Halloween

Halloween is such a fun time with these little people.  This year Ainsley was Queen Elsa (along with almost every other little girl on the planet!).  She wore the Elsa dress and tiara she got for her birthday along with a new Elsa wand and necklace.  She was in heaven!  Bailey asked to be man-man (Superman) again this year.  For a while he alternated between wanting to be Spiderman or Superman, so I went ahead and bought him a Spiderman costume.  He tried it on once and declared that he hated it because of the 'muscle pads' it had.  So, he wore the same Superman costume that he wore last year and was so excited about it!  I love boys!

Caroline was my cute little piggy.  The costume was a little big and the hood didn't fit very well so she went without it.  That was fine with me because I thought that she was the cutest in just her pigtails!

And just for fun.... since Ainsley was Queen Elsa but also had a princess Anna dress-up dress that sort of fit Caroline, I ordered an Olaf hat and made the kids pose for a Frozen picture too.  They are pretty stinkin' cute if you ask me!

Halloween fell on a beautiful night this year and so we all enjoyed being outside.  To start off the evening, we went to a block party held by some of our neighbors.  It was fun but the big kids were really anxious to trick-or-treat and Caroline was bored and sleepy, so we didn't stay long.  We went back to the house and left Caroline with a sitter and then George and I drove the big kids over a few blocks to meet up with some of our other neighborhood friends.  Ainsley ran into one of her sweet buddies from school and I took them from house to house gathering goodies.  I was surprised with how many kids she recognized and knew from school and activities and she was in her social element all night and was so happy.  I love Halloween but I'm not comfortable with the kids going off alone yet so I stuck pretty close to Ainsley and her gaggle of girls most of the night, while George did the same with Bailey.  Bailey had fun going up to all the houses and gathering candy but he isn't as outgoing as Ainsley and was not as into it as she was.  He was happier to just be with Daddy out late at night.  And fittingly, when we asked them at the end of the night what their favorite part of Halloween was, Ainsley said seeing her buddy Brynn and Bailey said getting to ride in the car with his head through the sunroof with Daddy!  Perfectly describes their personalities!

Pumpkin Carving

After we gathered pumpkins, the kids were quite excited to carve them this year.  So we did it up right and embraced the mess... with football on in the background of course.

Caroline was cute and felt apart of the action getting to hold this mini pumpkin.  I love how blue, blue her eyes are.

Both Ainsley and Bailey loved getting all the gooey pumpkin guts out of the pumpkins.  We separated the seeds and toasted them in the oven. Then we made pumpkin pie (with a canned pumpkin).  It was really so fun!

I was helping Bailey carve out this pumpkin face and when we were done Ainsley asked George to make the exact same face on her pumpkin.  So we ended up with pumpkin twins.

Here are the kids with their finished products... they were really proud!

Spooky, spooky!

Baby Snuggles

This sweet baby girl loves to snuggle me and I'm so thankful for that.  She will often toddle over to me and bury her head in my neck for some cuddles.  It might be my favorite thing.

But they often don't last long... before I know it, she is on the move again.

Lollipop Dragon & Raising the Flag

At the October Sing Song, Ainsley was recognized for her hard work and got the Lollipop Dragon award for her class.  This is a huge deal in her world and it comes with the special perks of getting to wear a glittery dragon award, standing on stage and being applauded, but most importantly having a lollipop before lunch!  Above she is with her class during the singing part of Sing Song and below she is walking up to the stage to get her art work to show off.

Standing on stage with her work...

Walking back to her seat and waving at Bailey...

Then back at her classroom with her teacher, Ms Sencenbaugh, and her lollipop!

Bailey at Sing Song... this is one of his first performances and as you can tell, he is still a little unsure about it.  I remember the first year of these shows being a little hard on Ainsley too.  It is amazing the changes they make in two years!

Ainsley's turn to raise the flag was a few weeks later.  She was over the moon that she got to raise the flag with her lil buddy Juliana!

This was her third and final time to raise the flag at Casner since next year she will start elementary school.  This has been such a wonderful school for her and our family!  Here she is with the headmaster, Mrs. Dabbs.

Her and Bailey... he is excited for his turn after getting to watch Ainsley the past two years.

Ainsley and Juliana leading the rest of the school out to the flag and then waiting on the stage while all the students file in...

After a few words of introduction, Ainsley got to raise the American flag.

Then they led the school in the pledge of allegiance.

These girls are such cute little buddies...

Bowing her head in final prayer before the start of the day.  I love this girl.

Pumpkin Patch

Our annual pumpkin patch pictures were quite a struggle this year!  The one above was the best I could get and that was after lots and lots of trying.

The older two tried their best... but our timid little Caroline was scared of the pumpkins and cried until I let her have her paci.

After a while, I gave up and let the big kids run free...

Then naturally, without the pressure, Caroline warmed up to the pumpkins and calmed down.

So I gathered them for one last try and got this.... Bailey with his forced cheese face, Ainsley in an awkward robot pose, and Caroline as stoic as can be.  Sigh.  I give up!

Despite the less than perfect pictures, this neighborhood church pumpkin patch is such a sentimental event for me.  It was one of the first things that we did with baby Ainsley when we first moved here in 2009... and every year since, it has helped marked a transition and growth of our family.  I get even more emotional thinking that next year will likely be our last in this neighborhood because we will hopefully be about to move into our new house.  We won't be far from this patch... but we also won't drive past it on a daily basis which just marks another transition.