Halloween 2010

Ava didn't really understand Halloween last year because all she wanted to do was stare at a glowing skull hanging from Sis Gowen's van door, instead of Trick or Treating. Well this year was a completely different story. I gave Ava a choice of costumes (pink skeleton PJ's or Princess) and of course she picked princess. We all went to the ward Trunk or Treat party and Ava knew how to get candy! She was so sweet as Dave took her to every car, but she couldn't wait to eat her candy. She would pick out a chocolate and eat it en route to the next car.

After trunk or treating we went inside and played "Cake Walk" a musical chairs style game but with numbers. When Ava's number won she was ecstatic to pick out a cupcake, and was proud of her purple bat ring!

This is Ava's version of donut on a string. Forget the no hands thing, this works so much better.

Ava was too scared to go into the Haunted House. They asked you what level of scary you wanted and then gave you the fright of your life. Dave asked for ultimate and he got ultimate!

Instead I took her to see Sis Geddes, who painted Ava a princess face. She has never had her face painted and wasn't sure about it at first. She kept pulling away, but after she saw the glitter and swirls, she loved it.

We miss our old Bury St Edmunds ward and the people. Halloween Trunk or Treat 2010 was a blast!

On Sunday October 31, Dave had to work so Ava and I went to church by ourselves and then took a nap. I woke up just in time to hand out candy to our first Trick or Treaters! Jessie was going crazy with all the door bell rings and kids. I completely underestimated the number of British/American kids and after 45 minutes I ran out of candy, so I decided to turn off our lights and take Ava to a few houses.

Ava has never gone door to door trick or treating before, but she caught on fast. How cute is this picture? I love her.

Eating her first piece of chocolate the second we got back home.

New Friend Amelia and Library Halloween Party

A new family moved here from Florida who we have fallen in love with. They have a little girl, Amelia who is the same age as Ava. The girls have a typical 2/3 year old friendship, I love you and want to be with you all the time but if you take my toys or boss me around watch out! Amelia lives near a goat farm and one day we got to feed the goats with her.

Then Amelia shared her Cinderella dress and both girls went to the Library Halloween Party. They made spider hats, read books, and got prizes. It was a fun start to the Halloween fun.

English Pumpkin Patch

We had so much fun at the pumpkin patch in Germany last year we decided to do it all again this year in England. I always got to pick my pumpkin from the grocery store, so this is a new exciting experience we get to share with Ava. It was a typical soggy, foggy, chilly day so rain boots and coats were a must. I even had to roll up my pants to make sure I didn't take half the mud home.

Ava looked and looked and finally picked her favorite one!

This tiny little pumpkin. I asked her if she wanted to pick a bigger one and she told me "this is a baby pumpkin, and papa's is a papa pumpkin."

You can really see the difference in size. David's pumpkin clearly visible and Ava's pumpkin only has the stem poking above the wheel barrow.

Sad ending to the pumpkin story though, October was so busy that we never got around to carving our pumpkins. Instead I lit the pumpkin jars (Ava and I made these with modge podge and tissue paper) and left the real ones to look cute in front of our house.