Aunt Lizzie

We have been lucky to have so many visitors these last few months! Pete's sister Liz was the most recent. She stayed for a week and was here over Halloween, which ended up being a very fun time to be here. The kids love their aunt Lizzie!

We started off the weekend by getting pumpkins at a farm a couple miles away.





Our pumpkin!


Lizzie had her birthday the day before she came out here, so we threw her a mini birthday party. The kids decided it would be fun to make a pinata shaped like a pumpkin. We tried our best but didn't have any orange tissue paper. Ha!




Lizzie was the last to try and it took about 50 swings to break that thing. Ha! And we were wondering if we should have added another layer of paper. The pinata was filled with snacks: crackers, nuts, craisins, pretzels... we knew we were going to have handfuls of treats right around the corner.

Then we had apple crisp for the birthday dessert. Yum!


On to Halloween! We spent the morning carving pumpkins.


Liz planned a little treasure hunt for the kids (since they were pirates!) The were first led to different clues inside the house until they found the treasure map. Then they had to follow the map outside where it finally brought them to a spot on the ground marked with an X. Then the digging began! It was seriously so cute. They dug up a box filled with little treasures: pop, toys, and glow sticks.



After dinner the kids and Pete and I headed for the trick-or-treating. Wow, I've never lived in a neighborhood that is so hopping on Halloween night! For the first hour there was a nonstop flow of kids. A little overwhelming, I'll be honest, but fun nonetheless. Liz was nice and stayed behind to pass out candy. As you can see, Dan didn't want to wear his costume. He started out with the vest and belt, but by the end didn't want to wear those either. Oh well. One neighbor opened the door and was looking at Dan and said, "Oh! What a great costume!" I'm pretty sure he was serious, and I was a little confused.


The final pumpkins!

Pete's


Dan's


John's


Lizzie's

The huge pumpkin that Pete carved was made into 10 large jars of pumpkin puree the next day. Can't wait to try all of those pumpkin recipes out there!


We took the kids to the Children's Garden at Matthai Botanical Gardens. We had gone there with my mom and brother, it's seriously one of my favorite places. The kids can just play with sticks, rocks, dirt and sand. And they love every minute.



We love you Liz! Thanks for visiting us!