Halloween Chills

Pumpkins. Parades. And premature snow. Our Halloween was full of fun, despite the surprisingly cold weather.

This year, Morgan went through lots of ideas for costumes -- a puppy, a crayon, a butterfly -- before finally settling on Cinderella. Meanwhile, Gwen was hooked on being Elmo the second we put the costume on her for the first time. (With temperatures in the upper 30's on Halloween night, Gwen's muppet fur coat ended up being a cozy choice.)

On Sunday morning, the girls ate an early "treat" of Halloween doughnuts before heading to the kitchen learn the "trick" of carving jack-o-lanterns. Morgan was a big help getting all the seeds out of her pumpkin and putting them in a big bowl. Gwen just liked squishing the pumpkin goop after Morgan put it in the bowl.

With a little help from Mom (okay, a lot of help), the pumpkins were transformed into Elmo and Grover from Sesame Street. (Spooky AND educational!)

On Monday, the girls' school held its annual "Harvest" parade. Cinderella Morgan smiled from ear to ear like a proud princess as she led her Preschool class around the parade route.

Gwen also loved the parade. While some of the kids in her Toddler class had to be carried through the parade route, Gwen strutted her stuff like she was the Grand Marshall. She smiled and waved to everyone. She only stopped once -- so she could give hugs to Mom and Dad. After the parade, Gwen was heartbroken when her teacher took her Elmo costume off. (Don't worry, Gwen, there's more Halloween fun yet to come.)

On Halloween night, we made the trip over to Medford, NJ to go trick or treating with Katie and Andrew in their Halloween-crazy neighborhood. In just over two hours, Morgan and Gwen had filled their baskets with enough candy to last them through Christmas.

Morgan was a trick-or-treating pro this year, quickly scurrying from house to house with the "big kids". Gwen was too young to remember her first Halloween last year. But it didn't take her long to realize that if she walks to the door and smiles, she got to take free candy. For the record, Gwen's candy of choice was Whoppers. (She loves her milk -- doesn't matter if it's plain or malted, apparently.)

By 7:00, Gwen had had her fill of Halloween fun and was ready to trade her bag of candy for a bottle of milk. A little while later, Cinderella Morgan's clock struck 12 (okay, it was more like 7:30). Another fun Halloween was in the books.

Picking, Raking and Bobbing

Two weekends ago, we took the girls out for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. It ended up being just the start of a full day of fall fun.

While the Ariella and the girls waited for the hay ride to arrive, Morgan and Gwen took turns modeling as farmers and butterflies, and then checked out the chicken coop.

Finally, they were off to the pumpkin patch. Gwen tried running on the rough terrain, but eventually decided she would rather be carried. That meant Morgan had to carry her pumpkin all the way back to the farm. (Let's see those muscles, Morgan.)

Later that afternoon, Morgan wanted to show Gwen how much fun it is to rake and jump in a pile of leaves. Morgan had a blast running, dancing and throwing the colorful leaves in the air. Gwen didn't quite understand what the big deal was, but agreed to pose for a couple photos anyway.

Morgan says, "Look, Mom, if we lie here in the leaves and I point at the sky, we'll look like a photo in a J. Crew catalog."

Morgan has been asking us for weeks to bob for apples. We forgot to do it while our friends were here for our Columbus Day party, so we bobbed with just the four of us instead. (Andy even agreed to sacrifice a couple of his beloved Honey Crisp apples for the cause.)

5th Annual Columbus Day Picnic

In five years, our Columbus Day weekend picnic has grown from a relatively small get-together of college friends into a big family event. This year, we had more kids at our party (13) than we had grown-ups at our first party.

All in all, this year's head count reached 27 people, ranging from 5-month old Gianna Carapazza to some guy who was hobbling around at the ripe old age of 39 years/5 months (hmm... wonder who that could be?). Thank you to the Bonsteels, Carapazzas, Chiaverinis, Colettis, Frickes and Garbulinskis for making this year's party bigger and better than ever.

Once again, the Fall weather in South Jersey was perfect this year, which meant that everyone could enjoy their appetizers and beverages outside. Gwen was digging the meatballs.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Morgan, Katie, Andrew, Annie and Marissa showed off their cupcake decorating skills. Candy corn, gummi worms and candy bones and bugs make for tasty Halloween treats.

Having more "big kids" (7-9 years) at the party this year was really fun for the "little kids". Lucas couldn't wait to get his hands on John's big-kid Star Wars Legos.

Who are we kidding? Everybody couldn't wait to get their hands on John's big-kid Star Wars Legos.

So it only makes sense that John, Mikey and Cooper couldn't wait to get their hands on Gwen's little-kid car.

Annie (9) and Marissa (8) impressed Cooper and Morgan by building a rocket, while Gwen had fun with her old pal Katie (8)... those two go way back (like, almost 15 months).

Gwen also got to experience the feeling of being a "big kid", too, compared to little Gianna. She stood by her stroller and yelled "Baby! Baby!" Luckily, Gianna is a really good sleeper.

Getting 13 kids to pose for a photo together is easier said than done -- especially after a long, fun afternoon.

Soon, it was time for everyone to put on their pj's for the ride home. Another Columbus Day picnic is in the books. Hope everyone can make it again next year.