What a way to end October!

Above, Kenny plays with the rest of the 8th grade "marching" band for one of the local football games.

I put "marching" in quotes because, well, they really don't do any marching yet...at least not while they're playing.  They go out onto the field in formation, play a couple songs at half time, and then return to their bleachers to periodically play during the game.  Good practice for the future, though!  Below, Stephen and his best buddy Logan McAlpine also enjoyed this game:

Beth turned 11 a couple weeks ago, and had several friends over for a "Dr. Who"-themed birthday party.  For those of y'all who don't know, Dr. Who is a British sci-fi series that has been on for what seems to be an eternity (since the mid-1960s, actually), and that Hope and the kids love (and I pretty much can't stand).  But I indulge my family...  Below, Beth and her friends (and Stephen) enjoyed a dinner based on food references from this show:

The girls later decorated birthday cupcakes:

And then hammed it up for the camera:

Hope's parents make a long trip from Michigan to deliver some of their home-grown pumpkins, and to continue a traditional of carving jack-o-lanterns with Bragg Family South:

These were definitely the biggest (and, according to the look on Kenny's face, slimy-est) pumpkins we've carved to date:

Rick and Ann also helped pass out candy to trick-or-treaters on Halloween.  You can see from the picture below how we used the jack-o-lanterns:

We've always been amazed at how many people down here are surprised that we've carved the pumpkins--apparently, not much of a tradition in southern Arkansas!  Below, Rick photo-bombs our kids in their Halloween costumes:

While we had a fair number of trick-or-treaters this year, a good rain earlier in the day helped keep the numbers manageable.  Several weeks of good rain has helped break a summer-long drought we'd been going through, allowing us to slide into November without worrying about fires and dying yard plants.  Thank goodness!