A Candy Corn Witch, A Navy Seal, A Lady GaGa Trash Bag and A Scarecrow

I'm pretty certain that "Candy Corn Witch" and "Navy Seal" have made the title of the Halloween post before.  However, I am not going to argue with kids who want to recycle Halloween costumes.

Aaron decided he wanted to be a Navy Seal again because he gave his friend, Coleman, a set of Navy cammies for his birthday and they could match.

Hannah was going to be a character from a movie called Legally Blonde and carry Holly in a purse because the main character has a chihuahua.  A couple weeks before Halloween she decided she wanted to wear one of Rachel's old costumes.  I was glad because I really didn't want to take Holly trick-or-treating with us.

A few weeks ago Rachel went on a three day field trip to Jekyll Island with the science class from school.  One of her friends, Roxie, didn't pack a rain poncho so when it started raining the teacher made one from a garbage bag.  The girls thought that was hilarious, so they decided to wear garbage bags for Halloween.  One of the girls decided that Lady Gaga would dress them up with yellow caution tape.  Since they couldn't find yellow caution tape, they just used duct tape.  Honestly, I thought it was ridiculous.  However, I didn't say anything.  It wasn't a scary costume (at least monster scary) and they were having fun.

I have always dressed up with the kids.  For many years I have worn my pumpkin costume.  My thought was that the kids would look back and think it was cool that their mom always dressed up with them, but Hannah just can't figure out why I would want to be "the same ol' boring pumpkin every year."  For Hannah's sake, I decided to find a new costume.  I thought a scarecrow would be fun.  I hot glued on some patches and straw, used a hat from Hannah's safari themed birthday party a few years ago and painted my face.  To Rachel's horror, I wore my costume to pick her up in carpool.

Aaron went to Coleman's house so they could go trick-or-treating together.

Sarah was trying to get a picture of them together and told them to act like they liked each other so they pretended like they were going to kiss.  They were mortified that Sarah actually took the picture.  This will haunt them for years to come.

Chooga Chooga Choo Choo

The kids and I went on a train ride in the Blue Ridge Mountains with a group from our church.  It was a beautiful fall day and we had lots of fun.

Dee, a church member who worked with the kids when we first started at the church and who planned the train ride, carpooled with us.  We ended up taking another lady from church named Susan.  I had met her before and am FB "friends" but didn't know her very well.  It was nice to get to chat with her on the way there and back.  Adrienne also came along.

Dee asked if she could borrow my kids for a minute.  This is what she had them do.

Then we went to lunch.  We found this restaurant.  I the name was New Orleans something or other.  The inside was very quaint with dining room furniture one might find in a home.  We were seated by the fireplace.  We thought it was an old home, but when we asked we found out it was actually built about eight years ago, but was made to look like an old home as to fit into the town.

I got brave and ordered a Gator Tail Po' Boy.  It tasted like dark meat chicken, but a bit more gamey.  I didn't care for the sauce.  I can say, "I have eaten gator."

Aaron and Hannah are big fans of a television show called, "Finding Bigfoot."  One of the episodes was taped in north Georgia, so Aaron thought he might spot a Bigfoot on the trip.  We were all laughing when someone dressed as a Yeti for the Halloween weekend and Aaron got his picture made.  We are told it is rare to spot a Bigfoot, but it isn't even heard of to spot a Yeti in north Georgia.  Ha, ha!

Here are the kids in front of our rail car.  We chose the open air car.  There are no windows and the seats face the sides of the car.  The seats in the enclosed cars face the front of the train.

Here's one with the kids, Dee, Adrienne and Chad.  Chad came along with his grandparents, but they were riding in one of the enclosed cars.  We thought it would be fun to let him ride with the kids.  They all enjoyed some hot chocolate at the beginning of the ride.

This is a spot on the river along the ride.  There are rocks where the water makes a "V."  They were placed there by Native Americans about 500 years ago.  Fish would get trapped and caught in nets.

When the train reached the destination we walked around a little town and shopped.  Dee found these adorable little hats and they were only $5.00.  She bought one for herself and Hannah.

Rachel is being silly.

We didn't spot any real bears, but Aaron is doing his best impression.

As we were walking, we saw signs for fried Oreos!  Really!?!?!?  They looked like a cream puff covered in powdered sugar.  I had a bite of Rachel's.  It was of course very rich and very tasty.  Here Rachel and Adrienne are enjoying theirs.

Hannah and Aaron getting in on the fried Oreos.

Hannah wanted me to take her picture with the "creepy Indian."  We left this shop and when we got on the train, Dee had candy for the kids from the shop owner.  She asked Dee if she knew us and wanted the kids to have candy because they were so well behaved in the store!!



Rachel with another statue in the store.

We returned to the train depot at the beginning of the line and checked out the gift shop.  Then we went to one of the local stores and bought some fudge.  We were all exhausted, but it was a great day.  I hope we can go back again.

Another Year of Scouting

The girls had their Girl Scout Investiture. Rachel is a Cadette and in her eighth year of scouting. Hannah is a Brownie and in her third year.

The Cadettes wanted to do a skit for the Investiture.  They wrote one about a troop of Girl Scouts who talk a girl at their school into joining their troop.  The girl at first thinks Girl Scouts is just selling cookies and camping, but the girls explain that they also support the community through service projects and learn life skills.  They do a great job at writing and performing the skits.  They are practicing the skit in this picture.

More practicing.

This a good picture of all the Cadettes...Paola, Maggie, Maria, Rachel, Olivia and Brooke.

Rachel and a few other scouts leading the troop in a song to keep them busy before the ceremony began.

Our favorite and cutest Brownie, Hannah.

The Brownies were also doing a skit and Hannah is showing her script.

She is wearing the scarf in this picture.  She was a little old lady.

The Cadettes performing their skit.

The Brownies singing a song.  Hannah is in about the middle in an off white shirt and sash.

The girls really enjoying Girl Scouts.  When the entire troop is together, I can tell how much the Cadettes have learned through the years.  I am so proud of my Girl Scouts!

The Things We Do

Hannah has been planning what to do for Holly's birthday for months.  She wanted to have her friends come over and bring their dogs.  I am all about the kids having fun and making wonderful childhood memories, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

I told Hannah she could make Holly a cake and I would buy her whatever she needed to do that.  She made three layers.  The first layer was soft dog food.  Holly regularly gets dry kibble.  The smell of the wet stuff makes me gag.  The second layer was crumbled dog treats.  The third layer was chicken baby food.  It is one of Holly's favorites which we know from her training classes. 

Rachel wanted to help make it, but her face really expresses what we both thought about it.

The girls decided to top the cake with an "H" made out of kibble.

Holly was in heaven when Hannah put the cake creation on the floor.  She tried her best to eat around the kibble.

This picture is right after Hannah got her.  She was about 9 weeks old.  Altough she is still small compared to a lot of dogs, I think the kitchen tiles are a good measure of how much she has grown.  The yellow duck she has in her mouth is also in the background of the picture of her eating her cake.

Holly got a few new chew toys as gifts from the kids.  The girls spent the rest of the night taking Holly out for extra bathroom breaks as I wasn't sure how her tummy would react to all that goodiness.  As far as I know, she did fine.