Trick-or-Treating

Amelia's first American Trick-or-Treating was quite successful! We were over at my brother's house and went out with him and his wife and two kiddos. They were Mario and Luigi for Halloween. Quite cute! So, after the obligatory pics in front of the house, off we went! We only went down two streets, but after the second or third house, Amelia pretty much got the idea of what she was supposed to do. She ever carried her bucket up, but she went up to the door, looked freaking adorable and waved "bye, bye" when we were leaving. I asked people to just giver her one piece, but they kept putting in 4 or 5 pieces, so it looks like mommy has A LOT of candy to eat. There were some pretzels and a couple boxes of raisins which she'll most definitely get. She did get a treat and got some Reese's Pieces though...she thoroughly enjoyed them. She passed out in the car on the way home and stayed asleep and I hope that she'll sleep through again (knock on wood!!). All in all, quite a success.

With Mario and Luigi

The first house

She got the hang of it quickly

Counting candy...

After the pumpkin party

After the pumpkin carving party, we went over to our friend's, Matthias and Claudia, house. Amelia was so pooped after the excitement at the pumpkin carving party, that she basically just passed out in their son's bed. It was way too cute. We kept telling Moritz (who's 2 and a half), that there is a frog asleep in his bed. He thought that was funny. :)

The Great Pumpkin Party

Yesterday, we were over at our friend Tammy's house for a pumpkin carving party. It was great fun. Amelia got to wear her Halloween costume and Markus and I were able to chat with some of our friends...did I say it was great? I made a cherry pie, a pumpkin cheese cake and some sugar and spice pecans...YUM!

Amelia in her frog costume that Grandma brought her all the way from the US!
It was Markus and my first gathering with friends and loads of kids. One of them, our friend Imani's little girl Aminah was just so infatuated with Amelia...they're going to BFF's I just know it! She was quite cute with Amelia, always going up to her and giving her kisses on her hand...then sticking her finger in Amelia's mouth...yup, that is totally best friend material :)

Amelia and Aminah
Ahh, and then the pumpkin carving. Markus and I couldn't find a decent pumpkin...just these really small ones that were probably just 2 pounds or something...nothing that we could actually carve in to...so this week, I'm going to be on the lookout for a decent pumpkin so that we can carve it here. This may involve a trip to the Wednesday market in town...darn! :)

For Penny, one of the ladies there, this was her first time ever to carve a pumpkin. She said that in Ireland, where she's from, they used turnips...interesting. Never heard of that one, but alrighty :). Anywho, her pumpkin turned out awesome! Not bad for a beginner Penny! Her son Nathan was helping us take out the pumpkin guts and Luca, her other son was busy trying to climb on anything...he was in a devil costume :)

Nathan with his mom's pumpkin
So, the pumpkins were carved and the kids were watching "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown", so it was time to head over to the food table to try some other of the goodies that were brought. Christina brought some salmon spread that was super good (which reminds me I need to get the recipe!), Tammy and Matthias (our hosts) has a vegetable platter with this awesome dressing (of which I also need the recipe) and Penny brought something Irish, and I don't remember the name, but it never got opened and I wish I had tried it! Next time, next time :)



All in all, it was a great time. The kids were dressed up...we had a fireman (Nathan), a devil (Luca), a knight (Oliver), a bat (Clair), a sweet little girl (Aminah) and of course a frog (Amelia). We parents left our costumes at home...no wait...we were all dressed up as parents...cool parents of course!

Here we are with the pumpkins...unfortunately, Christina had to go home early, so she and her pumpkin aren't here...her's was pretty cool...it was a bat. She's got mad skillz at pumpkin carving :) Well...actually, they all had mad skillz...I was just the cleaner (being sure all the pumpkin guts were out)...