trunk or treat

Sunday was SUMC's annual Fall Festival and trunk-or-treat. For Halloween this year, Hannah wanted to be a mermaid. There was no discussion; she had her mind made up. And she was emphatic about the red wig. As for Joseph, Joe picked out a shark costume at TJ Maxx a while ago. We were meant to be creatures of the sea...

We parked the car and rushed to get our trunk ready, while Meme took the kids to play. We caught up with the kids post-face and pumpkin painting, just in time for the games...

 My Little Mermaid

 Ring toss...and more importantly, candy for trying

I didn't look at the pictures as I was taking them on my camera, so when I did upload them to my computer, I thoroughly enjoyed looking at my sea babies having a good time and experiencing the excitement all over again... And realizing how similar they are. 

Like this:

Taking a break to fuel up on some sugar
 

 She loves pixie sticks.

Now, about this fishing game...

Joseph seemed very confused. When first told to "go fish" he went and tried to grab a painted fish on the big wall in front of him. I mean, why would you try to get whatever's behind the plywood when there are fish right in front of you? If you think about it, it is confusing indeed. I'm on Joseph's side for this one. He's suppose to get a fish, directed to put his line over where the fish are, and for some reason candy is thrown back at him...ohhh-kaaay. But, hey, he'll always take more candy when given to him.

Hannah was an old pro.

Next up was a dart-throwing/balloon-popping game. Not exactly safe for little ones, but mine had a different approach.

But neither were sure about the loud popping noises.

...Hey, we're getting candy for destroying stuff. Alright!

We skipped right over the bob-for-apples game (for obvious reasons) and Hannah putted with her Dad.

Admiring another mermaid, our friend, Kessler

 Time for the hayride!

Before we headed inside the church to eat hot dogs and chili, we came to the Cliff Hanger.

You may remember last year's trunk-or-treat when Hannah went down the big slide all by herself. Well, this year's was different - higher and steeper and no flat landing at the top. So as not to miss the fun (and because she really wanted to do it), I offered to go down with her.

She loved it. And after watching, Joseph said he wanted to do it. We were all shocked, and I asked him about three more times if he was sure, but he did...and loved it, too!

Meme got a picture of us all going up...

Yes, that's Joe climbing up the ladder with Hannah. Yes, the same Joe that is in PT for multiple injuries. But he was fine, no harm done. As for the picture of us going down...Heyward is in the way.

All four of us enjoyed it. Think we've started a Buck family tradition.

After dinner was the trunk-or-treat, where as you probably know (or can figure out) is when all the kids go car to car trick-or-treating from trunks. We've participated the last three years. This year we stuck to the mermaid/shark theme and made our trunk look like the sea. Obviously, Joe and I had to take part with poster board goldfish costumes.

The kids helped hand out Goldfish crackers.

...Then went off to find some goodies of their own.

It was a lot of fun, with some church members going all out with very creative themes for their trunks (Duck Commander - check, Candyland board game - check).

Now, the real Halloween is tomorrow and we've got some more fun planned. Stay tuned!

more pumpkins

While at Wal-Mart last week I bought the kids pumpkins to decorate. Tuesday we had a "crafternoon" and had some fun with paint brushes.

I liked their creativity...and very different styles. Joseph with the "drip technique" and Hannah with her perfectionistic and very intentional approach.

And Thursday, I picked up early from preschool and whisked the kids away to Milledgeville. Along with some other friends, we visited a pumpkin patch!

Joseph started the fun with a sustained tantrum (see that tiny dot in the upper left corner of the upper left picture?). But then came around and had a grand old time trying to pick up the big pumpkins.

How neat is this?

That's suppose to be Phil Robertson on the left, but all Duck fans know that Si is the one with the Tupperware cup of iced tea. Do you watch Duck Dynasty? We do, and love it. Is it not so nice to watch a show with good, clean humor based on a family that puts their faith in Jesus above all else? ...You know who the characters are on the right.

My girl loved looking at the pumpkins, from the tiniest to the tallest.

 

{our friends: Rue (2), Pierce (1), Cole (3), Kessler and McFerrin (3)}

These were Hannah's choices to take home...

...and these were Joseph's:

Yes, most people go to pumpkin patches for the pumpkins. Not Joseph. He liked the gourds best.

And, as long as they make it through the season without being destroyed (or causing too much damage), they will make good fall decorations indeed!

I texted a couple pictures to Joe and, while discussing how we were going to show him all our pictures so he would see everything we did, Hannah said "Please take a picture of me in the car sittin'..." Love it. Daddy's girl...didn't want to leave him out of anything.

We had lunch and did some shopping (even picking up some yummy sushi for dinner) before heading home. It was a great day!


Update:

 Thanks for these pictures, Deana!

photo streamin' and instagramin'

The nice thing about Apple's Photo Stream is that it collects pictures from my phone and iPad and puts them on to my computer without me having to do a thing. Before, I had to email images to myself or plug my phone into the computer and upload manually.  It's great...when it works. For whatever reason the Photo Stream on my computer is no longer updating (help?!). I do have a PC which could be the problem...but I digress.

Just thought I'd share some mobile uploads today. Random family doings and goings...

 my new "wallpaper": hanging out on the driveway

 my lock-screen shot: being fancy...even while getting ready for bed

 helping Joseph at the Chic-fil-A playground

 looking too old on the big kid swing

just a Sunday spin around the backyard...and cheese

 my sweet girl and picnics on the back porch

practicing the Buck pout

 a couple of Sundays ago...

my little guy in another hand-me-down from his uncles

This past Saturday we drove to Fayetteville for a one- and six-year joint birthday party for our sweet cousins, Lyndsey and Peter.

Raffie even did some driving

 Aunt Trudie took this picture of my girl

 the great-grandchildren (minus Jess)...thanks Maddie and Aunt Kristie for the help!

That last picture is another one Trudie took. She entitled it, "just 26 more minutes mom!" Which is exactly what she said to me when it was time to get in the car and head home.

One more thing...

I've just recently gotten into Instagram. I know, something else to take up time and aid in procrastination. But it's not the black hole that Facebook is, or this blog for that matter. It takes only a minute to tap the Instagram app on my phone and look at a few photos posted by friends or share one of my own.

Here are a few:

I can type a caption, tag someone in the picture, and "followers" can like or leave a comment. {I thought someone (ahem, Dad) might need an explanation.} It's great...and easy...and, well, if I've disappeared from the blog for a while you might find me/us there @lbbuck. I added a widget to the side of the screen here, too, so you can click and view current pictures. That's assuming you are interested!