Halloween Party 2013

Halloween is a Compton family favorite.  Not the super-scary stuff, but the fun dress up and get candy stuff.  Robbie and I also love Pinterest and trying fun new things (even when some don't quite turn out as well as we'd hoped! So, we invited a bunch of the girls' friends over to celebrate and had a blast!  Our girls were so excited for the past couple of weeks leading up to the party, had a great time at the party, and have talked about it constantly since.

Some of the fun food:
These ghost cookies made with biscotti dipped in white chocolate with mini chocolate chips eyes were a hit!

We always love this pumpkin-shaped cheeseball:

The "Mummy dogs" were not quite as mummified as usual this year...

Campbell put the finishing touches on the cupcakes:

We had some fun activities planned:

Bowling for ghosts with a pumpkin

Painting mini-pumpkins (Did you know that Crayola now makes washable paint pens?!)

A Haunted Play House

And, of course, Bobbing for Apples

But, as always, the kids had the most fun with our regular backyard play equipment (trampoline, swingset, sand table) and just playing with each other.

With 20 kids it got a little wild and crazy, but I'm pretty sure they had fun and I know we did.  Thanks so much to everyone who came out! 

6 on Sunday

Here are 6 reasons I'm loving my girls this week:

1.  We live in an area that is still fairly rural and there are a few farms across the street from our neighborhood.  One of the farms puts this huge Jack o' Lantern out every year and it always signals that Halloween is coming soon!  We were so excited to see it on our way home from school one afternoon that we had to stop and take a picture!

 

2.  Last week I posted a picture of the girls painting some mini-pumpkins and said that they had disappeared off of our front porch.  We assumed some animal had made off with them as the girls denied any knowledge of where they had gone.  Imagine Robbie's surprise when he tried to put his shoes on...


3.  Apparently Maggie is in a hiding phase.  I took my rings off one afternoon this week while cooking dinner.  Maggie pointed to my rings on the counter and I remember telling her not to touch them.  When I noticed later they were not on the counter, I knew she had moved them.  I tried not to freak out as I looked in all the "normal" places and she denied knowing where they were.  Thankfully a few days later I found them...and I learned not to leave them in her reach.

4.  When I went back to work full time, one of our agreements was to have help with cleaning the house.  Every other week, Jenny (who also cleans my mom's house and aunt's house), comes to help keep our house habitable.  One thing she does is make the girls' beds...and huge confession here: that used to be the only times they got made.  Hey, when you have to get out of the house by 7 am every morning, you have to sacrifice something!  Anyway, Campbell loves having her bed made and has taken it upon herself to make her own bed every morning recently.  Since the girls have taken to sleeping in sleeping bags (another story) and they are short enough they can sleep at the bottom of the bed and not disturbing all of the toys, it's not terribly hard but I'm proud of her!

 

5.  Robbie was lucky enough to have the opportunity to volunteer at both girls' schools in one day.   Campbell's school does an annual fundraiser called the Tiger Trot.  Campbell ran 4 laps and had a blast!

Then Robbie joined Maggie's class on their annual field trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  She was so excited to see him!

6.  The girls and I (with a little help from Robbie) carved our pumpkin this week.  We then roasted the seeds using this recipe: http://www.redbookmag.com/_mobile/recipefinder/sugar-and-spice-seeds-recipe and it was delicious!  Campbell even said it tasted like candy.

6 on Saturday

Here are 6 reasons I'm loving my girls this week:

1.  Poor Maggie has been sick pretty much all week.  She started with a fever last Sunday and by Wednesday had a hoarse voice and cough.  The doctor diagnosed her with a mild case of croup.  We waited a couple to start the steroids to see if we could avoid using them but finally gave in yesterday when the cough just kept getting worse.  If she's not well by tomorrow, I think we'll be heading back to the doctor.  She did great with her first breathing treatment of the season! 

2.  The girls and I found some white mini-pumpkins at the store and they were so excited to paint them!

3.  Unfortunately, the next day the little pumpkins disappeared off of our front porch.  Since none of our other decorations were disturbed, we think perhaps a creature made off with them for a midnight snack.  Campbell got out the magnifiying glass to investigate the disappearnce.

4.  We have been working since  the start of kindergarten to figure out a homework routine and I
think we finally got the hang of it!

5.  I even got a couple of little preschool workbooks at the Dollar Tree for Maggie to do some "homework", too!

6.  After I took Maggie to the doctor on Wednesday, she insisted that all she wanted to do was go to Target.  A girl after my own heart...