During Fall break, Rachel, Amy, Kate and Ryan were able to come over for a sleep-over. While they were here, we did lots of Halloween activities. We ate spider sandwiches and mummy pizzas, hid eyeballs and played "pin the stem on the pumpkin". We made centipedes, ghost hands and spider cookies. We read 
Halloween books, worked on Halloween activity pages and watched Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin. There was not a spare moment and we had a great time. At least, I did!
I was not going to be able to go back to West Virginia for Kasey's baby shower, so I took McKinley's presents with me and we had our own personal baby shower while I was in Cleveland. We spent an evening opening presents and Matthew modeled them for us. I had made some blankets and bought some cute clothes. Gary had purchased some darling little shoes.
When I was pregnant with Matthew, I had purchased a cute little white dress for the blessing if he was going to be a girl. Well, surprise! Back in those days, we didn't know what we were going to have beforehand, so I just kept the dress all of these years. It is simple, but very beautiful. It is hand stitched and embroidered. It looks antique, but not just because it is old! I knew that Matthew and Kasey had been looking at antique shops for a dress,
but didn't purchase one because it didn't have any special meaning to them. I always felt that I wanted to give 
the dress to Matthew if he ever had a little girl. They were so surprised and just loved it!! I didn't want them to feel obligated to use it, but they couldn't have been more thrilled. Matthew had no idea that I had the dress, let alone kept it all of these years. I can't wait to see McKinley in it! She will be precious.
Gary and I were able to travel to Rochester for a few days to see Marc, Laura and Elizabeth. She has gotten so big! She is the best little, happy girl. She had her first cold while we were there, but you would not have known it. She smiled the entire time! Gary and I were able to "babysit" the night we got there because both Marc and Laura had to work. We were concerned because she was sick and didn't know 
us very well. You never would have known it. She warmed right up to us and was such a sweetheart. She loves having her picture taken and I did take many! Grandpa bought her a Halloween sucker that she loved! It was funny to watch her eat it. She was so "lady like". It was so good to see all of them.
