Happy Halloween!

Introducing Princess Anna of Arendelle and her stormtrooper guard. Don't worry, we'll both have shoes on when we go out for candy later. 

Emma got to show off her costume at school during the Halloween parade (which we got to have this year, yay!). Luckily there were plenty of Elsa's for her to hang out with too.  

And we made sure to get the house in costume too for the Trick or Treaters coming tonight. Hopefully the zombie potato head I drew on the left there wasn't too scary! 

 

Dancing in the streets

My dance school had a short performance at a local Halloween street party last weekend, which was my first chance in a long while to show off my moves for a crowd. It was a little intimidating, but I think I still owned it. Watch out for a full recital in January! 

Burn it all down

The local fire station had a training day exhibition this weekend where they tried to burn down a shed. It was pretty cool, but I have concerns that the fire department is setting fires instead of waiting for trouble to arrive on its own. 

But, hey, I got to peek inside the fire trucks. You know how much I love them! 
 

Officially a Boy Scout

My new troop had its "Welcome to Scouting" ceremony this week (even though I've been hanging out with the guys since the start of the summer). It was awesome to officially become part of the group, alongside a bunch of my Cub Scout friends. 

And I even got my first rank badge! It's the scout rank, very confusing, I know. 

 

Pumpkin picking

Every October means a trip to the local pumpkin patch for some pre-Halloween decorating and a nice fall walk around the farm.   

And did they have pumpkins. 

Jonathan and I found a few that would have been perfect on our front porch, but Dad had a rule that "someone in the family has to be able to lift it into the car" and so we had to leave the really great ones behind. 

But Jonathan did find plenty of crazy gourds, so it was a success. 



 

5K at school

Dad and I have been practicing with the coss-country team for the past month, so we decided to sign up for the school's 5K fundraiser and see how our training is going. 

We were ready! Look at both of us smiling as we rumble down the course (full disclosure, this was in the first 500 yards of the run). 

We beat our goal of 40 minutes by a lot, and I even got a prize for finishing fourth among all kids. Not bad for our first official race together. 

Cake pops

Behold our creations -- edible art is the best kind of art, if you ask us. 

 

Stopping by Hawk Falls

It has been a while since we got a chance to hike down to the falls, so since we had an extra visit to the Poconos this weekend, we took Grandmom and Pop on a surprise fall hike there. 

The big boulders are still all over the path. 

And the waterfall is still there too! It's pretty in the autumn, although we didn't want to stick out feet in the river this time. Maybe next summer!
 

Happy birthday to ... everybody?

We had a major birthday catch-up this weekend -- Emma, Shaney, Uncle Tom. That's a lot of people on just one cake, but since it's Emma's fourth birthday cake in the last two weeks, I guess we can't complain too much. 
 

Emma burrito

It's warm and happy, but very chewy to get through. 

Making music together

I know when Mom hits this one, a whole song comes out ... 

Camping for real

Dad and I had our first Boy Scout camping trip this weekend, spending two nights out in the woods with the rest of the troop. The sleeping arrangements were a little less luxurous than Disney World, but we were OK.  

But the canoeing was intense and fun -- five miles through winding woods and beautiful weather. Can't wait until the next outing.