Grand Haven - Trick or Treating

We took advantage of Megan not having school on Halloween to venture over to our Grand Haven house for trick or treating.  Our location in GH is much nice for passing out candy (our long driveway in GR is prohibitive to the littler trick or treaters, and we don't get a lot of traffic most Halloweens).  Grand Haven also offers trick or treating downtown, on the first three blocks of Washington street, which sounded like a lot of fun.

It wasn't all fun and games, however.  We had leaves to tend to!

Nobody was exempt from raking - not even the littlest one.

Even the animals at the library animals were celebrating Halloween!

Elsa & Anna ready to tackle Washington Street

Their first score!

They've got the hang of it now

Pausing indoors for a little warm-up - it was not one of the milder Halloweens on the books, that's for sure

A pile o' candy and free hot chocolate to boot!

SCORE!

Ready to hit the streets...again

Hannah gave up on round 2 of trick or treating pretty quickly, opting to hand out candy at home with me instead.  After each treat she passed out, she'd give me this face and say "well, that was awkward".  What a clown...

Lacey has hated her witch costume for 9 years running.

Watch out Disney - we've got a pretty convincing pair of lookalikes on our hands.

We had a blast in GH!  Definitely a new tradition for this family!

Second Grade Halloween Party

Megan's school always has the last Friday of October off for a record-marking day, so we partied with her fellow second grade peeps on Thursday, the 30th.

In costume and ready to party

Our Elsa is so happy in second grade :)

Daddy & Hannah all lined up to watch the all-school Halloween parade

Hannah promptly ditched Daddy to stand next to her buddy, Hazel

Little sisters on high alert for the appearance of their big sisters

Class photo

Pumpkin bowling was the featured game of the class party

She's wearing her serious bowler face 

Elsa & Mom

Enjoying her Halloween snacks

Sassy-faced after all that sugar

Posing with her teacher, Mrs. Westgate, who is much, much younger than she appears in this picture

Pumpkin carving

We keep a full schedule, and sometimes our annual traditions become a bit rushed.  In this example, Megan had to finish her homework while I prepped her pumpkin.  We improvise.  It works for us.

Little sister gets started on cleaning out her pumpkin.  To my surprise, she was actually quite a helper with this process!

Megan was too!  In previous years, they have touched the pumpkin innards just for entertainment value, and run away screaming after one scoop.

She REALLY got into it this year - almost cleaning out her entire pumpkin on her own.  Thanks Megan!

The finished product.  You'll never guess which one is Hannah's...

Even in the rush of our dinner/homework/pumpkin carving/bath night routine, they made time to shame the beagle.

Grocery store dance party

Life with Hannah is an adventure.  This girl's sense of humor is something else, and her outgoing personality and good looks attract a following wherever we go.  Imagine my humiliation when she insisted on singing Beyonce's "Single Ladies" throughout Meijer.

It's the face.  She's cute and she knows it.

"If you like it then you better put a ring on it" - she does the hand motions and everything.  Oy.

Still jammin' in the parking lot

I'm not sure I can ever show my face at Meijer again...

Pumpkin patch!

We fit in our annual visit to Schwallier's Country Basket on a gorgeous fall day.  Grandpa Purdy's garden provided our carving pumpkins this year, so we mostly went for the tradition...and the donuts.  Can't forget the donuts.

Feeding our friends, the goats

They do love goats

All the best slides originate from the second story of a barn

Conquering hay bale mountain!

Fun on the farm

She enjoyed scaling the hay bales just so she could jump down.

Pumping the ducks back and forth is always a hit

Hard at work

Pumpkin patch

Bye Schwalliers!  Thanks for a good time (and donuts)!

Soccer star

Hannah just wrapped up a GREAT first soccer season.  She started the season a little shy and timid, but once she got a taste for scoring goals, we saw a complete turnaround.  She had a lot of fun, and is already signed up for the spring season.

Warming up with Melanie and Kate

Watch out opposing team, they look ready

In between goals, she made time for hot cocoa breaks

Team photo 

Hannah Marie, Math Whiz

Hannah decided that she wanted to work on her sister's math worksheet one afternoon.  I believe this was due more to the fact that she likes Expo markers, but it seemed like a healthy activity nonetheless.  After fielding several "Mom, what's one plus...?" questions, I got out the play money to show her how to add numbers using two piles of money.  Having no claim to the Mother of the Year award, I promptly got distracted with something else.  The next thing I knew, she had the sum of 8 + 9 all figured out on her own.

Our little mathmetician

I guess she gets it...