Lauren AKA Sharpay

Tonight we went to a Halloween party at our local library. Lauren decided that she wanted to go as Sharpay. We got her dressed and then put on her wig. I think she looked so funny. She was so proud of how she looked and she thought she looked so pretty with her "blond" hair. I don't know what it is but she looks so strange. Her coloring is so off with blond hair that it just is a weird look. She got some interesting looks when we showed up at the party. All I could do was laugh. Lauren AKA Sharpay thought it was fun and isn't that what Halloween is all about.

Halloween is almost here!

Lauren is so excited about Halloween. She reminds me every morning how many more days until it is Halloween.

She has a bunch of Halloween tee shirts and wanted to wear them this week. So every morning she would pick out another one. She has a couple long sleeve ones that she really wanted to wear but since it is still in the 90s here I explained that she would just be too hot. One of them lights up and she is dying to wear it.

We are still deciding what she will be for Halloween. A few weeks ago Lauren wanted to be Sharpay, one of the characters from High School Musical. Which is an interesting choice since Sharpay is blond and Lauren is anything but blond!! But then her love of animals appeared when she saw a bunny costume. She begged me to get her the bunny costume. Since we already had the dress up for Sharpay from a while ago, I got her the bunny costume and told her she would need to decide by Halloween what she wants to be. I am not sure what one she will choose in the end but I think she is leaning toward being a bunny.

My camera was sitting on my table this week so a few mornings before we left for work and school I took some pictures of Lauren. She was in such a good mood due to Halloween coming that she was really posing and acting silly. It is fun to see her so happy and excited about something!

Boo at the Zoo

Princess Bella at the fountain.

Princess Belle on a camel.

Princess Belle sweeping up spiders.

Princess Belle swinging.

Princess Belle riding a tractor.

Princess Belle digging for worms.

Princess Belle playing hopscotch.

Lauren AKA Princess Belle and I went to Boo at the Zoo. It was pretty warm today so Lauren decided not to wear her long sleeve bunny costume and instead decided to go as Princess Belle. I love this dress so I was happy with her decision.

The zoo had a ton of activities including leap frog, sweeping up spiders, digging for worms, pumpkin throw, and etc. Princess Belle had a great time but her favorite thing was riding the camel. When she was done she ask if she could take camel riding lessons. I tried to explain that camel riding is not very popular and so lessons might be hard to find.

It was a fun day and we are looking forward to a fun Halloween week.

Carving Pumpkins

Lauren's carved pumpkin and her decorated pumpkin.

Lauren working on her pumpkin.

Drawing her design.

Grant's pumpkin. He made it look like it is throwing up. (He thought it was so cool!)

Eating pizza and taking a break from carving pumpkins.

Decorating cupcakes.

Eating cupcakes.

Tonight Lauren and I hosted a pumpkin carving party. We invited Lauren's cousins and some of her friends over to carve pumpkins. It was a fun night. After the pumpkins were done and the was pizza was eaten we had the kids decorate cupcakes. It was a full night and they seemed to have fun.

My house is pretty small but I love have these kinds of parties. I think it is fun to have the kids over do an activity that is such a part of the Halloween fun. I also know that some parents really don't like doing this activity. I think it is pretty fun.

We have to keep our pumpkins inside until Halloween or they will rot. It is just too hot outside for them to keep for a week. So I get enjoy looking at them during the week and it makes excited for Halloween.

Halloween Party

Pumpkin Party. This is what the party looked like when we entered. It was so nice.

Lauren and her teacher.

decorating pumpkins

Tonight we went to a Halloween Pumpkin party for Lauren's class. It was really nice to see everyone outside of the classroom setting. The party was at one of Lauren's classmate's home. Most of the class was there including her teacher. The children got to decorate pumpkins, play games and just have fun. There was also some great food to eat. The kids (and parents) had a wonderful time. It is nice to see that all the kids get along so well and like to play with each other. It will be a bit sad when that stops and they start to play with just a few kids.

The home was decorated in such an incredible way. The theme of the party was "pumpkin patch" and it looked like a pumpkin patch. The picture above is just one small part of the front yard. The yard was huge and decorated with so many hay bales, pumpkins, corn stalks, balloons, and etc. It was just beautiful when you when you entered the home's gates. The mom did tell me that she is having parties this whole weekend and this way she only has to really decorate once. It was pretty amazing.

Looking at this home makes me a bit worried to ever have her friends come to my home. I knew that going to this school I might have to deal with these issues. Right now Lauren does not seem to really notice these things yet. I know the day will come.

Pumpkin Patch

Looking cute in the pumpkin patch.

Trying to find the perfect pumpkin

Riding the pony

Lauren and me on the hayride.

Roasting marshmallows

Cousins!!!

Getting her face painted!

We went to a pumpkin farm tonight. It is a great place to go with a ton of things to do. I have been taking Lauren to a pumpkin farm since she was two years old. The first couple of years we went to a farm a few hours away in the mountains. That was a great place to go but they closed a few years ago. So last year we started to go to a farm in town. I miss going to the old place but the new place is a lot of fun with some many things to do. They have rides, great food, music, a petting zoo, a few corn mazes, marshmallow roasting, pony rides, hay rides, fireworks, and of course a pumpkin patch.

We went with some friends and with my brother, his wife and Lauren's cousin, Sammie. It was pretty warm here this weekend so we decided to go in the evening. We spent about 4 hours there and we got to do most of the activities. Next year I think adding an extra hour would be a good idea. We were a bit rushed to get to everything. But the kids seemed to have a great time and they all fell asleep on the way home.

(The matching shirts was not planned. When we showed up at Sammie's house there she was in the same shirt Lauren was in. )

Big Girl

Lauren is growing up so quickly. The weekend we went shopping for fall shoes and Lauren let me know that she does not want to wear bobby socks with dresses anymore. She now wants to wear knee high socks.

Lauren told me that bobby socks are for babies and she is not a baby. So while we were buying fall shoes we also got some knee high socks. My little girl is turning into a big girl so fast.

It was cool here this weekend but it going to get warm again this week. However, I just can't have Lauren wearing white summer sandals when it is the middle of October. This is the time of the year when I really miss Chicago. I love seeing the leaves change colors and those cool, crisp, Autumn days. It is still in the 90s here and it feels like the warm weather will never end.

I love to buy shoes for Lauren. She has a ton of shoes but most of them are a bit too big. I am so frustrated with her shoe size. Lauren wore a size 10 last year. I got her foot measured today and she is still wearing a size 10. The guy did tell me to go up to 10 1/2 so she can wear them longer. I felt like telling him that it does not matter her feet do not grow!! I felt like buying a size 11 because it just seems weird that her feet did not grow in a year and my luck they will grown a ton in a month or so.

We took these pictures before going to church. She got toothpaste on the front of the dress so we had to wash that off. That is the wet spot on the dress. She looked so cute in this dress I didn't want to wait until after church because it could be a lot worse.

Cheerleading

Lauren and Blaire, our cheerleaders!!

Getting ready to perform.

One of the activities that Lauren is doing this year is competitive cheerleading. Her cousin, Blaire, has been cheerleading for a few years and Lauren wants to be like Blaire in everything. So this year they are both doing competitive cheerleading at the same place. Lauren is in the smallest, youngest group. They will do 4 or 5 competitions and a few exhibitions this year. Tonight was the first exhibition. It was at the Phoenix Coyotes Hockey game. It was fun to watch both Lauren and Blaire. Lauren's team did ok but there was a few of the little girls that were a bit scared to be on stage. I am sure they will get better throughout the season. Blaire is on one of the more advanced teams. Her team did great. They don't have their uniforms yet so they just wore their practice outfits.

Lauren got Booed

There is an activity that goes on around here during the Halloween season. Neighborhoods do it, friends do it and in Lauren's case her class is doing it. It is booing someone. The idea is to fill up a basket with Halloween treats and goodies and then leave it on their front door step. You then ring the door bell and then run. When the person opens the door there is a Halloween basket on the doorstep with a note that says "you have been booed".

When we got home from Elaine's party there was a message on the answering machine saying that there was something at our front door. Lauren was so surprised and she had to look at everything in the basket. The directions are now for Lauren to boo two other people in her class. I promised her that tomorrow after work we would go to the store and get a bunch of stuff to make up the baskets. What a fun way to start to celebrate Halloween.