October Fun and Halloween 2009

October is such a special month. It heralds in a season of cool weather and fun times together as a family. My mom celebrates her birthday in October and soccer is in full swing. There seems to be an everpresent buzz of excitement. Thanksgiving and Christmas seem just right around the corner and I just adore watching the leaves change colors. One of my favorite things about October is carving pumpkins.

After we carve them we always toast the seeds. Even the girls love eating them. They both took some to their classes to share, although I am not sure that everyone cared for them very much.
And I wish I could say I made this beautiful pie with the leftover pumpkin pulp, but Libby helped me out with a 15 oz. can. It was still yummy none the less. I LOVE pumpkin pie! Actually, I love most everything pumpkin. Remember this post?

Then as Halloween rolls around we get the house all decorated--this year we even decorated our front door with spider webbing and plastic spiders. The little trees in my urns had bright orange lights and our two pumpkins kept watch with their cute little lighted grins.

We made Halloween cookies this year..hopefully a new tradition.

Then the girls ate the cookies (and icing) and apparently got a quick sugar buzz! Funny faces were plentiful.

We picked out Halloween costumes and had a great time Trick-or-Treating. Ella was a zebra and Lucy was, of course, Buzz Lightyear. Did I mention there she has a bit of an obsession with Buzz and all things Toy Story?

One of our favorite candy stops is at my cousin Casey's home. This year we were lucky enough to see her sisters Jessica and Kelly, too. Look what Casey did to her dog....she's pink!!