Halloween

A few days before Halloween, we carved some of the pumpkins that we had picked from my uncle Steve's field.  The girls were not very interested in scooping out the insides (as usual), but helped with the designing and some of the carving.

This year, my parents weren't able to come up for Halloween, since it was a weeknight during a week my dad was working in Atlanta.  Abby had heard that our neighbor, Jack, was going to be a police officer, so she thought it would be fun to join him for a theme costume.  I ordered a prisoner costume from Target, but Norah's donut costume was trickier.  There weren't any good (affordable) ones to order online, so I found a pattern on Pinterest and bought the materials to make one.  It turned out okay, but definitely would have looked better up close if I had sewn it instead of using the suggested hot glue. 

We trick-or-treated around the neighborhood with Jack and his mom, Melissa.  It was a little chilly, but we still stayed out for quite awhile, and of course ended up with more than enough candy!

Grandma's 91st birthday

Over MEA, the girls and I headed down to Iowa for my grandma's 91st birthday party.  Before the party, we were able to see my other grandma and meet my cousin Jessica's baby, Barrett. 

We were also able to stop by my uncle Steve's farm to pick out some pumpkins and gourds from his field.

The birthday party's theme was a tea party.  We had tea cakes, tea (of course), and little tea sandwiches.  We also had some tea trivia and later on, time to craft and play games.  It was a fun weekend, and so nice to have everyone together!

State fair

Abby won four tickets to the state fair at her awards ceremony at the Mall of America in August by answering a trivia question.  We don't typically go to the fair, but we couldn't pass up free tickets!  Dave wasn't interested in going on a weekend day, but my dad wanted to join the girls and me.  We met up at the Mall of America and rode the bus up.  The weather was perfect--cool enough for sweatshirts.  We started by riding the Skyliner (I think that's what it is called...whatever it is that takes you across the fair like a gondola).

We enjoyed walking through buildings, ate yummy fair foods, got lots of freebies, and managed to stay fairly dry when it started to downpour later on in the day.

We didn't stay too long into the afternoon, but made sure before we left to get some Sweet Martha's cookies.  YUM!

First week of school

 Abby woke up bright and early Monday morning to start her first day of 6th grade, and first year of middle school--this year, she gets on the bus at 6:40 at our street corner. 

Abby is on the "Survivor" team at school.  Lots of nerves going into this year, but she had a pretty good first day!

Later that evening, Norah got to go to her school for her meet the teacher/assessment conference.  She has Mr. Bachmeier for 2nd grade.  I completely forgot to take her picture with her teacher and at her desk like I usually do, but got a couple of other pictures:

Norah started school on Wednesday.  This year, she is getting on the bus every morning at Becky's, so it's an easy drop off for me, and a very short morning bus ride for Norah.  Two of Norah's best friends are in her class.  She had a good first day!

The girls with their neighbor buddy, Jack

After a busy first week back, we enjoyed the beautiful Friday night with a bonfire in our driveway with some neighbor friends.