Happy Halloween 2017!

Halloween this year was a success! The weather has been beautiful, so there were no jackets necessary. We had a series of Halloween parties the weekend before the big day. First up was the Fall Festival at Bala House Montessori. 

Here's Lauren with her friend Tegan and Julia - the pink and purple crew. 

Then we headed to the Philadelphia Girls Choir Halloween party, where Sophie arrived as a vampire bride.

The vampire bride. Lauren was scared to look at her.

And then that evening Dave and I headed to the neighbor's party that had a Circus Freak theme. 

The Circus Freaks. Parasidic twin and he/she. We totally freaked out the kids. 

On Halloween Sophie's school had their annual Halloween parade. I went and watched the kids march around the athletic field and then went to the classroom for a party. Here she is with her whole 2nd grade class and Mrs. Murphy, the minion. 

And then the actual evening of Halloween. Sophie went as the vampire bride again and Lauren decided to go in her Halloween dress. The scare crew above. 

With the neighbors before trick-or-treating - Davis, Parker, Maya, Lauren, Emma and Sophie. 

Halloween 2016

Another successful Halloween in the books! 

The girls got to dress up twice. Once for the Union League Halloween party where they both were superheroes - Sophie was Wonder Woman and Lauren was Super Girl. 

The party duo

And then dressed up again for actual Halloween. Sophie remained Wonder Woman, but Lauren decided to go as a purple princess.

As you can see from this picture, Dave decided to go all out for Halloween again - fog machine, black light, and all. Too bad we didn't have very many trick-or-treaters. More candy for the girls I guess. 

Earlier in the day we went to Sophie's school, where they celebrate Halloween big time (with a half day of school... seriously). Here's Soph in her classroom. The Queen of Hearts behind her is her teacher, Ms. Henry, who apparently also goes all out for Halloween. 

Pumpkin Picking

We took our annual trip to Milky Way Farm to pick out pumpkins. Unfortunately we went on a dreary, rainy day, but it was still fun - especially eating the home made ice cream after doing the picking!

The girls making their selection. 

This looks like a good Christmas card contender to me! 

Halloween 2015

What an amazing October! The weather has been really beautiful - in the 70s many of the days. We've been trying to spend as much time as possible outside, knowing that it won't last long! 

We hit the pumpkin patch at Milky Way Farm in Chester County. We had a hard time narrowing down the pumpkins we were going to take home, but we finally settled on 5 to carve, and many, many mini ones for around the house. 

The finished products. 

Lauren (Sophia the First), Sophie (a Cheetah), and Ariana (a cupcake)

Halloween 2014

This year the girls were none other than Elsa and Anna from Frozen. Sophie desperately wanted to be Elsa, and poor Lauren was Anna be default. They were not alone. It seemed as if every 3rd little girl we passed was one of the two. The Thursday before Halloween we went to Narberth, the town next to ours, and walked in their Halloween parade. It was very cute. Here the girls are before the big trek...

And the on Halloween we went back to our old neighborhood and met up with some neighbors, including Claire Nestler, the bumblebee...

And of course Claire Marvin, another Elsa. Claire and Sophie had slightly different takes on Elsas hair... 

Happy Halloween!

We had a beautiful Halloween in Philly. Nice and warm and lots and lots of kids. Sophie of course went trick or treating with Claire, who was Ariel. They made out like bandits... now we just need to discreetly lose most of the candy.

The infamous duo

On Sunday there was a Halloween parade in the neighborhood. The kids paraded up a few of the streets, where neighbors went all out with cupcakes, candy and ice cream. It was a sugar free-for-all.

Claire (Ariel), Liora (a flapper), Sophie (purple princess), Ilan (clown), Emma (crab)

And Lauren went as a Cabbage Patch kid. She didn't love the wig, but tolerated it long enough to get a few good pictures. 

Pumpkin Picking

When we were down in Virginia did some pumpkin picking and carving. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, hot even. We went to a picturesque pumpkin patch in Crozet, where we had our pick of the pumpkins.

The girls cheesing it up

Sophie's pick

Lauren and Brittany

Mom, the expert pumpkin gutter

And the final products. 

Halloween!

Yesterday we went trick or treating in our neighborhood with Claire. Sophie the bumble bee had a blast - and ate lots, and lots of candy. We enjoyed a sugar high, and then the inevitable crash. But it was worth it. 

Our Jack-O-Lantern

We finally got around to carving one of the pumpkins we picked last weekend. This was a first for us. I think it turned out pretty well...

Sophie helping Dave empty the pumpkin. Yes, we saved the seeds and toasted them later. 

An eye!

And the final product! Our pumpkin has just one tooth in the front, Sophie has all but two teeth in the front. We thought they complimented each other well :)

Pumpkin Picking

This weekend we headed out to farm country to do some pumpkin picking with Claire and her family.

 The girls waiting to take a hayride out to the pumpkin patch

 They had some farm animals the kids could pet. This goat took a liking to Soph.

 This one might be a little big...

 Sophie crashed the photo shoot with Claire's little sister, Emma. Claire wouldn't sit down, but Sophie was more than happy to. 

This size is a little more appropriate. 

And for a preview of Sophie's Halloween costume this year, you can check out her Flight of the Bumblebee video on our YouTube channel. 

Halloween

Sorry for the delay in getting these pictures up. We had a great Halloween with a whole weekend of activities. On Saturday we went to a Halloween party at the Union League and Sophie the butterfly had a great time!

 Her and Dave under one of the huge blow-up decorations

 They had a DJ and all fo the kids were on the floor doing different dances. Sophie wasn't entirely sure about what was going on, but had fun anyway.

Then she decided to get in the middle of the circle for the Hokie Pokie. Not a wall flower this one.

Unfortunately the pictures I took on actual Halloween were accidentally deleted :( We did get some video though, so will try and upload that soon to the YouTube Channel. We went trick or treating on our block and two others and after a few houses Sophie got the idea of what it was all about pretty quickly. Although we got her to say "trick or treat" inside our house, she wouldn't say it when we knocked on people's doors. She also wanted the instant gratification of eating the candy right away, so we came home with a lot of candy bars with bite marks. All in all a fun night.

Pumpkin Picking

This weekend we all took Friday off for a little "staycation." Friday we went to the Camden Aquarium, Saturday pumpkin picking at Linvilla Orchards and Sunday to Morris Arboretum. What a great time all around!

Here Sophie is enjoying her very first candy apple (candied, dipped in chocolate and rolled in nuts - how can you not like that?). We took a hayride through the different fields at Linvilla Orchards. Later we did some veggie picking and got a whole box of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants (and will now be eating a lot of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants).

 At the Morris Arboretum they have this thing called the Squirrel Scramble - essentially a huge net high in the trees. It was pretty cool, but also a little unearving. Sophie thought it was a huge trampoline.

 Stopping to smell the roses.

I've finally figured out how to get her to smile for pictures. I just ask her to "show me your teeth." Hoepfully this trick will last long enough to get through the Holiday picture taking season. 

Getting Ready for Halloween

Fall is officially here - and Halloween is just around the corner! Sophie doesn't have a costume yet, but we thought we get in some good pumpkin shots (even if we picked up the pumpkin from Whole Foods...)