A princess, an angel, and a gangster, oh my....

Halloween started off with a really fun party at Jessie's preschool.  Jessie was dressed as Rapunzel, but there were also bumble bees, butterflies, power rangers and spidermen present!  They kicked off the party with some very creepy party food and then played some fun Halloween games- like the spider ring toss, digging for guts, and dropping toads into a cauldron.

"Rapunzel, let down your hair.....I'm not getting any younger down here!"

Taeteum.

Sitting next to her friends, Jordan and Hailey.

Ms. Jenny and Kendall

Oooh, brains and guts in a cup (spaghetti squash with pasta sauce!)

The kids favorite dish- the kitty litter!!!! Pudding, crumbled sandwich cookies, and twisted tootsie rolls.

As if one party wasn't fun enough, we then headed to Halloween parties number 2 and 3! Hayden had fun at her school party where all three fifth grade classes combined together for one big celebration.  They feasted on cupcakes, popcorn, candy, cheese and crackers and fresh fruit plates. Then the whole school paraded around to the different classrooms ending up in the gym. 

A greek goddess, a 20's mafia gangster, and a witch!

Two best buddies enjoying a little down time together.

Rian had a very fancy Halloween party in Mrs. Themm's class: fruit kabobs, cheese and crackers, homemade caramel apples, Halloween snack mix, and witch's brew.

Rian and Lilly

Mrs. Themm dressed as her favorite candy- Skittles!

The class decorated cookies and played games.

Rian and her good buddy, Sage.  Check out those pearls!

After school, we ran home, emptied backpacks, did a little homework and got ready to go trick-or-treating with the Kensoras.  Everyone ate chilli at our house, put their costumes back on, and off they went!

An angel, Minnie Mouse, and Rapunzel.

The whole gang trick-or-treated until they were ready to drop.  And they each have the loot to prove it!! 

Rock Creek Farm Corn Maze

We met our old neighbors down at Rock Creek Farm in Broomfield to tackle one of the largest corn mazes in the state.  It was quite a challenge, and not because of the row after row of corn and countless dead ends.  The real problem was the remnants of last week's snowstorm- MUD, MUD and more MUD!

Rian distracted herself with a sweet treat of cotton candy.

This photo doesn't quite capture the feeling of walking with twenty pound mud weights on the bottom of your shoes.  The poor kids' feet were literally being sucked right out of their shoes by the deep and endless mud.  It took us forever to make any progress in the maze, and finally after an hour of sledging at a snail's pace through the rows of corn, we gave up and headed back out.

A giant mud boot that had just fallen off Rian's shoe! 

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The kids tried their best to have good attitudes and had fun hanging out together.

Peyton and Garrett brought their friend, Zeus along and Rian made friends with him right away.

After the farm, we headed to the Egg and I for lunch, and enjoyed a nice leisurely meal.  Hayden hadn't seen her buddies in several months, and it was great letting them spend the day together, regardless of the elements of nature!

Carving, no wait.... painting pumpkins

 We were all excited to carve our pumpkins this year until we found they were all frozen from the snowstorm. We brought them inside to thaw out, and every single one of them was rotten on at least one side.  Sooooo, we decided to paint the one good side each pumpkin had- and it turned out to be really fun and a lot less messy than scooping out  pumpkin guts!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it's off to the Yurt we go.....

I had been wanting to take the girls camping for as long as I can remember, and Mike finally agreed to be a good sport about the whole thing, so we made a nice compromise- we rented a yurt up in Winter Park so that Mike could have an actual bed to sleep on while at the same time giving the family the experience of camping in the wilderness.  The bonus was that our neighbors and dear friends, the Kensoras, would be meeting us up there and joining us!

Our yurt: The Porcupine

The girls deciding on who got the top bunks.

Our roomy accomodations.

Collecting firewood.

Some of us were more enthusiastic about the chore than others.

The girls' first real campfire.  We had roasted marshmellows in our backyard many times, but this was the first time it was the real deal.  We relaxed and enjoyed the fire for hours. The campfires were the highlight of our trip. 

Jessie sleeping with Haley (her imaginary BFF that she brought on the trip with us.  Those two stayed up late and had to be told to settle down and go to sleep more than once!)

The kids were the only ones who weren't frozen yurtsicles by morning.  Even with two electric heaters, our yurt never made it above 54 degrees at any given time!

Jasmine and Rian loved having sleepovers in our yurt.  Hayden stayed with Sarah over at the Kensora's.  After stuffing themselves with more s'mores and roasted marshmellows than one could count, the girls had fun staying up late and whispering to each other until they finally fell asleep. Luckily, I was the only one needing to make middle of the night bathroom runs!

Sunrise. What a peaceful and serene setting.

Our friend Mr. Fox

We also saw elk and one large moose fairly close to our campground, but unfortunately I was too shocked to grab my camera fast enough to click a picture! 

Rian and Jazzy

The yurt girls- don't they look like camping pros already?

Hayden and Sarah toasted bagels over the morning fire.  Hayden was so in her element all weekend.  Could this have anything to do with the fact that she was born in Boulder- the granola capital of the U.S.?

Tim giving a wagon ride.

Rian couldn't have been any happier.  She loved spending every minute of the weekend with her best friend.

We checked out the old Rowley Homestead which is on the property and was built in 1909.  Now that was roughing it!

Hayden and Sarah

Little Roo.

After visiting the homestead, we took a nice brisk hike to the waterfall.  Well, we never actually made it to the waterfall, as the hike ended up being about four times longer than we had originally thought, but it was fun and the kids loved being out in the fresh air.

We saw several beaver dams along the way, many of them works in progress, as you can tell by the shapes of these tree stumps. 

Jessie walked most of the way, but couldn't resist an offer for a ride on daddy's shoulders.

Sunset at our yurt.

Tim did a great job with the Jiffy Pop.  None of the kids had ever seen such a thing before!

Our yurt neighbors and real-life neighbors!  We are so lucky to have them so close by!

Even though we were chilly a good deal of the time, the kids had so much fun and it was great letting them run around and be nature girls for the weekend.  It was such a luxury to let them play outside and not make them be on such a short leash.  Everyone needs some good old nature time!  (Mike even did much better than I thought.  He was a good sport and pretended to be enjoying himself for the kids' sake.  It was only after they were asleep that the whining and complaining began.......