Happy Spooky Day!

Scenes from the day. . .

Leia in her school’s Halloween parade. She’s a character from Fortnight (I have no idea which one . . .) 

Leanne is a leopard in a tutu. She wore the costume to school 

but the makeup (it’s stickers!) was only for tonight.

Jac flat refused to put on her costume (no nap = cranky baby) but we talked her into sitting in the wagon and “going for a walk.”

It only took Leanne coming back from one house with candy to get Jac out of the wagon and into the spirit of things. Unfortunately, she fell a few houses later and that was the end of trick or treating for her.

No costume for Mr. D but isn’t he cute??

Mom posted a costume pic. He’s adorable!

And from Colorado, our not-so-little-anymore Phoenix Addy. 

Doesn’t she look amazing??!  

Less than 1/3 of the houses in our neighborhood were handing out candy this year; it used to be a big deal around here. Have to say I’m sad to see this tradition going away. 

Pre-Halloween Fun

Halloween is mid-week this year, so some of us started celebrating on the weekend. Matt and Mary pick a theme each year and Mary makes their costumes.

Can you tell what this year’s theme is? 

Donovan Dobby the House Elf is one of the cutest things she’s done but Matt as Hagrid makes me laugh out loud. 

Leia and her friend were too busy bowling with pumpkins to have their photo taken with the family,

although Leia managed to steal borrow daddy’s costume later on (and looks darn good in it.)

Leanne built the bat globes Pop found on sale a few weeks ago.

I’m not usually a Märtha Stewart fan, but these were well thought out, construction-wise, and darn cute. Not sure how we can save them for next year but I’m going to try.

Jackie painted more pumpkin pictures 

this time with q-tips (brushes are so last week!)

And Leanne (with her mom’s help) created this awesome half-zombie pumpkin. It’s based on the book “Dawn of the Dead” by Catherine Hapka. The zombie half has a blood-shot eye, in addition to green skin and sparse hair. Leanne sculpted the nose (she told a vivid tale of how she got the holes in there . . . .), while her mom made the lips. I think it’s amazing! 

We’ll also be saving this guy for next year’s decorations!

Concentration

Leia and I worked on Halloween craft projects today,

so of course Jac had to get involved as soon as she got up from her nap.

I offered her crayons first but that was a big “no, no, no”!

She wanted to paint like Leia. 

I was surprised by her concentration,

how careful she was with the paint (no spills!)

and her perseverance - she painted for well over an hour.

Pretty amazing for a two-year-old. And yes, I am a very proud and very biased grandma. 

Sissy is not going to be pleased that Jac used up all the paint leftover from Leanne’s pumpkin project. But that means we get to go craft shopping again!

Now we just need to teach Jac how to write her name, cause these will be worth a fortune some day. Right?? Lol 

Haloweeeeeen!

Halloween is one of my very favorite holidays, second only to Christmas, and we decorate for it almost as much as we do for Santa’s big day.

This year I made a quilted wall-hanging to add to our collection, inspired by one I saw in an online quilting group. 

The skull is from VampqueensVault on Etsy shop (she has gorgeous stuff!) and all the fabric is from my stash. I do love buying stockpiling Halloween fabric.

I couldn’t make up my mind when it came time to buy the skull patch soooooo . . . I bought two. This one is from Plum9Studio and it’s going to hang out (ha!) at Shelly and Gary’s house.

I’m keeping the top quilt for myself. I think. Mary loves Halloween as much more than I do so maybe it should go to her? But then I’d have to go shopping for another skull. Decisions, decisions. . . 

Personality Plus

I love one-on-one time with the baby grands. Today was Jackie’s turn, until Sissy got out of school at 2. 

Jac’s become Little Miss Personality. If I ask her to look at the camera, she instantly makes a silly face.

 Mmmmmm, tastes like chicken. 

She has opinions and is stubborn isn’t afraid to stand her ground, despite what we might want. She’s silly and happy and talkative (we don’t always understand her; there’s a lot of “can you show me??” involved.)

She’s learning so much. Everyday she surprises us with something new; new words, more complex sentences, better coordination.

She love puzzles; music (current favorite is the Baby Shark song, replacing Wheels On The Bus in the #1 spot); and “kitty movies” aka Simon’s Cat videos on YouTube.

She also loves playing with Sissy and cousin Leia, and most of the time she likes baby Donovan (she’s not crazy about sharing Grandma’s lap with him).

She’s a doll and a handful and a joy. Can’t wait to see how she changes and grows in the coming months.  

Pumpkin Success

Remember the volunteer pumpkin plant? (The story is here.)

Our final tally is 3 cute little pumpkins! 

The original, biggest one is nice despite the bug bite;

this one has a nice shape,

but this one - that grew in midair - is my favorite.

I would have been happy with just one pumpkin but I’m thrilled to have one for each of the grand-girls. Let the fighting over whose is whose decorating begin!

Hockey Tradition

Today was our annual Kings game to celebrate Thomas’ birthday.

Gary’s family are die-hard LA Kings fans; 

they watch every game and try to attend in person a couple of times a year. 

But for Thomas’ big day, for the third year in a row, 

we go all out and get our own private suite well above the ice. So much fun!

It would have been even more fun if the Kings had won . . .  but we can’t have everything, I guess. 

Happy birthday, Thomas! Let’s do this again next year, ok?