HAPPY HALLOWEEN

And what a Halloween it was! We took every opportunity this week to dress up in our costumes and gather candy and do Halloween things. It was a fabulous week!

First of all, however, who turned the snow on? It snowed about 7 inches of snow at our house this week (between 2 storms). This is what we woke up to on Monday and Tuesday mornings. Fortunately it was still warm enough during the days to melt everything pretty quickly - in fact too quickly for two boys who were dying to shovel the snow.And the picture we know you've been waiting for . . . we present - - - Thomas the train (Mason) and the fireman (Sam). We were very happy with our costume choices this year. In fact, Sam thinks he might actually be a fireman when he grows up and I would like to be Thomas every Halloween from now on (or so we both announced earlier tonight).

We started our week of Halloween celebrating with our usual Mommy and sons night out at Thanksgiving Point. We hit both the Dinosaur Museum and then Barnyard Boo at the Farm. It was a cold night but well worth it. In fact, we spent some quality story time at the farm with Milly the Witch (she looks very much like Polly the Scarecrow from a few weeks ago). She told stories, taught us a dance, and we did crafts with her. We really really like her!

There was face-painting, cookie decorating, a scavenger hunt, "booling", spider tosses, more crafting, and lots of other fun things to do.And of course, the usual pony ride. Sam has not participated in this traditional activity the last few times - - - he says he's scared of the ponies. We're working on him. Have you ever seen a train riding a horse?We also carved our pumpkins this week. Nothing like some gooey pumpkin guts to make some boys happy!
Then after trick-or-treating at Mommy's office on Friday, we stopped at Gardner Village to see all the witches. That was pretty fun - although it was packed with people. Here I am with my favorite witch - she was on a boat tossing dynamite into the pond.And here is Sam with his favorite witch - the fire-witch.

A few more witch pictures from the day. They were everywhere!We decided to have our big Halloween celebration on Saturday. The morning started with pumpkin pancakes - not pancakes made from pumpkin, but rather orange and green pancakes shaped like pumpkins. With whipped cream (from a spray can - our favorite) on them.
Then it was Mason's last soccer game for the season. I've had such a fun season - and a perfect first sporting season ever. My teammates and my coach were the best - a very positive experience all around. Since it was Halloween we all dressed up in costumes for the game. I didn't want to take the chance of ruining my Thomas costume so I wore an old pirate costume.The pirate costume brought out the animal in me - I scored 13 goals in the game. It was so much fun!Here I am with my coach.And me and my whole team - the Dino Squad.
Here are our finished pumpkins. Daddy picked a super cool knobbly, warty pumpkin that he turned into a witch.Mommy chose a really cool pumpkin that was surprisingly heavy. She turned it in to a pirate. Aaarrrggghhh!And here are Mason's and Sam's pumpkins all lit up on the front porch.
Today we went with daddy up to take more flowers to Grandma June's grave. We've had such pretty flowers around the garden, even with all the snow. It was a beautiful day. Sam and I have started a pine cone tradition now - every time we visit a cemetery we like to decorate the grave we're visiting with pine cones to show our love. It's like flowers, but very Mason/Sam-ish.
Sam Alert: Hey everyone - Sam here. I have loved being a fireman this week. I didn't want to take my costume off! Here I am at Mason's soccer game. I was his biggest fan! I sure can't wait until I get to play on a team. And just another cute picture of me as a fireman. I am adorable! Sam out.