Carving Pumpkins

With much anticipation, Halloween is finally here - the magical day of candy, candy and MORE candy!!  We'll be dressing up (yes, somehow I'm dressing up too this year) and going Trick or Treating later today, but for now, I thought I'd share a post with pumpkin carving to get everyone into the mood.

Grandpa came over to help out, which was great because Abby decided she really wanted nothing to do with the process outside of giving directions, pointing and drawing her face one.  Grandpa did basically all the other steps.  Next year girl, you're up!

Fran didn't quite understand the concept of drawing her face on the pumpkin so after she scribbled on it for a few minutes I pulled up some cute ideas on my phone, and we settled on this cute kitty pumpkin.

Ryan opted for the "spooky" pumpkin face and Abby did draw her own, though, as I said, she conned Grandpa into doing all the work.

Ryan has already made me promise that next year I'll carve one too so we have a family of pumpkins.

Pumpkin pictures in the dark were hard!  The shutter speed did NOT like the dark lighting, but I did get one decent one.  Not bad!!  They actually look pretty good.  We'll light them up tonight and hope they are still glowing when we get home from Trick or Treating! 

Lost Tooth - An Abby First

October 6th - Abby lost her very first tooth!!  It had been a few weeks in the making.  My girl is a little bit of a "frady cat" but after much debate she let Daddy give it the final yank and we had our very first lost tooth at the McGrath house!

Abby, born on August 14th is one of the youngest kids in her class.  She was just a few weeks over the cut off for Kindergarten and we decided to put her in knowing she'd likely be one of the youngest.  Many of her friends started losing teeth in Kindergarten so when she started first grade this year and STILL hadn't lost one she was pretty disappointed.  She reminded me quite often that Parker had already lost SEVEN teeth and she didn't have a single one out yet.

But, here we are, one baby tooth in and she already has two more "wiggly" teeth - I bet we'll have a few more visits from the tooth fairy before the end of the year.

The tooth fairy remembered to come and visit (thank goodness) and Abby even used my tooth fairy pillow from when I was a kid.  It has a tiny pocket in the back to store your tooth in.  Can you believe that tooth fairy left THREE gold coins?  (Golden dollar coins).  I mean, I was sure she'd leave just one...but no....she's no cheap-skate! 

Abby promptly wanted to spend her money on a toy from the store - so, she's now the proud owner of a small stuffed deer thanks to the tooth fairy and a few extra bucks from Mom when we got to the cash register. 

The Madison Zoo - A Ritterbusch Family Adventure

In the last couple years my parents have started trying to organize a summer/fall adventure for the group of us over a weekend.  Last year we went on a family bike ride and this year Mom and Dad suggested the Madison Zoo. 

Guys - the Madison Zoo was awesome!!  It's small-ish and it's free.  Similar to the Lincoln Park Zoo, I felt like we could spend a good 3-4 hours there and see most of the things but still have some areas left unexplored.  It was a little chilly the day we went (actually, maybe the first real chilly day of the year) so by the time lunch rolled around we were all ready to sit down, have some warm food and relax!  You can't tell it from Abby's face in the picture above, but we honestly had a great time!

I sure do love these people a lot!!  Here's to many  more Ritterbusch Family adventures to come!