Halloween in Smallville

We went pumpkin picking with our next door neighbors. They have 3 adorable girls; Mary Catherine (4), Chandler Grace (2.5) and Elisabeth (9 months). We are really lucky to have neighbors with kids our kids' ages.

Junia enjoyed pulling out the smooshie pumpkin insides. She sings an adorable song about Jack-O-Lanterns that she learned from preschool.

A few weeks ago, our church had a pumpkin fest with hayrides, horse rides, bouncy houses & a pumpkin decorating contest. Junia's pumpkin won the "Friendliest Pumpkin Award" which was very sweet since it was clear that hers was the only one made by a toddler without much help. (Not the one she's working on in the picture above, but the smaller one with stickers on it - you'll see it on our porch in a later picture)

These next pictures are from Friday's activities when the PC students had a little Halloween fair for the neighborhood kids, and the town had a parade. One thing that's nice about a small town is that everyone seems to get into the activities.

Bennet didn't want to keep his costume on, but he still got plenty of attention from the college girls!

Our Maharani and Maharaja about to go Trick-or-Treating on Halloween! Junia's costume is from Ren and Panger, friends from India; and I had fun making Bennet's Kurta and Turban out of skirts of I bought in Varkala, Kerala. Junia's Bindi is a sparkly flower sticker. Junia loved that she was an Indian princess - but I think some people here thought she meant 'Native American.' (sigh)

Some people have been asking to see pictures of our house, so here's our cozy abode.

In other news, Bennet is 10 months now, and recently he's started some new baby tricks. I think he's getting the concept of waving - at least, when people wave frantically at him for an extended period of time, he will, occasionally grace them with a random arm flapping. He's also standing a lot now and even occasionally letting go of his handhold for a few seconds before falling down. Kirk thinks he may walk soon, but I remember Junia doing this for quite a while before she walked at 11.5 months, so we'll see! Anyway, its fun to watch him go through the baby stages - all too soon he'll be a little boy!

Kirk and I are a little homesick right now, we miss New Jersey, we miss family, we miss friends, and we just miss feeling like we fit and we know how we belong. People here are very friendly, and I don't doubt that we will eventually be very comfortable here, it's just that getting adjusted to a new place is always hard for awhile.