Halloween Fun

The boys had a great time at school, enjoy a fun filled day of crafts, parties and a parade. With our recent move and yes still many unpacked boxes, I just didn't have it in me to make costumes. So, we made a trip to Target and each got to pick a costume. Miles was Luigi, Liam Captain America, and Aidan was Harry Potter.

Time to Carve Pumpkins

With Halloween just around the corner and the boys dying with anticipation to carve their pumpkins, we decided we could hold out no longer. It was time to carve. We had ourselves a pumpkin carving get together with our new neighbors. The kids were thrilled and loved their "fire breathing" jack-o-lanterns.

Early Jack-o-lanterns

My boys have been dying to carve their pumpkins. I keep explaining to them, if we carve them now, they'll rot before Halloween. Just when I think they finally get that, they ask again. So I found a great solution to the problem. These pumpkin transfers seem to have done the trick.

Halloween thru the Decorating of our Christmas Tree and all in between....a recap

Suddenly it came and went...that's how I feel about Halloween. There was this huge build up to it, the sewing of the costumes, decorating the house,
carving of pumpkins, baking of cupcakes. Then came the school parties, ,

Halloween parades,


trick or treating and it was all over, just like that.


Soon after Halloween, was Aidan's Feast, at school.



It was a reenactment of the first Thanksgiving feast with the Pilgrims and the Wanpanogs. An amazing event, where all the 2nd graders and parents were dressed and reenacted the whole event, speeches and all, at a nearby redwoods park. Aidan was Squanto and gave a speech of how he came to be part of the feast. The kids with the help of parents, prepared a feast that included, duck, lobster, clam chowder, rabbit stew and johnny cakes with gingerbread for dessert. The kids participated in time appropriate activities and games. It was an unforgettable event that took so much coordination and effort making it hard to believe it was a school event.




There's also been several cub scout events, from food collection for a local food bank, to hikes, and ice skating, and several den meetings in between. Initially, we had some reservations about joining the scouts but it's turned out to be enjoyable as well as educational for us all, despite the busy schedule.

Thanksgiving, another blurr (this was the peak of me feeling ill, anemia) which for some reason we have absolutely no photos. I feel sad about this, not sure how it happened, it's as if it never happened. But, the truth is we did have a nice Thanksgiving at my brother's followed with a belated Thanksgiving celebration at our good friends Jimmy and Conny's. You'll just have to take my word for it, we all enjoyed it.





The first weekend of December we got our Christmas tree. Unfortunately, the picking of the tree was not the "Norman Rockwell" moment I would have liked it to be. It turned out to be stressful chaos amongst a crowd of people. But, the end product was lots of fun, with the boys help, we had our selves a pretty little tree.

Stay tuned for more Christmas time fun. I know it's late, still playing catch up here.

Angry Bird Hell

I'm in angry bird hell! If I had only ordered those costumes back in September, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now....that is making angry bird costumes. Thankfully a kind friend (who was smart thinking and ordered in September) had an extra green piggy to pass on to us, that means I only have to make two. Here's one down, the green bird. We're having some technical difficulties with it, specifically a droopy beak and droopy feather top. We used a bit of fishing line to hold it in place, let's just hope this holds up. Oh and it is a bit big for Aidan but we'll just have to make do. Now I'm on to bird two, a black bird. Will let you know when it's finished, let's hope before Halloween or Liam just might end up being Batman.

Mr. Sparkles

Every year we add a new item to the Halloween decor. In the past I've let the kids pick it out but this year was different. In late September the boys and I were taking a walk past a newly decorated store window, all ready for the Halloween season, when Liam gasped and had to show us all the cool skeleton in the window. He especially liked how it sparkled. That's my boy, if it sparkles and shimmers or thumps to the beat of club music he so loves it. So we all stopped and admired it, everyone agreed it was really "cool" (Aidan's latest attempt at using slang). We continued on to our destination ( which was donut holes at the donut shop, shhhh!) and all was forgotten. I went back later that day to buy this beloved skeleton, brought him home and safely hid him. When it was time to decorate our home for Halloween, I pulled out that skeleton and Liam once again gasped, announcing "Sparkles!" So this years addition is now, "Mr. Sparkles"....so hauntingly adorable.

Oh My! It's Catch Up Time Again, Halloween, Birthday's, Memphis

So sorry dear blog, life has been so busy. Lots of fun stuff including a trip to Memphis to visit my dear BFF, prepping for Aidan's school Halloween parade/party, and Miles and Liam's Birthday - Halloween party. I'll give you the quick cliff note version once again:




Starting with my trip to Memphis. My dear BFF, Karen, and I try to see each other at least once a year. So I made a trip to visit her, 4 days of girl time fun. We a great time catching up, mani/pedis, dinners out, and unfortunately with all the fun being had I kept forgetting to pull out the camera. Does that ever happen to you, so caught in the moment you forget about the camera? Ahh, next time.




Then it was Aidan's school party. I was amazed at the amount of parent involvement and all the really amazing costumes that you know parents knocked themselves out making for their kids. True Halloween spirit...but in the name of privacy I'll just share a photo of the treats I put together some Halloween worksheets, a pencil and a lollipop.



We had some pumpkin carving fun, up until the boys thought the pumpkins smelled icky and they ran off to let mom and dad finish the job.






We had Miles and Liam's Halloween themed birthday party which we celebrated indoors due to the wet weather. Despite the chaos of 18 kids and 15 adults in our small home we still had a great time. Games, chili & hot dogs and cake to be had by everyone. Aidan said "This was the best party ever!"







And of course, Halloween. We went with a group of friends, 6 boys total, to a nearby neighborhood that really does it up! Not only were there treats for the kids but adults too. One house was handing out Merlot to go, another had a projector with the world series game on for everyone to watch, and lots of fun and scary houses to enjoy. My astronauts and Sir Aidan Knight had a great time. Hope you all enjoyed your Halloween as well.

The Trick's On Us

It's been really busy around here with lots of activity leading up to Halloween. Most recently we had some friends over for pumpkin carving and butternut squash lasagna dinner, mmm one of my favorite meals of the Fall season.

We had an early Halloween celebration at Miles and Liam's day care which included their last day at daycare celebration.


We had dinner with friends, supporting Aidan's school fundraiser, Red Boy pizza with %15 of the proceeds going back to the school.

I did lots of prep work for Aidan's kindergarten Halloween party, made these fun treat bags,


baked these yummy cupcakes

using this yummy recipe from Everyday Food. Was so excited to go to Aidan's Halloween parade and class party but....this is when things took a turn for the worse. Night before the party, Liam is suddenly overcome by a stomach flu. It's been two nights of no sleep, one late afternoon visit to the doctor and multiple clothing and bedding changes. I've lost count of how many loads of laundry we've had to do. And yet worse, we've had to cancel Miles and Liam's birthday party which was scheduled for Nov 1st. Thankfully I was able to cancel the cake order with no cancellation fees. Now we're on the road to recovery. Hoping you all have a Happy Halloween with lots of yummy treats!

Update: just as a I thought we were on the mend, Miles is now vomitting :(

Skeletons, Tombstones, Jack-O-Lanterns, Oh My

Decorating for holidays is so much fun and a great activity you can do with your kids. Aidan and I have been doing a little decorating for Halloween. I let him pick out a new Halloween decoration, it's a little tradition we started a couple of years ago. This year he picked out this great string of lights for his room. They look like dancing skeletons. They're actually really fun and not scary at all despite what Miles might tell you. Miles is a little scared of them, although both Mommy and Daddy have explained to him they're "friendly skeletons".



And what would Halloween be without tombstones? We have a small tombstone in our planter on our porch.


Oh and of course the pumpkins which will soon be jack-o-lanterns. I just love the colors of Fall including the bright orange of pumpkins, they're so festive.


We also have the boys treat buckets, plastic jack-o-lanterns stacked on top of each other in the kitchen sitting under "La Calavera Catrina" a perfect addition to our Halloween decor. Actually though, "La Calavera Catrina" is a well known Mexican image that hangs in our kitchen year round.

We have lots more Halloween decor dispersed through the house, these were just a few I decided to share.

A little Mexican art history side note as summarized from wikipedia: "In 1913 Jose Guadalupe Posada first created "La Calavera Catrina" as a zinc etching to portray the image of the rich and fashionable in death. He wanted to depict that the rich fashionistas were just as susceptible to death as anyone else, despite their pretext to self importance."
Politically it's a great statement. It's also important to us to have some of our heritage in our home....but that's another blog entry in itself ;)

Hope you're all having just as much fun getting ready for Halloween!

Starting Off Fall With Pumpkin Patch Fun

I absolutely love Fall and all the changes that come with it. Crisper cool days, changing leaves and the beginning of Halloween fun. We've kicked off our Halloween count down with a visit to Joan's Farm and Pumpkin Patch. This place is so much for family fun, and the kids could stay all day.


We fed the farm animals,


ran through the fort maze,




found our way through the corn maze,


boys rode the patriotic express,




enjoyed the outdoors,





and had fun with all the pumpkins and attractions.


Indeed it was a delightful day!