The Many Moods of Charlotte the Cupcake

(aka, Halloween 2012)

My days of dressing my kids up in cute matching costumes are over. This year they had definite opinions on what they wanted to be for Halloween: Charlotte had been asking since July to be a cupcake (after seeing one in a Toys 'r' Us catalog), and Jensen (after browsing online with me) decided on a "scary alligator" costume. 

I ordered the costumes, and when they arrived, Jensen examined his excitedly and immediately wanted to put it on. He loved it, especially his tail, and wore it several times before Halloween. Charlotte, on the other hand, saw her costume and refused to put it on (yes, even though she had been asking for it since July). She is a mystery, that girl. On Halloween, I finally managed to coerce her into her costume using promises of "candy and chocolate", but it was quite the battle!

 The cutest "scary alligator" in the world!

Jensen liked wearing his costume, he liked the candy, and he was an all-around pleasant dude on Halloween. Now onto his sister...well, she wore her costume, but she wasn't exactly thrilled about it. There are so many of these pics but her facial expressions crack me up in each one.

Once she got some candy, she was much happier!

 But once Mommy said "no more candy!", she was not so happy anymore...

And of course it was much harder this year to try to get pictures of the two of them together (as well as a family picture). This was the best we could do:

So, happy Halloween 2012 from Brian, the Scary Alligator, the Moody Cupcake, and Marcy!

Pumpkin Patchin'

Fall 2012 Lesson Number 1: The kids love the pumpkin patch. Especially Charlotte! A trip to the pumpkin patch makes for one happy Bug.

Just a little roll in the hay.

Um yeah...it's a little close to a busy street. I don't take the kids there by myself!

My main dude.

My pretty little pumpkin.

Happy girl.

Grandma's girl.

During a trip to the pumpkin patch, I asked Charlotte what she was going to do with her pumpkins. Her response: "I'ma decorate the house! I'ma put them by the front door!" And when we got home, she did just that:

Fall 2012 Lesson Number Two: If you've promised Charlotte a trip to the pumpkin patch, don't take her somewhere that actually ends up being a petting zoo with a little pile of pumpkins.

Or you'll end up with pictures that look like this:

Pouty pig. It is worth enlarging this to see her lip sticking out.

Jensen thought it was okay, though:

Daddy took one for the team and picked up a chicken.

To be fair, we took them on the only freezing cold day of the year (so far). It was a bit miserable.

Fall 2012 Lesson Number Three: Jensen's pumpkin decorating strategy? More is more.

Happy Fall, everyone!