Visiting Clemson with the girls was on our list of to-dos so they could see exactly where their brother was living and see the campus.  Ryan is re-living some of his Clemson days and the girls are in love with all things orange and purple.

Poor Fin has had a tough time with the boys being gone.  For the first week, Fin could be found sleeping on the floor outside of C or P's room just staring at the door as if he was waiting for it to open.  When P walked in for his first visit home, Fin jumped up on him and wouldn't move for quite some time.  Fin is 14 and counting....a very well loved dog.

Halloween came and the girls begged for their very own skeleton. There are some things I felt as if I would never say yes to and a skeleton is definitely one of those things yet here we are.  The laughter that skeleton brought to us during the Halloween season was priceless.  We even gave him a name - Ozzy.  Ozzy will be back next year and I am positive the girls will have me purchase a friend for him.

Chapman went into our dress-up clothing bin and found this Indian costume that Colin wore when he was likely 3ish years old....she is petite for sure but not that petite.  However, she folded herself into the costume, insisted it fit and was having nothing to do with taking it off.  I am not even sure where we were going in this pic but I am sure she was the cutest Indian out there.  

We visited the pumpkin patch....it's a must each year.  This year the girls wanted to each design and carve their own pumpkins.  

Fin.  He loves his people.  And he loves when they relax so he can rest too.

Maryn.  She is not a fan of clowns, dolls, or anything that may resemble either of the above.  Every year for Halloween, our neighborhood goes all out with Halloween decor and for Halloween in general.....it is like a movie scene.  We love taking walks all around to see the decorations and guess each home's theme.  The clown pictured with Maryn has been used for a few years now.....she used to beg me to drive a different way home so she didn't even have to accidentally see that clown.  This year, she begged me to walk and actually take her picture, at a distance of course.  

A Halloween House??  It was a first but fun all the same.

Halloween = all the dress up days for school and you are in Kindergarten.  50s day, crazy hair day, all the things.

And finally, Halloween.  

Elphaba, a Genie, and a snow mountain cat.

New costume, old costume, and Goodwill costume.

Probably my most memorable experience was the haunted house.  Neighbors set these up each year throughout our path.  This year Maryn was begging to go in one.  Ryan and I were walking with Maryn, Chapman, and Maryn's friend, Kendyl.  They were all three set on going through this one particular haunted house.  Somehow, I ended up with these three little girls in a line for this haunted house adventure.  It's finally our turn, we begin our journey through, things are jumping out at us, the scary music is blaring, all the things.  I'm squealing and laughing and jumping all the while squeezing tightly to Maryn and Chapman's hands.  They are fine, squealing and taking it all in.  And then there was Kendyl.  Sweet, always happy Kendyl.  Sweet Kendyl whose mother didn't mention the fact that Kendyl is deathly afraid of anything remotely haunted/scary.....sweet little Kendyl who had been begging me just moments before to please go inside this haunted house.

We got to the end, there were all of these blinking strobe lights, this crazy head thing kept popping out....it was all about timing....we had to go out as the head was bobbing back.  Well, at this point, all three girls were a little hesitant to go as they didn't want to be touched by this head.  I'm laughing and from what I can tell with this strobing lights is that all of the girls are smiling and laughing too....but they were NOT going forward to get out.  Finally I had to do the push forward and go for it.  We got out, Cha and Maryn were both in their "I can't believe I just did that" phase of smiling and laughter - pretty normal.  Poor sweet Kendyl, she had tears.  I, at first, thought she had gotten poked in the eye or bumped on her cheek....but sadly, she was scared.to.death.  I felt horrible.  Maryn hugged her and hugged her tight.  Later, I was telling her mom about our adventure and she said, "Oh yeah, Kendyl doesn't do scary! I should have told you that!" Friend mom fail.  Thankfully, Kendyl was all smiles by the end of the night.  

It's fun when your former Kindergarten teacher is out for Halloween too!  

Emerson checking out Chapman's newly lost tooth!

To say Halloween is a favorite around our home could be true....it is most definitely a fun time!  We are that family that throws together the last minute costumes, always cooks a big pot of chili, enjoys seeing the costumes....it's just fun.  Thankful for the memories our kiddos will have of their Halloween adventures.