Halloween

Trick or Treat!





I hope everyone reading had an enjoyable Trick or Treat night. Our girls certainally did! We took them out to a few houses in the neighborhood before heading back home to check out the loot and pass out candy to those who came to our house. A and C racked up quite a bit of candy! I've added a slideshow (Fall 08) with some pictures. Here's one for now though. ;-)

Matt's Big Win

As many of you know, Matt's been playing softball with our church's team. Last night, his team won the league championship! The girls and I didn't make it to the game because it was late, but we were with them in spirit. A and C love watching Daddy play ball with his friends. It will be April before the start of next season. It will be warmer then too! :)

We're proud of Daddy and his team. Way to go guys!

My TV Debut

I've blogged before about my part-time job at the Halloween store. A few days ago, one of the local moring news shows came out to interview the owner and shoot some footage. One of their weekly features is the "Friday Morning Dance Party." Somehow they convinced me and a co-worker to dress up and dance. You can't tell, but I'm the hippie on the right. To see my debut - click here.

Halloween Preps

We've been busy these last few days getting ready for Halloween. A decided a while back that she wanted to be Snow White. C picked a bumble bee costume. Both of them are very cute and they're so excited for it finally to be Trick or Treat day tomorrow.

Over the weekend, we went to one of the local churches that had a pumpkin patch. I snapped a few pictures while the girls picked the perfect pumpkin. This isn't the best picture, but it was about the best I could get with two excited girls.

When we got home, we cleaned it out. Then we toasted the pumpkin seeds in the oven. It was something I'd never tried before, but it turned out to be a fun experiment with the girls. We made two batches--one sweet, one salty. A's favorite was the salty, C's was the sweet.

After we'd cleaned out the pumpkin and toasted seeds, I let the girls paint some little pumpkins our neighbors had given us. Here's our results:

Last night, we finally settled on our pumpkin face. Daddy (with a little help from the girls) carved it's face. I think it turned out fantastic! A loves it and likes to sit by it, while C is a little more reserved and isn't too fond of the lit up pumpkin. I know the picture is a little fuzzy, but here's our family Jack-O-Lantern. :-)

NC State Fair

Saturday we went to the NC State Fair. It's a trip we look forward to making every year. The food, the rides, the sights...it's all fun! There are always a few things I look forward to the most though. Pickles, apple cider, and fried candy bars--definitely my favorite things about the fair. It's a little embarrassing to admit what I ate, but I figure I walked most of it off so it all works out in the end, right? (By the way, Matt and the girls had their "fair" share of food too. We didn't leave hungry!)

Here's the rundown for me:
Cup of apple cider
Ear of roasted corn (A & C promptly stole the first one so I had to go get another for myself!)
Steak & Cheese sandwich (with yummy onions, peppers and cheez whiz!)
Huge Mt. Olive dill pickle
Caramel Apple
Ham biscuit
Ear of roasted corn (yes, I ate 2)
Deep Fried Three Musketeers candy bar

It's a good thing the fair is only once a year! :-) I've posted a slideshow so you all can see the girls in action. They liked seeing the farm animals and the rides. They both even milked a cow!
Enjoy!

Fall Harvest

Tomatoes from the vine in October? Yep. We've got 'em.

Fresh green peppers? Got those too.

For some reason, our peppers and tomatoes seem to think it's spring. We've been surprised by a recent resurrection of the plants. The results from today's harvest are amazing. Look for yourself:

Crash and Burn

After dinner tonight, I took the girls out to play with the neighborhood kids. (We had a new family move in next door. They have a little girl A's age, and 2 more! A's very excited!) The kids were all playing and riding bikes. C was riding her worm and pushing another little boy in his car. Everyone was having a great time! Parents were chatting, kids were playing, all was well. There were a few close calls between bikes, but nothing too bad. It's pretty amazing how all the kids sort of watch out for one another. Some of the girls (A included) were starting at the top of our road and going as fast as they could pedal towards the cul-de-sac. This was going well and the girls were having fun. Until...A crashed and burned. She had turned her bike just a bit and was going so fast that she tipped over. I ran to her (I wasn't far. She was pretty much right in front of me when it happened.) scooped her up, and inventoried injuries. What looked to be a pretty bad crash only resulted in a scraped knee, elbow and hand. A was wearing her helmet, but the way she fell it looked like she had scraped her face. Thankfully not. I was expecting a pretty bad scraped knee, too. Thankfully, it wasn't either.

Now, you're probably thinking that this spill was the end of A's biking adventures for the evening. No. She stayed outside and rode bikes until dark! We came in and cleaned the injuries and promptly put 3 band aids on. :-)

Fall or Summer?

The calendar says fall, but the temps are saying summer. Last week, I dressed the girls in jeans or pants every day. Wednesday on A's class field trip we needed jackets too. This week looks to be like a summer week of shorts and T's.

Normally, I love warm weather. I would much rather be hot than cold. But, it just seems like this happens every year. I get all geared up for fall only to be turned upside down again back to summer clothes. Now, I'm sure that in a few months I'll be begging for warm weather again. I just don't want to pick out a pumpkin wearing shorts!

More busy times...

Gee, I was thinking that after preschool started for the girls, we'd be less busy. Yeah, not so much it seems! The Charlotte Alberty clan has been running full force here lately. I'll try to give a bit of a run down with this post. ;-)

I've taken a part time job at a good friend's Halloween store. I work very little (5 hours per week) but it's something to do for two of the days the girls are in school. Plus, it's fun and I have a wonderful boss. I do have a new found respect for all things "Halloween" now. What's even better is that I haven't had any nightmares from being around all those creepy masks and such! Yay!

This past weekend we headed down to Oak Island (again) for a few days fall beach time. The weather was perfect, the ocean was calm (although chilly), and we got in some good quality family time. We couldn't have asked for a better vacation! Well, except for the wrong-way driver we met on highway 74. (He was heading eastbound in our westbound lane. We saw him in our rearview mirror turn around just after he passed us.) That made the drive home a little more nerve-wracking than we anticipated!

This week, I worked on Tuesday (usually my off day), went on a field trip with A's school class on Wednesday, and worked today. We're having dinner with 2 other couples from our Bible Study group tomorrow night. Saturday, we've got a birthday party to go to for one of A's friends and on Sunday I'm going to a baby shower. At some point (maybe next week!) I'll actually be able to rest up!

I'll try to remember to add some pictures to this post too. ;-)