The end of October is a whirlwind in this household, between football season, birthdays and trick-or-treating.

We celebrated Ruthie’s seventh birthday.

Peter made her birthday pancakes.

Because she ate the “R” upside-down, she thought he had made her a rabbit. When she asked for another rabbit pancake, it took us a few minutes to catch on.

We then celebrated with family, and the best gift of all for Ruthie was having cousin time, as all the cousins came down for the weekend.

Jake even joined us for a portion of the party via Face Time!

He gave us a mini-tour of his room.

The next morning, Peter and Hannah dished up delicious blueberry cheese crepes.

They served the adults first, then the kids. As it should be.

After such a full weekend, we hadn’t given much thought to the fact that halloween was the next day. Jeremy and Ruth pulled it off well, though, dressed as Doc McStuffins and a Colonial guy.

Part of Ruth’s costume was Jake’s old lab coat, recycled. Because they had BSF that night, they had one hour to hustle and collect as much candy as they could.

They did better than expected, and I had a chance to catch up with some neighbors. Here is what greeted us when we returned home:

Jim donned the army guy costume and thus became the photo opportunity of the neighborhood.