After my pumpkin debacle last year, Andy was back on carving duty.

See? This is why he has to do it every year.

I let Ellie pick her costume for the Halloween Carnival last weekend, but for tonight I really wanted her to wear this Pooh costume like the other kids did. I thought I would have to wrangle it on a screaming toddler (and I was okay with that), but then I had an epiphany: there is a picture of Pooh on her beloved blanket! Once I showed her that, she was all in! In this picture she's saying, "Pooh!"

She ended up being pretty excited about Pooh! Who knew?!

 She wasn't quite as excited about her Ninja Brother.

 

 But she made her peace with it.

Joey, on the other hand, was pumped about his Stealth Ninja costume. Then he referred to his Ninja Stars as boomerangs. When I told him what they really were, he was like, "Mom, they are boomerangs." Apparently I've been negligent in imparting all of my ninja knowledge that I learned from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to my only son. So sad.

This cutie loves the stroller so she was ready to rock and roll and get some candy.

As a tribute to the recently retired Allen Iverson, Andy pulled off this outfit at the last minute.

 This time Ellie was not so sure about Allen and his faux facial hair.

 One thing she was sure about? She loved getting candy.

As usual, we went trick-or-treating with a bunch of friends from the neighborhood.

 Joey and his best buddy Parker.

 Some of the gang.

 And the part they had been waiting for!

Yum!

The boys got home from camping Sunday morning, and both of them had a great time. One of the first things Joey told me about when he got home was this huge playground. You can see Joey in the top window with his arms up. It also had a huge slide and a pirate ship.

Saturday morning the boys went paintballing. They got to shoot some targets, including the leader of their tribe (and Joey's former t-ball coach)!

Next up was archery.

There was also a little petting zoo next to the archery area.

And later that day they got to go zip-lining. When I heard there was zip-lining, I wasn't sure Joey would do it. Apparently, he was not going to, but after watching all the other boys try it out and love it, he went for it. He still looks a little nervous though!

There he is sitting at the top. Looking at how high it is, I'm still surprised he did it!

Ready, set....

Go!

There he is, going down the line. When the camp out was over, he told me that zip-lining was one of his favorite activities!

Like the last camp out, there was more bead trading.

For this camp out, they also had a Scare Zone. Each tribe in the Falcon nation contributed some part. The Los Lobos made a Haunted House that was more fun than scary.

My sweet boys. Andy really enjoys getting this one-on-one time with Joey.

The Los Lobos Tribe. Can you find Joey?

 The boys are camping this weekend (which hopefully will be its own post soon), but it's also the weekend for the Halloween carnival that we go to every year. I decided that we couldn't skip this fun tradition, so the girls and I went anyway.

And by girls, I mean Belle and Strawberry Shortcake.

I actually had two costumes that would work for Ellie this year, the kids' old Winnie the Pooh costume or Hannah's old Belle costume. I got out both and showed them to Ellie. I was surprised when she immediately grabbed the Winnie the Pooh costume, but it was only to promptly fling it behind her. I guess she already has very strong princess feelings.

Hannah Banana was SO excited to be Strawberry Shortcake this year. She couldn't even fall asleep during her nap time (which is very unusual for her) because she couldn't wait to get dressed for the carnival.

 We bought a little Strawberry Shortcake accessory kit from Party City, and she already happened to have this little strawberry dress. Hannah loved getting her hair sprayed red, and I think it really made the look. That and the freckles!

The carnival itself was great as usual. We got there nice and early so we hardly had to wait in any lines.

 In the past, the kids have only gotten to go down this slide three times, but there weren't many people there yet, so they let Hannah go down over and over again.

 Even Ellie got to try the slide and loved it.

 Ellie was a little young to play the games, but the volunteers were very gracious and let her try out a few.

 And she even got a prize! 

Enjoying a little candy corn!

After we got home, got Ellie to bed, and washed Hannah's hair twice to get all of the red out, Joey called from their camp out. It was so cute hearing Hannah and Joey talk to each other. Hannah told him all about the Halloween carnival and at the end she said, "But I missed my Black Inja (what she says for ninja). I need my Black Inja to protect me." 

Good news for Hannah, her Black Inja will be back in plenty of time for Halloween!