Halloween Recap 2011

We had a great first Halloween in Hermosa this year. My little angels were, well, actually and angel and an angelfish. We had some friends over for dinner and then went down to the walk streets for 'trick-or-treating'. It was quite the scene and I was very happy to see that the residents really do participate and make it fun for the kids. After 3 walk streets their buckets were full and they were ready to come home and survey the damage.








Leading up to the big day, Lauren had her harvest festival at her school, Sarah had a Halloween carnival at her school and she had a Pippi Longstocking Day on Halloween. We also did a little pumpkin shopping to pick out the perfect pumpkin to carve for the annual McDonald Family Pumpkin Carving Contest. We used Facetime to be a part of the action and it was quite fun!









We ended our Halloween week, with a broken arm for Sarah (scooter accident) and new glasses for Lauren!

Fun Times in Southern California

At the end of September we had the luxury of having a 4 day weekend. I am not sure if it was because it was a Jewish holiday, or just a couple of furlough days the school had to fit in, but we had a blast with our time off. On the Thursday, a friend of mine and I decided to take the girls to Disneyland. We surprised them, of course, because it is so much more fun that way! My friend and I have 7 year-olds that are BFF's and we have younger girls that are only about a year apart, so it is nice to get together and hang out. Moms are happy and girls are happy! I am very lucky to have made such a good friend and gotten to know this woman in my area and I am even more lucky that our kids love each other!

So here are some pics from that fun day! Disney was all decked out for Fall and Halloween, so extra fun for the kiddos!






On Friday, I decided to take Sarah and Lauren to the American Girl Place at The Grove in LA. This is a fall tradition for us. We love to go have a girls day having lunch in the bistro/cafe and then doing a little shopping. In addition, it gives me a chance to find out what is good for their Santa list this Christmas! Since Lauren's birthday was a couple of weeks from when we went, I let her pick out her first real American Girl Doll to replace her Bitty Baby. She picked the Kanani doll and loves her very much! What a wonderful day with my girls! I just love them!

Be-lated Halloween

A little late on getting the Halloween photos posted, but most of my family friends have seen them all already anyway. We had a great Halloween. Perfect weather and the most perfect little witch and mermaid!

At the Pumpkin Patch

My little flying!

Happy Halloween!

McDonald Family Pumpkin Carving Contest

This is one of my favorite things throughout the whole year. It all start back in 2004. However, I do not have the pictures from that year. Each year the pumpkins have become so much more interesting and the number of entries has grown. The rules are that you can not stencil your design and you can only use the parts of the pumpkin on the final product. No outside props.
Enjoy!

2005

2006

2007

2008
No Photo (Lost to a computer malfunction)

2009
No contest due to Rob and Nina's Wedding

2010

Remaining thoughts on Halloween

I know it is a little after the fact, but there were a couple of things we had to celebrate the holiday that I thought were really cute. The first was this:


my husband was very sweet to send this to me. I think he felt a little bad for missing everything. He had to work on the weekend....as he does every weekend. I thought the arrangement was pretty and came in a cute little container.

The second was this:

Papa Murphy's pizza does these cute little pizzas every year. They don't taste any different than their normal pizza, but sure makes it more fun for the kids. I mean, a pizza is already fun, and they found a way to make it even better! Note: They do a heart pizza at Valentine's too!

BTW....I don't think anyone is really wondering, but in case you are....I have not blogged about Rob and Nina's wedding yet, for 2 reasons. 1.) There is so much to write about that I haven't had the time to attempt it yet, and 2.) I am sort of hoping to get some more pictures from the weekend coming in from other people that were there and/or the professional ones. So once I feel I have some great photos and a little time on my hands to do it justice, I will do a post about it!

Happy Halloween 2009

Tonight was sooo much fun and the girls were so excited. Even Lauren really got into the whole trick-or-treating thing! Hope you all had a Happy Halloween.