Halloween Wrap Up

I know it has been awhile....life has been getting in the way...but I need to finish the Halloween pictures so I can stop feeling guilty. Anyway, enjoy, and thanks for bearing with me while I play catch up!

Here are the kiddos all ready for a fun night of Trick-or-Treating. Sweet E did not keep her hat on the whole night so people were saying..."Oh look at the cute princess!" At one of the houses Mr. C said, " No she is a witch!!" And the man at the door laughed and said, "You are just saying that because she is your sister, she is a cute princess!"

The kids went to their Nonny and Poppy's ward trunk or treat. Following the trunk or treat they trick-or-treated some in the neighborhood around their Mimi and Pop's house. Sweet E was not quite sure what to do after people gave her candy so there was always a awkward pause as she decided. Sometimes she would give a thank you....sometimes she would say Happy Halloween....but at one house she ran back and blew the old man a KISS!!! I died!! Anyway, the kids were cute.

In our family fashion we had to have some funny mishaps along the way too! At one house Mr. C was walking up to the house admiring all of their decorations. He stopped and looked, and touched their fiber optic pumpkin and then proceeded to what he thought was a dummy dressed up in a grim reaper costume. Mr. C went up to the chair where the grim reaper was sitting and started touching its head.....then all of a sudden the grim reaper jumped up and said "BOO!!" Mr. C ran backwards screaming faster than you could imagine. Then when he realized that the "dummy" he was touching just happened to be a 10 year old boy dressed up sitting to hand out candy he started laughing!! It was HILARIOUS!! I wish I would have caught it on tape because we could have made some serious money on America's Funniest Home Videos! Mr. C talked about that house the rest of the night...he thought it was AWESOME!! Then across the street we let the kids go up to the door, and just as Sweet E turned the corner we heard her let out a horrific scream and we heard her candy bucket hit the ground! We quickly went to help her only to realize the reason she had screamed was she had passed a fellow trick-or-treater on her way up to the door that had a scary Scream mask on!! She was SO SCARED of the mask!! Unfortunately, we followed that family for a few houses and it happened every time she saw the kid. The mom felt so bad she made her son take off his mask so she could see it was just a nice little boy....after that she just laughed at him.

The kids by far have more fun handing out candy, so we did not spend much time trick-or-treating because Mr. C was anxious to get back to the house to hand out candy to all of the "customers"! They would comment on everyone's costumes and enjoyed giving out all of the candy. It was fun to sit back and watch them work! Over all I think the kiddos had a fun Halloween!!

Jack-O-Lanterns

The Friday before Halloween we carved our pumpkins. Daddy was the knife handler and the kids attempted to gut the pumpkins. They were not keen on getting their hands dirty so they tried a variety of approaches. They used their hands at first washing them frequently, then they tried to use rubber gloves, and then resorted to using spoons. Needless to say Mommy and Mimi ended up cleaning out a majority of the pumpkin guts!! The kids carved their two pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, and then Daddy carved one of the bigger store bought pumpkins. Then one Halloween night the kids sat on the front porch and carved the other big pumpkin while they waited for "customers" aka. trick or treaters. We let the kids draw their own faces on their individual pumpkins....I think they did pretty well! Big B made his big pumpkin into a awesome Buzz Lightyear....however I realized too late that we did not ever get a great picture of it :-(. Anyway, enjoy the pictures of our carving experience.

Mr. C's pumpkin is the one with the teeth....Sweet E's is the one with the big open smile (obviously daddy had to help direct her a little bit)....Mr. C did his all on his own...he is becoming a pretty good little artist!

Howl-O-Ween Fun!!

Every year the zoo here in town holds a Howl-O-Ween party at the zoo! We have gone the last few years and the kids seem to love it. They go all out with decorations, and people in costumes, as well as some fun treats and games for the kids. Every few feet there are people dressed up in costumes handing out candy, or fun coupons. So it is a kids paradise!! Again here are the pictures....


They had a cowboy hoedown area where there were people dressed in cowboy and cowgirl costumes and some fun music playing that the kids could dance to. The picture does no justice....you will just have to trust me that Sweet E was in HEAVEN....she did not want to leave she wanted to boogie on down all night!

Which witch is which??

To The Rescue!! Need a super hero....take your pick!

Buzz meets the "dark side"!

Mr. C was OBSESSED with the R2-D2 remote control robots...there were 3 of them!! Some people must spend some serious money on their hobbies....because these robots were AWESOME and had to have cost some serious money!

Here is our princess witch with some of her other favorite princesses!

Here the kiddos are at the exit....they were pooped at the end of the night!!

Fall Festival

A few weeks ago the school that I used to work at was holding their Fall carnival. They were combining with the school that my sister (Aunt C) works at so we decided to take the kiddos. I always enjoy going back and seeing the teachers I used to teach with as well as some of my former students. I always get mixed emotions....I LOVED teaching....but I also LOVE being a mom...it is hard to explain. I ran into some of the students I had when I was pregnant with Mr. C and it is crazy how much they have grown up...they are in 5th grade now. One of my former students mom's pointed out that Mr. C is only slightly younger than my students were when I taught. It was a SCARY thought!! There is a special place in my heart for the school I taught at...and especially for my last group of students, their parents, and my teaching team. Anyway, that is not what this post is about....we took the kids to the fall festival and they had tons of fun with the games, jumping castles, performances, etc. Here are some pictures from the night.....

Sweet E trying her hardest to get the spider-ring on the hook....she really wanted another sucker!! Needless did she know she would have gotten one even if she got none of her spiders on the hooks!

Sweet E always went for the suckers at each booth....here she is trying her hand at putting!!

Mr. C surprised the parent workers with his strength...he was interested in getting another witch finger!!On the back playground there were TONS of inflatables for the kids to enjoy! Here is a shot from the obstacle course inflatable. This year Sweet E insisted that she could do everything Mr. C could....she just usually needed a little help!

Mr. C enjoying the BIG slide at the end of the obstacle course.

Sweet E's approach was go on you belly....then you can see that what you are doing is CRAZY!!

Here Sweet E is enjoying the traditional jumping castle! Wishing she could be on the "bigger" kid one where her brother was!

Here the two kiddos are enjoying the little train ride that they had set up at the carnival!!

We had a fun night!! I am glad that there are events like this that give me an excuse to go to my old stomping ground!! I am grateful for the efforts of the school to provide a safe, fun, environment for families!

Where Did October Go??

It has been awhile....and a lot has happened....so I will try to update this blog and let you see what we have been doing while I have been away. I have been busy helping my brother with his homework, and then I got stuck with this nasty cold that has lasted nearly 2 weeks....needless to say many nights I have been passing out as soon as I hit the couch. I think I am starting to feel better....or at least sound better.... so maybe I will get back on the blog wagon....who knows??? In the mean time enjoy our October re-cap!

At the beginning of the month we decided to take the kids to the "pumpkin patch." In previous years we have gone to a big commercialized pumpkin patch in the heat of the day. This year I was just not feeling like trekking through the dirt in 90 plus weather to get the perfect pumpkin. I did a little research and found a little farm down south of us that was opening their pumpkin patch at night. They had fun little things for the kids to do, they showed The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown near the pumpkin patch once it got dark, there was yummy food, and there was a fun tractor /hay ride out to the field to pick your pumpkin. The farm operates all year long and is one of the top 100 places to see in the area. I was a little worried when we pulled in because it was off the beaten path in a grove of trees....but it was PERFECT!! It was less commercialized.....it was a whole lot COOLER because it was in the evening....there were not advertisements all around....etc. You really felt like you were on a farm enjoying the relaxed atmosphere....it was a lot of FUN!! Well enough typing here are the pictures.....

Here is Mr. C searching for the perfect pumpkin! He insisted he needed a flashlight! In his defense it is pretty dark out in the country....the stars were AMAZING!

Here is Mr. C at the beginning of the hay maze....they had a kid friendly maze....the kids LOVED it!! Mr. C had fun running all around with the other boys in the maze playing tag!!

Here is Sweet E making her way through the hay maze....she insisted she could do it herself!

Here are the kids enjoying climbing up and down the hay pyramid that was set up near the eating area. The kids enjoyed playing while our hamburgers were being cooked!

I just liked Mr. C's face in this one so I had to post it!

They had tons of these little wheel barrels for the kids to play with...they had piles of hay around the pyramid that they could load in the cart....Sweet E especially loved them!

Here is Mr. C on his horse that he got to ride on the real live "merry go round"! He was in heaven!! He begged and begged me to let him do it again!

Sweet E was a little timid at first so Big B had to walk along side of her....she was sad when the ride was over....she also had tons of FUN!

There were some cool tire swings hanging from some of the bigger trees....the kids has fun swinging around!

Here the kids are with their pumpkins that they picked from the patch. They are getting ready for the movie to start. There was grass you could sit on or you could choose to sit on one of the hay "benches". The kids LOVED the movie....it was a fun atmosphere for sure!

The farm had wagons to pull your pumpkins and your kiddos to the car in. Here are the kids at the end of the night....can you tell that Sweet E passed out before we even hit the asphalt?? It was a fun night, and got us excited for the beginning of the holiday season. We made some fun family memories for sure! I am glad that we did not settle for the hot pumpkin patch this year....this was MUCH better!!