Happy Halloween

This year we didn't spend much time on costumes.
Both girls saw their costume online and we ordered it.
Easy, easy, easy....I was okay with that! And the girls got EXACTLY what they wanted.

Here are Gabriella from High School Musical 2 and Strawberry Shortcake.

The Friday night before Halloween, Avery's school had a fall festival.
The Bungards joined us for games and pizza .....

Kaelee and Avery....

Annalise and Talan....

On Halloween, Avery was the biggest kid in our group of trick-or-treaters.....

She was a great helper!!

I think Avery could have kept on going house to house for another couple of hours.
We lost half the group early and soon enough Annalise was wiped.  They did a lot of walking!!!!
Well worth the hard work!!!

I wonder how long the candy will last?????

Daddy's Night

Another awesome thing Annalise's preschool does is Daddy Pumpkin Carving Night.
No Moms allowed!!! :)
The kids take a field trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out their pumpkin.
Then the Dads join the kids for a night of pumpkin carving and cookie eating.



And the pumpkin kitty is complete!

Preschool Parade

Annalise is REALLY loving preschool!!!!
Those preschool teachers are seriously amazing!

Each year they do a Halloween costume parade and the kids get to sing a couple of fall songs.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this!
Here they come..... (see Strawberry Shortcake???)

Then they get organized up on the risers for a couple of songs....

That's Annalise's friend Fireman Henry in the front row.  His mom Irene takes care of Annalise when she's not at preschool.

They had a great time!!!  And so did we in the audience! :)

Pumpkin CARVING!!!

Once we HAD the pumpkins, so began the process of carving.

The girls each found their patterns online....Avery wanted a sea turtle, Annalise had to have Rapunzel.  And so it began.....

Avery worked and worked on her pumpkin.  She didn't want help...think this was the first time she truly did the entire pumpkin on her own!  VERY impressive!!!  The sea turtle turned out SUPER awesome!!!

Annalise lost interest in Rapunzel when she realized she couldn't just cut wherever she wanted and have it look like Rapunzel's hair.  Needless to say....Rapunzel turned out to be MY project.  Annalise hung in there....but coloring on paper became WAYYYYY more fun!!!

Finally they were finished!!!!

Time to light them up!!!!

Pumpkin Picking

It was a BEAUTIFUL fall day to go and pick out pumpkins!
We headed out to Bellewood Acres and met the Sutherland's for another fun adventure!

We got to take the tractor train out to the pumpkin patch.

Think we waited a little too long....there were slim pickings.
BUT....the girls all found a pumpkin!

Great day for pumpkin getting!!

Being 40

Yes....I said it.  40.  And yes, turning 40 was a bit of a struggle for me. 

But you know what....I've got it good.  I LOVE my life at 40!!!! 



I am so thankful for all that I have at 40.  My beautiful and healthy family, safe and secure jobs....pretty much a life that I love living day after day for so many more reasons.

I was adament that I wanted to celebrate my birthday away from home so there was no chance of a "party".  Especially a SURPRISE party.  Not a fan of those.  I chose Vegas and asked some friends to join us.  We had a BLAST!!!

 I felt well-celebrated every step of the way!!!  From the moment we got off the airplane and a man in a suit was holiding a sign for us waiting to get in a limo...I felt so special!!!

We stayed at Mandalay Bay and got our share of pool time....(it was 90-92 degrees our entire stay...ahhhhhh!!!!).

Love, love, love VEGAS!!!  Where else can you see an alien just hanging out on the sidewalk???



It was a great birthday weekend!!!!  Thanks friends!!! :)

And thanks to Grandma and Grandpa who made the weekend possible!!!  I think the girls had just as much fun at home playing with them!  So nice to be able to leave and not worry about the kids every second!!! :)

From Harvest Festival face painting.....

To playing in the park....

Thanks everyone!!!!  40 is not so bad.......