Get used to disappointment

The current draft of Lily's Christmas wish list eschews materials gifts in favor of requests we probably aren't going to be able to grant. Just in case you can't read her cursive, her list is as follows:

"I need (double underlined) to go see my friends in D.C. I need (again, double underlined) to let Moo Cow (the cat that is not technically ours) in our garage for Christmas. I want Furball (another cat that has started showing up in our yard) to become our pet."

Over the years we've tried to help the girls differentiate between needs and wants. I think we have a little more work to do.

Halloween spirit

 Melting witches, courtesy of Grandma Carol.

 Ghoulish pumpkins, courtesy of Andy's knife skills.

About to head out for treats. Amalia decided her witch costume would go well with the black cat, which, by the way, is festively hanging out in our front yard again this evening. Oh, and yes, that's Andy fitting quite nicely into his Navy uniform from about 20 years ago. The Captain would probably frown on the long hair, though.

UPDATE:
I was able to snap a couple pictures of Moo Cow hanging out to scare all the trick-or-treaters.

Not just for summer

Camp Kennolyn is the camp that just keeps on giving. The sleepaway camp that Lily went to this summer also has a Halloween event.

 Featuring pumpkin carving.

 Lily wanted scary teeth. 

 Amalia o'lantern. 

 Cookie decorating.

 

And eating.

Climbing the rock wall. 

Next up: Half Dome.

 

Making a Halloween-themed god's eye.

 Complete with plastic spiders.

 

 Waiting for the trick or treating to start.

Going cabin to cabin.

 Good-bye Camp Kennolyn.

 Until the Easter egg hunt next spring!

Grandpa time

Andy invited Colin to play in a golf tournament on Friday, so the girls got some bonus time with their grandparents this weekend.

Grandpa Colin even made up a new jump rope game. Sort of a cross between skipping rope and keep-away.

 Then we walked over to see one of the neighborhood houses "decorated" for Halloween.

And we thought the fireworks, pop-up corpses, and Octobeecherfest in our old Glover Park neighborhood were impressive.

 We're not sure how they got these trucks tipped over in their front yard, but it's quite impressive.

As we were leaving, Amalia said she wished they were in our front yard. I'll think we'll be staying with the homemade tombstones.

Monkeyin' around

 This is what kids' hard work looks like--callus-covered palms from the school monkey bars.

Lily's are a bit further along.

Halloween Fun Night

Yesterday was Halloween Fun Night at Bagby Elementary, the girls' school. As you might expect, it featured kids in costumes, a bunch of carnival games, inflatables (bounce house type things), candy galore, a Haunted Halls, and, as it's also the school's biggest fundraiser of the year, a silent auction and raffle.

 Apparently, Minions say, "What?????!!!!"

 The huntress, showing off her technique.

 Waiting for the parade to start.

 Kindergarteners in costumes. So cute, except for the werewolf, which was actually a bit scary.

 On the parade route.

 The werewolf was not so scary without his head.

 Amalia trying out the ladder thing. Standing upright is not the way to go.

 The preferred belly-down technique.

 Still no guarantee of success.

 Winner! Winner! Winner!

 Shooting hoops. The games were all about getting candy.

 The girls tried several times to win me a cake at the cake walk.

 No luck. But we did come home with three small pumpkins.

Meanwhile, Andy was watching Stanford beat UCLA at the homecoming game. Look at all those Trees!

The team coming over after the game to sing our alma mater in front of the fans, and a whole bunch of alumni. Hail, Stanford, Hail.

Andy did make it back in time to accompany the girls through the "Haunted Halls," which got progressively scarier as the evening progressed--ending with actual costumed people jumping out and scaring the kids. Lily says it was her favorite part of Halloween Fun Night. Amalia refused to go back through after her earlier experience (lights on, no scary people).

Spooky creatures

We seem to be the adopted owners of a black cat. He has any number of names. His tag says Spock Paws, but we call him Moo Cow because that's what we called him before we read his tag.

Apparently he lives nearby, but his real owners recently bought a dog and now Moo Cow refuses to go home. The girls started feeding him so of course he regularly shows up each morning and evening meowing on our porch. He's also a good birder--and squirreler--having already killed and eaten two of each in our yard. He is and will remain an outside cat, despite Lily's predictions to the contrary.

She's not spooky, but here's a picture of Amalia filling out her trick or treat scavenger hunt at Gilroy Gardens last weekend. What you can't see is the sign next to her that indicates she's sitting in front of an Amalia rosebush.

The petting zoo brought out spooky animals--snakes, tarantulas, bearded dragons, hissing cockroaches. The girls pretty much just hung out with their favorite chickens.

But I hung out for a while with FeeFee.

And to top it all off, here's Amalia "reading" to me from the spider book she made in kindergarten.