So behind!

Getting ready to put up Christmas decorations this weekend and still haven't posted any Halloween photos. So here you are.....

Wasn't in the mood to carve this year, so we painted our pumpkins instead. I'm such a good mom that I took a picture of my own pumpkin, and not of my kids'. (I'm an only child, remember. Sometimes I forget about other people.) And no, I had no idea there was a dried stream of liquid on my wall. I'm sure someone did that when we weren't looking.

These were the cat cookies we made for Xander's teachers (and for us, too).

Here are the trick-or-treaters

Jordis and her friend Megan

The kids are big enough now that we have this down to a science, so it was a quick night. And they're already talking about costumes for next year.

Hayride

Two Fridays ago both of the kids had the opportunity to go on a hayride. Xander's was his first field trip that I desperately wanted to attend, but they won't let you chaperone if you have other children with you, so I wasn't able to go. However, my bible study had a hayride scheduled at a local farm, so Jordis and I went to that.

When I went to get Jordis out of the car I saw that she was wearing flip flops after I had told her to put on socks and shoes. The mom in me thought I should just let her stay that way so she'd learn a lesson about following directions, but the police wife in me figured someone would probably call Children's Services on me if they saw my 4-year-old out in flip flops when it was 42 degrees. Luckily we got there early enough that I had time to run home and grab her some socks and shoes.

I know, right, you're still not believing I was early somewhere.

We each got to pick two Indian corns and one pumpkin.

Someone was pretty feisty most of the time.

Then we had a potluck.

Junk food makes everything better, doesn't it?

Jason's Birthday

I don't have any pictures from my birthday (which was fabulous, if I do say so myself), but I do have a few to share from Jason's. His aunt and uncle were here visiting from Louisiana and we had a fried turkey dinner, so I made his birthday cake a little early for our gathering. Square cakes are much more difficult than round ones, and I didn' have the high quality ingredients that I wanted for the frosting, but all in all it turned out okay. Luckily, Jason isn't too picky when it comes to dessert.

Jason took the day off on his actual birthday and was nice enough to keep the kids and send me on a women's retreat with my bible study gals. It was lots of fun and nice to be out of the city.

When I came home we got pizza for dinner and gave Jason his presents. This year the kids have taken to finding things we already have around the house and then wrapping them to give us as presents. Hence the Bass Pro Shop brochure.

I also like how kids are fascinated with ages. As if you don't know how old you are, it's always nice to be reminded. Our kids are currently enjoying that they are half-ages. Instead of being 6 and 4 they are 6 1/2 and 4 1/2.

Isn't getting older great?