Happy Halloween!

Just got back from the Halloween party at Emma's school. As expected, it was total insanity, but the kids had a lot of fun. A couple of quick picks...

Here is Emma with her best friend Emme...


And here Emma is posing with her new BOYFRIEND Evan! He is quite a doll and they are already making plans to get married!


We're heading out to trick-or-treat with Emma's friend Helen in about an hour. I am so exhausted right now, and my only goal is to get back here before 8 pm. We'll see if we make it.

Have a great Halloween all!

Pumpkin carving '07

We picked up two pumpkins a couple of weeks ago at the pumpkin patch and Emma really wanted to carve our pumpkins this year. In years past, we either just painted the pumpkins or stuck Mr. Potato Head things in to make a face. It had been years since I carved a pumpkin and it's amazing how the mind forgets what a mess it can be!

But since my little girl wanted the experience of carving a pumpkin, who am I to deny her? So last night I covered the dining room table with a plastic table cloth and we started carving. After finally sawing the top off, I let Emma see the splendor that is the inside of a pumpkin. Here was her reaction...


After a few minutes of watching me scoop out pumpkin slime, Emma decided she was more interested in seeing if Marie would faint again on Dancing with the Stars, and wandered into the living room. She did come back in to draw a face on the pumpkin, which I somehow managed to carve out. It was a mutual decision that we would use our Mr. Potato Head things on the second pumpkin. I think had we opted to carve that one too, I would have been up at midnight.

Anyway, here are the results of our labors...


It's not fabulous, but Emma was so excited when we lit the candle and put it in the carved pumpkin. I didn't check this morning, so I don't know if the squirrels devoured it overnight. But I guess it's the experience rather than the results.

Photo session

We finally had our session with a very talented young photographer who's just getting her business off the ground. It was a beautiful day and I'm so happy with how the photos turned out. Take a look, if you'd like!

Emma photos

I took a couple of photos while we were waiting for the photographer. Just so you can see the contrast between a hack amateur like me and a really talented photographer like Rachael!

Xmas preview

Woke up this morning to BUCKETS of rain...it has been pouring for hours, which is just what you want on a Saturday with a young child to entertain. At least I've been able to get some housecleaning done. But I think we'll both go nuts if we're stuck inside all day.

We were supposed to get Emma's pictures taken outside today. I was going to have them take some of her in one of her favorite outfits and some in her holiday garb. I had a lot of trouble finding her a Christmas outfit this year. I usually go with something from Gymboree, but I'm not a fan of their holiday line this year. There's so much plaid out there this year, but Emma now wears a plaid uniform to school, so I'm not going to subject her to plaid for the holidays as well. We went to the Children's Place the other night and Emma absolutely went gaga over this outfit...


I'm actually not that crazy about the sweater, but she loved it and I like the skirt a lot. It certainly is the most grownup-looking Christmas outfits she's ever had.

The yearly trek to the pumpkin patch

Today we made our annual visit to a local pumpkin patch. To be honest, I really wasn't in the mood. For one thing, it's 90+ here today. Honestly, I'm beginnng to wonder if we'll even have an autumn this year. Usually Emma has on some nice new fall togs on for our trip to the PP. But once again, I had to drag out some of her summer clothes so she wouldn't get too hot. Okay, crabby weather rant over now...

Anyway, we were supposed to go with a friend of mine and her daughter, but her little girl is sick today with the croupy cough thing that half the kids here have now. Emma started hacking a bit last night, so I fear she's next.

So we headed out early to the PP in an effort to beat some of the crowd. There are tons of thing to do there, including...

Pony rides...


Mining for "gold"...


Making a pumpkin sock and running around like it's a kite...


Posing behind one of those silly cutouts so you look like a scarecrow...


Finally making it to the actual pumpkin patch and spending 25 minutes looking for the perfect two pumpkins to take home...


And lastly, taking a nature walk on a nice shady trail...


Needless to say, we were both beat and one of us fell asleep on the way home (it didn't get to be me, unfortunately.)