costumes and pumpkins

Happy Halloween

The first few photos are from our Trunk or Treat on Tuesday (church Halloween activity). Owen is a vampire and Soren is a dinosaur.

I had a couple of people ask me if I was Elphaba from Wicked. The answer is no, I'm just a generic witch. I also had two different people ask if my face paint glows in the dark! The answer to that is also no. That would be cool if it did, though. That silver in my hair is painted in, by the way. Well, most of it.

And these photos are from Owen's Halloween party at school. The kids all come out and parade around the grounds, then go back into their classrooms for a little party.

Unfortunately, Owen's sweet teacher was out sick, so she missed all the kids in their costumes.
I asked Owen what his favorite part of the day was, and he said when I came into his classroom and he got to hug me. Awww! He's such a little lover.


Tonight I painted my face purple, took more pictures of the kids, and also our pumpkins. I'll post them tomorrow.

the foggy forest

I would have loved to see all the color. We all enjoyed our little hike in the cold. We will have to go camping there next year.

Skyline Caverns

So we had planned to go camping at Shenandoah National Forest in Virginia last weekend, but we chickened out because we were having highs of 38 that weekend. We took a day trip instead on Friday when Owen didn't have school. We were hoping to see some grand, colorful views, but alas, it was very, very foggy. We still took a hike and some pictures, to follow. Luckily, we discovered that there are some natural caverns just outside of the National Park. Soren had just been telling me that he wanted to see a cave and of course Owen knows all about stalactites and stalagmites, so this was the perfect opportunity to do something new.

But first, Soren had to climb on the dinosaur outside in the yard...

and give me a sad face for trying to take his picture...

and show me his karate moves (check out the look on his face—love it!).

We took an hour-long, guided tour, which turned out to be a private tour with just our family. The caverns are lit up with lots of different colored lights. In reality, the formations are brown, gray, and white. The lights are a neat effect, though.

You can read more about Skyline Caverns here.

I told you he likes my makeup bag

Exhibit B: going for the pink this time. And I was worried the eyeliner would be tough! Ha. That wiped right off, but the lipstick was smeary and really held on. But look at those beautiful eyes. He is at such a fun age right now.

51 Candles

I made a double-decker chocolate cake on my mom's birthday. Cakes were always two-layered and round, growing up. My mom loved German chocolate cake, but coconut makes Austin's tongue itch and my kids won't eat it, either.

itchy

I have poison ivy all over my neck and no idea how it got there. The collar of my coat or sweatshirt? Did I touch it and then rub my neck? Are finger tips and palms of hands resistant to urushiol oil? It's such a weird time of year to be getting it, too. Drats. Ugly and itchy, it is. All suspicious items are in the washer. Maybe I should wash my shoes, too. Bah, grumble, mumble, complain and curse!