Cider Making

 Last month, Uncle Bill reissued his cider-making challenge to the family. We eagerly accepted, and are well on our way to nearly two gallons of the hard stuff.

We bought a gallon jug of juice, but when Stace's coworker offered him a big bag of homegrown apples, Stace decided we'd mix in home-pressed juice.

He used a high-powered blender to turn the apples into mush, and then rebuilt the press.

The girls enjoyed helping, by tightening the crank on the car jack. (Redneck? Naaaaah.)

Within the bucket is the the apple mash in a net bag.

Yum! Now we have a quart of juice for the girls to enjoy, and nearly two gallons fermenting. Next month, we'll taste, enjoy, and maybe even win a taste test.

Halloween 2014

 Finally, after myriad dressup/candy-gathering events throughout October, Halloween Day arrived.

After Violet's field trip to Lombardi Ranch, I left her with a friend so I could help in Cora's class party. I worked with the children in carving the pumpkins they'd hollowed out earlier in the week - no photos of this though.

After our lunchtime school release, we gathered with a lot of friends to share pizza and playtime at the park.

Cora and Ryan, Violet and Luke ate under the play structure, while Violet and Cora's friend Tyler Belle dined on the slide. Tyler was so sweet with Violet, adopting her for the afternoon and making sure she was happy. Must be because she's getting ready to become - surprise, surprise! - a big sister in the spring!

 After our park time, we stopped at home to change clothes and get ready for our next bit of fun.

Our friend Jen had invited us to their annual Halloween party, which was a blast: great decorations, a houseful of happy people, yummy food and drinks, and even games.

Here, Cora is attempting to turn Violet into a mummy with toilet paper. But, Violet wasn't happy with her face being covered up, so the duo did not win this game.

 They had more fun with the egg/eyeball-on-a-spoon race.

 Then, we hurried home to meet up with Chris and David for trick-or-treating around our neighborhood.

 At one house, our kitty-lovers spotted something fun - a real cat hanging from a patio cover, not far from a fake black cat on the same wooden structure.

 The official Halloween 2014 photo - my ninja and Anna. Yes, after all the costume changes this season for Violet, she agreed to wear her gorgeous (and pricey) Anna dress on the actual evening of Halloween.

 Stace and I enjoyed walking around the neighborhood with Jeremy and Sendy, Chris and David's parents.

Lombardi Ranch 2014, Part III

Violet's third trip to Lombardi Ranch this month came as her first field trip with Growing Hearts Preschool.

A "ranch hand" led the small group on a tour, telling the children about the animals and allowing some to feed them. Violet was a little nervous about feeding her half corn cob to the big horse.

When the lady asked animal questions, Violet was always first to answer - thanks in part to Wild Kratts, her knowledge was impressive.

The children also learned a bit about farming, and about how pumpkins develop.

Since it was Halloween morning, the children were allowed to wear their costumes.

Miss Lorrie also arranged for them to pick their own pumpkins.

I love Violet's expression here, as she sits between her friends Izzy and Caleb. She is often very silly, and you can see that, as she talks in a funny voice to Sea Pony.

Earlier that morning, Violet remarked that she was the only animal in the group, but Caleb said he, as a spider, was also an animal. So, I overheard them repeating later on that they were the only two animals in their group.

We so love Violet's preschool!

Preparations

 Pumpkin carving time!

 This year, Cora carved her own.

 We were invited to a Halloween party, and wanted to bring a themed dessert. I had seen this idea for spiders, using mini chocolate doughnuts, pretzel legs, and candy eyes.

The girls had fun helping attach the tiny marshmallow eyes, using melted chocolate.

VUMC Halloween Fun

On Tuesday, our Mom2Mom kids got to dress up and parade through the meeting, and go trick-or-treating through the church offices.

For this occasion, Violet wanted to be Batgirl again, but her black shirt and leggings were dirty. She settled for a different Halloween shirt that said "Batty for Candy," with the Batgirl cape.

On Wednesday evening, Pioneer Clubs hosted its annual Trunk-or-Treat event, one the girls eagerly anticipate each year.

This time, Stace volunteered to work a shift at a game booth. Here, he's helping with a game where the children try to shoot out votive candles with squirt guns.

 Violet was a Zebra-Leopard, wearing a dressup outfit that featured both animal prints. This has certainly been the year of hyphenated costume ideas for our 4-and-a-half-year-old.

Here, she's playing a game where you toss a rope with two balls on each end over the rods.

 Violet also had fun at the cake walk, of course. My mom, on the far left, helped run this activity. For the first year in quite a few, I didn't volunteer myself, and just had fun looked for Cora much of the night.

 Of course, trunk or treat had trunks, too. This trunk featured a Candyland theme; the children drew a color card and then chose a candy from the corresponding bowl.

 Violet decorated this kitty mask at school with spots (though they didn't come out in the photo) in preparation for going as a leopard that evening.

There's Cora! She came too, but being one of the big kids now, spent her night running around with Sophia, Lucas, and a couple of other third-graders, playing a chasing game.

We saw her off and on; I'm not even sure she collected much candy. But, she had a great time.

School Fun

Cora's school participated in "Red Ribbon Week" recently, when schools focus on teaching students to stay drug-free.

My friend Sara was invited on campus to photograph the children for the yearbook, and she shared these top three with me. Here, Cora and friends wear their sweats to show that it's "no sweat" to stay away from drugs.

While on campus, Sara spotted me with Cora in the hallway, while I was helping in Dr. Porter's class by testing students on their sight words.

Here, we're going over the list of third-grade words; it was Cora's first time seeing them, and I was curious how she would do. She did great, only missing a few in each long row, hard words like "curable," "designer," "personable," redefine" and "quotable."

Cora also participated in "sunglasses" day, where the students wore shades to show they "don't see drugs in their future."

 My friend Elaine was able to help out on the day the students got messy, removing the seeds from pumpkins. They later would be counting them. She put this little photo collage together of Cora with her deskmates, Oliver and Vivian.

 For more than a week, Cora hasn't been able to play at school because of her foot. She's played board games at recess with friends, and she's also colored. She brought home several diagrams, like this one of a dolphin, that she made on paper towels.

Stace and I are proud of her, using her break time to find an educational way to have fun.



On Monday, the doctor removed Cora's stitches. Cora was very apprehensive about this, and carried on a bit. But, we got through it, and her foot looks much better.

Real Life Church Halloween Fun

 On Saturday evening, we went to our church's Halloween event, where while in line for trunk-or-treating, we met up with a couple of Cora's school friends. We walked through the trunks with Vivian and Tyler Belle and their moms.

Violet wore her Ninja Batgirl "costume," and enjoyed eating lots of sugar, like this Rice Krispy Treat. Shocking, I know.

Many of the trunk-or-treat spaces were so elaborate and well-done! It was a lot of fun to admire the volunteers' creativity and hard work.

 The theme this year was Route 66, so a lot of the booths were automobile- or vintage Americana-related.

I loved this one, a 1930s newspaper "Newsies" stall!

 At this Monsters University space, the trick-or-treaters could take their photo and create a "Monsters University" student ID card. So cute!

This space was so impressive, a complete garage setup.

The event also featured a BMX stunt demonstration, and a car show. We had a great time!

Fright Fest 2014

 We made our annual visit to our favorite witch Friday night at Magic Mountain's Fright Fest, this time with Colleen, Rigo and Melanie.

My mom was entertaining, as always. It's been a hoot to watch over the years, as she's developed her character. She's received some acclaim this year, with park management and bloggers praising her.

Yes, I'm proud to be the witch's daughter!

She looks even cooler under black light, rather than the camera's bright flash.

 A cast of other fairytale/storybook characters haunt this section of the park, including Snow White and Pinocchio (or their gruesome counterparts).

After going on a couple of rides and walking through all the scare zones, we joined a big crowd on the outdoor dance floor, where a DJ and a lot of monsters led the moves to MJ's Thriller.
Of course, the witch was one of those dancing monsters. My mom can't stay off of a dance floor!

We all had a great time together - thanks, Mom! And, thanks to my dad for babysitting Cora, Violet, Lucas, Liana and Hula, their 11-week-old Rottweiler puppy!