Save The Phillips: Summary of Events

We have had some pretty busy days around here at casa de phillips.

On Thursday we set out with friends for a pumpkin farm/train about 30 minutes away. I was quite excited because I really thought E. would love the train, considering she currently loves all things trains.

What I did not account for was the fact that the "train depot" was also set up as a spook house. Despite the fact that only people under 3 feet tall can possibly fit inside the train comfortably, the owners of said pumpkin farm thought that having talking mummies, cackling witches, and two-headed dogs would be a great decor for their train depot.

Evelyn did not agree with such a decorating decision.

She cried pretty much the entire two hours we were at the pumpkin patch.

She did manage to dry her tears when she found a wagon (another love...the girl is nothing if not passionate) and was able to pull it around.

(Please note that I do not fasten bows on my child's head to make her resemble a Christmas present. The bow experienced some slippage due to the extensive wagon hauling.)

Isaac had a great time with his friend at the pumpkin patch and participated in some pumpkin rolling as well.

Friday was, of course, Halloween. We are fortunate to live within walking distance of our local Halloween street festival, which we set out for after a festive dinner of Frito pie and homemade bread. The children were beyond excited, so much so that attempting to take decent pictures of them in their costumes was not going to happen.

Upon arriving at the street festival, Isaac declared that his goal was to fill his plastic pumpkin to the top with candy. He was not shy about Trick-or-treating. Evelyn had to be coaxed along at first, but then quickly realized that people would place things in the plastic pumpkin if she held it up. She then would hold up her pumpkin and say, "Pump-kin?" quite inquisitively. She was very excited with all her candy (despite the fact that she would not eat candy if offered to her).

This particular street festival gathers quite the crowd, often allowing one to view a variety of interesting costumes.

This year, such costumes included:

1. A lady wearing 4 inch thigh-high stiletto boots, tights worn as pants. and a red jacket (we are still unsure of what costume she was attempting) while walking around with her preschool child.

2. A woman dressed as Tinkerbell, walking around nursing her infant.

3.A man dressed as the Heath Ledger-Joker (very scary, very disturbing) while pushing his infant Batman-clad child in a stroller.

4.Too many girls under the age of 16 wearing tiny costumes and thigh-high stockings (I can't help but question what father allows his daughter out of the house dressed in what appeared to be lingerie versions of bumble-bee costumes, Strawberry Shortcake costumes, etc...)

The street festival was fun, but longer than it has been in the past. Poor Isaac rubbed two little sores on his legs from where his cowboy boots were irritating him.

We trick-or-treated a few houses in our neighborhood, then called it a night. Halloween was a success and we all had a blast.

The back of E.'s vest read, "Cowgirl." Too cute. She had a hat to wear, but never wanted to put it on. The night before Halloween I attempted to put her hair in pigtails (because we know cowgirls wear pigtails) but it was not a successful venture. We just went with the simple black bow.

Also, I never was able to locate cowboy boots for E. that were 1.) Cheap and 2.) Not pink with Dora the Explorer on them. We had to settle for red Mary Jane's instead.

The kids costumes were from Gymboree. However, they were both used and purchased for a reasonable price off EBay. This mommy can't sew but she can do some mean bidding on EBay!

Here is Isaac's "Cowboy Face." Intimidating, huh?

(This was taken in the car drop-off line at preschool...they wore costumes on Wednesday)

After church this morning, we went to eat at the American Girl Doll Store Bistro. Tobe's dad is the general manager of the Bistro and we (Okay, Tobe's mom and myself) have been dying to eat there.

Girls often take their American Girl doll to eat with them at the Bistro (or you can borrow one). However, we thought Isaac should bring along his good buddy, Ike the Dog.

Ike and Isaac had a great time waiting for the store to open.
Evelyn took her Baby Stella, however she did not want Stella to sit at the table next to her. In fact, E. did not really want much to do with eating at all (She later woke from her nap with 102.7 fever). The rest of us enjoyed choosing our meal (check out the menu here) and watching all the little girls dine with their dolls (Is 31 years old too old to order my own American Girl doll?). My favorite was dessert, where I ordered milk and cookies. Yum.

It has been a busy few days, but a lot of fun. The kids are going to need lots of normal paced, non-exciting days these next few weeks if they are going to make it through the holiday season without their little heads exploding.