Happy Harvest Continues

  More activities for the kids, centered around fall and it's all of it's homeyness. We made paper bag owls and hung them on the windows with our leaf garlands. The kids have been enjoying videos about Johnny Appleseed and how much he loved the earth that God made - I thought he was a perfect person to study for fall!

  And then because I couldn't resist - a little bit of winter. I want to make snow globes with the kids this Christmas so this was a test run - I think it turned out just peachy.

  Pumpkin Spice tea parties with hotcakes for snack. I made a sour cream pancake batter then mixed in sharp cheddar and apple chunks...fried em' up and served them plain. The kids ate every last one and didn't care a bit about the missing syrup.

  Little bug looking very "bugish" if I do say so myself.

  Just this afternoon the kids got to dress up and celebrate Halloween early. Mom and Dad Corley found a local fall festival at the college Zac use to attend so had lots of fun with that. I didn't put much thought (or money) into the kids costumes but they turned out pretty darn cute.

  I found this lovely purple dress at the thrift store for about 3 bucks and though it would be perfect for a princess fairy (Trin's costume wish) but she could also use it at church or whenever. I found a sprig of flowers at the dollar tree and bobby pinned them in her hair...she would scrunch her nose up and squeal every time I stuck in a pin...as if I was sending it straight to her brain.

  And as usual, I forgot all about the fact that people need shoes....especially fairies going out in public! About a hour before we were due to leave I grabbed some flip flops from the summer, wrapped ribbon around them and hot glued the leftover leaves and flowers. Perfect - and thrifty.

  She said she was a fairy...but I think she's an angel.

 The wings we found at the thrift store - probably the prettiest little costume wings I've ever found (I think in Trin's lifetime we've gone through 4 sets?!)

  Tristan chose to be a pirate which was good news for me - I still had Brady's Jack Sparrow costume from last year...also a Goodwill treasure. The sword is from the Dollar Tree as well.

  A little bit of mama's eyeliner applied to his chin and he was done - love his little expression. So posh.

  Brady found a robin costume at the thrift store...donned Finn's eye mask and a pair of his favorite black rain boots and he was simple yet very super heroish. Oh yah, Zac used ample amounts of hair gel to achieve the "comb over" affect.

 Finn used his Yoda costume from last year...it will probably fit for at least four more years . :)

 The weather was beautiful and the trees were orange. There were games and a "trunk or treat", free pony rides and cotton candy and popcorn...lots of games and a bouncy house slide - the kids had a blast.

Thanks to grandparents and their extra helping hands - we were able to have a much easier time with the kids out in public (a pretty big challange for us!) and also skip the spookey freezing  Halloween night trick or treating. We are finishing off the day with some Papa Johns Pizza and calling it a "holiday." Next...
Trin's Birthday!