little going and there being just one or two other families. Sigh, things are growing I guess.

I have been going to this place for a some time. Riley was 4 the first time I took him! And I have the pictures to prove it (of course I do)

The next year I went with Emma's preschool:

And the year after:

 

And last year I went with Beka's preschool:

And that brings us to this year! Holy cow, it was just my two youngest this year... Kinda felt like the first year I went!

 

I found this beautiful light while we were waiting for the rest of Beka's class to get there. It was so fun to get some pictures of Beka's new fall outfit. She was SOOOO proud of it!

 I found this cute shirt for Ephram at Walmart. He LOVED it! When he saw Beka getting ready, he insited, no demanded that he get to wear HIS Halloween shirt too! He keeps point to the shirt and saying "Mommy!"

 Ephram was so pleased with the pumpkin he picked out. He carried to our stroller all by himself. He's planning on sharing it with Emma. 

So, another year at the patch. It's been fun looking back. I am so grateful that I have pictures to look back and and remember the fun times I've had as my kids are growing. It's amazing to really see how much they have grown and changed. Thank goodness for that record!

October Adventures

Today was fun. We babysat a couple of friends in the morning which lead to lots of playing. Legos were of course present and games of hide and go seek were enjoyed. After our friends left, we loaded up the kids and went to the Springs Preserve. We had hoped to take in the butterfly exhibit, but were 5 minutes too late. I wanted to see where the exhibit was anyway, and check out what had been done in the gardens.

We walked down and found that we were just in time to take a guided tour of the gardens. It was fun to have a docent take us around and explain the plants to us. The kids were more excited about all the Halloween decorations.

Sitting a listening to the water and looking for birds. Mostly, taking a much needed leg break.

One of the hard things about taking the kids to places like this is: they really want to pick all the flowers! Or at least touch them all! Thank heavens for daddy! He kept Ephram safe while exploring the roses.

After the tour and seeing all the amazing possibilities for pictures, I begged my  family to walk through the garden one more time and let me pose them... they were good sports mostly. Here are some of the results:

 

 

 I saw the light on Riley's face as we were getting into the elevator. I know I made Allen a little crazy when I stopped and took this picture, but the light was just TOOOO perfect to waste!

This one is an outtake! These faces are just too much!

  

These tiles were really interesting. Every panel is different. Riley really liked the one with fossils in it. Dinosaurs are kinda his thing. 

 

Ephram just loves Emma right now. He wants to do everything with her. It's really sweet.

Leaving the Preserve. Only a few tears of being tired. (Emma cried and whinnied the whole way back to the car) They closed today at 4 to set up the Haunted Harvest.

My little people now think that they can handle spooky and want to check it out. We will see. 

I took them to an exhibit about wicked plants a couple of weeks ago. It was all set up for spooky Halloween fun. Riley and Emma both had nightmares about it for a week.

Fun weekend and making memories. Working on those talents.