Halloween

I don't really know what my draw to Halloween is, but I feel so motivated every year to make sure that it is a super fun and memorable day for the kids...even though we've moved several times over Halloween season. This year we had all sorts of puzzles, word searches and mazes to do during school time, masks and pumpkins to decorate and ring the glow-stick on the pumpkin to play.

We also had a special lunch of Kiwi Monsters, Mummies and Skull Juice (kool-aid with dry-ice).

Because we were moving and I wasn't feeling up to sewing anything, we bought used costumes this year. Ruthie the witch with her spider face paint.

Claire the fairy with her face paint and home-made hair clippy-doo.

And Wolverine William with homemade claws. Halloween night we went to the Parker's house to have a lovely meal (with Brian's family as well) and send the kids off trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. The kids got the most candy I've ever seen while the men answered the door for trick-or-treaters and the ladies did gel nails.

Moving to Albuquerque

 We moved into Albuquerque this week. Before doing that Ruth had one last play date (and got to ride a horse!) and the kids had their final soccer games. There are a few things we'll miss about Edgewood, but we are so excited to not deal with dusty dirt roads and 30+ minute commutes. Our new home is in the middle of town only minutes from Brad's work and all our homeschooling activities as well as the library, pool and parks. Our house also has a huge backyard and all the neighbors are old (quiet) so this is the best of both worlds!

Fall Activities and Fruit on a Stick

 This is Claire on a day out to work with Daddy. And this is William loving his hand-me-down blazer.

Good looking children we found searching for frogs at the botanical gardens.

 Last week my sweet friend, Carla, took the kids all day long. She took them to Geography club in town and then took them to the library where they were carving pumpkins. It was such a wonderful and needed break.

 I ran the "Ditch Witch, La Llarona" 5k on the Bosque. It was a really rough trail that felt like running on a beach, so my time was not great, 42:15. I was disappointed with that, but glad I had the time to run this race and am looking forward to the Blacklight run in November.

In the last seven days we have made two treats on a stick. The first was "caramel apples" and tonight the girls and I made fruit kebabs drizzled in chocolate, vanilla chips and salted caramel chips YUM! 

Pumpkin Patch

 Somehow we managed to leave McCall's without pictures of the kids in the pumpkin patch or on the hay ride. But we have all been itching to come visit this place since we moved here. The couple times we've driven to Moriarty we'd pass by the big "Somethin' or Another" Fort and the kids have really wanted to check it out. We finally got to!

Balloon Fiesta!

 Matthew came back to town to pick up the Camry and drive it home. And his timing happened to overlap with the famous Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. So Wednesday morning we woke up at 4:30 and drove up to the festival. Our toes were numb and Claire was really cranky the whole time, but it was so magical! We loved seeing all the balloons glowing in the dark and then later see hundreds of huge balloons all around us filling up and taking off. It was so fun to experience!

Happy Weekend: shooting and games

This is definitely one thing we'll miss about moving into town, we won't be able to step outside and shoot the BB guns!