Fall Fun!

Besides our trip to New England, this has really been a sensational fall, BECAUSE it hasn't been interrupted by snow midstream!! We've actually had mid-range temperatures for more than a day or two, and lots of fun leaf time like burying Anne :).

We loved the (FREE!!-with canned food donations) J&J Greenhouse Hayride with free-as many as you can carry-pumpkins

 

 Lucy's little Home Preschool group took a field trip to the Fire Station on Letter "F" day--one of the Dads in our group is a volunteer fireman, so we got a great tour! I've gotten to teach the last couple of weeks too--having a fun Halloween party and Nursery Rhyme Day--these 5 kiddos are SO fun!--I used to be nursery leader for all of them, and 4 years old is a fabulous age where EVERYthing is wonderful!

We enjoyed some Fall concerts/recitals (and missed our piano one for the trunk-or-treat---what is becoming of our priorities!?!)
Brent has been BUSY with Jazz Band and Symphonic Band--he also had the honor of going to District Band (for the entire School District) and has loved the quality of experience there.  Here he is at piano (jazz) and clarinet:

 Anne had a Grand Suzuki Concert that G&G Duncan were able to be here for--she has just finished Book 1!!

AND, Halloween of course! We decorated our door and had a week of SPOOKY EATS for dinner every night:

 Mummy dogs

 Monster Meatball sandwiches (sorry this one looks like a monster was eating it--who thinks of cameras after cooking?!)

 dinner in a pumpkin

Ghost potatoes

and Jack-O-Lantern Pizza (thank you Papa Murphy's)
We had a Ward Trunk-or-Treat and chili cook off, after which Brian and I enjoyed seeing Jekyll and Hyde at our Centerpoint Theater.

We carved pumpkins for FHE, roasted pumpkin seeds that we ate as preschool snacks,  attended the school's Halloween parade, and helped out--almost simultaneously at Anne's and Spencer's class parties, making clothespin bats and Q-tip skeletons :)
 
Halloween night was cool, but clear, and perfect conditions to head out on a brisk walk with the trick-or-treaters through our AWESOME neighborhood of cocoa firepits, hotdog cookouts and outdoor movies--I LOVE IT!! Emily had fun with cousin Makena, Maddie hung out with some youth and her twinfriend Mandy, and Brent and his buddy Gavin roamed the neighborhood as horses (??) giving poor children candy out of their horse mouths, and knocking on doors before laying hoof up on people's porches (I think--I didn't follow those two around).  It was nice to include so much fun without being stressed out! I remember almost skipping trick-or-treating altogether when Brent, Maddie, and Emily were pretty young, and how Dad was appalled at the idea of stealing their fun--it just seemed so exhausting for so little return!--it feels nice to enjoy some of the fun now :).