Halloween

36 hours of Halloween Madness...

Friday afternoon:  Maura's school parade

Unfortunately Maura and Audra's school parades were at the exact same time.  But miles apart.  Sean left work early and we opted to go to Maura's parade since we worried that Audra would get distracted and/or upset by seeing us but not being able to be with us.

Saturday noontime:  Little girls Halloween party

I have faithfully had a children's Halloween party every year since Riley was a little guy.  At first it was fun to get the little one's together and dress them up since there were too young to understand and enjoy trick-or-treating.  It still worked while they were in preschool and kindergarten because we could all get together around lunchtime...the kids enjoyed costumes, crafts, and candy..while the moms enjoyed Fall treats like pumpkin bread and hot cider.  And it seems I've had at least one kiddo in pre-school or kindergarten for about 12 years!  This was the year that it would end though...Audra is in full day kindergarten.

But Maura really wanted to have a Halloween party.

So we pulled together a last minute event with all the supplies I have left over from years and years of parties!

Charlotte, Maura and Audra

Saturday evening:  Trick-or-Treating

The Nurse, The Cheetah, and the...scary swamp-guy thing??

We had perfect weather for trick-or-treating.  It wasn't too chilly and there was no wind at all.

Since our quite little street with just 5 other houses probably hasn't seen a trick-or-treater in many, many years we decided to take our festivities to a neighborhood just down the road.  Aidan has a friend in that neighborhood who he met up with while Sean and I took the girls around.  This neighborhood really gets into the Halloween spirit!  Everyone was set up outside in their driveways with fire pits, lighting, music and lots of candy of course...big full size candy bars too!  There was even one house that set up a haunted house.  And at the end of the haunt they gave each dad a beer! 

This little one could probably BE a nurse without ever having gone to nursing school.

She's been in the hospital enough times that she practically takes her own vital signs!

She loves to help with her G-tube flushes and feedings.

And she thinks she knows how to set up her infusions.  

Although I doubt she would ever put the needle in herself!

October happenings

With the busyness of back to school settling down I assumed I'd get more prompt with my blog posts. Maybe next month!  So, I will save {you and I} some time and just wrap up all of our Octobers happenings into this one post.  Well, except for Halloween...that deserves a post of it's own !

The Carousel

The girls and I love visiting the local carousel.  It's been around forever and is only open to the public about once a month.  Audra is sporting her "official" Perkasie Carousel t-shirt that she got as part of her party package when she had her very first ever birthday party at the carousel.

Pumpkin patch

We went on our usual pumpkin patch trip with Uncle Tim, Aunt Dawn and Charlotte.  The boys are getting too old to enjoy this anymore :(  Hoping we still have a few years of the little girls looking forward to it.

Call it creativity {or lack of time and energy}...

Daddy convinced Maura to spray paint her pumpkin instead of carve it.

Effective....yes,

Traditional...not so much

Bowling fundraiser

Tim and Dawn had a bowling fundraiser for their adoption that is in process.  It was a fun afternoon of bowling, pizza and raffles.

This was supposed to be a sweet girls picture...I didn't know Sean was photobombing us!!

Three little beauties from China...all home for 2.5 years now

Audra, Charlotte and friend Amanda

Getting in the Halloween spirit

Audra has a bunch of Halloween hand-me-downs.  It's been fun dressing her for school this month.  I didn't get pictures of all of her outfits, but here are a couple...

Audra's 8th Birthday

My pretty little princess turned EIGHT years old today!

She's been home for 2.5 years and this was her third birthday with us.

I think she is finally getting the hang of this birthday thing...

There was definitely less prompting needed for her to blow out her candles and open her presents :)

This weekend also happens to be the Chinese holiday Mid-Autumn Moon Festival so yesterday we had a double celebration!

Pretty little girl with her beautiful BIG cake

Daddy had cake serving duty...

Audra wore one of her traditional qi pao dresses and a sweet little friend came dressed for the occasion too :)

Last year we released sky lanterns the traditional way...

by lighting a flame and watching them float away at dusk.

There may or may not have been a bit of a close call involving a lantern on fire...

So this year we opted for lanterns filled with helium balloons!

It worked just a well and was almost {but not quite} as pretty.

Today I got some precious photos of my birthday girl...

I love this one...it shows her true self!

She has been loving mooncakes this year.  She ate one last year, but this year she can't get enough of them.  She had one at the party last night, then had one for breakfast today, and at dinner time she wanted another!

This evening we celebrated with a tradition birthday cake:

She needed a little help to blow her candles out

But presents??...She's got that one on her own!

A little bit of beach

My brother got married last weekend...

in North Carolina...on the beach :)

And since we didn't do our annual trip to Outer Banks this year, we were really looking forward to going to the wedding and getting a little beach time in...even if it was only for a few days.

Just the girls and I went, we drove down on Friday with my parents.

Here we are about 3 hours into the trip and everyone was still smiling!

My dad and I traded off driving and navigating, 

while my mom had entertainment duty in the back seat.

8 hours and many snacks, games and naps later...

we arrived!!

First thing we did after unloading the car was head to the beach!

Lucky for us, the hotel we stayed at was on the beach so it was just a few steps to the sand and water.

Saturday was the rehearsal luncheon.

I loved dressing the girls all "beachy". 

Family selfie at the luncheon:

Tyler (nephew), Steve (brother), Brandie (sis-in-law), Mom, Dad, Me, (Audra hiding somewhere), Maura, Moriah (niece), Mike (brother)

Oh, there she is...

little sleeping beauty!

After the luncheon we went straight back to the beach...

...to collect seashells,

...and splash in the waves.

After some fun in the sun, we put on proper local attire and found a great little restaurant for dinner.

Sunday morning (Wedding Day) we squeezed in a little bit more beach time before the big event.

We built sand castles...

and Maura made her own puddles for jumping in.

We also spent time at the hotel's pool complex.  There was an outdoor pool, a kiddie pool, a lazy river and an indoor pool with a hot tub!  We made the rounds and visited each one :)

By early afternoon it was time to get ready for the main event.

My sweet girls looking all fancy and so excited to be going to a wedding.

The wedding was outdoor, on the beach, and it was quite windy!  We had to stand in just the right direction for pictures so the wind didn't blow our hair into our faces.

Maura and Moriah collected shells before the ceremony...

(and they had matching mint green attire...totally not planned!)

It's official!

The new Mr. & Mrs.

My parents with some of their grandkids...

(someday we have to get a picture of them with the whole gang!)

My and my pretty girls:

Maura and Aunt Brownie taking a selfie:

Here's the end result:

Maura and Moriah owing the dance floor:

The Mrs. Riley's

They had the cutest wine glasses that you could write on with chalk,

My mom..."the original Mrs. Riley"

My sister-in-law Brandie..."the other Mrs. Riley"

and my newest sister in law...the bride,Valerie..."the new Mrs. Riley"

(wish I got a picture of that one!)