Halloween Sunday & Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

We didn't go Trick-or-Treating on this Halloween Sunday. The girls were kind of excited to stay home and answer the door. Their Jack-o-Lanterns looked marvelous on the porch.

During the evening we watched Young Frankenstein and had quite a few laughs over our favorite lines.

I decided to try a new cupcake recipe tonight and found a winner. Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book turned out to be pumpkin spice heaven! I used the Buttercream Frosting from Celebrating Cupcakes and Muffins and a sugary pumpkin for garnish. Now to get them delivered before I eat them all!

Trunk-Or-Treat

Here we are at Trunk-or-Treat! Grandpa came to join the fun. Count Dracula, Inga, Raven and the Shade were all present (look for the smile near Dracula's cape--yep, that's Heather).

Friends Madi and Abby came to visit...

along with the Grace, Gavin and Sean.

There was even a special treat as the Thriller zombies came and performed for us!

Back at our house, the Moshers and Holbrook young'ins came to sort candy and eat sugar. We mentioned watching Young Frankenstein, and Heather immediately went from Shade to Igor.

Caleb joined in, and these two sillies hobbled down the hallway.

Pumpkin Carving

Halloween Party

Heather has been missing her friends who are over at the other Middle School and since we weren't having an official Halloween party this year, she decided to invited them to our house. Jenna invited a couple of friends too which made our small party a little bigger, but everyone had a ton of fun.

Dancing

Katniss (Grace), Zombie Bride (MacKenzie), Shade (Heather), Witch (Mary Barbara), Pippi Longstocking (Madi), Cereal Killer (Caleb)

Raven (Jenna), Monkey (Abby), Daphnie (Ashley), Witch (Sarah), Witch (Kristen)

Donut eating

Bobbing for apples

We ended the evening with our favorite Don Knott's movie, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.

Cheer Kidnapping and Halloween Fun

Friday began bright and early for Heather (5:30 a.m.!) when her fellow cheerleaders came to "kidnap" her. They usually do this earlier in the year, but their advisor was on maternity leave. These girls were quite nice and let Heather brush her teeth and hair before leaving to get cocoa and donuts.

I met Heather in the parking lot and we switched her p.j.s for her shadow costume. The upper core students were allowed to be in costume all day which is new for them. She was a Shade from the Fablehaven series, which is essentially a floating shadow. As you will see in future blog posts, this blurry picture is the best you will be able to see this shadow who tends to disappear in the evening light.

Friday was costume day, and Jenna and her friends (Kristen and Ashley) had fun during the costume parade. Jenna was very excited to be Raven from Teen Titans.

There was a jack-o-lantern contest, and Heather's Mickey Mouse design was selected by her peers to represent the class. By the time the viewing took place, Mickey wasn't feeling too well. Heather's teacher did some quick thinking and made the entry work for the Red Ribbon Week theme.

I helped coordinate Jenna's class party where we read a couple of stories, played "Mr. Skeleton, Where's Your Bone?", and had pumpkin (orange) and bat (rootbeer) floats.

Double Pumpkin Kissed Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Calling all pumpkin spice lovers...have you seen these? If you are intrigued, so HERE for the recipe to an epicurean delight that will have your mouth watering.

I'm going to make these very soon (and then try not to eat them all).

Dogs, Puppies, Canines, Etc.

Our girl wants a dog in a way that words cannot describe. The breakfast table discussion for five of the last seven mornings has gone like this:

Heather: Mom, can I have a dog?

Me: No.

Heather: Why?

Me: I've explained this already.

(Reasons include: puppy is like having a baby, we're not ready for that responsibility; mom would end up having the responsibility; the school year is not the time to think about it because you can't take care of and train it properly until summer; puppies chew on everything; puppies have accidents; expensive vet bills; you don't take care of your guinea pig or fish by yourself--I've tried a variety of reasons as you can see.)

Heather: I can train/feed/clean up after/walk/etc.

Me: No.

Heather: Why?

Me: Eat your breakfast.

Heather: Pleeeeeeeeeeeze???

Me: I'm not listening la, la, la, la, la, la...

So what's a girl to do except surround herself with stuffed puppies. Heather has several. The two latest additions to her collection are pictured above. The black one was purchased with birthday money. The white with money she recently earned. There is currently no room for Heather in her bed, but she cares not. Doesn't she just look like she's in dog heaven? She also looks like she's sending a "Look how happy I am with my doggies" face. Heather is just so precious and fun.

We're still not getting a dog.

We Love Crazy Sock Day

It's Red Ribbon Week at school. Today was "Sock It To Drugs" day, and the girls wore their crazy socks. I love these days because the girls are slightly excited to get out of bed. Slightly is better than our usual (not excited to get up in any way, shape or form) and makes for faster mornings.

Pumpkin Patch

We have sorely missed our favorite pumpkin patch out in Irvine (Peltzer Farms) and have been wanting to find another. This year we took a journey to the Pumpkin Farm LLC near our mall. These farms have been set up near malls in our area and look pretty fun.

The pumpkin displays were fabulous. The pumpkins were pricey, but they were pretty. We used to love the pony rides, corn maze and pig races at Peltzer. It was fun to let the kids ride the ponies for $3. This farm had bounce houses and rides, a petting zoo and pony rides. Unfortunately, one event was anywhere from $5 to $7. Boo hoo. The girls are older now and can understand some reasoning, so we explained to them that it was hard for us to pay $5 to ride a ride when we could go do Disneyland with our passes.

So that's what we did. We hopped in the car, grabbed some dinner to-to and headed to Disneyland for a spooky ride or two. We arrived at 5:45 p.m. to find that the park closed at 6:00 p.m. We did the only thing we could...we entered the park and made a bee-line for spooky Space Mountain. As long as you're in line before closing, they let you on. We made it and had a deliciously spooky ride through space.


Space Mountain transforms into the "Ghost Galaxy" for Halloween. It has spooky music and a grotesque alien who tries to grab ya during the ride. It's very fun. Later this week we'll try to head back for a few more Halloween-themed rides before the park transforms for Christmas.

Spooky Decor

Here are a few of our Halloween decorations. A small house means limited room to display treasures, and I have amassed many a treasure over the years. I just love it all!

These two little guys were made by the girls. Heather (R) made hers in 5th grade, and Jenna (L) made hers this year in 3rd grade. The benefit of Jenna's teacher having moved from 5th to 3rd this year is that we get some of the same art to display before the older child's is too faded to sit side by side with the younger child's.

Fallen & Torment

Two books I've just finished in the Fallen Series by Lauren Kate. Can't get these characters off my mind. I read a ton of fantasy, but nothing so far with angels as the subject matter. Very creative and refreshing. Fallen moves a bit slowly in the beginning to where you wonder if it's going to be worth the read, but it doesn't remain so for long. Paradise will be out next summer. It will be a long wait!

Sunset After Rain

Sunset last night was glorious. It had rained for three days. The clouds were moving swiftly, some still dark with the moisture they carried. The three-demensional picture was exquisite. Is there anything more beautiful than the masterpiece of a sunset? I don't know if I'll ever get over the fact that I can walk out to my front yard and view this any time I wish. My girls are now sunset watchers. I love it when they come running in to tell me that I have to come see the sunset. Isn't that awesome?