FALL FUN...

Loving this Indian Summer and being able to get out and enjoy it!  

The Hubs and I rode along the Oklahoma River bike trail and went on an "adventure" as I like to say, finding the Skydance bridge!  It was a thrill to go over it, with semi-trucks honking at me from below!  

Then I guess I have to admit that I have embraced our son's "Mystery Machine" for his snow cone business by using it for our church's Trunk or Treat.  We have some pretty great friends who joined us in being the Scooby Doo gang!

PUMPKIN FAVORITES...

Enjoying pumpkin season!  

I don't think we've ever had so many jack-o-lanterns around here, but the boys and their friends have been busy!

 I've made these 3 times already this fall - Pumpkin Sugar cookies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese frosting!  They are SO GOOD!  Check Pinterest for the recipe.

One of my favorites!

I'm also a big fan of pumpkin bread - my MIL has a great recipe with lots of ginger in it!  Another favorite treat is a Starbucks hot chocolate with a pump of pumpkin spice in it.  

What are your favorite pumpkin-y treats?

FALL FESTIVAL - BRINGING TOGETHER THE GENERATIONS...

For a few years now, I've been helping the teenagers with the Fall Festival at our church. Trunk or Treat was added a while back, open to anyone in the church to do.  Sometimes we were overrun with teens so this year, the juniors/seniors were asked to do a "trunk" out in the parking lot.  Several did that so that seemed to ease the problem of having too many teens on site.  Anyway, I'm so proud of them for stepping out and greeting little kids, playing the carnival games with them, and cheering them on.  With a little pep talk right before the event, they did a great job!  Be sure and thank the teens you know and give them some positive strokes!  This is one of the few activities that span the generations - so good for everyone.

This was a new game we tried and it was pretty popular!  From Martha Stewart.com

Rapunzel and her prince work the Lollipop tree- yum!

A redheaded Snow White working putt-putt!

What's up the elephants nose - a classic!

First time trunk or treat workers! My cute clown - incidentally he picked this out of our costume closet. My mother actually made this costume for my first year of teaching so she was tickled to see it being used again!

PARTY IN THE HOUSE...

because once again, the rain foiled our plans!  But it went fine and we had a great crowd.  All of these lovely ladies that volunteer as leaders for our highschool girls class helped me throw this Halloween party by bringing all the food.  

We had a scavenger hunt I had created many years ago and being the pack rat I am, I still had all the goodies for it.  They had to look for things like:  Sustenance for a squirrel (acorn), Garden protector (scarecrow), Lunch catcher for a spider (web), Worry for arachnophobes (spider), and lots of other fun things hidden throughout the house.

Pumpkin desserts!!!

Mr. Jack Piñata fulfilled his purpose in life :( but provided lots of fun for us!

NOTHING LIKE DING DONG DITCHING TO HELP BOND US...

I am excited to say that I think my co-leader and I are making progress with our high school girls! We have been with them for about 6 weeks, but that isn't a whole lot since it boils down to about 30 minutes of group time each Sunday after announcements and songs as a large high school group. Most of us are facebook friends now, and we just did a little activity Sunday evening after worship. But it went really well. Might be something you'd like to try!

We went BOOing! (Ding dong ditching with a purpose!)  We decided to bless some people in our congregation with goodies. Each girl brought either a bag of candy or baked goods in ziploc bags. We ate a simple dinner together, then assembled the bags, then decorated the notes to put on them. My co-leader adapted the notes because the original notes say something to the effect of the recipient booing someone else. Ours said this:

You have been BOO'ED

The air is cool, the season fall

Soon Halloween will come to all

We have been looking for something to do

And so we brought these treats to you!

Happy Halloween!

I know the object is to be anonymous, but we did write the name of our church on the note, since we did put a few homemade treats in the bags as well.

We had to split up in two cars, but we "hit" about 25 houses in all! The girls had a lot of fun ringing the doorbells, leaving the bags and running back to the car. We had a few misses, getting stuck outside gated neighborhoods, and then worrying about running out of gas, but it was a good time!  We  made enough bags that each girl took home one to bless somebody in their own neighborhood and extend the activity.

Getting ready to go!

This sweet senior made the cutest cupcakes for our dinner together! They are hedgehogs and scarecrows!

I'm so thankful for these girls and the opportunity to get to know them better!

HALLOWEEN TEENAGER-STYLE...

My Indian boy actually would pose for me outside with our ghostie! No trick-or-treating for him this year, he went to 2 parties...
























and here's my 6 ft. Simba...yes, he really did wear that! He borrowed it (maybe from a toddler?) and wore it to the church's fall festival and to school on Halloween! He went to a party with friends on Halloween and was a deejay. Didn't really get any good pics of that one, tho...


























and my college girl was thrilled to get to go to a local home with her friends and carve pumpkins...hers is the fancy one...she should major in pumpkin carving, I think!