Monster House

Last night, Mommy made us some spooky house-shaped brownies to decorate, and we sure made some monster houses!  Madison said hers (above) was extra spooky because of all the eyeballs and bones.  You can't read it anymore, but she actually spelled out "KEEP OUT" in green across the center as well.  She did a great job, and of course enjoyed spending a lot of time decorating it.  Daddy's house is below:

This was somewhat the theme of the day - we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" after this, which is a tradition that most of us in America have.  Please don't let it die - the "Peanuts" cartoons are essential holiday cartoons.  And they're still fun to this next generation:  Madison loved it.  She loves Snoopy, of course.  But the whole thing is fun for her.

Here's another animated character she loves:

Today we went to downtown Gainesville to do some trick-or-treating!  Madison dressed in her Merida costume from last Christmas, and got ready to get some candy!  Yes, by the time she was done, that pumpkin was 3/4 filled up with candy and prizes.  It was a nice afternoon watching all the kids dressed up, running from booth to booth to get candy.  There was also a place for face-painting and temporary tattoos:

Madison got some candy corn on her cheek, and an orange butterfly on the other cheek.  Note the baby photo-bombing us in the picture above!

It was a quick trip, and that was okay because it was a full day.  Earlier, we went to the school's Fall Festival, which had all kinds of things to do.  Madison didn't have to dress up for this one - we went out to the school, and jumped up and down in the bouncy houses, and the large inflatable slide too.  There were all kinds of games of chance:  Madison tried a frisbee toss, fishing for rubber ducks, hockey slap shots, and even throwing a soaking wet sponge at a teacher's face!

We spent a little time there, and spent most of the day moving from one thing to another.  It was a busy day, but that's the thing about this year:  there's so much to do!  

Of course, there was work to do as well:  Madison spent a lot of time with her piano practice, doing songs like "Enchanted Forest" and "Sneaky Snake."  These feature the A minor scale.  Mommy and Daddy spent a lot of time moving things downstairs, and cleaning out one particular room.  We'll post photos when we're done, but this year we'll actually have an extra Christmas tree that we can put by the front window.  It'll look pretty.  We moved the fake fireplace over to the wall - so it parallels the room with the real fireplace.  And of course, Madison's keyboard will be there next to a small table with a lamp on it.  It'll look nice when we get done - as will the cleaned out basement.  We've got a lot stuffed down there presently, but with new furniture down there, at least we'll begin to have things a bit more organized.  Speaking of which, tomorrow looks to be all set up: we have a few extra pumpkins for our 4th Annual Pumpkin Carving Party.  It's going to be another great day!