Back in the (front) yard

Almost the entire weekend was spent in the front yard getting ready for the winter. There are still oodles of leaves hanging on, which will make for many more long weekends in the yard. It's nice to have a little helper (and sisters who take long naps!) and the cooler weather makes it almost enjoyable to spend so much time out there :)

 Feeding the fish

Gathering down sticks

A "for real" violin!

Cora finally got her own violin and she's so excited. It's super cute (a 1/8 size) and she's handling it with a lot of respect. Since she'll likely outgrow this one quickly, we opted to rent rather than purchase. 

 Tutoring mom and dad on the parts of the violin

 Practicing her strokes

with Ms. Nancy, her violin teacher

Curly Emi?

Check out how curly her hair was after today's nap… It's pretty humid here :)

Trick or Treat!

Emi's Scarecrow

Emi had "homework," to create a scarecrow for school… it was supposed to be a "family project," but she really preferred to do it herself. Her stubborn sense of independence is both cute and annoying!

 First she colored the shoes

Then she glued on ribbons to make clothes

(Cora and mom cut the ribbon strips, so I guess it was kind-of a family project…)

I'm not sure where the finished product picture is, but she (scarecrow) was pretty cute, complete with a glittery hat. The amount of glitter around the house reminded me why I don't encourage it EVER!!!

Trunk-or-Treat

Today our church hosted "trunk-or-treat" and we decorated Big Red as "Madea Animal Control" - complete with dog kennels and stuffed dogs and cats, dog toys, balls of yarn and some catching nets. The ladies were all black cats and Greg was a dog catcher. We missed having Finn and Bonny present, but it would have been too crazy, we fear… The weather was perfect and we had lots of fun!

Cute family shot

The girls blowing down the walls of Jericho (all to get candy…)

View from our spot

Scheming cats

Emi steering an airplane

Cora an old pro, cute tail!

 Louisa trying to sneak some candy for herself

"Scare on the Square"

The Halloween season officially began this afternoon in downtown Collierville. The girls dressed in costume and trick-or-treated around the town square at the various businesses. There were plenty of games and treats, of course. We had a ball!

Emi's best monkey girl imitation

 Cora dusted off her old cowgirl costume for another year

Showing off their balloon flowers

Playing some games in the gazebo 

Louisa's just about had it…. crawling to her pumpkin in her doggy costume