More Halloween....

We've had a busy few days, primarily because Henry has been poorly and I have got nothing done, I realise I need not one but two extra pairs of hands over the next 48 hours to get everything done before I disappear to Scotland for the week!

Martha had her Halloween party at school on Thursday, I didn't manage to get any really good photo's of her as she was being her stubborn self and wouldn't pose for me. But its the parade at school tomorrow which I'm taking her in for, even though she doesn't go on Monday, so hopefully I'll get some good ones of both girls. Here's one for now though.

The buzzy bumble bee

Yesterday (Saturday) we took the girls to a place called Oil Ranch, which is basically a farm with lots of things for the girls to do, like pony rides, a maze made of hay bales, a hay barn to play in, sheep to feed, a small train ride, tractor and trailer ride, bouncy castle and lots of little park areas.

Fearne and Martha had their first ever rides on ponies, and yes that might sound rather tame, but for Fearne who has always screamed and suddenly got very scared of anything remotely animal based this was an amazing feat, and she looked so happy and relaxed.....so she has a very happy granny who is already planning in her head pony club camps and rides over dartmoor with her when she's older!!!

Lasso practice...I don't think Martha really understood why she was throwing rope over a metal bullock!

Henry looking rather confused!

Sunning herself on the swing!

Martha happily digging in the sandpit.


Martha and Henry in the pumpkin patch

Henry is far more interested in eating the dirt around him than the pumpkins!

So as well as all this yesterday we finally got round to carving some pumpkins too. The girls went for scary faces and this year since I had a template and tools which made carving so much easier I attempted something different!

Martha's friendly pumpkin

Fearne's pumpkin

and my pumpkin.....I'm very pleased with myself.... haha!

And just to fully embrace the Halloween spirit here I have been roasting pumpkin seeds while uploading all these photos.....sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, yum yum, I'm off to make a coffee to go with them before I start the dreaded task of packing!

Halloween continued.....

Ok, so maybe I was being rather optimistic that i would manage to add things we've been doing every day, so instead it'll just have to be every few days. I'm also trying to organise going back to Scotland on Tuesday with Martha and Henry and my brain is full of lists....must start packing tomorrow....or at least finding any warm clothes thatI can wear!

Anyway.........

I found a bag of mini pumpkins and squashes in the supermarket last night which are actually sold as decor and I have in fact seen them in a few houses on coffee tables, so I thought I'd buy them use them as decoration and then find some recipes I could use them in.....however Martha has other ideas! Today we have spent a lot of time counting, sorting, describing and then hiding them round the house in a game of hide and seek. I took a few pictures of her as she totally absorbed for ages.

All lined up....and counted

Sorted out.....smooth orange baby pumpkins

Funny bumpy colourful pumpkins....I'm going to have to look these up as I have no idea what they are.

And this one is like an umbrella!

Martha has her Halloween party tomorrow morning which she is very excited about, so I'll come back with a picture of her in full costume in the morning.

......and I still haven't managed to take many photos of houses decorated either, mainly because Houston has no pavements and its a bit difficult to subtly take photos from the car without feeling like you're spying on someones house!

ummmm....anything else I've done in the last few days....pumpkin beer was actually surprisingly drinkable. I thought it might be one of those things where I would enjoy a few sips before the novelty wore off but no, I'd happily have another bottle!

Halloween....

So, I thought instead of doing an update with everything we've done...(which this month is not a lot that's remotely interesting!) I thought I'd update daily with Halloween festivities and decorations that I've spotted or that we're doing between now and the 31st October.

October and the run up to Halloween in school seems to be one long arts and craft festival....We have so far had home glittery pumpkin paintings, pumpkin rhymes, autumn themed show and tell and this week the long awaited Halloween party for Martha. On the 31st October the children all go into school in their fancy dress costumes, there is a parade at 9.30 in the morning followed by a class party. School finishes for the day at lunch time ready for Halloween festivities in the evening!

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate

The first one said, "Oh my, its getting late!!"

The second one said, "There are witches in the air"

The third one said "We don't care!"

The fourth one said "Lets run, lets run, lets run"

The fifth one said, "Its only Halloween fun"

Then OOOOOOOOOOOOO went the wind

And OUT went the lights

And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

(Martha's favourite rhyme at the moment!)

Both girls have their costumes ready to wear to the various parades we're going to, I have my pumpkin carving kit and stencils to create an elaborate designed 'Jack O Lantern' and just because I'm trying to fully embrace Halloween, I've bought Pumpkin beer which is currently cooling in the fridge to be sampled later! Fearne even insisted we buy a freaky looking skeleton to hang on the front door so that we're not the odd ones out who have no decorations what so ever.

Which brings me to my first picture of things we've spotted around Green Trails! This house is round the corner from us and is truly fantastic.....if they put this much thought and effort into Halloween I can't wait to see their Christmas lights!

With and with out the flash...

I need to go back during the day time and take some pictures as the photos don't show all the decorations, including the rather scary ghouls and ghosts hanging from the trees. This is unusual though, most houses aren't decorated to the same extent!

With the amount of Halloween 'stuff' in the shops you could easily be forgiven for forgetting that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner too...however I have begun to spot baby clothing with turkeys on and pyjamas with penguins and elves so I don't suppose the shops are going to let us forget. No sooner will we have we removed all evidence of skeletons and pumpkins it'll be time to redecorate the house with Thanksgiving stuff.....I have no idea what that'll be!