Show me your spots! And... a Halloween treat!

Today is the second day Elizabeth has dressed up for Mrs. Vicki's house.  She has absolutely LOVED dressing up everyday!

Today was another costume from Old Navy.  This costume was a bit warm so she wore it in the morning and then again this afternoon so I could snag some more pictures of her and deliver her treats to her friends.

Today Elizabeth was a Leopard.  We worked on her growl all week.  She is so funny!

 This is her "posing" for the camera.

 She thought it would be a good idea to add the decorative pumpkin.

 This afternoon she wanted to swing.

 So after we delivered her treats for her friends, we went swinging.

She loves to swing!

Elizabeth is getting older and I wanted to do something special for her friends this year for Halloween.  I made little treats for her friends at Mrs. Vicki's house and her friends in the neighborhood.  When I told her we were giving them to her friends today she got so excited and immediately started putting them in a bag to take to her friends.

So... I made these for Elizabeth's friends.

I got the idea from Dixie Delights

 It's Hershey kisses and plastic bugs.  

(I think it's super cute!)

I love the treats in this bowl.  They look so cute!

We are ready for Halloween tomorrow!

Pretty, pretty princess

This week at Mrs. Vicki's house the kids can come dressed up in their costumes, or bring them and change into them.  When Elizabeth got up I asked her which costume she wanted to wear and she told me she wanted to be a princess! 


When we got to Mrs. Vicki's today, all of the other little girls were also dressed up at princesses today.  Elizabeth was so excited to be a princess with the big girls.

 Elizabeth picked up a frog out of the bathroom and was walking around kissing it.

If only she knew the story about a princess and a toad.  Ha!

 So cute!

 This is her "posing" for me.

 We also took her friends a treat today.

(more on that tomorrow)

 She loves her hat!

I picked up the princess costume (and one other one) at Old Navy last week when they had a $5 flash sale.

Pumpkin carving!

Tonight we continued our Halloween traditions and carved our pumpkins as a family. 

Ben carved Elizabeth's pumpkin with a pattern she picked out.  After that, Ben and I carved our own pumpkins and saved the seeds for Ben to oven-roast. 

 Ben and Elizabeth pulling out the "yucky guts" from her pumpkin.

 She loved touching the guts!

 Ben applying Elizabeth's pattern

 I always forget how long it takes to carve a pumpkin.  

So this year I took step-by-step photos so I would remember.

 Draw a line around the top.

 Carve the top of the pumpkin.

Empty the "yucky guts"

 Carving my pumpkin

 Our three pumpkins

Minnie Mouse, Cyclops, and Scared Pumpkin

 

 Minnie Mouse, Cyclops, Scared Pumpkins

Did you carve pumpkins?  What do they look like?

Sunday night Brain dump

1. Go Gamecocks!!!  We beat Missouri in double overtime and went up to #14 in the AP poll.  I am so excited because this put us back in the running for the East.  Connor Shaw (our QB) was sick Friday night and half the day Saturday (he wasn't even supposed to play).  Then... in the third quarter they brought him into the game and he literally lead the team to victory in double OT!!!

2. I enjoyed every minute at Butler's Farm yesterday.  It is so relaxing to go out there and I love taking Elizabeth and watching her experience things for the first time. 

3. We are still sick.  All three of us still have colds.  Maybe by the time November gets here we will be cold free (I hope and pray!).  Have I mentioned that I am tired of being sick?

4.  We have started watching White Collar on Netflix.  I have to say that we are becoming a little addicted to this show (it might be because of the colds). Am I the only one that will always think of Willie Garson as Stanford Blatch?

5. I am excited for Halloween this year.  Ben and I are dressing up with a couples theme costume and Elizabeth is going to be adorable in her cute costume.  I love our neighborhood all the time, but especially on Halloween.  All the neighbors hang out on their driveways while the kids trick-or-treat and enjoying candy.  I have also come up with some cute treats for Elizabeth's friends and we will giving those out this week before Halloween.  What does your neighborhood do for Halloween?

Have a great week!

Pumpkin Patch

During our first year of marriage, I wanted to start family traditions that we could continue as our family grew and this is one of my favorite.  This is our 5th year going to Butler's Orchard to get our pumpkins for Halloween.

I had it all planned out this year.  When we were going, what we were going to wear, the pictures I wanted to take.  Did any of this happen?  Nope.  We were supposed to go last weekend (but we were too sick).  We were supposed to get great photos in cute outfits (it was way too cold and our coats covered up our cute outfits).  But... we had another fabulous time at the orchard.

I love Butler's Orchard and I wish we went up there more than just at Halloween.   If you are looking for a cool farm, this is your place.  You can pick your own pumpkins, apples, raspberries, strawberries, blue berries and lots of other things.  In the fall they have hay rides and a pumpkin festival. 

Here are some pictures of our fun this year:

In the car, on the way to Butler's Orchard!

 I love the leaves this time of year.

We are here!

 Ben and Elizabeth walking over to get a cart so we could carry our pumpkins

(I love these photos of them!)

 Helping Dad

She is so excited!

 Pumpkins, Pumpkins everywhere!

 Elizabeth wanted to help her Dad push the cart.

 She really liked this pumpkin.

Trying to get Elizabeth to smile at the camera.

(This is her pumpkin)

 She found a little pumpkin to sit on

 Looking for a pumpkin for Mom

 She found this instead.

 Mother-daughter pumpkin patch photo

 More pumpkins to play with!

 Trying the mother-daughter photo again

 We have all of our pumpkins and Elizabeth wanted to help Dad push the cart out of the orchard

Thank you to Ben for driving and thank you to Butler's Orchard for another fabulous trip!