Pumpkin carving/Halloween night

I love Halloween. I always have and I thought it would be really fun now that I live close to my family to host a pumpkin carving party. So that is exactly what I did. I was kind of nervous about cooking dinner for that many people. I had never done it before and for some reason I am timid about cooking for people in general. I just worry that it won't come out right. I am happy to report that I think it went well. From what I saw everyone was eating and I don't think anyone got sick :). I think that is a win.

After dinner we watched the old Disney headless horseman movie and carved our pumpkins. The only problem is that the kids had school the next day and my brother had to work super early so they had to kind of rush home, but I think overall the party was a success.

On Halloween night we went to my friends neighborhood to trick or treat. She had told me that her neighborhood was very kid friendly and she was right. One house even had a booth set up giving away hot chocolate. Morgan really had fun running from house to house and she didn't need up to go up to the door with her at all. She had the situation completely under control.

Trick or Treeeeaaaaatttt

That is how Morgan says it. She says it really loud and extends the treat. It makes us laugh because people would react by saying "oh wow, you deserve some more candy". I think she caught on to that and kept it up :)

This year for Halloween Morgan was Minnie Mouse. There wasn't really any budging her on that and that's alright. The girl knows what she wants. Unfortunately, that meant that all three of us weren't going to be doing a family costume again this year and we really enjoyed doing that the last two years. We couldn't think of anything to dress up as and at the last minute we came up with The Price is Right contestants.

At our church Halloween party Morgan had fun running around trying to play all the games. Especially, trying to eat a doughnut from a string. We had to watch her or she would keep going back. It was a lot more laid back for us this year because we got to sit back and watch her play instead of guiding her around and making sure she didn't run out of the room. Here are some pictures from that church Party.

As you could tell from her expression, she had a blast!

Pumpkin Patch playdate

Yesterday, Morgan and I went to a pumpkin patch. This year it seems Morgan has really embraced Halloween and Everything that comes with it. When I told her we were going to the pumpkin patch she got so excited and couldn't wait to pick out a pumpkin.

Let me just say that overall we had a good time, but Morgan was really trying my patience. She was running ahead of the group or in a completely different direction and she never wanted to move on the the next activity. I had to sit down and talk with her a couple of different times. Yes it was cold and she was hungry, but late last night it all became clear as to what the real problem was. She is getting sick :(. Lots of coughing and gunk. Today is definitely a TV day for sure.

Here are some pictures from our trip.

 Amy and her daughter Elayna

 




 Alex with her boys Ben and Lucas

 Kristin with her daughter Elaine and son Zane

Me with Morgan and Amy's other daughter Lilia

 This expression kind of sums up my experience. I was trying to get Morgan to take  a picture with me and it just wasn't going to happen. Oh well, maybe next time :).

The "Dinosaur" park

There is a park pretty close to us we call the dinosaur park because a portion of it looks like you can dig for fossils and play inside dinosaur eggs. It is a pretty sweet park so that is usually where we go when we meet up with friends for a park play day.

Here is my attempt at getting a group shot.

After a morning of playing hard, Morgan reached her breaking point. She was tired and cranky, but insisting it wasn't time to go. While the other kids posed for cute pictures for their parents, Morgan walked over to some stairs and sat down. I made one more attempt at getting a picture.

As you can see, she wasn't amused. BUT then...

I got this lovely gem of a picture. This makes me laugh because I think Morgan and I feel like this a lot in our relationship. Me after I have wrangled a very independent toddler after a long day and Morgan saying "oh I give up!" :)

Joey's speak easy

Our friend, Suzie was turning 30 so she wanted to say goodbye to her 20's in style. She hosted a roaring 20's murder mystery party. I had never been to one of those types of parties before, but I thought it was a lot of fun.

We wanted to look the part so we found a place where you can RENT your costumes. That worked out great because when it comes to girls 20's era clothing, you can find the really slutty flapper get up for cheap or the really beautiful, fancy, dresses for like $700! I can NOT do hair styles at all so I got this really crazy blonde, crazy curly wig. Kevin shaved his chin, but kept his mustache and slicked his hair back. So that was fun.

When we got to the party we had to go to the side door and knock. When they opened the door we had to give them the hand signals they told us on the invitation. They had made homemade root beer and turned their den into a speak easy.  The actual mystery part was pretty funny. Most of us had not done something like that before so we were constantly referring to our information cards and getting out of character when answering questions, but it was a great way to keep people actively involved at a party. Neither of us where the murderer :).

The guys.

The Gals.

The birthday girl.

The End of Summer

Fall is approaching (YES!) but before I jump into posting about fall festivities,  I wanted to post a few misc pics I took this summer.

Just playing in her room .

Watching the rain outside.

Loving her little pool.

We have really enjoyed our Summer, but I LOVE fall and I am so ready to see how Tennessee looks this season :).