our little clown

We dressed our baby girl up as a crazy little clown tonight for some trick-or-treating fun in our neighborhood! (And, oh yeh, I totally ratted her hair up and sprayed it with some of that temporary hair color... so cute!)

We took her into the bathroom to see herself in the mirror and she thought it was pretty funny.

I'm a big dork so I put on a few silly things to join her.

And Emma and Kim came over and went trick-or-treating with us. Emma was a precious little tooth fairy!

I was so impressed with how Audrie seemed to understand the concept... she just marched up to each door like she knew exactly what was going on. She stuck out her little pumpkin bucket to get candy, said thank you and bye bye! Off we'd go to the next house!

So I was testing the light on my camera before we got started and it was really over exposed and somehow I got this creepy looking picture... (kind of looks like she might star in the next Batman movie!)

Anyways, it was a really cute night out in our neighborhood with our adorable clown. And just in case you were wondering... we gave her a bath later and all the dye and face paint came off just fine! :)

jack-o-lantern party

We had our 2nd annual Pumpkin Carving Party and had so much fun with everyone. Cooked tons of food and thankfully had Audrie there to taste test everything that came out of the oven...

We had lots of babies at the party (and we let their parents come, too). Here is the adorable William showing off his cute boo shirt!

I'm pretty sure Owen did not want me to take his photo...! :)

Ben was happy in his sweet ride...

And we were so glad Brett made an appearance since he's still recovering from his surgery. But, oh, such a sweet baby!

And little Nathan was so nice to show Audrie exactly how to get the food off the table...

And I guess John is showing Audrie here how to use a carving knife...

I actually joined the carving fun this year and decided to give it a shot.

But you gotta love a girl who can carve pumpkins in heels!!

Sam was so nice to clean out everyones pumpkin seeds and roasted them for us! (and it seems Audrie is like the Where's Waldo in every photo...)

Dave was so focused on his design- he was in his own little carving world for awhile. :)

But he finally rejoined the crowd after he finished his masterpiece.

It was a tough competition but I think we all agreed that Brandon and Erin had the most creative carving skills this year! (Their cannibal jack-o-lantern is eating a poor little helpless pumpkin...)

All the designs turned out great though! Here is Dave's haunted house- so cool!

And John's creepy grim reaper.

Jamie's wicked witch (complete with a wart on her nose).

And my Trick or Treat turned out pretty dang good, if I say so myself!

But the cannibal pumpkin was just amazing!

We were a little tired after everyone left, but well worth it all!

We had such a great time and now have some cool jack-o-lanterns on our porch for trick or treaters this weekend!

weekend in the woods

This past weekend the girls in my family got together for our annual retreat. We spend two days in a cabin and it's always so wonderful! No technology, no stress... just hanging out in the fresh air and catching up on our lives.

When we first arrived Audrie spent a long time playing in a huge pile of leaves! The sunshine and fall weather were perfect.

My niece, Emily, taught her how to throw the leaves everywhere.

Of course I had to join in the fun, too! (Thanks Emily for being on the other side of the camera for me!)

Where we stayed is SO beautiful. Here is my mom taking a walk with my nieces, Emma and Kara (with her purple parasol!).

Audrie started on the walk but quickly got distracted by an adorable fuzzy caterpillar.

And we ate alot of food, too!

And to work off the calories we took turns racing Audrie around the huge porch.

(Again, thanks to Emily for stealing my camera to get some adorable photos.)

My mom and a few of her granddaughters...

We went on a hay ride. Which I was pretty excited about. (I don't think I've ever been on a hay ride.)

We had a huge bonfire and roasted marshmallows and sang songs.

Roasting the perfectly golden brown marshmallows is quite a science. :)

Audrie stuffed her little cheeks full of smores!

And she actually did a really good job of being safe around the fire. I was nervous at first but she kept her distance.

On the ride back we sang more songs (mostly led by Kara and Emma)! I was so proud of how my nieces played so well with Audrie- letting her tag along all night with them. They are so sweet with her. Emma even taught us a new acting game that is hilarious. We stayed up way too late, but it was really fun to spend so much quality time with these girls.

We posed for a "morning after... looking pretty rough" photo the next morning. (I was foolish in thinking that Audrie would be so cute and cuddly sharing a bed with me... but I didn't get any sleep with her feet or rear in my face all night. She tosses and turns so much!)

But I really had a great time and hope more of my sisters and nieces will be able to come next year. And, who knows, I might be adding one more niece to the group too??