Here's to you, Mr. Dickens.

Hope you had a happy Halloween, friends!

From: Ebeneezer Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmases Yet to Come.

After sewing and putting costume pieces together, one hour of Trunk or Treat in the dark just wasn't fair. We snapped some more pictures at home so I could feel justified in time spent.

"God bless us, everyone!"

The Christmas Ghosts.
Boo.

She is showing him that he wasn't always a horrible miser...I tried to get Cole to point, but it wasn't happening. (By the way, if anyone wants a hooded black gown, size 18 mos. for next year, say, for a grim reaper or death eater costume, just let me know. What?! I'm the only one insane enough to dress my baby in one of these? Bah! Humbug!)

Us.

"Come here and know me better, man!"

I'm so glad Jake embraces the fun that is dressing up.

More of the kids:

Seriously. Shape up, Scrooge. Or else.

Scare on the Square

First, our illustrious pumpkin:

Tessa was so excited to carve the pumpkin with her dad. She picked out the patterns and kept saying, "This is so fun!" And then the carving began. Carving a pumpkin isn't exactly a kid friendly activity. She kept asking if she could cut the pumpkin, and the answer was always, "No." I finally heard her say, "This is NOT so fun."

But when the thing was lit up, she got excited again.

Okay, on to McKinney's Scare on the Square. Friday night. Very busy. Candy given out at all the shops. With friends.

Here is my cowboy and princess (Belle):

I love Halloween! Because of her box of dress ups, Tessa was able to be a superhero at a "festibal" the day before and Belle on this day before even breaking out her official Halloween costume for Trunk or Treat.

Snoopy and Belle:
Cole with a DumDum sucker.

"Pardon me, Ma'am."

You can't tell from the pictures how crowded the place was. We spent quite a bit of time in line waiting for a piece of candy. Then I learned that if we mommas stepped out into the street and walked along with the littler ones and let our girls Oliver Twist their way to the candy, that the process would move much faster and prove more fruitful. And it did.

Tessa was so excited about every piece.

Storm Trooper and Jawa! Picture for Dad. Again, I don't know if there was a line. I just sent the girls to sidle up next to those other kids to get their picture taken.

It was a lovely and crazy time.

Cici's Pizza

Cici's Pizza does pre-K/playgroup tours and pizza making. This may be the best $2.90 I've ever spent. Moms and kids munched down on the pizzas made by the kids, drinks were included, our "tour guide" was super nice, and we were given a cup of tokens for the kids to play in the mini arcade at the end.

Tessa floated out of there on a cloud with arcade prizes clenched in her fists.

Texas State Fair 2010

We had an awesome time at the fair this year. We did not have an awesome time parking, but once we got in, it was a blast. I didn't pull out the camera much at all, but I've posted plenty of fair pics in the last couple years. You've got the point by now. With only a few hours to play, we zipped through one of those crazy sales buildings and then hit the Texas specialty building. Borden was giving out free quesadilla samples, so I made my family wait in line with me to get some. I think the fair is one of the few places where I'm not too proud to wait in line for a free sample of food. The rarity of anything free at the fair deserves my five minute wait. We then let Tessa pet Bessie the Borden cow before we grabbed some chocolate milk to share. Mmmmm. Chocolate milk.
Upon leaving, we put the kids on one of the benches. I'm not going to pretend to understand Tessa's intensity when the camera comes out these days, so just go with it.

I love the petting zoo! They had a baby zebra, plenty of baby goats, itty bitty piglets, and some calves among the array of animals. I like the ostriches since it's the closest I am ever able to get to one, but they look like if you cross them, they'll waste no time in pecking your eye out. So, I respect the ostrich and only watch as others feed it.

We saw the giraffe, some llamas,.....and then came across these guys. I don't remember seeing the likes of this animal before. Four horns?!? That just doesn't seem fair. They were knocking into and getting caught on the fence and trough. I don't know if you can see how they come out the front and the sides of the sheep/ram. It's probably great for protection, but didn't look great for eating.....or social events.

Cole pulling faces for Dad?

and Cole pulling faces for Dad.

That's it. No more pictures.

But we did get to see a lot more. We went over and spent time in the domestic car show and drooled over the Chevy Traverse. We went to see the ribbon winners in the livestock section of the fair along with some of the horses for the rodeo.

Jake and I decided to go for it this year and each chose a fried food specialty to get and share. The fair only comes once a year, right? That's what I told myself again when I saw what you got for six bucks. Jake chose fried Frito pie, which smelled horrendous but tasted pretty good. Even the kids liked it. I got fried chocolate. We all agreed it was tasty. I think it would have tasted better not fried, but that's completely beside the point.

We then had just enough time to walk through the ribbon winner building (crafts, food, art, photos, shoe theme decorating contest). The butter sculpture was in this building. Football players made out of butter. I imagined myself smearing toast on one of the player's helmets and then munching it down. After quesadillas, chocolate milk, fried Frito pie and chocolate, why not?

On our way out, the night parade was just getting started. The kids got to marvel at the lit floats, and I got to marvel at some of the creepiness of the lit floats.

I love the fair.

Until next year, Big Tex.

Big Orange Pumpkin Patch

A Saturday in Celina, Texas goes a little something like this:

I have no idea why Cole was crying except that he was tired. (I can relate.) Or maybe it's because "pumpkin" is spelled "punkin" on that sign. Yeah, that's probably it. I don't know why I kept snapping pictures except that I must be cruel.

There were no smiles coming out of him this day.

But the tears stopped as soon as they had started. His sister joining him may have had something to do with it.

A couple of kids happy to be on a farm...... obviously.

The butterflies at this place were crazy comfortable with people. One tried drinking out of Jake's arm. Gross. When we went to eat our "free" hotdog, it's like they wanted to hang out.

Jake was all but doing a softshoe routine for the whole farm trying to get this kid to smile.

No dice.

We had lunch and went on a hay ride with friends after feeding animals and playing in the pumpkins.

When I tried to take Cole's hat off in the car before we headed back home, he screamed at me. So, I left the thing on. He was asleep within the next five minutes.

Oklahoma in October

Conference weekend we headed north to see our friends the Godfreys. Jake originally was going to take part in the Mt. Scott 5k, but unfortunately, it was cancelled. However, Melissa saved the day by getting us white t-shirts and neon puff paints so we could create our own race shirts and run our own 5k!
Saturday morning we went for hike with the kids (and did our run in the afternoon). I haven't been hiking in so long and loved the climbing. .....It's a little harder with small ones, though.

They didn't mind.
Isn't it pretty? The water was stagnant, so the creatures we came across were....gross. But beyond that, it was a beautiful morning.

Babies and mamas. You can't even tell my awesome t-shirt design is completely off center.

I love this picture. Pals.

We had a relaxing, uplifting, fun weekend. Once again, we thank our Oklahoma friends for their hospitality.

Firestation

One day in September our playgroup went to a firestation for a tour. What a fun activity. I wouldn't want to be a firefighter, but I wouldn't mind kicking back at this station. They have some sweet lounge chairs and a big screen right next to a huge new kitchen.

The firefighters were awesome with the kids. We could tell they were used to a little older crowd. Tessa helped demonstrate the "Stop, drop, and roll" technique having no clue why she was lying on the ground next to the fireman, and she asked the deepest question of the day -- "Where is your dog?" Actually, I think her friend Casey had her beat when he asked how much their clothes cost. Three year olds cut right to the chase.

Besides a tour of the station, the kids got to explore the inside of the firetruck and another larger truck for on site distant emergencies.