"I Got... Halloween!"

That's what Parker would say after each house. He'd look in his bucket, and if he didn't recognize what he'd gotten he'd say, "I got... Halloween!" Pure excitement.

The kids are at a fun age - they can go up and down the street and be satisfied. It's enough to wear them out and to fill their little buckets. It only rained a little bit, too. Kenzie had overheard the weather forecast earlier in the day and had cried, thinking Trick-or-Treating was canceled. When I reminded her she has a Little Mermaid umbrella, which would match perfectly, she immediately perked up. We barely needed it, though, which was even better.

I kept running into McKenzie in the bathroom, since she was checking herself out in the full-length mirror behind the door. She really liked the look of her red hair.

Scooby's costume wound up a little short, especially when he sat down, but he didn't mind. He was very proud to be "Scooby Scooby" and it was cute to see him lift his head to try and see around his headpiece.

I loved the joy in Parker's face as he hugged some of his loot.

Here they are digging through some of their candy. It's a respectable pile, considering we didn't go far. It sure wore the kids out, though - both of them went to sleep without a peep. (Usually Parker tries to stall lately, but he put himself down willingly tonight!)

Kindergarten Halloween Party

The other day I was asked to come help in Kenzie's class for their Halloween party, so Parker and I went with her today down to the school. We got a preview of their outfits - I only had one can of red hair spray for today, so tomorrow Kenzie's hair should be redder. She was still quite pleased with the results and looked at herself in the mirror longer than usual this morning.

Scooby was so good for me - he sat and colored while I helped the kids turn each other into toilet paper mummies.

When it was Kenzie's turn, I couldn't resist taking a picture. She had so much fun.

She brought home a whole bag of candies and Halloween pencils, and all three of us were so worn out we had a snack and sat on the couch for a bit! Halloween is tiring!

Pumpkin Time!

It was finally time to carve pumpkins last night. Funny how it's for the kids, yet Mommy and Daddy did all the knife-handling and pumpkin guts-touching. The kiddos were happy just to supervise, dictate their design, and scribble all over a tiny pumpkin for the baby.

An in-action shot. My job was to separate the seeds from the goo. Not glamorous, but I do love the roasted seeds.

I told Kenzie if she smiled normally just once...

...then she could make the scariest face possible. This is what she came up with.

Parker was so happy. "I huggin' da pumpkin'!"

I asked him if he wanted to do a scary face, too. He said, "Ooh, I scared!" and this is what we got. Goofy kid.

This morning the whole house smelled a little too much like pumpkin for Mommy, so out onto the porch the pumpkins went. Then Kenzie told me, "I'm ready for Christmas!" I reminded her about trick-or-treating, though, so we're back on track for Halloween this weekend!

My Little Guy

It seemed like Parker was growing up too fast. Just the other day he said "Penguin" instead of "Pengo" and it was a sad moment. Then today he asked for another "Gram crapper" (graham cracker) and fell asleep on the stairs. I'm happy to still have my little 2-year-old.

"Go Zoo See An-mals!"

It's a four-day weekend for McKenzie, so yesterday we went up to the zoo. While we waited to meet up with my sister-in-law, Diana Lynn, the kids ate their lunch and picked what they really wanted to do - ride the carousel.

Kenzie's top choice, the zebra, was already taken, but the otter was fun, too. She had a smile on her face the entire time.

Parker had never been on the carousel before, but he was thrilled. He held on tight, yelled about the "Merry-ground" (where did he even learn that word? I call it a carousel) and was very excited to be on the tiger.

They insisted on sitting on the rhino for a picture, too. Parker thought it was hilarious - "I ridin' the rhino!"

I got a kick out of how interested Parker was in everything. The kid wore himself out running and pointing.

Kenzie was so happy once her cousins showed up. Here she is with Camille and part of the porcupines. (I never said I was a professional photographer)

After we left the zoo, Parker fell asleep just on the walk to the car! An eventful day, for sure!

First Pumpkin

We bought one pumpkin just to roast a few seeds, but I was amused at Kenzie's drawing. "This pumpkin, I named him Punko, is just sticking out his tongue! He's so funny!" Today Parker picked out his "Scooby Scooby" costume (Scooby Doo) and we bought Kenzie some red hair spray to be the Little Mermaid. Two little kids are very excited for Halloween over here!

Sunday, 6:30pm

Some little guy just couldn't take it anymore!