Halloween, Auntie Nae Visits and Halloween Parties

Cleoptra and Flaminco Dancer

Eden and best friends getting ready for the school parade

Lola and her big buddy at the parade

lola's Halloween party at school

The gang just before Jack O Lantern Jamboree at Children's Fairyland in Oakland

The Addam's family baby

The girls having a great time at Fairyland

Me and the kiddos (minus Lola who refused to take a pic with us) at fairyland

Nana and Eden at Fairyland

Eden and friends at the halloween party at Jordan's house

Lola and friend Eliza at the party

Eden and Jordan, friends since kindergarten

Roman's first trick or treat. We donated his candies to the Troops

A cool cauldron of dry ice...this was so cool!

The chunkster with his buddy Curious George that Auntie Nae sent him.

Auntie Nae and Roman meet at Auntie Michele and Bill's wedding reception in Clayton...he loves her instantly

Us girls. It's so good to see her, makes me miss her more!

Roman meets Aunt Michele

The girls and Auntie Nae. They were so happy to see her!

Halloween was chocked full of festivities! For us it's a month long event! There's parties, school field trips, harvest festivals, school parades, Jack o Lantern Jamborees and Oh yes, HALLOWEEN! This year we kept with every tradition.

We had a quick visit with Auntie Nae at Aunt Michele and Bill's wedding reception. It was so wonderful seeing her! Lola was so confused because she thought we were visiting Auntie Nae at her house in New York. She still doesn't get the distance thing. She kept saying well if she lives that close why don't we visit more often. Anyway, she just loves her so much and both girls remember her so well. Lola even invited Nae to her birthday party. We all agree we wish they lived much closer.

The girls had a Halloween parade the Friday before Halloween. It was great seeing all the different costumes. The girls dressed up as Cleopatra and a Flaminco Dancer. Lola and her "beau" eerily dressed the same. He was King Tut. We didn't even plan that one! I mean, how many boys are actually King Tut on Halloween. What a weird coincidence! The two looked so adorable together. I missed the photo op on that one, but his mom got a good one...perhaps I will get it and post it later.

Eden and Lola got to walk with their buddies. Eden is a big buddy who walked with her first grader buddy and Lola is a little buddy who walked with her 3rd grader buddy. They walk hand in hand...it's so sweet!

The next weekend we went to Children's Fairyland to the Jack O Lantern Jamboree. We always make it for this event. This year was no exception even with rain and cold. As always the girls had a blast and Roman got to experience his first Jamboree. It was fun spending time with Nana, too.

That same night the girls had a Halloween Party they were throwing with a friend from school, Jordan. The party was at her house. There were at least 25 kids! It was incredibly crazy and loud and I loved every minute of it. Jordan's mom said she'd much rather have a root canal and she would not do that again. I'm used to noise and parties and kids and I don't know why it doesn't bother me. But it was quite the event as moms at the school kept talking about it. Okay, I have to admit it was wild and a few kids got out and a kid puked, but isn't that what fun's all about?! The kids had a great time and that's really all that matters! Eden and Lola can't wait to throw another party next year. Even Lola's best friend Audrey from preschool came. They were so happy to see each other after months.

The next day was Halloween! Eden had ballet rehearsals for the upcoming Christmas show (she's a cookie and she's quite happy about that because she gets to do some acrobats!) and after we shopped a bit and bought some boots and jackets for the girls. We met with Nana for dinner at Sizzler's (YUM!) and then we met up with Jordan and her family for tricks or treats. We had a really fun time! Roman, who was dressed as the Addam's family baby, had his first Halloween and trick or treat. We decided to donate his candy to the Troops.

Later that evening we surprised the girls with a cauldron full of "witches brew," (dry ice with hot water)! They loved it!

Lola's School Field Trip to Clayton Pumpkin Patch

Lola had a field trip to the Clayton Valley Pumpkin Patch in October. We had the best time together. I very rarely get to take time out during the week to be a part of a field trip but Enrique took the day off to help watch Roman so I could volunteer to drive and be a part of Lola's very first field trip. It was such a special time. She really had a fun time with her friends and she enjoyed the one on one time we shared. At the end of the program we all got to pick a pumpkin. Lola was absolute last to find on...she was so picky about it. It had to be perfect she kept saying. She finally found one and bragged about it...mine is a princess she said. It will have eye lashes and all she kept saying.
I love looking back at these pics. Lola has such an infectious smile...you can see she was having the time of her life! She's so precious sometimes. It was adorable spending time with her and her friends. The things they talked about on the ride there was priceless! Lola kept talking about this boy in class she is very very fond of...Caius. You'll see his pics in the next couple of blog posts! We hear about him ALL the TIME! It's so sweet. Oh I have to add this, but Lola is very popular. She's got a ton of friends. All the girls from the other class wanted to sit next to her. As a matter of fact, they were getting in trouble because they all wanted to sit next to her. This is so interesting to me. I guess she's just got a great friend personality or she's very outgoing...the moms there were talking about how Lola's name comes up all the time and kids always look forward to going to school to be with her and play. That was nice to hear. Social Bug!

Halloween and Harvest Festivities

Roman at the Ardenwood Harvest Festival

Lola finds her Pumpkin

And so does Eden

Look how they've grown!

Roman gets in on the tradition, too.

Our Little "pumpkin" resting on a pumpkin

Nana takes us all to the Lemo's Farm for Halloween  fun at Half Moon Bay

Leave it to my kids to take a plunge down the slide!

Roman makes a couple of friends :)

Happy girls just waiting for a ride on the pony's

Lola loves the pony rides...can you tell?

Eden does too. She rarely gets to ride because she

 is too big...we fibbed a little on her weight...hey, she's only 8!

Lola flying down the slide at another patch

My cute pumpkins

Look, it's the girls with mom at the corn fields

Lola picks corn at Ardenwood

We had thee best time ever in October! There is always so much to do. It is always so much fun because we do tradtional things and we always look forward to it and the girls remember every moment of it. We started our October with a Harvest festival at Ardenwood. We harvest corn, then take some home to dry and make popcorn throughout the year. We also pick colorful Indian corn that we use to decorate with at Thanksgiving time and this year the girls decided to pick the kernels off and make crafts with them...very crafty!
Roman was having a good time, too. He slept most of the time, but when he woke he really enjoyed watching whatever the girls did and he enjoyed looking at the animals on the farm. I can't believe how alert this little guy really is. No mushy baby here. He's got to take it all in.

Nana treated us all to a fun time at Half Moon bay the second weekend in October. We had a blast! The drive there wasn't so bad (well, there was a bit of motion sickness, but no lost tummy contents...whew!) and we stayed all day enjoying all the farm had to offer...pony rides, big slides that my girls jumped down instead of slid, pumpkin pie (our favorite!), bouncies, and pumpkins. It was so fun! Looking forward to it again next year. The girls wanted to go to a Pumpkin Patch down the road from the farm and they had fun getting on rides and more gigantic slides. We ended the day with a lovely dinner at Maverick's in Half Moon Bay. We enjoyed great food, conversation,  and laughter...what a fantastic way to end the day!