Lydia and Jen (in costume)

Are you sick of witch pictures yet? I'm not! We have now worn our witch outfits to 5 parties and one photo shoot and there is a possibility for dinner and 3 more parties tonight. If feels like we have been in our witch outfits more this week than in our own cloths. At some point this week, Jen and Lydia were hanging out while we waited to go somewhere as witches and I was able to shoot these pictures. I love them so much. The pictures. The colors. The tulle. My sister. My daughter. I love them all SO much! Happy Halloween!

The Little Witch of the South!

We went to JCPenney's Portrait Studio yesturday. Grammy was in town, so she got to join in the fun. There were several last minute changes, change of appointment date and time due to my jury duty and even a change in costumes a day before the pictures, but I am so happy with how everything turned out. More pictures coming soon. Happy Halloween from some southern witches!

What the Witches Ate and Drank

Thhis should be the wrap up of pictures from the Black Hat Society. Jen and I worked so hard on the food and are very proud of the result. Witches are very picky and you don't want one to be mad at you, so they get only the best when they come for dinner. We served our beverages in crystal edged with green drips of candy coating and garnished with worms, spiders, and witchy umbrellas.

Not the best picture, but our beverage for the evening was blood red, served in a large specimen jar, with the heads of lost souls floating inside. (Effect achieved with red wine and shrunken apple heads)

An overview of our witchy buffet, with my sister witch in the background.

An appetizer of prescription pills complements of Mike and Ike and Good and Plenty candies.

A summer squash witch's hand coming out of the dip.

The melon brain was fabulous. The wizard's "members" (chocolate covered bananas) shriveled, wilted and drooped. Hmmmm, maybe they performed as expected!

My favorite finishing touch, a cheese plate infested with gummy mice.

Oreo truffles and powdered doughnuts made to look like edible eyeballs.

Cheesecake with chocolate spider web. The witches were fed, happy, and no one was turned into a toad. A successful Halloween party with a fun witchy twist!

The Witches of the BHS 2009

The Black Hat Society 2009

Getting Witchy!

My mom is in town and willing to watch Lydia while I go out and enjoy the Halloween season. Tonight was the kick off to my week long fall break and the beginning of Halloween Week! We had several ladies up to the house for a night of witchy fun. Too tired to tell more about it now, but if you are on Facebook, pictures have been posted, check them out for now and more details coming soon to the blog.

More Pictures from the Patch!

So Much FUN!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

This was our 2nd in what I am certain will be an annual trip to the pumpkin patch. This year there was LOTS of rescheduling. We were rained out on Thursday, good thing because I ended up being too sick to go anywhere. Then Jen was going to take Lydia and help out on the rescheduled date, but she got sick. Good enough excuse for me to take off from work and fill in for her. I am SO glad went. The weather was great, sunny and cool, and Lydia had so much fun. I took a ton of pictures, so this is just a preview. However, there is a LOT going on between now and Halloween (including trying to get over all these colds) so it may take a little while to get them all posted. Be patient, they are worth the wait!

Moving Mountains

OK, maybe not moving mountains, but the earth is being dug up and moved around at my house. I marvel at what a guy in a big truck can accomplish in a day. Even more so when the movements of that man are financed by someone other than me, but result in my getting a bigger yard! PJ's uncle Dennis has a small house on the edge of our property. When they built it a few years ago, they leveled the area and pushed the extra dirt over to our front yard and filled in a massive slope that meant we really didn't have a yard. This week, Dennis decided that he was tired of the rain washing down the hill next to his house and flooding his driveway, so he had another family member dig up his hill and again the dirt was moved to our yard, extending and flattening our front yard yet again. How lucky do I feel! You can see where our old yard ended if you look at where the grass ends. The swing set used to be near the edge of the hill. Now it is in the middle of the yard. Once we get grass planted, we will have a GREAT yard for Liddy to explore.

Lovin' the Little People

Lydia has a growing collection of Fisher Price Little People. She received a circus play set, a doll house and a car for her birthday. I recently found a Little People school bus and a bulldozer at a consignment sale. I remember having the old fashioned Little People when I was a kid. We had an airplane, but right now I can't remember if it was by Fischer Price or made by my dad. Either way, I liked them when I was a kid and am having fun watching Lydia play with the newer version.