Halloween: Ladybug edition

Leah made an adorable ladybug this year for Halloween. My mom even sent her the ladybug dress she's wearing in the pictures, and Logan's mom gave her the costume to wear for Halloween. She looked cute in both.




Last night we went to a church Halloween party where Leah and I were matching ladybugs. She didn't want to wear her headband, so I put them on instead.

Then today we went to Logan's work and trick-or-treated to the different desks at the Daily Herald. Everyone commented how cute she was, and I would have to agree. She was nervous at first when strangers approached her with candy (she still has stranger danger). But when she saw all the colorful wrappers in the bowls, she just couldn't resist. We got to enjoy the candy since she'll too small to chew them.

Tonight she also enjoyed opening the door to the kids treat-or-treating at our house. She would wave bye-bye when they were leaving, usually after we closed the door. And after she got out of the bath tub our door bell rang, and she wanted to come see who it was. Logan had to rein her in since she was still naked and wet. Overall, our little ladybug had a fun Halloween.

Happy Halloween: Pumpkin Edition

(Disclaimer: no one was harmed in the carving of pumpkins. The people in the pictures are professional actors. Okay, so not professional but they were acting.)

Since you've already seen Leah's costume, I will let you know what else we've been doing to celebrate Halloween. Last Saturday, we had a knife party, I mean a carving pumpkin party with Logan's brother and his wife along with another couple from church. Logan made pumpkin pie and also helped me make my favorite fall beverage besides hot chocolate, hot apple wassail. This recipe comes straight from my mom's kitchen where she made it every fall and winter while I was growing up (even if it didn't get all that cold in Texas). Our friends from church brought some dirt and worms from their house for dessert as well (it was actually Oreo cookies and ice cream mixed together with some gummy worms).

Here's the recipe for wassail if any of you are interested in trying it out:

Ingredients: 2 quarts of apple juice or cider, 2 Tablespoons whole cloves, 7-8 whole cinnamon sticks, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water, 3 oranges or orange juice.

Instructions: Mix sugar and water in a small sauce pan. Dissolve the sugar and boil. Add the cloves and cinnamon sticks. Boil for 7 or 8 mins with lid on. Strain out the cloves and cinnamon sticks (set out to dry and reuse). Put this liquid in a large pan, and add the 2 quarts of apple juice. Add fresh juice from 2 squeezed oranges or add orange juice. Cut the third orange in slices without the peel and add for garnish. Cook until hot and ready.

After we all figured out what we wanted to carve, we set out to work on our pumpkins. The hardest part I had forgotten about was scraping out the insides and trying to get all that spaghetti-like stuff to detach from the pumpkin. My arm got a workout during the process.

And as you can see Logan's pumpkin is a skull with some flames coming off of it, which he thoroughly enjoyed carving. And mine displays a cat with a waning moon. Logan added that he thinks everyone should get Halloween off of work. And I have to show both of Braden and Haley's pumpkins because they were so funny and creative. Braden's is the face (sketched of his own face) and Haley's is the spider of the lower left hand corner. If you can't already tell, we had a blast.

Halloween costume and snow

A couple of weeks ago Leah got dressed up in her Halloween costume for a birthday party, and I just have to post the picture even though it's not Halloween yet. Logan's cousin Natalie had a birthday party for her son whose birthday is just a month and a half after Leah's, and it's on my brother Drew's birthday so I can remember from now on. At the party, I tried to get her to wear her headband but she kept taking it off. Oh well, she's still a little young to know what it's for. She didn't mind wearing the rest of the outfit and looked pretty cute, I might add. Logan and I both agreed that she looks so grown up in her costume.

I also wanted to show pictures of the snow we received just this past weekend. We were watching BYU give a beating to Eastern Washington, and the snow started coming down in a flurry. By the time we woke up the next morning, it had stuck to the ground and covered the tops of most of everything outside. The sad part was the sun came out that afternoon and melted almost all of it. But at least we could enjoy it that morning and it didn't stay and freeze on the ground.