Trick-or-Treat!

I just LOVE this picture of Annie getting her lips colored to complete her Snow White costume! : ) It shows just how serious she is about being a princess! (And as you can see, we also colored her hair black!)

And Leia Rose is just as serious about being Darth Vader!

These were a couple of important photos to take as well. While we were trick-or-treating, Annie would always go up to the door (whether it had a doorbell or not) and say "Knock KNOCK!!!" really loud. : )

And, yes, even though we went to a wonderful little neighborhood called "The Meadows of Etowah" where the homes were really close together, Annie still ended up in the stroller. ; ) But that's okay, it allowed Annie to sample the wares (paper and all)! : )

And THEN it was time to wash the black out of Annie's hair. Oh my!

Halloween Day Fun

This morning, Annie tried on her self-chosen Halloween costume! She wanted to be Snow White! : )

And she LOVED it! : )

And when Leia Rose came home from school, we all had lots of fun playing a game that I called "You're DIRTY!" which involved me yelling "You're DIRTY!" and then running after them, only to grab one of them up and give lots of kisses. They both loved it.

And in the same vein, another evening the girls enjoyed a simple game of running down the hall and falling down. : )

They loved it! : )

Pumpkin Carving

This will be the third annual Halloween where Leia's pumpkin features a glowing kitty. ; ) Why choose anything else when you've found the perfect one? ; ) And this year Leia Rose truly helped with both the stenciling & the carving.

I have to admit that pumpkin carving as the lone adult with two children was REALLY difficult. This is because, . . . guess who does most of the carving? Uh huh. Me. You see, usually pumpkin carving is a daddy-performing-mamma-watching type of job. But this year Daddy had to stay late at work and, it being the day before Halloween, I got the job. Mamma got a bit frustrated at the carving part of it, while allowing the two kids to run wild in the yard while I stressed over cutting out kitty whiskers the thickness of a human hair. Leia Rose mostly watched, but you might be wondering what Annie was doing while this was going on. . . .

Yeah, she was playing in the dirt.

Even worse, when she finally came over to watch a bit, I gave her a hug, smelled poop and checked her diaper. When nothing was there, I smelled her hands. Yep, somehow she had gotten into some animal poop somewhere. Must have been in the dirt. Yikes! This did not help with Mamma's frustration as she had to wash and sanitize. ; ) But then Mamma decided to turn over a new leaf and make this a really fun project. And this positive thinking really worked!

Leia Rose really helped, too, with lots of humor. There was one point where she came over and said, "Mamma, look! I'm a country person!" And if you look closely, you'll see the piece of "wheat" protruding from her mouth. (She was trying to imitate that relaxing country pose when you see a farmer sitting under a tree with a piece of wheat in his mouth.) Ha!

Both girls helped in scooping out the muddly mush. ; ) And then it was time for painting!!!

I was amazed that Annie not only said she was painting a ghost, but actually DID. : ) (Of course, it wasn't long after when her little pumpkin, which was too small for carving anyway, rolled down our entire hill, blending her little creation into an interesting textured pattern.)

I just had to get a shot of the whole setup here, . . . complete with the muddly mush just sitting in a pile on the ground. ; ) (And if you're wondering where we get the term "muddly mush," it's from a really great book called "I Like Pumpkins," which is our favorite Halloween book from Oma, . . . and I'm sure Annie would say that "Meg and Mog" runs a close second.)

This is one of those shots that I LOVE, just because it is SOOOO Annie! : )

Leia Rose's painting featured a "bloody ghost" . . .

. . . and a "monster kitty"!

This is Leia Rose's best "monster kitty" face. : )

And what would the night before Halloween be without sharing a new tradition of watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" together?!?

While snacking on homemade pumpkin seeds! Yum!

Pumpkin Contest

Leia Rose and I donated the pumpkin for this year's Immaculata Pumpkin Carving Contest, so I received this awesome picture as a "thank you." You can see the cool pirate carved pumpkin in the background. (Laura, I bet Shenandoah might wish this was HER class' entry! But I would have voted for your sheep any day!) ; ) But what I find funny . . .
Is Leia's expression, . . . that seems right out of The Omen. Ha! I asked her about it, and she said quite apologetically, "Well, Mamma, they told us to make a pirate face and say "AARRRGGGHH," and so I did. Ha!

Snow in OCTOBER!!!

This is what we saw when we got up this morning!!! Snow on the car?!? In the SOUTH?!? On October 28th?!? Oh my gosh!!!

Anyway, we couldn't BELIEVE that it snowed all morning this morning! Just a light now, granted, . . . but it was steady! It's October 28th, for goodness sake! All the folk up here kept commenting that "yep, the Wooly Worms are telling us that it's going to be a snowy winter." Oh my. : ) I looked outside at about noon and, yep, it was still snowing. It wasn't really sticking too much, though. Just on grassy spots & roofs & bridges. (I guess that sign "bridge ices before road" is actually true!

And who could beat THIS image, taken AFTER I picked Leia Rose up from school. I honestly didn't expect to see a snow-topped mountain this fall. ; ) In my opinion, mountains have always been one of the very best signs of the glory of God.