Tonight was trick-or-treat for us (or Beggar's Night as it's called in this part of the world). Both of the kids have colds and Emery's has been pretty yucky for the last couple of days, so we decided that we weren't going to take her out tonight. Kenton decided he didn't want to go either, so we stayed in and gave out candy. Kenton had a great time--absolutely loved it! He got to eat some candy as he was handing it out, of course, but he was just thrilled every time someone came to the door. He didn't want to go to the bathroom because he was afraid he might miss someone, but we finally made him when he started doing some serious dancing around and holding himself. Then he came streaking out of the bathroom with his pants and undies in hand because he was so afraid he might miss someone at the door that he didn't want to take time to pull up his pants. We had a little talk about nudity and privacy after that.

Kenton and Emy in their Halloween costumes--he's Super Why and she's Princess P. Click the link to see a picture if you're not familiar with the show. We got all dressed up this afternoon because the weekly Kroger ad had advertised free cider and donuts, a costume contest, "trick or treat street", pumpking-carving and lots of other fun-sounding things in the store starting at 4:00. Apparently the people working in the Xenia Kroger didn't read their own ad because there was none of that at our store. We were a little irritated and Kenton was disappointed because he was expecting candy. However, he got over it pretty quickly once we told we'd go back home and give him some candy. Emery seemed perfectly happy since she was getting lots of attention in her princess costume. She really enjoys being the center of attention. Kenton can wear his costume to school tomorrow for his Halloween party but he says he doesn't want to. He's not really into getting dressed up. Which is kind of disappointing to his mother since she went to all the trouble to make his costume.

We went to Meijer this afternoon and they were having a Halloween-fest in the store with trick or treating from department to department and free pictures in the photo department. We didn't realize it would be going on, so our kids weren't in costume (and I haven't made their costumes yet!) but we still took advantage of the freebies. It's not a great picture, but they're both looking at the camera, which rarely ever happens.

We headed to Edward's hometown of Glendale (population 300) this weekend to visit with family and take in the annual Crossing Festival. The festival brings about 25,000 people to shop for arts and crafts from the 300 or more vendors who set up and, most importantly, to eat lots of food, much of it deep-fried. After a normal breakfast at the house, I kicked off my festival dining with a cup of chili at about 9:30am and proceeded to eat until I went to bed. I somehow missed the booth selling deep-fried twinkies and snickers, though. I'm going to have to ask Nathanael to help me find it next year, because I really do need to try a deep-fried twinkie.

The day started off a little chilly, so we bundled the kids up to go watch the parade. Kenton kept his hat and mittens on for about 45 seconds before he started complaining and ripped them off. He was a little better about wearing his coat. Em didn't seem to care what she was wearing as long as someone was paying attention to her constantly. Fortunately there were usually enough family members around at any given time to keep her happy.

Emy stood with cousin Alyssa to watch the parade. Her red cape says "going to grandma's" on the front. How cute is that?

Parade watching can leave a boy awfully tired and thirsty

Kenton and his new best buddy Nick checked out the train outside of the shops

Edward, Kenton, and Nick enjoyed Saturday afternoon's hayride

Em got all dressed up go to out for dinner Saturday night (with some fashion assistance from her ever-stylish cousin Alyssa). Check out the sparkly shoes!

I'm not sure what Em was looking at in this picture, but this was the closest we could come to actually getting both of them to look at the camera.

I had the day off since I work tomorrow, so we headed out to the very beautiful Wegerzyn Gardens in Dayton. They have a formal garden area and a fabulous children's garden. They're also holding a scarecrow-making contest, so there were lots of scarecrows on display. Some of them were really cute. We'll have to enter next year.

I think he looks so big and grown-up here.

It's hard to see in the picture, but there's a praying mantis on the gate that Kenton was checking out. He stood and watched it for 3 or 4 minutes, then announced that it was probably hungry for lunch like he was so we should go. Since we were leaving when we spotted it, that's just what we did.

Kenton helps Emy into the teepee so they can play together.

Entrance to the children's garden. I think the gates are gorgeous!

Edward pushing the stroller through the formal section of the garden

While attempting to take some shots of the gorgeous fall leaves, I accidentally switched the camera into underwater mode. I didn't even know it had an underwater setting, since we don't have much need to do underwater photography. Anyway, it seemed to distort the colors (the sky was actually a lovely bright blue), but I thought the effect was pretty neat in this shot.

Emy rocked out in the music area of the garden

One of the many scarecrows on display

Happy fall, y'all!

Em enjoyed the leaves, too.

The kids went down to visit Nana & Papaw last Thursday, and Edward and I came down on Saturday. I think they really had a great time. Kenton absolutely loved playing in the leaves. I think he would have stayed out there all day if we'd let him.