School pics ~ Boo Parade ~ Pumpkin Carving

Arissa & Mariah got their school pics in yesterday:
Arissa, third grade

Mariah, kindergarten

Last weekend was Arissa's first actual parade with her drill team. It was hot as all heck, and by the end of the parade route, every girl on the team had red cheeks and could barely force a smile. :O) But they did great, it is so amazing to watch them. They're just little girls but they memorize all these complicated routines and they are super performers. Not to mention they're all super super sweet kids.

What was NOT sweet, however, was the fact that our camera broke JUST as Arissa's group rounded the corner into view. So I have no actual shots of the team. Seriously, it worked seconds before they marched up, and it worked after. Go figure.

But here's what I did capture:

How to keep 2 little tinies busy while you wait 2 hours for the parade to start:

take 'em to Burger King and give 'em an ipod:

The girls waiting for sister to march....with Aunt Nancy and Cousin Marcy visiting from Utah:

And the pumpkin carving! I so wanted to get those new pumpkins I had seen at JoAnn's....they're plastic but they're meant to be carved----so there's no mess and you can reuse them. But then I figured, we already have a fake Christmastreee, we can't have fake everything or why even celebrate! So we got a big pumpkin and the girls helped clear out the insides. Arissa REALLY wanted to do some cutting, and we let her do a little but then I couldn't take it anymore...I was scared she'd slice off a finger.

don't you love how Mallory is blurry in this photo? It's just like real life...she's always a blur of movement!

Then last night Jesse bought FOUR MORE pumpkins...because the girls all fought over what we would carve on the first one. So I printed out several tempaltes and let them each choose, then I spent last night carving them all. Our porch looks quite Halloween-y, I love it. I have to upload those pictures, so pumpkin pictures will post tomorrow!