Halloween 2011

We had a weekend of Halloween fun!  On Friday, Charlie had his school parade and Halloween party.  We were all able to be there and watch our little Luke Sky Walker act the part.  As soon as he saw us he started doing all of his Jedi moves.  It was so funny!

Even Darth and Cupcake dressed up for the parade.  Heck, we don't miss an opportunity to celebrate Halloween!

Tommy's school had their parade and party on Halloween morning.

We were both a little bummed because they said no masks, so Darth couldn't be in full costume.  Clearly they didn't adhere to that rule.  Next time I will make sure to bring the mask! But Tommy was SUPER psyched to have a buddy dressed up as Boba Fett.

My sweet boy even ran up and gave me a big hug.  He was so proud of himself and excited!

And then there was Halloween night.  The time we had been planning, preparing and counting down to for months!!  Costumes had been decided on and then minds were changed , last minute adjustments made.  In the end our Star Wars fellas were a hit.  Luke Sky Walker, Darth Vader and the Emperor.  We all agreed that next year we are all going as a theme.  Wouldn't Penny be the cutest little Leia?

 We had so much fun! Tommy was unusually terrified of the "chain saw guy".  He literally has been talking about this guy since last Halloween and even asked for a chainsaw for Christmas...and got one :)  I think that last year the "chainsaw guy" was a little more aware of the little guys and eased off his scariness....NOT this year though.  Charlie was really brave though and faced off with the "chainsaw guy".  Tommy was pretty impressed by that!  Despite the terror of it all, Tom says he wants to go back next year.

It was a great Halloween!

Down on the Farm

Tommy our little farmer

The theme at Tommy's school has been down on the farm.

Nana and Tommy

He and Nana went on a field trip with his classmates to one of our favorite places, Lakefarm Park.  They got to see all kinds of animals and even took a ride on a tractor pulled wagon!

Tom grooming the miniature horse

Tom in the greenhouse at the farm

Tommy milking a cow

At school the kids made a shape tractor

Shape Tractor

and

 

a scarecrow.  I love the eyes on the scarecrow that Tommy drew.  He said it was me, because it was happy....so cute.  I also thought he did a great job on cutting out all the shapes for his tractor.  He was really proud of them both.

At home we also did some farm themed activities to tie into what they are doing at school.  I printed out a fun farm unit and Tommy enjoyed helping the animals get back to the barn.  We played a dice and graph game together and Tom matched animals and the products that they make.

Tractor puzzle and matching game

Prewriting practice, graph game and counting numbers

The highlight was making our own scarecrow.  Tommy was really into to it and Charlie was really into wrestling with the poor guy. Penny had fun picking at the scarecrows eyes and nose.  It was a lot of fun!

Magic Whooloween 2011

It wouldn't be Halloween without a trip to the Magic Whooloween Event at Penitentiary Glenn Park.  Penitentiary Glenn is part of our amazing Metroparks and it offers so many different activities through the year.  Magic Whooloween just happens to be a family favorite and we wouldn't miss!  This year Daddy and I packed up the boys while Penny stayed home with Nana in her nice warm cribbey.

This year the craft was making spooky trees out of toilet paper rolls, tissue paper and stamps.  Simple and fun!

Waiting for our train ride

The BEST part of the night is the TRAIN ride through the not so spooky forest that is decorated with Jack-O-Lanterns.  It is sooooo fun, even for us grown ups!!

Tommy holding our train sign, we are next in line!! 

Tommy was old enough to ride by himself...He was SO excited.  I was sitting in front of him and heard his little voice "Hey Dada, you doin ok back there?".....SO CUTE!!!   He did great!

Charlie and I had fun getting spooked by all the pumpkins and hanging ghosts. 

After our train ride it was time to grab some hot chocolate and donuts and sit by the campfire for a bit.

After we ate and drank our fill we decided to call it a night.  Within minutes we had little people sleeping in the back of the van.  Something that NEVER happens, so you know they had fun and were worn out.

We can't wait to take Penny with us next year!  I know the boys will enjoy showing her all the fun stuff.

Just one of those days

We all have head colds.  Trent and Charlie seem to be on the mend, but Tommy, Penny and myself are dragging.  Not exactly what we need right now. 

Maybe it was the let down that Penny's party and Halloween are over, the fun is done.  Or maybe it is just because I am not feeling good.  But today was just one of those days.

I got Penny ready for bed tonight and thought out loud "Mama, what in the world did you get done today?" (I hope I am not the only mom that talks to herself, perhaps my problems are bigger then we think...just kidding!)  I thought of ALL the things I wanted to get done:

*wash the floors because someone walked through the house with dog poop on their shoe
*clean out from under the kitchen sink because the pipe broke and nasty coffee grind water sprayed everywhere
*take down Halloween decorations inside the house
*go to playdate (I canceled because we are sick)
*do 2 loads of laundry
*cook dinner
*start Thanksgiving book with Tom
*go to grocery store
*make a meal plan

None of that got done, what did get done:
*didn't make dinner but served leftovers, for some reason they LOVED it tonight when last night they couldn't stand it...go figure!
*got all dirty clothes picked up from everyone's rooms and got it ready to go to the basement
*cleaned the mud from the boys' church shoes that they wore at yesterdays family photo shoot
*scrubbed the kitchen floor on my hands and knees, I could not take things sticking to my feet for ONE.MORE.SECOND
*dropped Trent off at work and had all three kids in the grocery store by 8am to pick up milk and spaghetti sauce for dinner....forgot the spaghetti sauce
*played with Penny for a long time on the floor
*did homework with Charlie
*snuggled with Tommy on the couch and let him graze all morning/afternoon instead of eating "lunch" since he wasn't feeling well
*took an hour nap
*suctioned Penny's poor little nose about 10,000 times, probably more like 8 times, but her screaming and carrying on and all the junk I keep getting out of her makes it feel like 10,000 times!
*made Charlie's lunch for tomorrow


Ok, so my day was certainly not a total wash.  In fact if anything at all I already did three out of the five most important things I should do everyday.  I spent quality time with each my kids.  The night isn't over so I am going to go do my God time and then once the boys are in bed, I am going to snuggle with Honey Trent and probably watch some of his really bad tv.  But that is ok because I love him.

It is all good, it was just one of those days!

Penny's First Birthday Party

Our little cupcake

We had a lot of fun at Penny's first birthday party!  We combined it with our annual Halloween party and it was a smashing hit.

We really tried to keep is simple this year, or at least tamed down then what I had originally planned.  I took my time and decorated the house over the month leading up to the big day.  I had fun making a Trick or Treat banner and making the back porch extra spooky with Trent.

I knew I needed to plan a few activities for the older kids to keep them out of trouble occupied.
 
Daddy made his famous graveyard that they had to walk through,

Tommy wanted to play skeleton limbo and they decorated Halloween picture frames.
After all that fun was had we paraded over to the playground down the street and did an eye ball hunt.  The kids went crazy filling their bags with chocolate eye balls.  It was a lot of fun!

 The kids also had fun just playing in the backyard and I think that Penny got passed around more then I actually got to hold her!  But I was happy to share her with everyone that loves her, especially on her big day!

Then it was time to sing to our birthday girl! I decided to not make a cake (gasp! I know) but instead made
mini ghost cupcakes for the kids and large candy corn cupcakes for the adults.

We also served

friendly ghost chocolate pretzels,

and Halloween sprinkled marshmallow pops.  Even though I made several different things, it was really much easier and only took about an hour to make it all.  A cut themed cake usually takes me 8 hours from start to finish.

And for the favor we wrapped up friendly witches hats cookies.

I did make a small smash cake just for Penny, a little pumpkin.  It was so funny to watch her daintily pick at it and gently lick her fingers.  The boys were literally covered in their cakes, but not our sweet little girl.  She certainly brings the tender side of things to our house!

The day went by so fast.  I was good to see our family and friends come and celebrate our sweet girl with us!  The day was really perfect, except for the fact that we were all starting to come down with a cold.  Penny was in good spirits and even surprised us at how willing she was to go to everyone (she sometimes gets overwhelmed with crowds), but she was off just a bit.  I think she had fun though and really enjoyed seeing all the kids.

Happy Birthday Penny!!  We love you so very much!!