It's The REAL Halloween

Wow! What an end to a crazy week. We have been running around all week doing various Halloween type activities or activities that involve Halloween. It has been tough explaining to a 4 year old (well 3 year & 363 day old) when actual Halloween is. Today on the radio they said something about today being Halloween and Julia freaked out and said..."It's the Real Halloween!" This was followed by Jimmy & Julia shouting Happy Halloween for about a minute. Ahh! She must have been drinking this morning, because I told her. Guess she didn't believe me. So here we are on the Real Halloween!"

We had a full house tonight. Kurt's mom, Aunt Fran, Jeff & Michelle and Grandma Cindy all came over for the festivities. We were not deterred by the pizza order that was all jacked up (a phone call later scored us some free pizzas on our next order). We all patiently waited for it to get a little more dark for the kids to go out. Halloween in our neighborhood is pretty cool. Our sub is pretty small, so we know pretty much everyone or at least recognize them. The kids pretty much run in a gang, so we know most of them. It's nice to be close knit like this in the land of subs.

Seriously, isn't he just the cutest little dragon?

Here's a Dragon, an Overworked Mom & Ariel with Olive Skin

Last year Julia was Cinderella and I thought that she needed a carriage, so i McGuivered (or Magrubered for SNL fans) one out of some weather stripping, tape, tulle and a plastic tablecloth. She loved it and requested princess transportation again for this year. Since she was Ariel, she got a clam shell (or as close as I could get to one). It turned out pretty good for doing it the night before Halloween. Although, she wanted to ride in it for about 5 minutes and then wanted to run around with her friends from house to house. Had I had a little more insight to this, i would have built in the cooler for the beer that the dads (and Uncle Jeff) drank as they followed the kids around the 'hood. But it was all worth the look on her face when she saw it this morning. Although, I think I will be hanging up my miniature-float-building-skills hat.

Julia showing off some of her loot.

The kids have so much candy & treats I am going to have to be generous with spreading the wealth, or it will be spreading on my thighs. Ugh. I hear the 3 Musketeers calling my name.

Preschool Trick or Treat

Today at Julia's school, the kids had their Halloween Party. The weather was perfect! They made caramel apples - Julia said she "LOOOOVES Caramel" and got to stir the cauldron of treats the kids brought in. The kids were all so cute. Every little girl was some type of princess or fairy tale creature. It was so cute. They had fun trying to "guess" who everyone was.

Ariel shows off yet another treat bag.

Ariel & Tinkerbell

Jimmy also got to dress up to go to Moms Morning Out. Pumpkins were pretty popular today, but he is still my favorite.

Trick or Treat Parade!

This week has been just a bunch of Halloween activities. We sure are getting our money's worth out of the kids' costumes. One of the highlights of Halloween week is the Trick or Treat Parade at our gym. It's really great. The kids weave around throughout the facility and each room is decorated in different themes and the workers hand out candy, community groups and politicians also set up displays and hand out candy too. It's something we have done since Julia was 2 with the neighbors, so this was our 3rd year. We all loaded up and caravaned over and the kids had a ball. Jimmy got the hang of what to do in minutes. He made sure to inspect each piece of candy that was put in his bag. It was cute.

Jimmy, Julia, Kyle, Rachel, Clay & Megan

Ariel shows off her Treats
There is no shortage of Candy here!

Posing by the Pumpkins

Over the River and Through the Woods...

Yesterday i took the kids to visit their Grammie and Great Grammie. They won't see them on Halloween, so thought that it would be fun for the kids to show off their costumes. First stop was my mom's office. Julia got a kick out of her not "recognizing" her because she had on a wig. They were then dragged through the whole office so everyone could see them. I think that both mom and the kids got a kick out of it. They got a few goodies and little Halloween baskets from Grammie. They are so spoiled.

Next stop was across the street to where my Gram lives now. She lives in a retirement community (aka Dorm for Seniors). She's 92 and fortunately has all of her wits about her. She's losing her eyesight, but still as sharp as a tack. The kids were tickled to see her and had fun looking through her place for stuff to play with. My step mom's parents also live in the same place, so they came up to see the kids too. It makes things convenient to be able to see all the great grandparents in one stop. We were asked to make a quick trip through the care facility part so some of the patients could see the kids. I was really proud of Julia, she was very polite and didn't get scared when she encountered a lady that had hands like the old lady witch from Snow White. I seriously don't want to be old...it has to be so hard to see yourself deteriorate. I will try to remember this when I am old and some little kid stares at me wide eyed. Anyway, I was happy to help brighten some old folks' day.

Next we took Gram with us to the local toy store. I let the kids pick out 2 small toys and then found a few things for their upcoming birthdays. The kids loved it. There are lots of things to see and the toys are easy to look at for the kids. Jimmy was beside himself, running between the Thomas display and the big electric train set. It was cute. Of course he had a mini melt down that was only satisfied with a balloon when we tried to leave.

All in all it was a busy day. It was a beautiful afternoon to make the drive, the sun was shining, the leaves were so pretty. I just love fall. I am always amazed at the beauty of it. I always get sad when the leaves all drop and it's time for the long cold winter. Ugh...but it's days like yesterday that keep me going.

Thank God for DVR, we recorded The Great Pumpkin so the kids could watch it. I know that families are busy and that there are shows that millions of people depend on (like Jeopardy & Wheel of Fortune, Entertainment Tonight), but why do they put it on at 8pm? The set of kids this show appeals to are probably in bed by then...what do the poor families that don't have DVR do? Anyway, we all enjoyed watching it together...it brought back such great memories of watching it as a kid.

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight is garbage night and I thought that it would be a good night to carve the pumpkins, so I wouldn't have to smell the guts all week in the garage. So we carved out the innards together...rather the kids watched me do it. Jimmy kept saying "Yuck" and Julia kept saying it smelled. Kurt's mom was nervous as I was wielding the knife. I also made the comment that in most families, the dad does the carving (because a knife is involved and it's manly), but Kurt responded "I don't like pumpkins and I don't like Christmas Lights" Neither of which he is involved in. He also made the comment that most men don't vacuum either. Nuf said on the bending gender roles in the house.
After the kids went to bed, I carved the pumpkins. Julia wanted a Cinderella and a witch, so hopefully this will suffice. I think they turned out pretty good. Although, I have to say, that online templates are pretty easy to follow. The witch was freehand from a picture. I think I missed my art calling. Let's hope they last the week in the cold and gasp - snow?

Go Green!

Wow! What a game! The Spartans have had a pretty good year so far and they topped it off by beating UofM on Saturday. It's always a big game here - a nice rivalry in the state. The original plans for the day were to go tailgate in AA with a bunch of friends (and their kiddos), but it was cold and they were predicting rain, so we decided to tailgate at Cherie & Shea's house. Which was a fantastic idea, since all the kids could run around and we could all minimally parent. There was a nice mix of MSU vs UofM fans. It never got ugly, and i saw a few UofM alumni eating my Sparty cookies.

This was just a few drinks in...

The Kids watched movies in the basement with Kate & Kyle.

Aww - It's Barrels!

Julia is so freaking cute. We have been "searching" for Disney Princess and or Barbie cereal. I use the term loosely, because I have not been looking for it...Julia has. I don't have the heart to tell her that they don't make the Disney Princess cereal anymore. Whenever we go to the store, I tell her to "Keep her eyes open, maybe she'll see it." I am sure that this is going to harm her for life, but it keeps her busy.

So, tonight after dinner we had to run to the store to get a few things and I took her with me. The store we went to is a higher end type store that i only buy our meats, bakery stuff and the occasional off the wall item. They have it all. Anyway, they have little carts for the kids to push around and Julia gets a kick out of it. So, she's tearing around the store...saying these weird things like she's a little adult. She's got on a little pink fleece outfit and her down vest (she has to have the hip mom look). Anyway, she goes down the cereal aisle...checks all the varieties out, doesn't find what she's looking for. Dejected, we go through to check out. She puts all of the stuff on the belt, tells the man in front of us in line that she is 3 and will be 4 in a few days and then she'll be 5. This particular store has free suckers for kids (and mommies too) and she asks if she can have one (I am doing something right). She reaches in and pulls one out - it's Root Beer (my favorite) and she yells out "Aw, man - it's Barrels!" The 18 year old checker snorted and said he would now always refer to root beer dumdums as "Barrels", as will I.