Abby's Hair

Sometimes having a big sister is pretty awesome when she does your hair into cute hairstyles that would whine and cry about if your mom tried to do it.

Sammie the Smarty Pants

Sammie tries so hard in school to do well.  She was given the Academic Achievement award from her teacher for the first quarter of school. She also was on the Principal's List and got an award for having 150 AR Reading points already.  She loves school and is definitely there to do her work and to do well.

Joey's Birthday

Joey and I have been talking lately about how we can't believe how old we are getting.  He just turned 37 a week ago.  Joey also just finished his Master's Thesis for American History and Government.  Hooray!  He received high praises for his work from his professors who read and reviewed it.  The past 5 years have been so enjoyable for him as he has learned and studied and grown.

Olivia snapped this photo of us after church on his birthday.  It seems like Joey and I don't have nearly as many appearances on the blog as our kids, but here we are.  Happy Birthday Joey!

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween this year.  I don't think I have seen so many trick-or-treaters before.  We somehow got caught in a group where the kids were just streaming from one door to the next.  It was a little crazy and hard to keep track of our own kids but luckily I only had two to look after.  Olivia went on her own with her friends this year.  She said they went for 3 hours!  She came home exhausted but had a great time.
The girls had sort of a hard time figuring out what they wanted to be this year.  Olivia's we thought of last minute and she just wore some of her own clothes, but I made the fringe vest out of a $5 t-shirt.  After our "Witches Night Out," Sammie and Abby both decided to be witches for Halloween.  In the end, they turned out adorable.  Sammie and Abby were both particularly excited about the "witch jewelry" that we found.  It really made the outfit I think.
I love this time of year.  There is always something fun to look forward to.  Somehow we managed to get in all of our fun fall traditions this year.  Even the pumpkins got carved.  Sammie proved to be quite the pumpkin carver.  These girls are such posers.

The Hippie:

The Witch:

The "Purple" Witch:

Olivia's Trick-or-Treating Crew

And...Sammie the Pumpkin Carver

Banducci's Pumpkin Patch

Joey and I took Sammie and Abby to this hidden gem.  I love Banducci Farms.  It's among farm land and cotton fields and then right in the middle of all that is this magical little place.  It's so charming.  It's surrounded by huge trees and a cornfield making it feel so cozy inside with the twinkle lights by the pond and the pumpkins lining the path.

Olivia was at her friends's birthday party so she wasn't able to come with us but we brought her home a pumpkin too.

Witch's Night Out

A friend of mine hosted a "Witch's Night Out" at her house for moms and daughters.  I didn't know if we would actually go, but the girls were really looking forward to it.  Now Sammie and Abby are talking about being witches for Halloween instead of what they had already decided on.  I guess we will see what they decide next week.
It was a fun evening with little boutique shops set up, games for the kids, and yummy soups to eat.  The evening was so hot we were roasting.  Even after it got dark.  Did I mention I am so over the heat?  I always wish for a cool October.  I guess the only way to get that is to move.

Fall Festival

I almost completely forgot about the Fall Festival at the school.  It was on my calendar, the girls had talked about it all week, I sent in candy for it, we've been getting notices all week about it.  After Sammie's soccer game in the morning and thinking ahead to the plans Joey and I had later that night, it completely slipped my mind.  Somehow as I was doing something I remembered.  

Abby got her hair sprayed pink and blue.  Sammie opted for sparkles.  They did a few of the booths, got a new school shirt, and saw friends.  Sammie and Abby re-matched in the potato sack race.  Sammie won again, but Abby was closer than last year.

October Happenings

Conference weekend was a couple of weeks ago.  I had many favorite talks and I've been listening to them again.  I was reminded of so many important gospel principles and was inspired to do and be better.  In the morning Sammie said sort of wishfully to me, "Mom, pancakes would be really good for breakfast."  Our breakfasts are usually just bagels, toast, cereal, and sometimes I will make eggs.  We usually have pancakes and french toast for dinners when I have more time.  So on that morning I decided to shock everyone and make the pancakes Sammie was wishing for, but didn't think I had any energy to pull off.  They were enjoyed.  It feels good to do these little things that I really used to take for granted.
October is one of my favorite months.  It is finally starting to cool down now that it is over half-way through.  I think we may still have a few warm days ahead, but the days are shorter and the nights are cooler.  When we are in the middle of September everyone is tired of the heat.  The good thing about it though is that it is just hot.  You know what to expect every day.  Shorts, tshirts, sandals.  Now that we have cooler mornings it seems that we never know how to get dressed.
The girls are looking forward to Halloween and the changing weather.  The Holiday season is just around the corner.  I even asked the girls to start making their Christmas lists.  This will be a wonderful season.