Halloween 2011

While the outdoor light was still good this afternoon, I convinced the girls to dress up in their costumes so I could take some pictures. Here's Dorothy and Scarecrow on the front porch with their jack-o-lanterns. Clearly, Dorothy is the ornery one.Scarecrow wanted to pose with the scarecrow in our front yard. Evelyn fits right in!
Here's Dorothy cuddling her dog, Toto. She kept saying how much she loves Toto, and how sweet he is.
We went trick-or-treating from about 6:30 until 8:00 this evening, making the usual rounds through our neighborhood. Julia...I mean...Dorothy lasted about an hour, and then she hitched a ride in the wagon. Scarecrow walked the whole way, never complaining once.
How did the girls do? Just like last year, they brought in 10 pounds of candy. 10 pounds!!! We have already sorted out half of it to donate to the troops overseas...goodness knows we don't need all that in our house!

Last Boat Ride of the Season

This afternoon we girls went on the last boat ride of the season at Black Hill Regional Park. It was a bit chilly on the lake this afternoon, but the girls were bundled up and still had a blast.While cruising around the lake, we saw grebes, geese and a blue heron. But the real catch was seeing not one, but two bald eagles! Here's a picture of the male and female, sitting on a tree in their favorite area of the park -
After seeing the bald eagles, the naturalist parked the boat in a cove (out of the wind) and read a couple of stories to the kids.
Then we headed back to the boat dock. It was another fun and gorgeous day for a boat ride at Black Hill, and we can't wait to go on more boat rides next year.

The Girls and Their Pumpkins

Here are some "before" and "after" pictures with Julia, Evelyn . . . and even Rosie . . . with the pumpkins.Evelyn and Julia showing off their pumpkins and the face patterns they chose.
Here we are, scooping out the guts. Julia absolutely refused to touch the pumpkin's insides.
The finished products, complete with lit candles. Too cute, girls!

Evelyn's Pumpkin Carving

Evelyn started off today's pumpkin carving the way she has the past couple of years - I cut off the top, she started digging out the guts with her hands, and then she let me use the scoop to finish cleaning it out.
But then Evelyn wanted to do everything on her own. She punched out the pattern, and then she used the little carving knife to cut out the "el Fuego" face.
Evelyn even got the hang of re-cutting the pieces to make it easier to push them out.
Evelyn did really well on her first independent pumpkin carving - here's the finished product!

Julia's First Pumpkin Carving

This year marks the first year Julia carved her own pumpkin. She has been itchin' to make the "Goo Goo" face, which she picked out weeks ago. Troy helped the little Sunshine with her pumpkin project, by first taping her face pattern to the pumpkin . . .. . . followed by punching out the pattern onto the pumpkin . . .
. . . and then Julia tried to cut into the pumpkin with the carving tool. How did that work? Eh, not so well.
Julia had chosen a pumpkin with really thick walls, so she needed Troy to do all of the carving.
Here she is, with her finished "Goo Goo" pumpkin!

Evelyn's School Halloween Party

Our resident scarecrow had her Halloween party at school today, and guess who else was in her class?
Dorothy! These two walked in the school parade together, drawing lots of attention.So, even though Evelyn thought she left Dorothy (aka Julia) at home, Evelyn's friend from school surprised her.
Dorothy and the Scarecrow stuck together throughout the party, and they even buddied up for this wrap-the-mummy game.
The class also played "Ghost Stew" (where they used straws to put ghosts in the bowl), made a foam jack-o-lantern craft and ate snacks. All in all, I think Evelyn, er, I mean, Scarecrow had a great time!

Julia's Preschool Halloween Party

Julia's preschool had their Halloween party this morning, and Julia was thrilled to go to preschool as Dorothy (along with her sidekick, Toto).The kids from all the preschool classes had a parade in the all-purpose room . . .
. . . and then the classes stopped and posed for some pictures.
Dorothy's favorite party snacks were brownies and cookies. Who can blame her?
Done eating her treats, Julia tore into her goodie bag. After taking everything out of the bag, she had to look again, just to make sure she got everything. In Julia's opinion, her first school party was fantabulous!