Halloween Fun

Our first Halloween event last week was the church Primary party. 

This year Abi wanted to be Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony Equestria Girls. 

Last time she was an Equestria Girl I had to sew almost the whole thing but this time I got a bit of a break. We found the skirt and white tee shirt at DI and I sewed the heart on the shirt and the balloons on the skirt using felt so it was really easy and only took a couple of hours. 

We bought her a pink wig and she wore the blue cardigan she already owned. Then instead of having to make boot covers she decided that she liked the outfit better with sneakers. Yay. 

She was very in character as we left the house. 

Maddy wanted to be Pikachu from Pokemon this year. 

After the original costume didn't work out, I remembered that my nephew had been Pikachu many years ago. I asked my sister in law Karen (who had made his costume) if they still had it and they did! So they let us borrow it. 

 

 Once we were at the church building, they staged us in the Primary room until they were ready. 

Each kid was given a pumpkin necklace and they got to go around doing activities to earn stamps. Once they had all their stamps they could turn them in for a bag of candy. 

Maddy was terrified of that kid in the wolf mask. 

This face is because she knocked them all down!

 

After seeing many kids licking the spoons and then putting them back in the frosting I told the girls they could decorate a graham cracker but they could NOT eat it. 

I was surprised they still wanted to do it. But I guess it's hard to turn down a chance to dump an entire pile of sprinkles out. 

 

They had a good time.

Pumpkin Carving

This year I got each of the girls a 97 cent carving kit from Walmart so they could do it themselves. 

This was the first time Maddy had attempted to do any carving and she was so excited. 

Abi went with a My Little Pony theme drawing on the face of Trixie and then carving out the eyes, horn, hair, and mouth. Then she asked me to carve Trixie in the bottom. 

Maddy went with all sorts of things. She did a ghost, a Shopkin character, a cat.... 

She drew all over the thing and then carved wherever she felt like. 

They both turned out really cute and they were very festive on our patio.

Madeline's big news!

For those of you not on Facebook or Instagram... 

At the beginning of the year Maddy's teacher and I talked about how she wasn't being challenged in Kindergarten. They were pretty much doing the things she had already learned in preschool with me. 

So then I talked to the principal about it. 

They had the school psychologist observe her for a few weeks and then they tested her on Kindergarten and first grade levels. 

Then they called me in. 

They said that if we moved her to the first grade she would be in the top 4% so it was kind of a no brainer to mover her up. 

We left it up to her though and she decided to do it. 

She was sad to leave all of her K friends but we promised we would still do what we could to make sure she still saw them. 

It took a few weeks for them to get all the paperwork done and then it was time for her to start. 

This was her last day of Kindergarten...

 

And her first day of First grade!

I wish they would have got in done sooner so she wasn't coming in halfway through the first term... but I am really glad that she was able to do this. 

She is having a lot of fun. 

It is crazy to have both girls in school full time!-

Random October

One rainy day we went to the park. 

Yeah, weird thing to do but the girls asked and I said sure. 

The leaves were gorgeous at the park that day. 

We were all getting wet but it was more of a sprinkling type of rain while we were there.

However, the slides were very wet and by the time we left, the girls were soaked. 

During fall break from school, the girls asked if we could go sleep over at my parent's house. 

We had so much fun. 

The next day we were passing the local flower shop that gives you a free flower if it says your name on the sign. And it said Maddy! We went in and they painted her flower blue for her. She was so excited. 

I had to capture this moment when I looked up from my book to see both girls reading as well.

The girls wouldn't let a little rain keep them from playing and crafting outside. 

Being the Princess in Black after reading the second book. 

An American Girl store opened up near us. It is just temporary unfortunately but we the girls really wanted to go to the grand opening. 

It was extremely crowded.

Later that day me and Abi went to see Hotel Transylvania 2 with my parents. Abi sat in for some photo ops. 

I captured so much of Maddy's personality in this little clip from the library.

Maddy has been a little obsessed with making masks. 

The girls had Reflections at their school this month. The theme was Let your imagination Soar or something like that. 

Abi painted a Hot Air Balloon. 

Maddy painted a mermaid that "dreamed of flying out of the ocean to live on an island".

Grandpa's birthday

My dad turned 70 this month! 

We got together at my sister's old house (she moved this month a couple weeks after this) to celebrate his big day!

Abi and Maddy loved being able to help him blow out his candles!

October Book Haul

October was a great month for books!

I didn't think I would end the month with such a big book haul!

First: Books for our daughters...

 

1) The Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party (book 2 in series) by Shannon Hale: 

We pre-ordered this book on Amazon as soon as it was available to do so. We were so excited when it got here and read it in one night!

         2) Beforever American Girl book:

We have two of these because they were giving them out at the grand opening of an American Girl store by us. Each girl got one and they were very happy about that.  

          3) Rainbow Rocks Panorama Sticker Book (My Little Pony):

Our daughter's school had a book fair the same week as parent teacher conference and this was Abi's choice. 

4) Snow Babies (it came with polar bear and penguin erasers which are not shown here)

This was Madeline's choice from the book fair. 

My books: 

 

               5) Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: 

I was anticipating this release like crazy because I love her Grisha trilogy. I pre-ordered it. 

               6) The Doldrums by Nicholas Gannon: 

This was the book I bought the night of the signing with Leigh Bardugo just because it is so pretty and the synopsis sounds great.  

                7) Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

I also picked this up the night of the book signing. I have wanted my pretty copy of this book for so long and this one is perfect. 

My last minute buys: 

I went to the library on Saturday afternoon and they were having a huge book sale. 25 cents per book!! They were pretty picked over and there were a lot I wasn't interested in at all but I took advantage of the sale by getting any books I had heard good things about from at least two people because I figured that if I didn't like it, it was only a quarter. 

The books I got: 

                   8) The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

                   9) Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson

                 10) For Elise by Sarah M. Eden

                 11) Becoming Lady Lockwood by Jennifer Moore 

                 12) The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Audio Books: 

I signed up for Audible this month and was able to get both of these books for free!

                  13) Dracula by Bram Stoker

                    and finally 14) Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Did you get any new books this month?