Woof (by Truck)

I am in awe of this picture my dear friend Kristen took of my little Truck last night. Woof! Halloween in Kansas was fabulous this year. Seventy degrees, no wind, gorgeous gorgeous night with so many fun friends and adorable kiddos running around. Facebook was lit up with pictures of the snow back east and I was thanking my lucky stars to be sitting on the porch in my tee shirt handing out candy, sipping my wine, and chatting with the neighbors. Daddy took the three kiddos around (actually, the big one got to go with two friends and their big sister; how is he old enough for that!?) so I handed out the 600 pieces of candy (all but 20 by the end of the night!). Storm is headed for us tomorrow from Colorado, but our picture-perfect Halloween was one to remember!

I am the 99%

And this post is not about politics! Rather, it is about pumpkin carving. You see, I do 99% of the pumpkin carving in our house. This year, we had five, yes FIVE, pumpkins to gut and carve. I am not gonna lie, that is a lot of pumpkin guts to be scooped by the 99%-er (me). My wrist hurt the next day! But we did an Angry Bird pumpkin for my big, opinionated 8-year-old; a starry-eyed smiley one for my almost-5-year-old; and a classic, triangle-eyed smiler with teeth for my jolly 1.5-year-old. I do love carving pumpkins!

RenFest

Here is something else we have in Kansas: the Renaissance Festival. It is only 15 minutes from our house. My husband scored some free tickets, and we had never been, so we decided to take one precious, unscheduled Sunday to hit the Fest.

It was HUGE. I think we probably saw 1/4 of it in the 3 hours that we were there. I took Noodle and Truck to the kids' area while Dad and Squash watched a magic show. (here is our Noodle chatting with a Hungarian princess):

We ate. We watched jugglers. We saw a LOT of crazy costumed people walking around. We watched a joust.

I am not sure if we will go back next year. It runs for a couple months in the fall, weekends only. Maybe in a couple years, when we feel the need for some jousting!

Pumpkin Pickin

We went to the pumpkin patch in Lawrence, Kansas last weekend. We have been going for the past 5 years, and it is always a good time. This year, we remembered to wear old shoes, because it is ALWAYS muddy. But guess what? This fall of gorgeous sunny days has left pumpkin patches with no mud and well, a lot of dust! I am not talking a little bit of dust. I am talking Dust Bowl, teeth-full-of-grit dusty. Blech. It was so dusty, that as we were leaving, Noodle actually asked if we could stop somewhere so she could wash her hands.

The pumpkins were not their heartiest this year. We ended up just picking two small ones to take home, along with a promise to take the kids to the grocery store so they could pick out some REAL pumpkins. Ah well, still a good trip to the Patch!

Label Maker

I was testing out my camera the other day and took this picture (to see if the flash was working)

I just uploaded it and it cracked me up. Yes, I labeled my label maker box with a label that says "label maker."

Flower Girl

In case you are wondering, 4 1/2 is the perfect age to be a flower girl.

Little Noodle and I went to San Diego a couple weeks ago for our cousin Julia's wedding in La Jolla. It was a perfect, beautiful wedding and we had so much fun being a part of it. Noodle made best friends with the three bridesmaids and has not stopped talking about the whole event.

One of the neatest things was her flower girl gift. Julia had a dress made for Noodle's American Girl doll Kit that matched the flower girl dress perfectly! It was so precious. And they even had matching hair bows and shoes. What more could a 4 1/2 year old girl want?! Incidentally, Kit has been wearing her dress ever since we retuned home!

We got to see lots of our relatives, meet new ones and generally have a lovely time in the California sun. It could not have been a more perfect weekend!

Kindergartening

Here's our Noodle on her first day of kindergarten. She spent this evening studying for her first spelling test! She is a rock star!

She and I took our third ever "girls trip" to California. Our first one was when she was 6 weeks old and we went to visit my grandmother in L.A. Our second one was when she was 3 and we went to visit my cousin's new baby in San Francisco. This one was to San Diego for my cousin's (different one!) wedding. She has toured the state with her mama!

We had a great time and her flower girl debut was fantastic. Unfortunately, I left my camera sitting on my cousin's (different one! Again!) kitchen table so the pictures will take awhile. But when they come, they will be fabulous.

But for now, here's our kindergartener: