Halloween Recap!

Our Halloween started bright and early. Actually, it wasn't too bright--it was quite dreary and rainy when we awoke but we had places to be--namely, the Silver Comet Half Marathon.

We made it to the race with plenty of time to spare so I made a beeline for the toilets (aka, the woods) while J occupied Cutie Face. The race was postponed by ~15 minutes so I got to do a few photo-ops with the kiddo, pre-race and pre-torrential downpour:

She got her workout in, too, letting me and J chase her all over the parking lot. Who knows where she gets this much energy at 6:30 AM!

{If you look closely enough, you'll notice that she is wearing KITTY pajamas. Stay tuned for this is a sign of many more kitty sightings....}

The race was GREAT. G-R-E-A-T. I had a BLAST B-L-A-S-T (okay, done with the spelling and caps but seriously i cannot tell you how much fun i had!). i met a new friend on the course and we ran 12 out of the 13 miles together. She is an amazing runner--a mom to five (5!) and an Olympic Marathon Trials Competitor.

She kept me talking in sentences the whole time which was perfect--my OB said running and racing is fine as long as i can keep up a talking pace. If I find myself short on breath, he asked that i back out. I let my new running partner know his "rule" and she kept me true to it! We talked about tons of things and had so much fun getting to know each other that 13 miles flew by--so quickly that we managed a 6:27 pace! Yay! That was good enough for third place woman so i was beyond thrilled.

Cutie Face was thrilled, too, because she got a balloon out of the whole deal. She also devoured quite a few mini bagels and two bananas. No complaints there.

The race was also hosting a costume contest. I made this little number on Friday and was planning on wearing it while I ran but the rain would have made it one soggy mess so I put it on after the race...and it won first place in the costume contest! Mad props go to Jenny and Mark who inspired me from their costume contest two years ago (yes, I pretty much stole their idea).

On our way home from the race, we wandered through the local countryside. Who knew that Georgia had a covered bridge community? J loved it because it reminded him of New England.

I loved the covered bridge sign!
The things that you never knew existed on highway signs...Here is one of the covered bridges we drove through--ONE lane!

This covered bridge was located near an old mill--
and this very cool, very old stone house was the original mill house

Upon our return home, Cutie Face balked at a nap so we threw her in a jaguar/cheetah/leopard outfit, put some whiskers and ears on her and took her to the library. She was pretty complacent.

She did get a big kick out of wandering around the library dressed like a cat, though:

Upon our return home, Cutie Face ate a late lunch and settled in for a long nap. She took a verrrrry long nap, long enough that we ended up leaving for the 'burbs (to see my parents and the cousin) more than an hour late!

When we finally arrived, we were greeted with the warm smells of soup and chili on the stove. I was in charge of the pumpkin carving. After my failed Tutorial Tuesday attempt at carving a (rotten) pumpkin, I tried again and (with the help of J) managed to eke out a pumpkin carving that kind of resembles its original inspiration--Buzz the Ga Tech Yellow Jacket mascot:

Next up was a quick dessert-making session. My brother-in-law was incredibly helpful as I tried to recreate yet another Tutorial Tuesday craft--the chewy cobweb bars (this time with cheerios instead of chex). It was quite a messy process:

Finally, we were ready to take the kiddos trick-or-treating. I cannot believe how dismal my photos turned out. They are so blurry and just...dismal. But i hope you get the idea: Cutie Face was a kitten and Lil' Miss was a most adorable chef--the apron and hat made entirely by my crafty twin (and, in fact, you can buy this outfit on her Etsy store!).

We took them around in the Radio Flyer wagon. The girls loved it!

We set out in the neighborhood, us adults on the hunt for some good candy (because, of course, our kiddos wouldn't be allowed to eat it!)

The first house we stopped at didn't have anyone to man the door but they did leave out jackpot goodie bags full of great candy!

The next stop was...kind of sad...kind of scary...but mostly funny. In fact, you have to watch the video to see what happened:

As you can see, the cousins were fine and gladly accepted candy:

The third stop was at Lil' Miss' favorite pumpkin house. She got out of the wagon and gave kisses to the pumpkins. Cutie Face was enthralled by their puppy (no picture sorry!) but i think the woman behind the door thought we were a little crazy for taking such young kiddos out for candy (either that or she knew our secret plan was to eat it all!)

We finally made it to our favorite neighbor's house but first we had to climb a hill. Since the cousins had already gotten out of the wagon to kiss the pumpkin and greet the doggy, we decided to not put them back in. Cutie Face thought that was a GREAT idea and pushed the wagon up the hill. She had a blast.

I had to take another video of the fun she was having. Sorry it's so dark!

We finally made it...Here is Cutie Face waiting patiently for G.G. to answer the door:

She answered and gave her two treats--one for her and one for mommy :0

We decided four houses was enough for one night so we loaded the kiddos back in the wagon and strolled them home. Lil' Miss was incredibly enamored with her candy stash...i think she might have even taken it to bed with her! While Cutie Face is still in the "lets chew everything phase" (ie lets eat all that candy!), Lil' Miss was quite restrained and very content to just look at the colorful wrapping:

Since it was daylight Savings Time, we let the kiddos stay up a bit later than usual but they still ended the night with their shared bathing ritual...

Phew! What a day!