Pumpkins and parades

We started off the morning, bright and early, with the school parade. They give time for all the little ones to parade around in their costume before the school started the big parade. Griffin was at his preschool party this year but Mia seemed to enjoy flaunting her costume. I don't think she even noticed that everyone was commenting about her friend's adorable cupcake costume, as they paraded around the gym.

These two crack me up. Seriously funny! I have to admit that I wasn't too excited about this costume idea when Ryan and Tate first came up with it, but I can't stop laughing when I see them together. And it's worth mentioning that Napoleon Dynamite is NOT wearing a wig. All his own hair. Pedro is sporting a wig, just in case you thought that was Ryan's hair.

Morgan really enjoyed the parade this year and didn't act as shy. She even stopped and smiled for the camera with her cute aide, Ms. Aubrey (80's neon chick) by her side.

Hadley was upset that so many parents commented on her "Pocahontas" costume when she was obviously not dressed up as Miss P but "Tiger Lily".

I think this costume won as my favorite. . . adorable blue jelly fish.

Halloween Parade supporters--Grandma, Mia and Gavin

I made it in time to Morgan's class to catch her class still all in their costumes. What a ham that Peter Pan is in the front of the picture!

Morgan and her BFF, Gracey

Ryan brought home this cute apple head witch that he made in class. LOVE it!!!

And we finally got to the pumpkin carving event. We missed out on this last year. We were in Disneyland right before Halloween and then Jack and I were both lucky enough to be sick with H1N1 over Halloween last year. I think the only time I got out of bed that weekend was to take a family costume picture and then went right back to bed. So it was like the little one's were celebrating Halloween for their very first time. Too young to remember carving pumpkins two years ago.

Mia wanted to do it all by herself. She is the age, you know. Gavin's kind gestures were halted with screams of "No! I do it all by myself, dad!" I loved when Gavin commented back, "well aren't you little Miss Independent?" Mia didn't like that name and quickly let him know, "I'm not Miss In-de-pen-dent! I'm Mia!" making sure she didn't miss a syllable.

Morgan enjoyed scooping the seeds back into the pumpkin from the pile of seeds on the bar more than scooping them out. She drew a really cute face on her pumpkin and Gavin helped her with the mouth and teeth. And if you remember, I did mention earlier about all those random leaves in my house. Check out Morgan's hair. Leaves not pumpkin seeds.

Griffin drew the cutest little pumpkin face and ears on his pumpkin and then Gavin helped him cut it out. It turned out so cute.

Hadley, Jack and Ryan decided to take their pumpkin carving skills up a notch this year and attempted to carve with the more advanced stencil drawing patterns. A few carving knives and intricate details were broken along the way but they all actually turned out looking pretty close to the pattern.

I stayed busy taking pictures and googling recipes for Roasted Pumpkin Seeds. I love seeds. Pumpkin seeds and Sunflower seeds are probably my favorite snacks. Not sure why I'd never tried making my own before because these were super easy and yummy!

Garlic and Kosher salt (my favorite of the two recipes)

Cinnamon and Brown sugar

Our spooky pumpkin-filled porch