This year everyone was coming in costume which was hilarious. Lori was a hippie, Sid was a devil, Claudia and Josh were a redneck couple, Kristopher was Shaggy just to name a few. Seriously Josh and Claudia looked awesome. Claudia had a big pregnant belly and a blacked out eye. Josh had a mullet and tatoos. 
Everyone was asked to make a soup to bring in their crockpot. I brought a hamburger soup. Claudia made an awesome butternut squash soup and Lisa bought bread bowls to go with. It was fun to go around and try everyone's soups and fun to finally feel like eating soup since it is finally getting cooler. After dinner everyone had been asked to bring a game. We started off going Halloween caroling which was hilarious. 
It was great to see the neighbors faces when we showed up in costume singing Christmas carols with Halloween lyrics and then handed them a plate of goodies. I love my little owl in the background. 
Then we headed back to Lisa and Lonnie's house and played a little bit of musical chairs. Watching adults, competitive adults, play musical chairs was extremely entertaining. 
Hunter ended up winning with a little help from the adults. Emma snuggled up on every persons lap at least once. 
Avery had fun running around with all the cousins. Next it was on to the mummy wrap race. Josh and Deke raced to see who could wrap their wife up faster. 
I must say Deke did a very thorough job. 
Mom wrapped Eden, Eden wrapped Ave and GG jumped at the chance to wrap Papa. 
Then on again to our pumpkin relay which was even more hilarious with this bunch. I love this picture of Bly and Avery it cracks me up.
On the other side Ramsay was having a hard time getting the pumpkin from Claudia. They kept trying and trying but Ramsay couldn't stop laughing. They finally got it after the other team had already finished. 
Then Claudia had brought a tricky game where you try to thread ten needles in a certain amount of minutes. It was really hard. Then we all visited and sat around and ate candy. Grandpa told us a scary story about great Grandpa Hatch.
I loved this story as a kid and it was so neat to watch my kids hear this story for the first time: My Great Grandpa Hatch was taking a herd of sheep from Montana to Susanville, CA. One night he stopped along the way at an old ranch. He stopped by and asked the rancher if he had or knew of anywhere that he could keep his sheep locked up for the night. The rancher told him that there was a ranger cabin along the way with a pen to keep his sheep. Grandpa walked down the road aways and saw the cabin. It was old and had four walls but instead of a roof there was only bare rafters. By the time Grandpa got the sheep all settled in and locked up for the night he was getting pretty hungry. It was getting dark and with only rafters Grandpa could see up into the sky. He decided to cook himself some bacon and started a little fire. As the bacon started to cook he heard a weird cackling sound almost like a laugh. He looked around but didn't see anything. He continued cooking and then heard the cackling laugh again even louder. Starting to get concerned he looked around again this time looking up into the rafters above. When he looked up by the light of the fire he saw an old woman with long white hair drooping down hanging from the rafters and laughing wildly. Grandpa screamed and took off running down the road as fast as humanly possible. He said that like characters in the cartoons he is sure that he left an imprint of himself when he burst through the gate. He ran as far as he could down the road until he was out of breath and stopped for a minute. A car was coming up the road and stopped. The men inside where from an asylum in the neighboring town and asked if he had seen an old woman anywhere. She had gotten away from them and they were trying to track her down. Grandpa explained that he thought that she was down the road back at the ranger cabin. Sure enough it was her, they think that the smell of the bacon enticed her to climb up there and take a look. Every time I hear this story I think about how scary it would be to see a person laughing wildly and hanging from roof rafters. An actual real scary story. Poor Grandpa for the experience but his many generations love hearing about this story. The party was wonderful. We have a wonderful family. Halloween is almost here.
Our first Halloween party of the season was with Dev and Laura. We invited them over on a Sunday night for a Halloween themed dinner and games. 
The kids wore their costumes which was really fun. We made these "sea monster" sub sandwiches for dinner which were really easy, turned out really cute and were most importantly...yummy and lots of other fun spooky dinner foods. The kids loved making these "marshmellow mummies" for dessert. 
They were definitely more a flavor that a kid would love but I did think they were adorable. The kids decorated everyone's cup with a jack o' lantern face. 
We all had a dinner and just visited. After dinner we took turns racing in teams, wrapping each other up like mummies. 
It was pretty entertaining to watch and fun to try to do. Hunter was a wrapping whiz once he figured out a good method. 
It was hilarious watching Ave and Brecken get wrapped. They were both having a hard time holding still because they couldn't quit giggling. They kept saying how much it tickled. I love this picture of the two of them mummified together. 
Hunter and Madison did an awesome job wrapping Deke up completely including his face. Brooklyn gave Laura a new mummy fashion statement by making her a skirt and top. 
Again love this picture of Deke and Laura all done up. 
Then we made two teams and using baby pumpkins passed them down the line under our necks without using hands. 
This again proved to be hilarious and another game that Brecken and Ave could hardly play because they are so ticklish. It was a really fun, lots of laughing and great way to kick off Halloween.
Where we find pumpkins on a farm and drink warm apple cider sitting by a fireplace at night. I am sort of a romantic. Instead we live in Arizona where it is currently still 92* outside. The only fall leaves are my silk ones from Michael's, I am donning capri pants and flip flops, pumpkins are found at Fry's and carved over lemonade; inside the house; where it is air conditioned. When are we done with school? Anyways we still do whatever we can at the Burch household to feel like it is Fall whether nature realizes it is outside or not. 
We had the house all decorated which is always so much fun. We have planned Halloween and festive fall food all month long. Last week Hunter and I decided to build this "Pumpkin patch" and farm out of Lego's which was a blast. 
Lego's would definitely be on my top three list of toys that I love the most for my kids. It turned out so cute. I love the watering system that Hunter came up with and his "windmill" 
I had to make shift a roof for our barn out of paper because well Lego's just don't bend that way. We also had fun creating a spooky house using some of the elements from an Indiana Jones set including spear and cobwebs with spiders. 
Love my Lego time with bug. Avery had the first of our Halloween parties with her preschool party. 
They got to wear their costumes and she was so excited to show it off. It took quite a bit of time to make it but once Hunter decided to be Harry Potter thoughts of my girls as pink and brown owlets entered my head. This is the first time I have ever made costumes and it was easy just took time and was a really good learning experience for me. I wouldn't want to do it every year but it was perfect for this year. Here is a shot of her wings from the back. 
Avery looked so cute in it with her big brown eyes. Even though she had repeatedly asked and I had repeatedly told her she could not fly she still did not believe me. After the costume was done I told her to go look in the mirror in the bathroom. When I peeked quietly around the corner I saw her flapping her little heart out then dropping her head for a second before resuming her flapping again. Once she felt me staring at her she looked at me puzzled and said, "Mom, I can't fly." Once again I reminded her that no costume I could make would be able to make her fly. "Ohhhhhh, I wanted to fly around with my candy at trick or treating" she said disappointed. "Sorry Ave" I said. 
Then quickly moved on to pointing out all the fun things about her costume. She loved the pink beak on her mask. Every time we ask her what the owl says she reaches up with three fingers, makes the beak move and says, "Whoooo, Whooooo" it is really cute. She was also momentarily distraught about the fact that I hadn't made her a tail with feathers. She soon recovered however and told me "maybe next year I can have a tail, right mom?" This is a favorite saying of hers that we laugh about all the time. Example: Mom: "No Avery you can't have any candy tonight." Ave: "Maybe next year I can just have one, right Mom?" Mom: "This week preschool is going to be at Mary's house." Ave: "Next year we'll go to Sophia's house again, right Mom?" Forget tomorrow or next week this kid thinks in terms of years and it is hilarious. Lastly to kick off fall this year at our house we went to pick out pumpkins. Oh how I missed the years up in Dewey at the patch as we headed to Basha's where they were on sale two for $3. However once we got there all of us dug through the piles looking for the perfect ones. Daddy loves the tall wide ones, Mom loves the short, fat, round ones and Hunter and Avery want to take them all home. Emma just wants to taste whatever that thing is. We picked out her first pumpkin and let her hold it and check it out. I love this picture of her touching it and playing with her chubby little fingers and tiny toes. 
Then I took some fun shots of the three of them which without the help of Daddy making silly noises and faces to keep attention and produce smiles can be challenging. 
We are so blessed to have them. They are each so special to us and bring such different wonderful things to our family. We are having so much fun raising them and watching them experience life. I love this season.
We have been seeing the signs for awhile now. If she is sitting on our laps during dinner she is always grabbing and reaching for our plates. Whenever we take a spoon to our mouths she stretches out her neck mouth open wide waiting for a bite. 
She's seven months now so it is about that time to start introducing rice cereal. Deke went to the store and bought her some rice cereal, some bowls and baby spoons and some different types of food. 
When Hunter and Ave first started rice cereal it took them both a little while to transition. For the first couple feedings they were doing more spitting out then taking in. 
They both made quiet hilarious faces the first few times eating as well. So, cereal made, camera set up (both video and digital) and whole family around the table we bibbed her up. 
I love her cute little pig bib that she got in her Easter basket right after she was born. When I gave her the first bite of rice cereal she took the whole thing in, tasted it, swallowed and then smiled. 
No funny faces, no spitting it out. She loved it!!! She continued through the rest of the feeding like a pro. She has definitely had the smoothest transition of any of the kids thus far. She is such a cutie. Avery was so excited to get a chance to feed her.
Even though she is only four she fed her perfectly and even remembered to wipe any excess cereal from around her mouth. 
Such a little mommy. Hunter like always did a great job feeding her and talking to her. The kids were fascinated watching her eat for the first time.
Another milestone. They are coming fast and furious. We are enjoying every one. 
