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We got together with my side of the family the day before Halloween for a little preliminary fun. Here we all are.

Charlie, Aunt EA, and Uncle Scott were gnomes. I wonder if they could get me a good deal on a flight or hotel.

Charlie put on his Darth Vader outfit to add some dark side to our Star Wars party.

Leah also showed off some fierce moves for the camera with her staff. And Molly may have photobombed her at one point.

Charlie tried on one more outfit in addition to the costumes - this new fun dino romper. Aunt EA asked Jen to make a few winter rompers for Charlie. Jen, of course, was happy to oblige!

Jen doesn’t sew for little boys often, so she had fun trying a new dino appliqué.

We’ve been very busy, so we didn’t get around to carving pumpkins until 2 days before Halloween. It’s so nice that the girls are old enough to do much of this themselves. Nice scooping, Leah.

The insides of Molly’s pumpkin are amazing.

After completing the scooping, they both drew out their designs.

Then the girls cut out their designs. Molly’s doing a great job cutting out her owl. Not sure why she looks so angry doing it.

Leah’s being very careful cutting her pumpkin.

Here are their complete pumpkins - Molly’s owl face and Leah’s funny jack-o'-lantern. I asked them to try to match the expressions of their pumpkins.

Sadly, our church did not hold a Trunk-or-Treat this year. So, we crashed on at a different church (CrossRoads Church of The Nazarene). It was packed, and there was a huge line to do the donut-on-a-string, but that didn’t stop us from doing it.

They finished their donuts just in time to watch the dance contest. Then it was time for the costume contest, which the girls had been waiting anxiously for all night. Sadly, there was no family costume category. But there were age/gender categories. The girls competed in the elementary girls category. Here’s Molly parading in front of the judges.

I told the girls to show off in front of the judges to catch their attention. Leah decided to show off her skills with her staff, twirling it around as she walked.

While the judges were deliberating, Molly showed off her sweet dance moves on stage.

The event had lots of people, and the elementary girls category had the most kids of them all. I’d guess there were 50 kids up on the stage. Sadly, neither of our girls won the contest (though in my completely unbiased opinion they clearly should have).

Then we headed outside for the Trunk-or-Treat. This was a very snazzy version, where all the cars were not just decorated. They had games you had to play to win the candy. Unfortunately, these games took time, and the crowd was huge. So, every car had long lines to play the games. After 4 or 5 times waiting 10 minutes in the cold to get a piece of candy, we were all ready to be done. So, we went inside, drank some hot cider to warm up, then headed home.

Thanks for having us, CrossRoads.

The girls’ school had a costume parade again this year. Most of the families show up during the school day to see all the kids parade around in their costumes.

Here’s Molly/Princess Leia waving to her adoring fans.

And here’s Leah/Rey. Rey was a very popular costume this year (you can see 2 other girls with Rey costumes in the background). But none of their costumes were fancy costumes hand-made by Jen.

I’m a huge Star Wars geek, so I was thrilled when the girls decided we should all be Star Wars characters for Halloween. Here’s Leah as Rey, Molly as Leia, Jen as Jyn Erso, and me as Obi-Wan. Jen of course sewed the girls costumes and created their hairstyles. I grew out a beard for the first time in my life, then colored it and my hair white/grey. I also made Leah’s staff (bought a banister spindle from Home Depot, went to town on it with a router, then spray painted it with metallic bronze paint.).

For this picture, I told them to “not smile” so we could have a serious picture. Leah, Jen, and I all knew what that meant. Molly - not so much. At least she’s not smiling.

Here’s good look at the girls’ hair styles that Jen worked so hard on.

And, of course, we took a lot of pictures. Here are some of my favorites.

Much more to come about all the Halloween fun we engaged in while wearing these costumes.

When I initially posted about Leah’s birthday, I forgot to include the video of her opening Lea Clark, her new American Girl Doll. There’s so much joy and excitement in it, so I couldn’t leave it off the site. So, here it is.

For her party, Leah chose to have a duplicate party of Molly’s 8th birthday - a Bricks 4 Girlz party. She (and Molly) continue to be huge Lego fans. Fortunately for Jen, she could reuse some of the decorations and ideas from the last party.

Jen decorated these goody bags for each of the girls.

Jen made a Lego cake similar to the one she had made for Molly, though Leah requested her favorite color - yellow.

Leah and Jen made a Lego door hanger for the front door.

The party began with free play, using the bins full of Legos brought by the Bricks 4 Kidz folks.

The girls made their own minifigs (which they got to keep), then created a biography for them.

Then it was time for the big build. First, some guidance as to how the motorized car model build kits and instructions work.

They built in teams. Leah and Molly were partners.

When you build a motorized Lego car, you’ve got to get it to pop a wheelie.

Building cars is tiring. Time for a nap. (The other teams were all still building their cars).

Once the cars can propel themselves, you’ve got to drive them around. And, of course, run them into one another bumper-cars-style.

After some time with the cars, it was time for singing, cake, and ice cream.

Once everyone had their fill, it was back to playing. Lego motors can be used for more than propelling cars. They can also drive gears that crinkle up paper.

Lego motors can also spin plates for spin art.

Last, but not least, each girl got to take their picture in the Wyldestyle cutout.

Here’s all the girls and their minifigs. Thanks to all for coming to the party.

Given how silly these girls were, we had to take a silly one.

A week later, we got together at Aunt EA and Uncle Scott’s house for the Auburn-LSU game. Since Aunt EA is an LSU graduate, we try to get together to watch the game every year. This also served as an opportunity to celebrate Leah’s birthday again - this time with the Sellers side of the family.

Before the food, fun, and football, the girls had fun playing with their youngest cousin.

For this birthday celebration, Uncle Scott and Aunt EA made beignets.

Here we all are. Grams wore LSU apparel since they were otherwise outnumbered.

Leah also got some more presents.

Twenty dollars is a fortune to this kid!

Leah was so excited to get a tennis outfit for her doll (including dress, shoes, racquet, and ball), she had to put it on her doll immediately.

We then headed home to get the girls in bed. The game wasn’t over yet, but it was getting late. We did manage to see the ending right after we got home, which was wild to say the least.

Back in September, Leah turned 7. G’Mom and Grampa flew into town to celebrate with Leah. And celebrate we did.

Leah’s birthday celebrations began on her actual birthday (and continued for a bit over a week). As soon as she got home from school, she was ready to open some presents with our immediate family and G’Mom and Grampa.

Our girls (and most of the others that we know) continue to be obsessed with Shopkins.

Shopkins Kinstructions combine the fun of Shopkins with the interlocking blocks of Lego (though they are made by the Shopkins folks, not the Lego folks). Leah was shocked to get them.

Leah’s big gift of the year was Lea Clark, this year’s American Girl Girl of the Year. She hasn’t stopped playing with her since getting her.

Here she is with Leah post-opening.

And a Palace Pet too!

After dinner, we had some delicious cupcakes.

That was it for her actual birthday, but the celebrations were far from over.

Father’s Day came, and my daughters and wife got me something I’ve wanted for some time - a cute little droid. We’ve had a Sphero robot for a year and enjoyed it a lot. This little guy is even more fun. And, with the Tickle app, we can even program them to do stuff simultaneously. Also, BB-8 is just awesome.

We also went out to lunch with my family to an Indian restaurant with my family. This was a first for the girls. They tried lots of things, and found they liked Chicken Tikka Masala. Hurray for adventurous eating.