A COSTUME PUMPKIN PARTY FOR THE KIDDOS

Last Sunday, a mama bear, spiderman, two swans, the tooth fairy, batman, a teenage mutant ninja turtle, and skeleton Indians riding dinos and horses descended upon our house for a pumpkin party. 

You guys, there are SO many pictures, and they are mostly all of costume-clad children, so if that's not what you're into, you are welcome to move along. But if you need some joy in your heart today, these might do the trick. 

Sloane loves all the animals, but one of her favorites is the sheep (she even picked out a sheep birthday cake), so she got to dress up as one. The delight that registered on her face when she saw herself in the mirror dressed like a sheep was.... magic. And the look on the kids faces when they saw each other in their respective outfits was worth whatever effort it took to get them into it in the first place. 

Also, I made a teepee! 

I have plans to drink hot apple cider in here while reading books to each other. 

These two birds were the first to show up and we about lost our minds with how dang adorable they were waddling around and stuffing cookies in their mouths. 

Seriously?! 

TaDa! Talk about making a statement.

Handsome little Isaac! 

Meticulous teamwork for a masterful Big Bird pumpkin. 

So at one point during the party, things got REAL crazy and the dinosaur and horse started getting passed around. 

So this is the group picture I got.  The two birds are rolling around in the back. 

Remember how much Sloane enjoyed riding that pony? Well. 

These photos remind me of Where The Wild Things Are. 

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And the lovely pumpkins that the big kids carved! 

A SATURDAY'S HOUR TO HOUR, IN PHOTOS

This is what we did on Satuday! 

8:30AM: My sister and my brother in law stopped by, so we sauntered over to my favorite bakery here in Richmond - Sub Rosa. 

Sloane was thrilled, for many reasons. So was I. 

i had a lamb borek! And one of my favorite of their pastries - the pain aux raisins. 

9:30AM:  There was rustling around in the leaves, hopping around, and marveling at how beautiful the day was turning out to be. 

10:00AM: We stopped into Union Market, and I have to refrain from buying all the things. Lots of goodies in there! 




10:30AM - 1:30PM:  Eunice and Val went on their way, and Sloane and I went forth to conquer a whole lot of errands: Once Upon a Child, Plato's Closet, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's.  During our stop at Trader Joe's, I handed her a couple of asian sweet potatoes to put in the cart. She proceeded to cradle one and proclaimed, "This is my baby. Her name is Sue."



"My baby Sue is crying."

"Why?"

"'Cause she wants me."

2:00- 4:30PM: When we got home, Sloane went down for a nap, and I ran through my list of baking cookies, making pie dough, stringing necklaces, etc. There was a pumpkin party to prepare for! 

4:30PM - 5:30PM: After Sloane woke up and we got the proper snuggles in, we went on a walk. It was quiet, peaceful and beautiful. 

5:30PM - 8PM: We went out to get some dinner, stopped by the mall to make some returns and made another stop at a grocery store, Kroger's.  If you don't know already, Sloane is always verrrrry interested in pushing the cart. It's hard for her to push the big cart around, although she tries anyways,  but then this time we found that Kroger's has these little carts her size and we were in grocery shopping heaven.  She pushed that little thing around proudly and expertly and helped me collect the groceries. That was a proud little girl rolling through that store. 

8:30PM-9:00PM: We got home, Sloane got a bath, and then down to sleep. 

9:00PM- 11:30PM: I got a shower, and got busy in the kitchen. I did some prepping for the kids'  pumpkin party the next day, like slicing up apples for tarts (I'm gonna share this recipe soon), and cooking chicken and cutting up vegetables for the following week's food prep. Plus, just because I wanted to, I painted a pumpkin while catching up on 'the Voice.....and finally finished reading Lena Dunham's "Not That Kind of Girl" More on this later. And probably a lot photos of a pumpkin party coming at you in the in between.  

While reminiscing on Saturday, I'm happy to say - Monday is down, and we are onwards forwards to Tuesday!