Life goes on

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Happy Halloween - 2011

Halloween 2011 started out pretty great. It was Katelynn's first school Halloween Party and I had signed up to help out at her party. We had a nice breakfast at home and she got her costume on and got ready. We dropped Junior off at daycare and I got to see how she starts out each day at school. I helped out with snacks and a project and took a few pictures of her class all dressed up. The kids were super nice in her class and loved to talk. There were a few other moms their helping out and I attempted to hold some conversations with them, but it became apparent to me that I may not fit in with the Mommy crowd. I think they all are stay at home moms and very traditional in their roles as wife and mother and do it all to take care of the family. This is definitely not me, (everyone needs to pitch in around here!) but I did what I was there to do and had fun with Katelynn and her classmates. I worked from home the rest of the day and picked the kids up early from daycare to get ready for the festivities of the night.

I wanted to do something fun for supper on Halloween and we had found this idea in a book, Worms for Brains. I thought the kids would think it was pretty cool and they are always up for helping me cook, but it was super nice outside and they decided to go outside and play instead. Dan and I each carved out 2 of these peppers and made spaghetti. I thought it was great. Dan, Katelynn and I after sitting down to eat each dumped our spaghetti out on our plates, but Junior wanted to eat his right out of the pepper and through a fit when we tried to dump his. At first he wasn't even sure what to do with it! It was a fun way to start the night. Here are our creations!

What?! Worms for Brains.

Next it was time to get ready for trick or treating. The kids were bouncing off the walls to go. It was still to early and even Dan was in a rush to get moving. We had already talked to the neighbors and our three families were going to go together with our kids. It is always fun to run around town on Halloween night even as an adult when you're with friends!
The kids got ready and we got ready and took our pictures and headed out the door. I set a bowl full of candy out on our front porch since both Dan and I wanted to go with the kids. We went around a few blocks and then made our way back to our house to check the candy and re-fill it if it needed it. The kids were definitely not done yet so we headed back out in a different direction. Junior did start to get tired of walking and it was getting chilly out so him and Dan went back to the house to hand out candy. Katelynn eventually got tired to and we headed home. She loves handing out candy to other trick or treaters too and we still had a few come to the door after we got home. The kids dumped out their candy and Dan went through it. They filled themselves as full as we would let them and then before the sugar rush hit we shipped them off to bed. They are still on candy overload a few weeks later as we ration it a piece out to them each night from their pumpkins. We had a great Halloween and a ton of fun this year.

Here come's Mario!

Mario and Princess Peach from the Mario Brothers.

Yes, even I had to get ready to trick or treat!

Princess Peach

The Loot

Pumpkin Painting

One afternoon Dan had gone golfing and it was just me and the kids. We were looking for something to do and since we hadn't carved our pumpkins yet I decided we could go ahead and grab a couple of them and paint them. I wasn't about to do the carving so this was our option for an afternoon activity.

The kids thought it was great. We got lots of paints and brushes out. Junior pretty much made a mess of color on his around the entire pumpkin and my little artist carefully painted hers and even made sure it had eyelashes so it was a lady.

Katelynn finished product - check out the eyelashes.

Family Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

It was time to head to the pumpkin patch down the road and have a little family time. Its always fun to go. Its a small pumpkin patch, but we enjoy it. Its free to get in and they are local farmers. They really enjoy people coming and are super friendly. The kids jumped into the first wagon they saw and then looked at Dan, c'mon start pulling! First stop was to head to the maze. We let the kids be the guides and see if they could find their way out, it was funny watching them run back and forth, nope dead end, nope dead end, nope already tried that. Katelynn did eventually lead us the right way. Next stop to the Pumpkins to pick out the best for carving. Katelynn loves to look through them, but really only looks for about a minute before she feels that she found the perfect pumpkin. Each kiddo made sure that they picked a little pumpkin they could keep in their room as well. Dan took Junior through both the haunted houses that they had there and he seemed to do okay with it. I was scared that he would freak out later that night at bedtime, but he didn't. Katelynn tried to be brave and she would step one foot in with me and then back out quickly. It was a no go for her. We had a fun afternoon of running through the pumpkin patch and I got my pictures I wanted.

Dan's new friend!

Pretending to scream!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Annual Halloween Pumpkin Patch with Friends

We started Saturday morning with some quick cleaning in the house and breakfast. Dan headed off to work for a few hours and we headed out to Sam's Club and the Halloween store for groceries and costumes. We were out the door at 10:30 am and had to get our groceries bought and our costumes picked out, drop them back off at the house and head to the Pumpkin Patch to meet our friends at 1pm.
Katelynn had decided last month what her and Junior were going to be for Halloween already - Princess Peach and Mario from Mario Bros. I had a talk with Katelynn that morning and explained to her how cute I thought her idea was that they would match, but that if we got to the costume store and Junior found something else that he wanted to be that she would need to be okay with it, but she could still be Princess Peach. She said that she understood. I sometimes wonder if she really does or she just says that so that the "serious" talk can be over with?
We found Katelynn's Princess Peach costume almost instantly after walking in and found her size so she was all set. Junior found a display of Lightning McQueen and Cars costumes and I really thought for a second that he was going to ask to be Lightning McQueen. Katelynn quickly pointed out that she spotted the Mario and Luigi Costumes and directed him over to that display instead. He took it like a trooper and I asked him who he wanted to be and he said "Mario". We found his size and then headed over to the adult section. Dan has his costume from last year that didn't get worn so he will be a copy this year. I was looking and looking and looking some more for a costume for me. I am sorry, but almost every costume in there is not something that I could dress in and take my kids trick or treating in. First off - I would not be dressed appropriately and second I would freeze - well - every piece of me off walking around! I finally did decide on something at Katelynn's urgency to get out of the scary Halloween store. I tried it on when I got home and it is definitely a no go and needs to go back. At least the kids are taken care of!
It was already getting late by now to head home to drop off groceries because I took to long at the costume store. We got home brought everything in and I threw together a quick lunch we could eat in the car and we were off within 15 minutes of being at the house. We did end up showing up late, but it was fine because so was every else.
We met our friends at the Pumpkin Patch and the kids were so excited to see each other. They ran around and played and played on the playground equipment and checked out the animals at the petting zoo piece. It was in the 80's and hot, hot, hot standing outside. There was also a face painter at the Pumpkin Patch and the kids decided they wanted their faces painted. We said that was fine and got in line. We stood in line for our kids for what seemed to be 3 hours, it was really probably close to 30 - 45 minutes, but it took forever. We let 3 of our kids get their faces painted and the 3 youngest had to miss out because we were all done hanging out in the one spot. We headed into the Corn maze which is always interesting with 6 little kids and 3 moms who may or may not be paying attention. We of course let the kids lead us around and they had a blast, but it always gets that point where we have over stayed our welcome in the corn and we just want out. I think that we were more successful this year than the last time and found our way out relatively quick. After that we took some pictures of the kids by the pumpkins. I had a great spot all picked out that would have been great lighting, but it also put the kids in a terrible spot to look up at the camera because they were looking directly into the sun. After some cries and screams from the kids after trying their best to look up we quickly moved them to another spot. Sorry kiddos! We took our pictures and it was apparent that the kids were pooped. No naps and running around for 3 hours will do that to them. Us moms decided that next time we need to remember to take pictures first because the kids get all sweaty and dirty from running around. It was a great day and it was so nice to get to see my girlfriends and hang out for a few hours. My kids were zonked on the way home.