Halloween (Finally!)

I, of course, planned to upload Halloween pictures on October 31st, in between trick-or-treaters. They came thick and fast, though, and then life got busy again. So here, 2 weeks later, are my kidlets.

A laughing giraffe, a fairy princess with a maternal bent, and a fat pumpkin.





Elliott enjoying a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup... a WHOLE cup... all at once. They make out like bandits on our suburban street, but we have to give out a ton of candy, so it balances out.
The school parade. The kids weren't supposed to dress up, they made costumes in class to represent what they've been reading. Cheyenne's class had been reading about baby owls!

Cheyenne holding Mrs. House's hand. (She's the TA.) I wonder if anyone has ever been able to take a decent picture inside a school gym?
Rilla being patient during the parade--helped along by fistfuls of toys.
Elliott being dapper in his vest.
After the parade, we went back to Cheyenne's classroom for her Halloween party. It was a bit of a trick keeping a napless Rilla and a restless Elliott occupied while participating with Cheyenne, but we got through the hour!
This is Alex, who sits beside Cheyenne. He informed me he likes to get his picture taken, so here he is! Cheyenne and he are great friends-- after Mommy discouraged the use of the word "boyfriend"! I think it's so stupid that kids use that word at that age, so I always just corrected Cheyenne when she said that Alex was her boyfriend. I didn't want to make a big deal of it, so I just did it casually, and I haven't heard the horrible "B" word for a few weeks!

Cheyenne posing.

My three kids actually all playing together! The play food is enjoyed on so many levels--Elliott and Cheyenne actually pretend it's food, and Rilla likes chewing on it. Her favorites are the fried egg and the turkey drumstick-- with a chewy tomato for a healthy note!
Cheyenne in some elaborate store game some Saturday-- I am going to miss the great outdoors as we head into winter! They will still play in the snow, of course, but not like the full day marathons of the summer and fall!
Coy Grin Alert for Elliott at Mom and Dad's last weekend. He and Cheyenne spend HOURS looking at toy catalogs. At least in Elliott's case, he hasn't figured out they are actually toys he could buy--they're just great literature!


Marilla posing for Mommy. I decided to get some pictures of her on the day she turned eight months. I required a bit of work to get a background that didn't feature messy house, but she was a star photography model!

She is so pretty! (And doofy, as in the preceding picture!)

Later in the day, she gave me another photo-op. It was WAY too quiet under the table-- she had found a mini-Oreo from Elliott's Halloween stash. He must have dropped it at lunch! Anyway, here's the under-the-table world of a chocolate lover!