Trick or Treat

Halloween was lots of fun this year. Andrew's brother Josh, his wife Laura, and their 5 1/2 month old son Tyler came to visit as well as Grammy Susan. The girls were thrilled to meet their baby cousin (whom Abby has been asking for since she could talk) for the first time and I think Susan was in Grammy heaven having all of her grandchildren under one roof! We spent the day carving pumpkins (see prior post), enjoying the outdoors, and of course trick-or-treating. Abby was so excited to go trick or treating this year. We dressed up all the kiddos and headed out around the neighborhood. We did a nice little loop around the neighborhood and it was just the perfect amount of trick-or-treating, Olivia even got in on the action this year (see below). We ended the night with some yummy pizza and candy sorting!

I thought this was very appropriate for out Halloween in Arizona!

Baby Tyler the Lobster and Olivia the fishy. (I love the fishy lips!)

My beautiful mermaid princess with her sea creatures

My girlies

Getting ready to head out!

So, Olivia started out the night in the stroller. She was content for a little while, then the whining started. I tried giving her snacks, I tried giving her something to drink, I tried giving her her paci all to no avail. I finally gave in and got her out of the stroller thinking I was going to have to carry her home. Instead, she insisted on getting down and holding her pumpkin and actually trick or treating with Abby. All of a sudden she was as happy as a clam (or fish)! She would walk right up to the door and when the people would answer she would say "boo" and hold out her pumpkin, then she would flash a huge smile and walk away on to the next house. If anyone tried to hold her or help her with her pumpkin she would let you know (loudly) that she could do it all by herself. It was so funny and absolutely adorable and Abby was of course as sweet as pie to her little sister!

Abby was almost as excited to hand out candy as she was to get it. This is her sitting by the door after we got home waiting for the door bell to ring. By the time we got home we only had a few more trick or treaters much to Abby's disappointment. At one point she came into the kitchen and told me that since there were no trick-or-treaters they must be a myth....where does she come up with this stuff?!?!

Carving Pumpkins

The girls really enjoyed carving pumpkins this year. It was a gorgeous day so we decided to take the mess out in the backyard.

Pumpkin Guts!

Olivia is concentrating hard on getting out all the guts

"Can I get in there too?"

The finished products

Our sister-in-law Laura, and our nephew Tyler

Schnepf Farms Pumpkin Patch

The weekend before Halloween we headed to the local Pumpkin Patch, think Rollof Farm from TLC's Little People Big World Show. This was no pumpkin stand, it was the whole shebang! In addition to the actual pumpkin patch they had rides, a playground, a corn maze, a hay-ride, a petting zoo, candle making, putt-putt golf, and of course goodies to eat. We were there for over 4 hours didn't even get to experience everything they had to offer! It was a wonderful afternoon, I just LOVE stuff like this and seeing the girls have such a good time is heartwarming!

This is the ditch of the fallen pumpkins...all the broken/rotten ones eventually ended up here.

Abby playing on the haystack

The playground. Abby would have stayed there all day if we let her!

They had little John Deer tricycles. Both the girls enjoyed playing with them!

Daddy and Olivia

This is outside one of the regular mazes.

At the petting zoo. Abby LOVED feeding the goats this year and Olivia was very excited to see all the animals, she just kept squealing!

Mommy and Abby on the Bee ride. We got away with only going on one ride while were there which was a good thing because the lines were somewhat long.

Abby in the corn maze

It was not the most stroller friendly maze as the ground was very bumpy. Olivia was being jostled all over the place, but she didn't seem to mind.

Abigail at the pumpkin patch

Checking out the pumpkins

Olivia LOVED the pumpkins, she played in there forever and got very dirty!!

Family shot on the hay ride. We saw deer during the ride, it was cool!

Abby making her candle

Time for a little ice cream! It was cotton candy flavor, gross! Abby liked it though!

Pre-Halloween Activites

Here are a few pictures from some our pre-Halloween festivities! We also went to the Pumpkin Patch Farm but that is going to have to have its own post!

Abby decorated the pumpkins we got from the pumpkin patch

Abby's school had a Halloween party and parade and the parents were invited to attend. I didn't stay for the entire day because I didn't think Olivia would be able to handle it but we did go for the last hour or so. Andrew joined us as well as Grammy Susan and Auntie Laura. It was so much fun to see Abby at school with all of her new friends. I think there is a little boy who even has a little crush on her, he kept coming up to her and telling her how pretty she looked in her costume! The costumes the kids wore were so cute and they were so excited to show them off to all their parents. Olivia was in heaven at school because she loved all the toys and she even managed to get some of the snacks the bigger kids were eating!

Abby frosting her cookie

Olivia eating her cookie

Abby's mermaid costume

Abby with her friends Angelina and Thomas!

Abigail and Sydney (there were lots of pirates this year). Gavi is the background to the left of Sydney, he turned around at the last minute and I really wanted a picture of his costume. It was a homemade Pterodactyl, it was really cool!

Abby in the parade

Olivia watching the parade

The day before Halloween our local supermarket had some Halloween activities lined up for the kids. Grammy and I took Abby and she had a lot of fun. I was just happy she got so much use out of her costume this year. She also wore it to story time on Friday morning at Barnes and Noble but I didn't get any pictures of that.

Grammy and Abigail decorating her Mad Hatter tea cup

Face painting

Cookie decorating

Yummy cookie with lots of frosting and sprinkles