October left me feeling exhausted. We partied a little too hard! I recently told a friend that I like to celebrate holidays so much that we are happy we don't have to celebrate again for another year. We definitely celebrated Halloween to death.
I enjoy family costumes. I start thinking of a theme months in advance. This year I decided we would go with Cinderella. So, we had Cinderella, Prince Charming, Gus Gus, and the Fairy Godmother. Everyone was on board until the night of our first Halloween party. As we were getting ready Freya decided she wanted nothing to do with Gus Gus. I was able to get her to wear her outfit one time by oohing and ahhing over her cute mouse face paint.
After that I decided I had my one night of glory, I got a photo, it was time to just let the girls be whatever they wanted. At one neighborhood party Lillian was a soccer player and Freya was a ladybug. It was at this party that I won the Mother of the Year Award for allowing my girls to eat cotton candy and a snow cone at the same time.
At another party Freya was Nemo. She wouldn't hold still long enough for me to take her picture in that costume. Lillian was Cinderella again but decided to switch Cinderella dresses because the original was too itchy.
Lillian even got to celebrate Halloween in preschool. They did some fun Halloween crafts, stories, and science projects.
On Halloween night we ended up like this, two Cinderellas, Prince Charming, and a ladybug.
On Halloween night we paraded around our neighborhood for about an hour and half begging for candy. Freya's candy bag got so heavy she had to sling it over her shoulder like Santa Claus and his sack. When it was too heavy to do that she just heaved it into the wagon between houses and heaved it out again to go knock on someone's door. When we got home we ate Witch Soup made by a real witch who visited while the girls were napping. Lillian was very upset that she missed seeing this witch but I told her it was for her own protection. If the witch had come over when the girls were awake she would have eaten them! I was able to sneak some ingredients to show Lillian when she woke up, bat wings, witch's nails, bone, toad slime, and cat's whiskers.
Lillian didn't like it at all but the rest of us thought it was delicious.
Thankfully she had eaten enough ghost pancakes that morning to sustain her until the next day.
Halloween was awesome but it was the last of our exciting activities for the month. Prior to Halloween we had a super fun Family Home Evening with friends where we expressed our thanks to our local police and fire departments by writing thank you cards. We were lucky enough to have a fire fighter come and demonstrate for us how to get out of a burning house safely. He also let us play with all this cool equipment.
One Saturday we took a trip to Buckelew Farms to pick pumpkins. While most kids were out searching for the largest pumpkin they could find, mine were hunting through the vines for the smallest!
Of course then we had to carve some of those pumpkins and paint others.
The pumpkin guts were a challenge but we pushed past it.
The girls voted for a sad pumpkin so that is what they got.
Josh out did us by adding eyebrows and ears to his pumpkin.
One evening during Fall Break we had a magical night at Disney on Ice with cousins. Disney definitely knows how to put on a good show!
Another day during Fall Break we went to the Desert Museum. Until recently I hadn't been in years. It is now one of Lillian's favorite places!
We went to lots of rodeos when I was a kid. I always watched the kids doing the Mutton Busting with a jealous eye. I thought it would be so fun to ride one of those nasty woolly critters and win a trophy. Lillian tried her hand at it at the Marana Cotton Festival. She didn't win the trophy but her cousin did! I was so proud of Lillian for hanging on tight, getting trampled by her sheep, and then getting up with a big old smile plastered on her face! She can't wait to try it again!
A few months ago Josh's dad gave the girls their own fishing poles. Lillian has been asking Josh to take her fishing ever since so one evening in between work and painting houses we all walked down to the lake to go fishing.
Lillian was a lot more patient then I thought she would be.
Freya, on the other hand, cast her line, called, "Here fishy fishy! Where are you fishies?" and then promptly gave up.
The month wasn't all play and no work. We spent a day scooping out all the old footing in the horses' runs and putting in new sand. It made a world of difference out there!
There was some playing at Papa's though too. The girls are happy that they each have their own swing on the porch now.
The girls also love to ride over to the neighbor's house to see Bradley, the miniature Sicilian donkey, and then walk up the road to get the mail.
In the middle of all the action we found time to do little things like paint, play hide and go seek, try on silly costumes at Target, and pick out fabric for our very own tie blankets.
Last but not least, Josh and I had our own important events this month. October is the month of the annual Firefighter Union Chili Cook-off. This year Josh and his station decided to go with a Nacho Libre theme. Josh was Ramses and spent the entire day wearing gold tights and wrestling with people. His booth won the Most Spirit award.
I was blessed with the gift of my old horse Bachelor. I imported Bachelor from the Netherlands in 2006 and sold him in 2009 in order to buy my horse Welcome. Over the past 7 years Bachelor has been bought and sold several times living and showing mostly in California. Recently, his owner contacted me and asked me if upon his retirement I would like to have him back. Of course the answer was YES! I have loved having him. It is like he never left. The driver who delivered him said Bachelor started whinnying as soon as he turned on to our street. He is a great friend who I have missed.
Well, that's it folks. October has left us and now we are working our way through November.
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