Happy Halloween!

This Halloween we went to a pumpkin patch (see previous post) and bought a few pumpkins. This was the first time I've ever attempted to carve a pumpkin. So I convinced Maddie to do it with me (Alex was a no go on that). We got our carving tools and carved beautiful pumpkins. So, as said previously, I've never carved pumpkins before. I hadn't really thought about how quickly they would spoil. After about 3 days, I noticed that my pumpkin was starting to look a little fuzzy. Then by the next day, the face was melting and fuzzy mold was growing out of its mouth like it had rabies or something. It all happened so fast. The verdict on pumpkin carving....the process was super fun, but not so much fun as to outweigh how gross rotting pumpkins are. No more pumkin carving for me. We will forever-more be enjoying the pumpkins from the outside only.

On Tuesday night, things were busy around here as usual. Paul was cooking, I was getting bottles ready for the next day and Alex was sitting at the kitchen island talking with Joe. She had just said "Hi JoJo" to him and all of a sudden we all three heard "Hi" clear as day. So much so that all activity in the kitchen stopped and we all turned around to look at him. He was just smiling away. He hasn't said anything since, so I'm not sure if it was an accident or not. But it sure sounded intentional at the time. Alex is so happy and touched that the gift of his first word went to her. I think she'll never forget that moment.

We were trying to find some early evening Halloween activity to do with Joe so we could get him in his costume and let him look at all the other kids. As many activities as there are here in The Woodlands, there wasn't anything like that for Halloween. Oddly enough, there were three dog costume events going on....strange. So, we decided just to take him trick-or-treating with Maddie, Alex and their friends this year. Alex was a Candy Corn Witch and Maddie was the Queen of Hearts. Maddie and her friends all went as characters from Alice in Wonderland. Joe slept through most of the walk, but when he woke up, Maddie insisted on carrying him around and taking him up to doors with her.

As you can see Joe went as our dog Maizie for Halloween. The actual costume is a dalmation....and Maizie is not a dalmation, but it was close. We wanted to put a sign on Maizie that said "Eat More Chikn" like the Chick-fil-a cows, but she's not a very good dog to take on a walk so it would have been for nothing. Here's a cute picture of the two of them....guess which one's Joe!