May The Force Be With You

May the force be with you and all that jazz. We didn't let a little rain stop us (although I was secretly kinda entertaining the thought more than once last night). Beggar's Night will go on.



We were the Star Wars family this year. Can you guess who we are?



On top of the rain, it was "see your breath" cold. We found Mrs. Solomon's house. See how she's bundled up? I'm not kidding. It was that cold. It took an hour for me to get the feeling back in my fingers when we returned to Uncle Kevin's house. It was so cold that after a few blocks of houses, Kekoa was ready to wrap up the candy hunt. He had enough candy he was sure and his basket wasn't even a quarter full. On our adventure, we managed to find Colton's house - a friend from school. He was a mighty fine looking ninja.



And Colton's house was pretty fantastic, too. Next year, we're going to have to make sure we stop to see some of our favorite friends - they sported some pretty spectacular costumes themselves this year courtesy of one of the most creative mother's I know.



But the highlight of the evening was the light saber dueling that went on with Daddy. That kind of fun even trumps candy.



Happy Halloween! And bring on the chocolate.

Fall Favorites

Some favorite things I like about fall include the view out our front window and...



Our collection of pumpkins on the front stoop and...



Carving pumpkins.




I know I've been complaining about the rain, but yesterday it brought us a pretty fun surprise. "Far, far away" Grandpa and Grandma paid a visit. And helped us with our pumpkin carving project. Which was nice, because then Daddy wasn't in such a bad mood about it.



Ours are not nearly as spectacular as these, but they'll do in a pinch. Grandma suggested maybe next year we might consider doing two pumpkins instead of six. She might be onto something. But then... we wouldn't get near as many pumpkin seeds or cooked pumpkin out o the deal. Dilemmas, I tell ya.

Frostenstein

Frankenstein has been a real topic of interest around our house these days. Kekoa calls him "Frostenstein". A mix between Frosty the Snowman and Frankenstein? They look so much alike I can see how he'd get them mixed up. I don't have the heart to correct him. It's cuter his way. Kekoa brought home the book Dracula and Frankenstein Are Friends this week. Try not to let Gavyn's "silly socks" distract from the amazing book cover. It's dress up at school this week so he and Kekoa borrowed some of Mommy's socks and mismatched them for silly sock day.



While we read our book about Frankenstein wearing mismatched silly socks, we sipped milk from our Frankenstein cup.



And last night, we made cupcakes and treat bags for Kekoa to take to school for his final treat day. Mommy snuck a little pumpkin puree into the cake batter while it was mixing - interested to see what it tastes like. Nothing like experimenting on a group of innocent, young school children, huh? Kekoa won't ever celebrate his birthday at school, so I guess this is our way of sneaking in a celebration of our own.




Halloween is almost here. The spooks are at your door. Bwah hahahahaha! Happy Halloween!

Our Lil Tour Guide

Even though it was pouring cats and dogs, we went to Kekoa's Open House a week ago. Mrs. Solomon, I think, is a favorite.



Followed by his "choice time" favorite - the computer center.



Gavyn seemed partial to the fire truck station.



It was fun to see him in his school environment. This week they've been having fun with dress up days. First day was red shirt day, yesterday was silly sock day, today is sweats day and tomorrow is hat day. They work to earn special parties with good behaviour. They've already made it to their popcorn party. Now they're working on a pajama party. I've really been impressed with how Mrs. Solomon works with them. Kekoa's anxious to find her house tomorrow evening when we go trick-or-treating with his cousins.

Stellaluna, Take 2

"Far, Far Away" Grandma introduced us to Stellaluna awhile ago. As of the most recent book order, we are now proud owners of our very own Stellaluna book and DVD. The boys have been watching it on repeat. Three times yesterday to be exact.



And Kekoa has been anxiously waiting his turn with the snack bucket. He just so happened to get it this week - just in time for Halloween. After baking "Stellaluna" sugar cookies (a recipe I borrowed from my dear and creative cousin, Tia):

Sugar Cookie (No Chill)

I used the following recipe, as it had accolades for being easy and not needing to be chilled.

1 cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 and 3/4 cups of flour

Cream butter and sugar.

Add the egg and vanilla to creamed butter and sugar.

Mix all dry ingredients and slowly add to creamed butter mix.

Roll out onto lightly floured board to desired thickness.

Cut out your shape. Bake at 400* for 7-10 minutes. (cookies should be light in color with light browning on edge)

My take on this recipe is that it could use chilling, or a lot of powdered sugar for rolling.



and decorating them, I realized... whoops... how am I going to get these to his school without making a mess of them? Tips anyone? I think we'll be making a hand delivery.



Have I mentioned being "Susie Homemaker" is overrated? But the taste testing?




TOTALLY worth it.

Snips and Snails

Finally! Some sunshine. So we can enjoy leaf piles and slugs,



pumpkin bags and bugs,



bright red leaves and Mr. Jack,



to make sure we're on the Halloween track.



Happy Halloween week, everyone! Next up? Pumpkin carving. And dare I mention the sun has gone away and rain is in the forecast again. It just won't stop. It's been a weird fall. *sigh*