Carving Pumpkins

Tonight we carved pumpkins!  Reese did amazing at scooping out the seeds and guts.

Then she drew the faces and I carved them out.

Pretty much the cutest pumpkins I have ever seen!

Then we went inside to watch The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on my bed (our living room dvd player is on the fritz) and eat caramel and cheesy popcorn. Thanks to Amy for letting us borrow the movie! Before bed we read "The Teeth Book" with all of our favorite scary stories.  It was a fun Halloween Eve night!

Pumpkins: Past and Present

2009

2011

2012

Holy!

Financial crisis averted!  Apparently, the complete breakdown I had in the HR office a couple weeks ago was what it took for the Museum to apply the financial increase that should have come along with my title change a couple months ago.  I am having a hard time believing that it really happened!  Also, my amazing lawyer was able to renegotiate and help me out there.  This is a good reminder that the universe is watching out for me and that everything will be okay.  Maybe I should work on my trust issues.  Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers over the past couple weeks!

Pumpkin Patch at the DBG

Amy and I have taken her girls to the Pumpkin Patch at the Desert Botanical Gardens the past two years.  This year it was fun for the whole gang to come, even two week old Victoria and Matt!

The Wazny Family

The Powers Family

Hayride

Pumpkins

Enchanted Island for Mia's Birthday

Keith is a friend from work, who has a daughter that is just turning three this month.  He invited Reese and I to her birthday party at Encanto Park's Enchanted Island, a permanent home for some old carnival rides.  Reese has been looking forward to this party all week and talking about it nonstop.  She was fearless and had a blast!

Bumper Boats!

Airplanes!

Face painting!

Mia's grandmother made her a Cinderella pinata.  Here is the birthday girl with her first swing.

Reese was second up and she decapitated poor Cinderella.

Merry-Go-Round!  (that went really fast)

Train Ride!  I love Mia's face here!

It was so nice of Keith and his wife, Maria, to invite Reese and I today with their friends and family.  Reese really had a wonderful day and I'm so glad she was able to experience Enchanted Island and make some new friends!

Dresses

This morning Reese and I did something that we have never done before: we went clothes shopping on purpose and didn't go straight to the sales rack!  With our adoption coming up this week, I wanted us to have new dresses so that we felt pretty on our special day.  Of course, Reese wanted a dress with sparkles and glitter.  She also picked the color of my dress and told me that she didn't like me shoes because they weren't pretty enough.  Needless to say, we have very different senses of style.  We went to the dressing room and tried on our dresses where Reese danced and posed in the mirror. 

 

Confession: I was not as carefree as I wish I could be.  I knew that dresses at Old Navy were 30% off.  This is a big day for us, but this girl still has a budget to maintain.

Halloween Costume Parade Day

Friday was Halloween Costume Parade Day at Reese's preschool! 

There is nothing better than dropping off your preschooler at the playground on Halloween Costume Parade Day.  Thanks to Amy, Reese had a Jessie costume that fit her perfectly.  Had it been up to me, Reese probably would have gone to school with a chip clip holding up her pants.

We got her costume on that morning and I called "Reese time to brush your teeth!"  To which Reese responded "My name isn't Reese, it's Jessie!"

Reese's class in their costumes

The students paraded around, collected candy, made witch hat cookies and had a great day!

They even made green slime!

Reese Quote

Last night we were talking to my dad during dinner.  He had just returned home from boxing where he did two pull-ups.  As he is proudly telling Reese and I about it, Reese said "Was Sophia there?"  He said no, not really thinking much about it.  When he finished, Reese said "If Sophia wasn't there, whose poopy pull-ups did you change?"

One Week

In one week, our little family will become official.

Throwback Thursday

How is this little girl going to turn four in a few short months?

Somewhere, Out There

I'm missing this one today.

Dance Class Recital

Reese has been attending classes at Washington Activity Center where she takes ballet and tap with Miss Nikki.  This week was the last week of class so it was called their recital and parents were invited to watch.  Lani came with us which was wonderful because she took all the pictures so that I could just beam at Reese the entire time. 

First position!

I love everything about this picture.  Look at Charlotte!

 

Tap shoes!

She said "This is my favorite part!"

Shuffle step

Look at that concentration!

Partners for their dance

Finally, I feel like we found the right fit for a dance classes!  We will be taking the next session off because we have a number of visitors lined up over the next couple months.  I hope to start classes again after the new year.

Halloween Craft Night

Last night was Halloween Craft Night at our house!  We colored and cut out masks which we both wore for longer than I would like to admit.

We also made a string of ghosts out of felt. 

I cut them out and Reese drew most of the faces.