Grapevine Trick-or-Treating

On the Friday before Halloween, Grapevine closes down their Main Street and offers up a carnival with bounce houses, music, a scary house, a mini train ride, face painting and candy handed out by each of the shops. Sofia and I went with Thelma and Isabella and thankfully we went early! Sofia and Isabella were able to trick-or-treat at the shops without any line and we were able to walk around Main Street and enjoy all the activities. One of Sofia's favorites was the haunted house, which was just a blow up house with fake scary ghosts, etc. She wanted to walk through it over and over! After we'd seen it all, we headed back to the car and met CK and Harvey for dinner. It was a very fun evening.

A cowgirl and butterfly


Yeehah!


Sofia's first trick-or-treat


Trying out a lollipop


The haunted house that she loved!


Yum, pizza!

Halloween 2010

On Halloween, we drove down to the Park Cities area of Dallas to trick-or-treat with CK's colleague's family. They live in a very ritzy part of town and we all thought it would be fun to trick-or-treat and look at some amazing houses while we walked around. Their son, Wilson, is nearly two and Sofia and he get along well. After pizza and hanging out a little, Sara and I took the kiddos out for some candy while the guys stayed home to "pass out candy" (the world series game may have had something more to do with it though).

Sofia loved it! She would run to the front door, ring the door bell and then say "Trick or Treat" when the owner answered. Once she had candy in her bag, she would linger hoping for more handouts - which, ironically happened more often since all the homes we visited said they hadn't had many visitors. We made it to about ten houses and had fun chatting with all the homeowners and looking at the gorgeous homes along the way. Then we headed home and Sofia helped pass out candy to older kids who visited Sara and Tom's place. It was a fun night and we had a tired little girl on our hands at the end of it.

Sofia and her Papa all set to head downtown


Sofia and her pillow case - CK gave her the option of taking her plastic pumpkin or pillow case and she decided on the pillow case


Sofia and Wilson as we heading out


Their first house


Candy!


Posing outside one of the houses


More candy


Playing with the ghost - Sofia loved to try and hug him.


Trick-or-Treat, Papa and Tom!


Passing out candy

Visiting the Pumpkin Patch (again)

On Thursday before Halloween, Sofia and I met Thelma and Isabella at the pumpkin patch, since they hadn't been able to go yet. We arrived in the afternoon and enjoyed having the place to ourselves essentially! Sofia and Isabella loved it! They ran around, played with the pumpkins (Sofia kept saying one of the them was a 'baby' and rocked it), played in the hay house and played on the slide. It was great fun! We also enjoyed the homemade carmel popcorn. Yum! It was a fun visit and the girls had a great time!

Sofia and Isabella just as we arrived at the pumpkin patch


Playing in the hay house - I think they were "making lattes" or something similar


Our little cowgirl!


Posing with her pumpkin

Sofia's School Fall Festival

Sofia's school's Fall Festival started at 1:15, and I arrived a little early to help set up with some of the other moms. It was such fun to just hang out in Sofia's class and watch the teachers and kids interact. I've been a little suspect of Sofia's Spanish and although she didn't speak much in front of me (aside from "Gracias" and "Mas, por favor") she clearly understand all that was being asked of her, which was great to watch. The Festival included a few games in the main school room, then a pumpkin craft and a cookie to decorate (and eat). After, the kids lined up and the entire school "trick-or-treated" throughout each of the rooms. It was so cute to see all the costumes and hear them all chant "dulces, dulces" (sweets, sweets) while they waited. It was a good dry run for Sunday night too!

Getting ready to play a pumpkin game


A class photo


Decorating her pumpkin


Frosting her pumpkin sugar cookie


Yum!


Trick-or-Treating!

Our Little Cowgirl

Today Sofia got to wear her cowgirl outfit for the first time! Her school held their Fall Festival in the afternoon so all the students were able to wear their costumes to class. CK's former boss gave Sofia the cowgirl outfit (it's actually a cowboy outfit) as a joke at our going away party in DC and I realized that it finally fits her! Frankly we were a little hesitant to ask her what she wanted to be for Halloween and assume she'd want to be Thomas Train, a frog or possibly Hello Kitty. However, we don't really know since we sort of just told her that she was going to be a cowgirl. Of course, she had no idea why or what this whole "Halloween" thing was, but she soon figured it all out! I guess she doesn't remember last year's trick-or-treating efforts. She woke up a little late, so I got her into her costume as quickly as possible and took a few pictures of her before heading off to school (a few minutes late, as usual).

Our little cowgirl!


A close-up!


Yeehaaaaa!

Making Sugar Cookies

I agreed to supply undecorated sugar cookies and vanilla frosting for Sofia's school's Fall Festival, and Sofia was more than eager to help out! When the dough was ready to be rolled out, Sofia used her rolling pin (and a LOT of flour) to prepare her dough for the pumpkin cookie cutters we have. I showed her how to add a sprinkle of flour to the counter, add a little to the top of the dough and roll it out so it doesn't stick to everything. As I cut and baked pumpkin cookies, Sofia was perfectly content to roll, add flour and re-roll her little ball of dough. All the while talking away, as usual. It worked out well, although we had a little more flour on the flour, step stool and counter than usual, but that was easy enough to clean up. We did enjoy splitting one finished pumpkin cookie for our hard work.

Sofia and her little rolling pin. She's wearing an apron Mimi made for her and I wore a matching one that was made for me.


Rolling out the dough


Adding flour....


...and more flour!


Using a cookie cutter - I think she only used it this one time.


A little flour goes a long way!


Having fun!

Painting pumpkins (and girls)

Sofia needed to "decorate" a pumpkin for school so her class would have a "pumpkin patch." So I bought a kit at the grocery store that included a few mini pumpkins and paints. Of course, I forgot about the project until the morning it was due (although I doubt they would be to hard on her, given that isn't that kind of school). I set her up to decorate before we headed out and luckily put one of my old shirts over her school clothes. I figured she should be creative and not have instruction on what to do with eyes, nose, etc. Needless to say, it turned into a multi-colored mini pumpkin....

A few nights later, we gave her another to paint after dinner and it turned into Sofia painting herself. I realized later that the paint wasn't a kid-friendly one that washes off in the laundry....ooops.

Getting started with her pumpkin for school


Mixing her colors


Sofia and her facial


At least she's having fun