Halloween 2010

Saturday Night's Trunk or Treat. I took this picture after we got home. Ryan (Waldo) was able to make it to the tail end, after his football game. It seems like it is getting harder and harder to have all 4 together. Anyways, enough of that. It was a night full of sloppy joes, face painting, cupcake walks, trunks full of treats, Willy Wonka (Al), along with a serious amount of kids.

School Parade

Friday morning was our school parade. This year, all three kids were mixed into the chaos. Such fun to have them all at one school, but I had a hard time finding them all this morning. I wish Waldo (Ry) would have been here, would have made for a great pic!

Alie as a cupcake. (Note the red shoes. She has a thing for red shoes. At least she has gotten over the glitter ones.)

Lindsay as a Fifties girl. She loved her "L". I had the Laverne and Shirley song in my head most of the day. It is catchy, I tell you. (I love that Bella is taking a bite of costume.)

Justin as a pirate. (The red "hat", his idea, but it didn't last long.)

Mixing up his Monster Mash.

Field Trip. . .

Wednesday, Justin and I rode the bus to Oma's Pumpkin Patch with his Kindergarten class. This was my last one. Sniff. Sniff. The warm weather, after all of the recent rain, brought swarms of bees. Besides dodging the unpleasantness of the bees, we had a great afternoon at this little dairy farm. We were able to see a baby calf that had just been born the day before, and I got to snuggle with my littlest guy on the bus ride home.

Justin and Drew

The Hay Ride

Justin and Hannah. These two are great friends.

Back on the bus. Just my pumpkin and me.

Amber, Ryan, and little Josie came to stay with us for a couple of days this week. I love spending time with my cousin Amber! She is so much fun and just overflows with positive energy. They went shark fishing while they were here. This little family loves an adventure. They were good to come along with us to our sport practices. Come again guys. It was fun.

Pumpkin Patch.

There is just something so great about being surrounded by a bunch of plump, orange pumpkins. We just love to visit the pumpkin patch. I had envisioned taking a hay ride at the farm, passing rows and rows of pumpkins on their vines. I was able to go with Justin on a field trip, but wanted to take the whole family. Somehow, time got away from us this year, and I did not know if it was going to happen, but we managed to squeeze it in at the local pumpkin "patch" near our house. Not exactly a farm, but we were lucky enough to have Danielle and the kids visit for a couple of hours, which was a success in itself. We wish they lived closer. We love spending time with them.

Seriously? Look at his little face.

Together we make 8. Crazy.

This corn was super yummy.

Carving

Monday night's Slaughter. Such a Mess, Such Fun.

Our Jacks. Alan's spider. My polka dots. Ryan's scaredy pumpkin. Lindsay's wolf in a full moon next to a tree, Alie's owl on a branch, and Justin's Monster mouth guy. Aren't they pretty all lit up? Let's hope they make it until Halloween. They are in the fridge in the garage fighting the urge to mold. We are loving this warm weather though.

Happy Day! Alie got her braces off today! She is full of smiles and loves her new purple sparkly retainer. Just in time for her school pictures and for Halloween! Lucky girl.

*38*

Today was my day. Today was a day to connect with others and reminisce. Today was full. Today was simple. It was calm. Thanks for all of the birthday wishes. It was a good day.

After spending the morning with Al, we picked up the kids from school and headed to our local Nickel Arcade. Alan hit the jackpot on one of the games and together we won enough tickets for everyone to get a pair of vampire teeth, glow in the dark duckies and other "exciting" prizes. We walked over to CPK just as it started to drizzle again. It was a lovely early dinner, lasting about 35 minutes to be exact, getting us back home for Ry's football.

Miracle on 34th Street. Cake. Hot Cocoa. Cuddling. Guitar. More music. Sunset. These things filled the rest of the night.

Love these cheeky kids

Carnival

Our School Carnival. Heavy mist gave the night a genuinely spooky feel.

Nana and Hoho came for a quick weekend visit. We loved having them here!

The girls won goldfish. (They over fed them, we think, or it was just the excitement of the evening, and they died the next morning. Whoops.) It was fun for the night anyway. They were so happy to win them!

The "Cake Walk".

My bigger guy spent most of the night with his buddies trying to win 2 liter bottles of soda. I am not sure how much it cost him, but he won 4 bottles. We had soda floats when we got home.

Soccer

Alie spends most of her time on the soccer field. She works hard and practices long. I am so proud of her. This team has been quite challenging for her, but she has hung in there. She loves to practice and loves the time she and her dad have together in the car driving ( which is a lot). Whether it is to a tournament or her bi-weekly practices, she really enjoys this time. She sings her heart out in the car, and has found new loves in music. Dixie Chicks is what she is loving right now. She can sing every word. Scary, yet catchy.