Happy Halloween!

Getting these girlies ready to leave in time for school this morning by 8ish, and packing their lunches, and making pumpkin pancakes in the shape of pumpkins was a bit of a challenge this morning to say the least but somehow, more or less on time, they got out the door! And looking cute, I might add!!

I mean seriously, how could you resist these trick-or-treaters? And thanks to dude's costume, he has taken to roaring. A lot. A lot a lot. At our church's Trunk-or-Treat party, he noticed another little guy in the exact lion costume from across the room. He stood up on his chair, yelled, "MY COSTUME, MY COSTUME," while patting his puffy belly, and then proceeded to roar louder than we've ever heard him do before. Like, "who's the better lion now? Oh yeah."

My favorite comment was when a lady pointed at my tree costume, and asked if that's what happens if you stand still in Oregon too long. Ha! She's clearly just jealous :) And here's a close-up of baby G's incredibly awesome costume (sorry for the terrible lack of humility but it's seriously probably the best, cutest thing I've ever made! And she looks so darling in it!):

 And yesterday we had the girls' much-awaited Halloween decorating/dance party at our house. Sadly, this is the only picture I have. Let's just say things were a little crazy (the party was before Coop got home from work). Loud Wee-Sing for Halloween music, six very hyper girls and one boy thrilled by all the chaos, cookies coming in and out of the oven with seven people yelling for help, baby G eating a piece of cookie dough or something and choking on it (still makes me feel shaky just thinking about it), the oven timer pretty much constantly going off,  bowls of frosting dropping on the carpet, doorbells ringing, etc. etc. etc. How does that not sound like a good time?! Oh, and my favorite cookie below is M's Frankenstein! Isn't it awesome? Any that are very covered in candy are J's and any that look like dude made them, were probably made by dude and required a whole lot of clean-up.

And all this before we've even gone trick-or-treating! Oh dear.

"I see big tractor!"

While M was being fancy at her costume party, the rest of us went to see what daddy was up to at the Chamber's Livestock show (multiple of our friends have asked if Coop has experience with livestock shows. Hahahaha. I told them the only animal he had any personal experience with was a cat ... so no). Dude was pretty impressed, and just kept yelling, "I see big tractor!"

And then we went inside and his chorus changed to, "I see big cows! I see big cows!" He's really into adding "big" in front of things lately. Whenever Coop walks through the door, dude yells, "Heeeeey big daddy!" No clue where, why, or how he came up with this, but Coop loves it. But back to the show. When I told J we were going to see a livestock, or animal show, she very seriously asked, "A show? Like do the animals dance? Do they get up on a stage and sing?" This a few days after she asked if she is a city girl or a country girl. What do you think? She was, however, pretty excited to get to pet a cow. Dude was more hesitant when confronted with the chance, but then got into it. Every time his hand touched the cow though, he did scream in excitement/nervous energy! Hilarious.

After two full days of the fun times where he learned that people actually use hair spray and blow dryers to make mohawks on the back ends of cows, poor daddy had to help with clean up. I'll let you imagine what that was like (and what he smelled like when he came home)!

Halloween Preview

Here's M all dressed-up and ready for a costume party she went to on Saturday! How awesome does she look?! We had been thinking of  doing a Wizard of Oz themed Halloween as a family, but then I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on costumes, nor was I really confident in my ability to sew them all so I convinced this little darling to be Fancy Nancy! And this costume cost a grand total of ... drum roll please, $0! And how much sewing? None! We used a wig from a Merida (Brave) costume, and then just fancified everything! I think her favorite part was the leg warmers that I made by cutting up an old pair of tights. Ha! Though Frenchie, Nancy's poodle, was a great accessory as well! And when she showed up for the party, another mom said, "Hey Fancy Nancy!" So the costume works!

Going to town

Just a few more pics from our Saturday in the big city :) Here's the Bismarck temple, which we went to take pictures of since I owe a painting of it for the YW Fundraiser Auction:

Cute girls!!

Playing at the fire truck playground while waiting for mom to get out of her meeting!

And what was baby G doing during all this? Eating leaves of course!

Papa's Pumpkin Patch!

So somehow, after it's snowed already on three separate days (only once did it amount to anything), we enjoyed an incredibly gorgeous, 70 degree weather Saturday! Perfect for pumpkin-patching! And what a pumpkin patch it was! This place was awesome. Even if it did fill boots, hair and even underwear with hay. Didn't stop the kiddos for long!

These hay pyramids were awesome! They were great for climbing up to the sky and sliding back down the bumpy ride!

Plus there were endless, snug little tunnels and secret passageways that grown-ups couldn't fit in (which left daddy running around the pyramid in circles, trying to figure out where little man was/where he'd come out)

 There were fun obstacle courses with ropes...

 and tricky bridges to cross.

For the most part, baby G just hung out with Mama all snugly and safe!

 There was rusted old farm equipment to drive along with lots of fun wood forts.

And more obstacles to conquer!

 Chipmunk-cheeks is getting taller!

 And speaking of cheeks, check out those dimples! What a doll. 

 But definitely keeping an eye on that tricksy little pumpkin. Never trust a bumpy pumpkin. That's what they always say.

And this would be why. Darn pumpkins.

But they sure are interesting. And fun to sit on. Dude spent at least 20 min walking from pumpkin to pumpkin, testing out how good of a seat each one made. Half the time, he would announce as soon as he'd sat, "Dat big pumpkin!" He was very impressed.

 M was more into this big chair. 

 While J just wanted to pose up top the big pile of hay!

 Good times! We'll certainly be back next year (especially because this is the only pumpkin patch like in all of North Dakota - or at least that we've heard of :) ).