Halloween Photo Shoot

On the afternoon before Halloween the local Oliver cousins (we miss you Reese!) decided to get together in their costumes for a little photo shoot!

Owen was very concerned about Catherine who was completely annoyed with her puppy hat. He kept frowning and pointing as us as if to say, "Hey isn't someone going to help her!?!?!?!"

Owen had a little trouble getting around in his suit and Savannah really just wanted to pick berries, but I think we got some cute shots of them. Here are a couple of Catherine:

Happy Halloween!

Not So Scary Halloween 2011

Almost every year since we adopted Kaitlyn we have gone to Disney World with Grandma and Grandpa John for the Not So Scary Halloween Party. It's a wonderful time together and the kids LOVE it!

Kate was a witch this year and Savannah was Bat Girl. Owen dressed up as a dragon which was Savannah's Halloween costume from three years ago. I amazed that we could even still find it after all that time!

 He was so sweet about wearing it. We could tell he didn't love being in the suit, but he dealt with it wonderfully. Here is Savannah from three years ago not handling it so well -

She HATED every minute of this outfit!

After our first ride on the Haunted House, we stopped to watch the parade.

Owen was a little confused but held up pretty well for being tired.
I tip-toed off during the parade and got Mike an early birthday gift - a funnel cake!

He is easy to please :)

Witch or not, she is beautiful!

Owen literally fell asleep sitting up on the It's A Small World Ride

As the night wore on and we all got tired I stopped taking pictures because it was just too much work! But we stayed until midnight, rode lots of rides, and the girls got a ton of treats. We also saw one of the best fireworks displays ever! It was a blast and we are already plotting our trip again next year!

Pumpkin Patch

Every year we go to the same pumpkin patch to get our carving pumpkin. The girls love it and have been looking forward to going all month!

Because we were so late getting over there this year, we didn't have that great of a selection but we were still able to find one pumpkin that works for us!

After dinner, we set to work carving it up! I bought a little kit at the store that has a kitty cat stencil complete with little gems to add some bling! I think this will be the last year we can get away with a "girly" pumpkin.

Don't be nervous - Savannah is wearing make-up, not sporting a bruise!

I think the pumpkin turned out great and so we took it and the little pumpkins that we painted last week out to the porch!

We can't wait for Halloween!!!

Apple Orchard Adventure

On the second day of our weekend get away Carrie had a real treat in store for us. She took us about 2 hours north into North Carolina to an apple orchard on top of a mountain. The view was amazing!

Of course the first thing the kids wanted to do was play on the playground.

We actually had to hike quite a ways to get to the apples but it was worth the effort!

Savannah filled 3 buckets - all from the ground!

Papa T scaled the tree to get apples for the girls!

My girls worked very hard for those apples! What amazed me is they were cheaper than buying them from the store! Only $1 per pound.

We wanted to go on a hay ride but we missed it and we didn't think the boys would hold out for another half hour so we pretended to take this tractor for a ride!

After the orchard we went into Historic Hendersonville and had a nice lunch outside. Savannah was a little bothered by the sun so I lent her my shades :)

After the long drive back to Carrie's house and a relaxing dinner, Carrie and the girls whipped up an apple crisp over vanilla ice cream using the apples we picked! My oh my was it delicious!