We carved our pumpkins the day before Halloween, cutting it close! One perk of having a husband who works from home and homeschooling is that we carved our pumpkins after lunch. And we carved our pumpkins at that time of the day because the evenings weren't working. To say we are hustling feels like an understatement and I really, really need to figure out a better, more peace/less stress way of doing things which may mean simply finding more acceptance.

Anyways... pumpkin carving. Holly went traditional and Greta went with a princess. They turned out cute!

On Halloween, we invited some homeschool friends over for crafts and snacks and Maeve was so cute in the bat headband I made her! I didn't even attempt to dress her in her costume on Halloween, but every now and then she pulls her leaf skirt on and wears it around the house.

Halloween evening was lots of fun. We invited a bunch of families over for chili and trick or treating. In our neighborhood, there was a Harry Potter house. That was exciting. I really love Halloween in Spokane. It's magical. 

Happy Halloween! I love dressing my kids up for Halloween. It's a lot of fun! Greta is a nutcracker, but perhaps looks more like a circus ringmaster. And Holly is a native American. For photos, Maeve was first a butterfly because she has flat out refused the necklace and hat for her costume. But, she was so pliable with a sucker in her mouth that I decided to try it and she allowed me to dress her! Very exciting! I made Holly's dress, embellished Greta's and I made everything for Maeve besides the green jammies. 

Conor had just gotten home earlier in the day (he spent a week in Chicago!) that I took photos and all Maeve wanted was him! So cute. Love how everyone looks and we are already dreaming up costumes for next year, as we do!

For our church's trunk or treat, Conor was an off-duty cop (that mustache!) and I was a lumber Jill.

Greta ran her last XC race last week. She qualified for the all-city race and she did great! After the race, I asked her if anything any said along the sidelines helped her run faster, thinking that maybe one of my coaching comments I yelled to her as she ran past me was inspiring. Man, did I eat a piece of humble pie! Greta said that she liked it when some of our friends (who she loves) cheered for her at the end was the best and that helped her to speed up. It was a moment of great learning for me! I saw her three times in the course of that mile and each time I told her to run through the pain or pass those girls or speed up you're at the end. And I should've just cheered for her. Simple as that.

Well despite me, Greta did awesome and I really hope she keeps to running throughout her life.

Oh man, Maeve in this little red corduroy dress with pigtails, with bows, looking so dang cute! And those blue eyes that won her fans all over Ecuador. I'm just not sure it gets any better than this sweetheart.

This past week, the girls and I learned about our nervous systems in science. Each of the girls built a brain from playdough a labeled it. It was a fun and colorful activity.