Pumpkins, Piggies and Pie!

Is it really November already? 2013 is wrapping up quickly with many fun holidays and celebrations ahead of us. This week we put final touches on our Halloween costumes, shopped for candy and one of my favorites - carved pumpkins. Last year Harper was only 10 months old, so she wasn't extremely active in the whole "Halloween" process. She had no idea why we dressed her up as Abby Cadabby, plus she wasn't allowed to eat candy so there went trick-or-treating. This year was completely different. 

Since she's still a little young to tell us who/what she wants to dress up as, I took full advantage of making that decision on my own. Most of her character interests tend to be masculine (Thomas, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Mike Wazowski, Nemo) so we opted for one of my personal favorites and a barnyard classic - an adorable pink pig. It's an easy peasy DIY costume. We bought a pink sweatpant/sweatshirt combo, added some felt hooves and a curlicue tail, and topped it off with a piggie hat. Harper's costume was ready!

Monday night we realized Halloween was only days away and we still had pumpkins to carve. Over the weekend Harper painted one, but there were still 4 more waiting to be decorated. Harper and Mitch scanned the internet to find the perfect design. I find it adorable that every year Mitch likes to pick a character Harper is obsessed with and carve that into his orange gourd. Last year it was Elmo, this year Nemo won. After removing all the "guts" (which Harper wasn't interested in) we got to carving. Harper helped create the design of her pumpkin by telling me which shapes to draw. We ended up with one rectangle eye, one circle eye and an oval mouth. :) The finished products turned out great, and we were excited to light the candles and display them on our front step.

Halloween became a big deal at work this year. An email explaining there would be a costume contest and potluck on the 31st went out a month in advance so people had time to plan ahead. So after weeks of preparing our group costume, the day had finally come to share it with the rest of the office. A group of us are loyal Voice watchers on Monday and Tuesday nights. We come into the office the day after the show aired and express our own opinions and critiques, share our favorite performances and who we think should go home. So it only seemed natural to go as The Voice judges for Halloween, only with a twist. The three girls in the group decided to take on the male figures, and our brave co-founder agreed to take on the part of Christina. Thursday morning I woke up and transformed myself into the best Blake Shelton I could. I walked through the doors of REACH to find almost everyone in the office dressed up! It was such a fun day, and we managed to take second in the costume contest! I can only image what next year will bring!

After work I rushed to Bob & Deb's to get Harper ready for her first real trick-or-treating experience. We got her dressed in her duds, and bribed her with a sucker to keep the hat on. She cooperated for pictures and managed to show us some pretty epic "cheese faces." She loved the idea of going up to a house, knocking on the door and getting candy. We would say, "Harper, say trick-or-treat" and she would quickly yell "treat!" After gathering entirely too much candy (and that's just visiting the grandparents) we headed home to face our very own trick-or-treaters. Harper helped pass out candy and greeted all the kiddos by staring them down and yelling "hi" and "bye." Of course we bought entirely too much candy and have a giant bowl left over which is just staring at me. Let's just say I've had one too many Almond Joys. People always say, "oh you should just buy the candy you don't like." Problem is, I pretty much love all candy. Ugh, it's the holiday season - calories don't count, right?

Last weekend while preparing for our week festivities, I had the urge to make a pie. Don't ask me where my sudden desire for pumpkin pie came from, because I don't have an answer. I had never made a pie, and it just seemed like the right thing to do on a gloomy Sunday. I gathered my ingredients to make my pie crust and mixed it up in the KitchenAid mixer, then grabbed my rolling pin and rolled out the dough. After a couple tries I finally got it the way I wanted. I poured my pumpkin mixture into the pie dish and topped it off with hand cut sugar & cinnamon leaves from the extra pie dough. I was pretty proud of my first pie making experience and it even tasted pretty good! Success!

Well the holiday season has officially started. The Christmas decorations are up at Target and before you know it "Jingle Bells" will be filling our ears. I'm looking forward to this holiday season and celebrating with all our family and friends!

Happy November everyone, and have a great weekend!

Until next time,

The Helleen's