Halloween Happenings

Wow! What a weekend we have had. I am definitely going to need a few days to recover, but alas, that is not going to happen. :( But that's ok. I don't like being idle anyways.

Well, let's see what all has happened...
My husband came home from work Friday evening only to be herded into the van so he and the kids could go backyard camping with our small group from church. I had them all packed up with their gear, plenty of marshmallows for roasting, some hot cocoa, and roasted potatoes. I was heading off to my girls' night out. Seven of us girls met up for a little painting soiree at a local paint and party studio. It ended up being just our little group so we got the instructor to change the painting from a vase of flowers to Van Gogh's Starry Night...yeah, not so sure that that was the best idea. But we all had a fun time and would definitely do it again. Then, I joined the campout later that evening. It was a COLD night! I got to snuggle with both the kids on the little inflatable bed they used.  The kids had a great time apparently. They ran around the wooded backyard, tried cooking hot dogs over an open fire, and jumped numerous time into piles of leaves. They had just gotten into their tents a few minutes before I got there and that was nearly 11pm! We had a lovely breakfast the next morning and are so blessed to have such a wonderful group of families in our small group. Here's a shoutout to the heavenly H and lovely L families.

We tried to keep Saturday a bit less hectic. But my sweet honey did get 2 pumpkins carved, my oil changed, and watched the Dawgs get defeated by those mean little Gators. E-Pie got to design one of the pumpkins using the little felt pumpkin that I had made her. I got the idea from this website, Camp Slop.

E-Pie is very proud of her creation :D

Then, there's Halloween day...
We started the morning praising our wonderful Lord. I was excited that my three cousins decided to come along. We attended our church's annual Trunk-or-Treat this afternoon. The whole family was in our get-up. I got the ideas and tutorials for Tinkerbell and Peter Pan from Ashley at Make It and Love it. I just winged it on the Captain Hook and Wendy costume. I am quite happy with the way the costumes turned out and am so blessed to have a husband that is willing to wear a nightgown so that we can dress up to fit a theme. He said he'd rather wear a nightgown than purple tights. He is such a good sport! We had a really great time at the event.

Please ignore Tinkerbell's finger ;)

We headed back home so we could get some pizzas for our friends that were coming over to our neighborhood to go trick-or-treating. It was so great to see all our friends, some we hadn't seen in awhile. The kids had a great time running around our "front yard" while we mingled.

flying fairies

my cousins

We already have plans for next year's Halloween :D
~ H

apple fun

I've always wanted to go apple picking, and I can finally say that I did. Last week, my honey took the day off so we could spend as a family. As he should since he volunteered to work on my birthday weekend. Joking aside, I am thankful that I have such a hard-working and dedicated husband. We got off to a later start than I had wanted to and was feeling a little frustrated at everyone for moving so slowly. Then, I gave off a scream in the bathroom (at my husband) and immediately felt better. My stress just melted away and I started to enjoy the day. I've done that once before when I got really stressed working at Olive Garden one night in college. I just walked into the walk-in fridge and let out a loud one and felt better. It's very cathartic. You should try it sometimes, but preferably not at someone. The counting does nothing for me. Talking to God works, too. I find that as I talk to him, whatever I am frustrated or stressed out about just doesn't seem that big a deal anymore. Anyhow, I digress.

So we head up to the rolling hills of North Georgia. The changing colors of Fall is always breathtaking. We ended up on Apple Orchard Row...several apple picking places to choose from. We skipped the first one because we wanted to avoid all the other fru-fru activities that were available- just wanted the apple picking part. The next one was perfect. The only 2 apples that they had were Arkansas Black and Romes so we stuck mainly with the Romes. Got some great shots of the kids at the orchard. They had a great time picking a few apples and running around. Besides filling a bag with 20 pounds worth of apples, we bought a few other apple related necessities like fried apple pie and apple fritter, honey, apple butter (didn't know it wasn't made of butter), and fresh apple cider.

C-Bear enjoying his freedom

my little monkeys

do you see the floating apples?

apple picking really does require a lot of thinking and seriousness ;)

I just like this shot

enjoying the fruit of his find

woohoo! finally went apple picking!

Daddy being silly

The apple of my eye

hand in hand...aren't they just darling?

rolling hills

love you, too!

Going home in warp speed...ever tried it?

On the way back home, we stopped in Awesomeville Dawsonville to check out their Hall of Driving Fame. C-Bear really liked that. He's a bit of a car fanatic like his Daddy.

We took a scenic (longer) drive home to avoid traffic hour and were plum pooped out but I can't wait to do it again next year. Now, it's time to do something with all them apples ;)
Applesauce, applesauce cookies, fried apple fritters, apple pie, apple mufins, and how about some apple pie pops? Directions courtesy of Bakerella. I did use some extra pie dough to put our initials on top but there are no pictures of those, because they couldn't wait long enough to get their pictures taken ;)

for my honey and me :)

~ H