Halloween 2012

Postdated October 2012


I have always, always wanted to do a family Halloween costume thing (like all the cute families do) but could never get everyone on board.

But... I did this year!

We all agreed on a Peter Pan theme: Adam-Captain Hook, Josh-Peter Pan; Grace-Tinkerbell; Mike and I-pirates.

I LOVE making the Halloween costumes every year.  It is sooo much fun, and we save money, too.

They are all completely thrifted or made:

After a busy day of Halloween parties and parades at school, we came home, did a photo shoot, went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, and then went to our ward's trunk-or-treat.

We had such a fun Halloween!

I'm always a little sad to see it over, but the stolen Reese's from kiddos candy loot, usually make up for it.

;)

October Randomness

Postdated from October 2012

Our little 'check engine' light that has given me one big headache.  We barely got it to go off (and passed emissions... yay!), and then it turned on again.  Ugh!

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Josh went from drawing scribbles and circles to his first 2 "real" drawings: a spider (on top) and me (on bottom).  Apparently, I'm balding.  Love first sweet little pictures!

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Our Saturdays have been spent doing football games, but one weekend the game was cancelled.  We enjoyed a picnic and a cool, sunny day at our most favorite park.

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Reindeer antler hat.  That sang and danced.

He cracks me up.  

And the kiddos about died laughing seeing Mr. Super Serious Dad being silly.

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My kiddos ALWAYS pick a flower (or weed or stick) for me whenever they see one.  They always say, "I have something for you for Mother's Day" and then give it to me.  I adore it (and them).

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I love, love, LOVE our new house... and I think my most favorite thing is my "real" mantle.  I have so loved getting to decorate it each month.

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Silly boy, taken by Grace.

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He made this sweet puppet in nursery, and told us the story about the First Vision with it.  It was so sweet!

A Month of Halloween Fun!

Postdated from October 2012

Ooohhh... I LOVE Halloween! 

I can't quite figure out why... it's not because I like scary stuff. 

(Seriously... at one point I wanted to be an FBI agent who hunts down serial killers. I would've lasted about 1.3 seconds in that field, I'm such a chicken). 

But, man, I have always adored Halloween. It's just such a fun holiday.  We had a ton of fun this month getting ready and celebrating the spooky holiday. I didn't get a picture of everything, but we had a month of spookalicious fun and got through EVERYTHING on our countdown!

We: 

Boo-ed some friends with treats

Made homemade Halloween costumes

Played "Trick or Treat"

Played "Don't Eat Frank" (with a makeshift game card, because ours was temporarily lost)

Painted mini pumpkins

Went to a Halloween party

Played "Mummy Wrap"

Went to the haunted house/carnival at the library (our library ROCKS)

Made mummy mini pizzas

Played a spider game

Ate "Dinner-in-a-Pumpkin" (yeah, I've only pinned 22 ways to clean my baking sheets... goodness knows I've yet to try them, though)

Went to the school Halloween carnival

Played "Pin-the-Face-on-the-Pumpkin"

Bought pumpkins (I probably should be pulling the youngest punk off the pumpkins rather than taking pictures, I know)

Decorated cupcakes (I always chicken out of making sugar cookies)

Delivered MORE goodies after we got BOO-ed

Carved pumpkins (1 for boys, 1 for girls, and Adam's pumpkin he made at school for a math project)

Made haunted houses

Decorated our windows with spooky orange lights

Went to a Halloween story time

Ate a special Halloween-themed dinner (Goblin Eye Meatballs with Blood Sauce and Green Worms, Bone Breadsticks, and Crunchy Witches Salad with Potion for Dressing)

Went to the Halloween parade at the kids' school

Made "floating" ghosts

Hung ghosts from our tree out front

Made milk jug ghosts

I LOVE Halloween and celebrating ALL month with my kiddos is the best!

Leopard Shark, Baby!

Postdated from October 2012

Our sweet goose graduated her AR level!

She was a Lemon Shark (2nd grade reading level) and read 25 books (and got a 100% on each book test) to graduate to a Leopard Shark (3rd grade reading level).

We are sooo proud of her!

She was the first in the entire school to graduate... way to go, Miss Grace!

Football

Man, I have LOVED Adam being on the football team.

Yeah, the 3-a-week practices and games that are 30 minutes away on Saturdays are kind of a pain.

But, he has gotten SO much out of it, that it is so worth it.

(Not to mention, I finally know the rules of football... I'm going to totally get the Superbowl game next year!)
 

He has learned to work hard as a team, he has learned about failure.  Most important, he has learned not to give up.

Adam isn't the most naturally athletic kid.  In the past, when he has played sports, he has realized he isn't the best on the team, and then stopped trying.

This time, he just tried harder.

He got better.

And then tried harder still.

I have loved watching him grow, make friends, and be a part of a team.

It's been sooo good for him (and me).

Adam's Mining Field Trip

Postdated from 2012

Adam's class got to go on a field trip to a mining museum today!

To add to the fun of a field trip, I let him take my camera to document it.

He took over 300 pictures and video...

... but I narrowed it down a bit for ya.

The bus:

 

Dangerous mine signs (1 of 46... I think he took a picture of every. single. sign):

He loved all of the trucks and BIG tires:

His first crush:

His best friend:

His second favorite part was ALL of the awesome rocks to look at:

s

Learning about what we make from mines (or, alternately, "The Man Who is Responsible for Me Receiving a Lecture on the Elements in My Toothpaste Each Time I Brush My Teeth from Adam"):

His very favorite part was mining for gold.

However, those pictures and video are blurry enough to make ya sick.

We can't have that.

;)

He had such a great day learning about mines and how we use the materials that come from mines.