"Carving" /= mercilessly stabbing. Just so we're clear.

This concept was lost on Jude and Cole when we finally pulled out our pumpkins to carve them.

It was the day before Halloween, George was working (scheduled to be home within the hour) and Lance had to leave for his sculpting class and scouts, so we hurried and got out the pumpkins to do our carving. 

They all wanted to carve their own (yay for me!), so I set them outside with their own bowls, knives, and spoons and they set to work. (I did help Jude and Cole cut open their pumpkins and hallow them out.)

Bender wasn't too sure what to think about these strange things.

Cole wanted to paint his pumpkin but soon realized the water in the paintbrush doesn't make colors appear on pumpkins the same way it does on the special paper the brush came with.

Lance started right in:

Working hard.

This is what Cole did the whole time. Did he want me to draw a face and help him carve it? No. He wanted to stab it as many times as he could.

Lance clearly has an idea in mind. He whipped this pumpkin out like he had been planning it for days.

Lily enjoyed watching and eat pretzels. 

Jude also refused my offers to help him carve a face. 

Looking good.

Holes, holes, holes.

Jude decided he would help Cole punch even more holes into his pumpkin. Thanks, big brother.

Intrigued.

Hmmm... tastes interesting.

FEED IT TO MY FACE!

George came home in time to see us clean up. He offered to help Jude and Cole with their pumpkins as well, but they were both satisfied with their hallowed-out, stabbed orbs.

And of course I stayed up until around 4 a.m. finishing costumes. Luckily I had finished Lance's for a Trunk or Treat earlier that week, so all I had left were Jude's and Lily's. Jude's costume I purchased but the mask it came with was terrible and wouldn't stay on his face, so I made him a new one out of foam.

Basic shape, waiting to be scaled:

And Lily's costume I made completely by hand as well. She had a mask I was working on as well:

Starting to look better with some fur:

Halloween, we're ready!

Family Pictures

We had our friend Lorel Marshall take our family pictures this fall. I love how they turned out! 

Love it!

October wrap-up, volume 2

Most of my October was taken up with Halloween prep. The boys all had their ideas about what they wanted to be and while I was able to purchase Jude's and Cole's, Lance was a different story. Can you guess what he is going to be?

Building a gun prop out of insulation foam:

Body armor built around football pads, made with foam and shaped with a heat gun:

Our back porch was turned into a painting studio for a few days. Thank goodness there were some nice warm days!

Foot pieces starting to come together:

I think I made about 10 trips to Lowe's while I worked on Lance's costume. Do you think I have enough different kinds of spray paint?

Yeah, this costume wasn't easy and it wasn't cheap, but it was fun to make and I learned a lot as I went along that will help me in the future. Wanna see it completed? You'll just have to wait.


The wonderful thing about fall in Virginia is that besides being very pretty, it's usually fairly mild and the few cold days that occur do a good job knocking out the resident mosquito population. It was such a nice change to be able to play outside without being eaten alive.

Bender is growing like a weed! At just 4 months he weighed in at 35 lbs. He's such a good dog, very smart, and loves being with his family. Now if only we could get him to stop hunting up and shredding every piece of tissue he finds...

Bath time!

"Hey, hey you got something there. Right there. Let me get it for you."

Bender thinks bathtime is great fun. As soon as I turn on the water, he comes bolting in and attacks the running faucet like he's trying to catch the water coming out. He'll stay in the bathroom the whole time the kids are bathing, licking the bubbles off their face or standing with both front paws in the water trying his hardest to play with the kids. It's very, very cute, although most nights the cuteness is a bit lost on me when I see all the water outside the tub.

Jude continues to try and include Lily in everything he does. Whether it's wrestling or running around or watching videos on the computer, he tries to get Lily involved.

These kiddos love each other and have a good time together while we wait for Lance to come home from school.

Lily has become Cole's dirt companion. I'm not sure what it is, but these kids are attracted to dirt like magnets. They could spend hours upon hours digging around and exploring.

Eww. Don't eat it.

And of course, wherever the kids are, Bender has to be there, too.

Ready for some Halloween!