Happy Halloween

Getting ready to take Pebbles trick-or-treating for the very first time.

"Mommy and Daddy, I'll lead the way!"

Her first house. All up in the mix with the boys as usual.

"This is great! Let's find another house!"

"Outta my way boys, I want more candy!"

She's got the hang of it now. Little Miss Belle managed to keep up with the boys and trick-or-treat for over an hour! She got lots of candy =]

Here's the whole gang. It was like pulling teeth to get all of these kids to sit down for 10 seconds, so I won't complain that Randy is the only one actually looking at the camera. Rachel and I are taking Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm to get some professional shots in their costumes this week. Hopefully, we will have better luck then!

"No more pictures please!" Madeline just wanted to eat her candy.

The whole family after a long night of Halloween fun!

Oh, and how could I forget...

The Mummy Dogs! These were my most creative creation yet! I also made jack'o lantern cheeseburgers, which I somehow forget to take a picture of, but they were pretty awesome too! The kids loved them =]

Pumpkin Carving

We carved our pumpkins on Friday morning before daddy had to go to work.

Madeline was a little scared of the pulp and seeds...

She did like carving though. Here she is abusing the top of the pumpkin.

The finished product with a very proud Madeline just before we took them outside to light them up. Yes, we made her a pink pumpkin this year. She was pretty crazy about it.

Madeline helping to position the pumpkins just perfectly for Mommy's picture. Such a helper!

Here they are! So spooky =]

Cookie Party

Getting started. Madeline and Kaylee are tesing out the frosting.

Isabella is getting her fill of sprinkles. Yum!

This frosting sure is yummy!

Messy face Miss Izz!

Madeline and Kaylee are hard at work.

Look at that black cat!

An orange pumpkin with sprinkles and M&Ms. Beautiful!

This is so much fun!

The little artists at work.

There are no cookies on this table. I'm pretty sure they are just eating frosting and sprinkles.

The big kids had their very own big kid table. They had a blast and did the most creative decorating. Our cookie party sure was a success. The kids had a blast and the parents loved eating the cookies! We'll be doing this again for Christmas =]

Baking Cookies

Madeline helped mommy roll out the dough.

Doing a pretty good job with the sticky sugar cookie dough.

Waiting for our cookies to finish baking.

"Come on! Hurry up!"

The finished product. All ready for our Halloween Cookie Decorating Party!

Halloween Fun for a Rainy Day

To get in the Halloween spirit, Rachel and I decided to make “Halloween Pops” with the kids yesterday. “Pops” are just bananas on a stick the are coated in peanut butter and then rolled in the topping of your choice (a healthier version is made with granola or cheerios, but we opted for Halloween sprinkles because they are just so much more fun). Then you just put the Pops in the freezer and have a frozen treat ready to eat! Mommies love them too! I came up with the “Pop” idea for Madeline because she always wants to eat popsicles and I hate how messy and unhealthy they are for her. Plus, she LOVES helping me make them and can be involved in every step! We just pulled some chairs up to the kitchen counter and let them have at it. The kids had a blast assembling their Pops! I’m pretty sure their favorite part was the sprinkles and both took a bite out of each of their Pops along the way, but they were so cute and had so much fun – plus there was very little cleanup! What a fun rainy day activity! Happy Halloween!

Another trip to Oak Glen...

Here we are at the pumpkin patch! Madeline LOVED hunting for pumpkins. She found a couple that were just her size and carried them around like such a big girl. Yes, that is DIRT on her face. She took a huge digger and face planted in the dirt when we first got there. She didn’t cry though…she was on her way to grab the perfect pumpkin and made a miraculous recovery!


The cutest baby goats I have ever seen! Madeline kept saying “Hode you! Hode you!” to the goats. Unfortunately, they were locked in their pen and she couldn’t hold them.


Mommy and Madeline in front of the Pony Rides, which, of course, were closed. Madeline was just as excited to see this giant horse though, so no tears were shed!


Here is Madeline with the new baby pigs at the petting zoo. No one was around, so daddy put Madeline in the pen with the pigs. She wanted to hold them, but was a little too scared to actually pick one up. They were adorable!


Mommy and Madeline talking to the donkey. As soon as we stopped in front of the donkey, he started braying so loud and for the longest time. It was hilarious. Madeline was cracking up!

Oak Glen is always a good time for our family!

Disneyland!

Posing with mommy and daddy just outside the park.


Trying so hard to get Goofy’s attention…


…then totally flipping out when it was her turn to say hello!


Cheeeeese!


Riding Dumbo with mommy. This was Madeline’s favorite ride!




Riding “It’s a Small World.” This was also a favorite for Madeline. She danced and sang the song. Bummed we didn’t get better pictures.




On the submarine ride. She loved looking out her window until it got dark…then she only wanted daddy.

All in all, we ended being a little underprepared for our first trip to Disneyland. We made the horrible mistake of taking Madeline on Snow White and Pinnochio for her first rides. She was HORRIFIED and never truly recovered. She still talks about Pinnochio all the time…whenever she sees something that reminds her of the ride she says “Nochi, Nochi!” I never remembered these rides being so scary as a kid, but they really are just plain horrible. Luckily, we bought annual passports, so we are going to try again here in the next couple weeks. I know she will love meeting the princesses, the Jungle Boat ride, Pirates of the Caribbean and so much more. We also missed the parade…big time bummer! Now we know what to expect though and how to be better prepared next time around. I’ll be sure to post pictures of round two in the coming weeks!