Fall Fling-o-weens

Last weekend's festivities started at Cutie Face's school. She was lucky enough to attend for a third time (she usually goes twice a week) and see her classmates on Friday for a Halloween party.

She went as Snowrella (snow white top, cinderalla skirt)

 

The fabulous classroom mommies helped everyone make pumpkin heads

  

Cutie Face was quite proud of hers. She's punken obsessed to be sure

 

Her friend was a Barbie Fairy Princess. It was exciting

 

well it was exciting for most of the kids

 

having a yummy snack helped make everyone happy!

(note these are two classes combined)

 

after their sugar rush, they played "pin the face on the pumpkin"

cute idea!

 

 

Cutie Face rounded out the afternoon with Miss Shalece & an extra story-time snuggle

The next day, she got to go back to school again!  This time for the aforementioned DHUMP Fall Fling. It was a great time of free and innocent fun

--bouncy castles, trackless trains, 

face painting, 

hair highlighting

craft making, 

and lollipop trees.

Not to mention the playground!

There were multiple highlights but i think the biggest of all was when Cutie Face drove a real fire truck.

 

She was beyond thrilled!

Finally it was time for the Punken and the Princess to dress up for real! Not only was it Halloween--it was also a costume party at our neighbor's house.

We held a photo-op on our front steps. I was inspired by The Larson Lingo who always takes "important" photos commemorating events on their front steps. I'm pretty sure half the free world does this so why not join along? Only problem...our photo op didn't work so much...

attempt 1

attempt12

attempt 29

attempt 36...the best one...

Here's our pumpkin...

she's the best poser at this stage in her young life

Once we arrived at the party (which involved walking two doors down the street) Cutie Face was immediately given a lollipop from the host, her buddy "G".

within minutes, she'd been handed two more...

for a total count of THREE teeth decaying suckers

the costumes were pretty impressive--families dressed up together and we saw the Flinstones (with Bam Bam and Pebbles), the Peter Pan clan (with Cap'n Hook, the Crocodile, and Tinker Bell), and crazy butterfly fairies.

Cutie Cakes was content to just take it all in...

 

and when i say "in", I mean..."in" as, in, she tried to eat everything

especially skeleton toes

while her sister, Cutie Face, was content to keep licking her lollipops

The Cakester and I had to wrap up the fun a bit early so that we could be home for the trick-or-treaters. While she finally ate real food (beets! yum!) we handed out mini Reese's cups.. Delish.

this was Cutie Face's first real attempt at collecting candy from strangers. 

She had a blast, enjoyed seeing other kids, said, "hello!" to all the Monkeys, Princesses, Candy Corns, Bears, etc. she saw; did an awesome job saying "trick-or-treat" before receiving candy; and always said "thank you" once she collected that sacred piece of sweetness.

We have videos to prove it but this post is already long enough! I hope everyone else had a great Fall weekend, too!

Chattanooga chooCHOO!

the first weekend in October (oh, yes, more than a month ago), we went to Chattanooga. It was so much fun that I had to post, no matter how late! 

Sadly, i forgot my camera. Thankfully, my fantastic father-in-law is a professional photographer.

Our days away from home (and at home, for that matter) always start out super early. When we are on the road, though, we need to get out of the house and avoid waking others too early--so away we went! 

We found a butterfly bench which provided oodles (5 minutes) of entertainment

we put a slightly concerned Cutie Cakes in the Whole Foods punken patch

and then Cutie Face decided to join her for a sisterly photo-op

Cutie Cakes really couldn't get enough of the pumpkins

it was still early, so we visited Rembrandt's and the sculpture garden

 

 The Cuties were content to check out the sights

 

the glass bridge was particularly nifty

what was the most cool, though, was the hot air balloon festival

It was very impressive

 

 and great daddy-daughter bonding time

It also made for great scenic backdrops

 

 The park with the balloons also had "instruments"

playable with a handy stick

 

late breakfast made by Gramps is always a special treat

especially when it is pancakes

it seemed like this was the weekend of festivals

We found a great one complete with bouncy castle

 a firetruck,

 and a chalkboard car 

(what? you don't have one of these at your festivals?)

 

so much fun!

 

Pumpkin decorating and popsicle eating rounded out the day

and pretty much wore out the Cuties

It was a great fall family weekend, 

made perfect by spending time with Gramps and Jen-Gram!