We had a fun weekend leading up to more fun celebrating today! On Friday I went to Sophia's Halloween Party at school. We made Tootsie pop ghosts, witches brew stew (you suck up Halloween shapes with Halloween straws and put them in a bowl), black paper plate spider webs, monster munch and played toss the spider in the cauldron. I took a lot of the ideas from her class party last year. The monster munch was really fun. It had earthworms (cheetos), lizard eggs (kix and cocoa puffs), bat toes (sunflower seeds), bug eyes (mini m&m's) and bug brains (mini marshmallows). One of the mom's also brought homemade root beer with dry ice which was pretty fun.
It was a really fun but kind of crazy party. 26 students + 1 teacher (and an aid) + 7 parents = a lot of noise!
Here's Sophia getting ready to throw the spider in the cauldron. It's kind of hard to see but that's her teacher in the very back. She had the best Egyptian costume. It was complete with an awesome wig that had braids and gold things on it. She's such an awesome teacher. Sophia was excited to be the same thing as her teacher. Too bad her costume was a little on the homemade side. I love the cute Sacajawea costume behind Sophia too. This little girls mom always makes her costumes and they are always awesome!
Here's Lilly and Mabel playing with/eating the toys while the rest of us partied.
On Saturday we took advantage of the last bit of warmer weather and spent some time outside. 
And we also carved pumpkins. Mine in on the left and it's supposed to be sideways. I was trying to be clever. Lilly's is in the middle and the thing above the left eye is supposed to be a bow. Sophia and Doug did the other one. Sophia drew the face and Doug did the carving.
Thank goodness we added more pumpkins to our porch! We just did not have enough! 
This is random but this is Lilly's skeleton that she drew in preschool a few weeks ago. This was before her haircut and her hair was up in buns. I love how she made sure to draw them. 
Last night we went to my brother's house for a delicious fall dinner and to see some of my cousins. It was a lot of fun. Cleopatra was there again too.
So was spiderman. Man I love that spiderman.
Tinkerbell made an appearance too. Funny story about Lilly's costume. For weeks and weeks she couldn't decide what to be for Halloween. Then she decided she didn't want to dress up at all. I kept suggesting things that we already have like a princess or Tinkerbell but she still didn't want to be anything (one year Sophia didn't want to dress up as anything and Lilly saw a picture of it a little while ago so she didn't want to be anything as well). Anyway, last week totally out of the blue she said "I know! We have lots of dress ups in our dress up box. Maybe I could be something in there." I said "That's right. Like maybe Tinkerbell?" "That's a great idea mom! That's what I should be!" Anything I can do to help sweetie. She cracks me up.
Also this weekend I did this. It was definitely not my favorite race mainly because it started so late in the day and it was so stinking crowded (3700 runners). At least I got a cool shirt though! The shirt is a little misleading though. It was just a half. I will NEVER run a full marathon.
Here I am at the end. Sorry this is not a very flattering picture. I was just so glad to be done! I think that 2 half marathons in 1 year is too much for me. I am definitely looking forward to a break!
Here's the final random picture for this post. I was cleaning up on Saturday and found this that Sophia had made. I love her imagination!
This one's kind of blurry, but I don't think this little stinker likes her costume. What do you think?
Now onto the patch. We got to go the the Big Red Barn for a hayride to the pumpkin patch with Lilly's preschool yesterday. It was so fun! Here's the kids playing around before we got on the hay ride.
She looked pretty excited to be in the class picture. What a cooperative child.
Love my girls! So fun to be there. I love how Lilly's legs look like my other leg in this picture.
We've been having a fun time getting ready for Halloween by making some fun crafts! Sophia made this spooky caterpillar on Sunday. I think it turned out pretty good.
We also made cheesecloth ghosts. I ended up using equal parts of glue and water and I think they turned out great! We also made paper mache pumpkins but they didn't turn out so hot so I didn't take a pic. In fact, we didn't even bother finishing them.
Last night for FHE we made 
We also used this which definitely made them better. It's freshly pressed apple cider that my parents squeezed on Saturday. So fresh and sooooo delicious!
Finally for our last treat my mom got Mabel this cutest outfit at the Dollhouse Festival this weekend. I seriously think it is so cute! It's hard to see because she wouldn't hold still and I took the picture with my phone. The pants are my favorite. They are seriously so cute! The ruffle around the arms is so cute too! Thanks again mom!
P.S. Liza - it's hard to see but Mabel has the cute shoes my awesome friend (thanks Donace!) gave me on her hands. I seriously love them. They're so cute!
I'm sorry but this might be one of the cutest pictures of Lilly I've ever seen! I am a little biased though!
Here's a scary monster face.
and another one. 
This one she made for our whole family using all of the pieces. 
She wanted to take a picture of the whole family with it since she made it for the whole family. Mabel looks happy to be here.
And here's Sophia with the birthday boy. She made him the two wonderful birthday "posters" that are behind him as well.
After dinner the kids all went outside for a scavenger hunt grandma put together.
So did Lilly.
Here's the kids down at the reservoir. I have never seen it this clear before. And it was so blue! It was beautiful! There were so many birds too so it was really fun.
Here's all the kids getting ready to head back.
We took the long way back and found these beautiful trees over the trail. It was so pretty! You can barely see Sophia in the middle of the trail. 
