A Halloween Review

We had a wonderful night of treats and friends and FUN! We have a tradition that everyone gathers at our house and goes Trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. It got started years ago when my bff had a new little guy and they live way out in the rural part of the county with no place to go Trick-or-treating, so....they came here and the rest is history. My college age daughter and her friends along with my high school daughter and her friends are still taking the "little guy" around, even though he is 9 now. They still LOVE taking him around. My 24yo ds and one of his friends got into the act by carving Darth Vader there and assembling our scary-guy mannequin. Some of our smaller trick-or-treaters were taking a closer look to see if he was real. It was soooo cute.


So here are some pictures of the fun. We had a total of twenty-two people! And that doesn't include the pets! What I love about these Halloween gatherings is that all my friends pitch in and bring goodies to share and while the kids go out, the adults get to hang around and socialize.

My dd as a gypsy.

She and her syncronized swimming pals.

The Jonas Brothers?!?

 

You may not be able to tell, but that is Hanna Montana on the left.

My other dd and her kitty, Elliot.

Her college friends!

The Trick-or-Treating Crew minus the boys

Does this kitty look like she wants to go Trick-or Treating? Not!

We had chili and bean soup, chips, dip, brie cheese and crackers, cupcakes, cake, ice cream, pretzels and hot mustard dip, cider and coffee and more. It is sort of funny how much food we have because all the kids want to do is eat their candy!

The Pumpkin Cupcakes! Yummy!

Well, this is a Halloween tradition that I hope continues for many years - even as the little guy gets older, I hope I'll have some grandchildren some day to add to the mix.  But for now, we just have lots of good, clean FUN!

TRICK-OR-TREAT!

Two Teacups for Pink Saturday

I happened upon a church rummage sale while waiting for my dd to finish her piano lesson. I was so excited to find these two teacups and saucers while there. I am happy to show them to you for Pink Saturday.

It is hard to pick which one is my favorite. The one below has a finish that is absolutely exquisite.

Thanks to Beverly over at How Sweet the Sound for hosting Pink Saturday.  Be sure to pay her a visit and check out some other Pink Saturday participants. You'll be glad you did.

Also, we were asked to visit a new blog and to feature it on our site. My choice for this week is

Coquettish Fleur. You will absolutely love her blog. Plus she is having a give-away

 

A Blog Award and Six Things You Never Knew About Me

I received my very first blog award - thanks so much to Renee over at Of Lemons and Honey. Please take a minute and go over and visit her very FUN blog.

This award comes with the obligation to tell you six things about me that you don't already know and then pass the award along to six other blogs. I'll be listing the blogs in a separate post.

Six things you don't know about me - well, let's see - here goes:

I graduated from high school a year early and started college when I was sixteen.  Although I was No. 1 in my class of 343 I was not given the Valedictorian award because I graduated in 3 years and the School Board Superintendent's son was next in line for it. They didn't give me Salutatorian either! He got a full-ride scholarship to Ole Miss and I got - well, nothing.  Oh well, I survived.

I smoked my first and only cigarette when I was about six years old and was out hunting a Christmas tree with my family and my friend's family. She said - "Let's sneak a cigarette from our dads." And I said - "Why sneak? Let's just ask for one!" So...I asked my dad and he said "Sure!"  He gave me a puff off of his and I coughed for the next hour.  I've never wanted another cigarette since! One of the smartest things my dad ever did for me.

I love soccer and played midfielder and forward for some twenty years. I started as an adult, which means I was never awesome, but I held my own and helped the team.

I helped to start our church, Sunrise Baptist, along with three other families.  Our first church meeting was in my living room and I taught that day.

 A few years ago we put on an authentic Thanksgiving. It was great fun. Here is a link to pictures of the event.  Authentic Thanksgiving '05

 I recently lost 48 pounds and now I'm just trying to keep it off.

OK I know some of you know some of these things - but I bet none of you knew ALL of them.

Happy Friday! Here's a closing fall picture of Duncan Bay Boat Club in the fall.

 

Panacea getting ready to go to bed for the winter. : (

More Costume Goodness - Chinese Kimono - Cloths Meme

Chinese Kimono from 12th Century.

Showing her parasol.

Pretty dancer!

Cloths Meme

Egyptians and Hebrews - Oh, My!

Here is my contribution to the Halloween Party over at fiberdoodles. Stop on over there and see what the fun is all about.

Well, here are the pictures I promised from our Konos History Co-op Class. We are getting ready for a wonderful Egyptian/Hebrew celebration just before Christmas. It will wrap up our first semester of classes. The students did an awesome job with their costumes, although they will continue to work on embellishing.

This would be Noah!

Nimrod, the Mighty Hunter

Pharoah Menes, founder of the First Egyptian Dynasty

The Egyptian god - Amun

 

and his twin sister - Egyptian goddess Amunet

Pharoah Hatshepsut - the first female Pharoah (18th Dynasty)

The world-famous King Tut

and last but not least - Queen Nerfertari - wife of Pharoah Rameses II

Aren't they all grand?! We are having a blast in this class and the students are all delightful to work with. We will be switching our study to the Ancient Hebrews soon. But for now, we are enjoying all the excitement that was Ancient Egypt.

 

Outdoor Wednesday

Here are some photos from our walk out at City Forest. It was a beautiful fall day and the colors were brilliant. They were having a race out there with dogs and their owners. We managed to avoid most of the runners and have some peace and quite while we were out there. It is so refreshing to be outside in the crisp fall air and enjoying the beauty of God's creation. We are fortunate to have so many places here where we can enjoy the beautiful outdoors.

Lots of little white mushrooms all lined up on a fallen log.

Psalm 96:1, 12: "Sing a new song to the LORD! Let the whole earth sing to the LORD!"  

 

"Let the fields and their crops burst forth with joy! Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise."

Isn't it just a majestic view!

 

 

And the brilliant yellows and reds of the fallen leaves were all around!

 

 

Fences were installed for the Haunted Forest vignettes.

 

"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs." Psalm 100:1-2 (NIV)

Take some time and visit A Southern Daydreamer  to visit others who have posted today for Outdoor Wednesday. Thanks to Susan for keeping this going.

 

Halloween Blog Party

I'm joining the Halloween Party over at Fiberdoodles. What a fun idea. We always have fun around here at Halloween - a wonderful time to dress up in costumes and be someone else for a little while. I'm not into demons and goblins, but I am into imagination big time. We will be having a costume fest at the high school co-op I teach. We are studying Ancient Egypt right now, so my students will all be creating their own costumes and wearing them on Tuesday. I'll be sure to post pictures. But for now I will add a picture from a past Halloween. Trick or Treat!

Here is our crew - including my bff who helps me give out candy to neighborhood kiddies every year! Aren't they SCARY.

My dd made the green dress as part of our study of Renaissance and Reformation.  Isn't it beautiful - and doesn't she look like Shrek's princess - not the Ogre version : D

And our SCARY pumpkins! My 24 yr. old son was out carving pumpkins with his friends last night.  They just don't ever outgrow the fun!

Happy Saturday, Everyone!