Halloween is Happening

Happy Halloween everyone!

For me, Halloween ended after Trunk-or-Treat on Saturday. But I obligatorily dressed up my children and sent them to school today. And we will watch a movie, bake a pumpkin shaped pizza, and hand out candy tonight to finish off this holiday. It really has been a great one. Let's go back to this weekend and take a look...

First, here is a group shot. Take a moment and see if you can figure out costumes. Then we'll do individual shots.

Got it? Or perhaps you are still wondering about a couple. Don't worry, keep reading.

First, my mini. Or should I say, my Minnie?

Store bought all the way. Although in retrospect, I should NEVER buy costumes for Pearl because no one is going to grow into them. Lesson learned.

Daisy's costume was also store bought. (It was just that kind of year people.) This picture doesn't even do her justice. She was SOOOOO cute.

Ivory's costume (also store bought...ahem) was not my favorite. The wig was a little weird and I was just not diggin it. But she was still adorable.

For those of you who don't know Bloom...she is a Winx fairy.

Robyn (bless her heart) wore a costume from a previous year. It barely fit her, but I give her bonus points for being easy and agreeable.

Now June...any takers?

She would NOT be talked out of this costume...and trust me...I tried. She wanted to be Toadette. If you have ever played Mario, maybe you recognize her.

Granted, the hat is a little big, but I give myself all kinds of props for even getting close. (It's a sombrero stuffed with balloons.) But, you could totally pick her out in a crowd, which was useful at her school Halloween parade today.

Tyler and I wore matching costumes this year. I needed something easy to run in for my half marathon, and I figured Tyler would look good as Waldo. (He does.)

I have to admit, the jokes were a little old by the end. People couldn't help but say, "FOUND You!!" every time they walked by. Tyler would say, "Sure, you found me, but have you found Wenda, and the Wizard, and my dog, and Odlaw, and my scroll, and my key, and my book, etc."
Even on my run, I got a bazillion Waldo jokes. My favorite was when people would say to me, "Where's Waldo?" to which I would reply, "I'm Wenda, but if I see him, I'll let you know."

Back to Saturday...the weather was amazing. And there is always a good attendance.

And the dinner inside was fantastic. Plenty of soup and chili.

Pearl was a stubborn bug and wouldn't eat anything, as per usual. (Have I mentioned that she doesn't eat dinner...at ALL?) I finally gave her a bite of my brownie and then we took Hitler home.

It was a great time had by all. (With much exchanging of candy afterward.) You can tell they were exhausted. Look at Robyn trying to finish some homework.

Goodbye October. You were everything I hoped for. Hello November. Wait...it's almost November. Now THAT'S scary.

Pumpkins Galore

Somehow there seemed to be a lot of pumpkins that came and went in our house this year. Pictures were taken here and there, and now it seems time to get them all on here.

We had the Davies over to carve with us. McKenzie (the meany) brought this box and told me there was a present inside for me. The lid slides to one side. I slowly started to open it and I looked inside. Ha ha, there was a fake spider inside. (Funny McKenzie.) Well, she wasn't going to get me, because now I knew what was in there....


...so I opened the lid the rest of the way and the spider JUMPED out at me, and I screamed. Okay, so she got me after all. It is a pretty cool little device with the spider connected to the lid in such a way that when it opens, the spider comes out and touches your hand. The kids were fascinated and played with it over and over. I have to admit, even I opened the lid several more times.

And then we got to pumpkin carving and decorating. There was some of both. Paints, tape, knives, etc. Even Ivory who painted and then wanted to carve. (I guess Halloween is all about being lenient when it comes to pumpkin escapades.)

June and Ivory both scooped their own guts. (Good for them.)

And we even got a group shot with everyone smiling. (It is a Halloween miracle.)

And now for the pumpkins...

I opted NOT to carve.

Adi needed a shot with my pumpkin too, which seemed fair since we didn't have one that night.

Here are some of the carved creations.

And here are some painted ones. (Doesn't Pearl look like a little waif child?)

Robyn made a witch.

Look at her attention to detail.

I made these spider pumpkins earlier in the week.

Daisy enjoyed painting her pumpkin.

Ivory got another pumpkin from school and painted it. Where is William Tell when you need him? (She decided to pose like this all by herself.)

Oh, and June taped a pumpkin too.

Phew...I think we got them all. Tyler was wondering the other day why Halloween is in October. It doesn't make sense to wear costumes and go out in the freezing cold. And at the time, I didn't have a very good answer. But now I know...you have to have Pumpkins for Halloween. Therefore, you get October. And I love it.

Me and P

I need to dutifully note that the author of each post is listed right under the title now. Although I tend to be the one who posts the most, Tyler likes to throw his wit and charm into the blog sometimes as well. He has been frustrated that no one could tell it is him until the end of the post and even then sometimes it goes unnoticed.

In regards to the last post, that was his work. Not that I wouldn't have blogged about it as well, because it was hilarious, but he actually beat me to it. (Sneaky guy blogged while I went for a run. That is kinda low.) I love when he blogs. And he should get credit where credit is due.

Okay, that mentioned, let's talk about my newest problem. See this monkey here?

I can't remember what to do with one child. Today was our first day, just the two of us. It helps that I had errands to run, but I can see that I will quickly be stretching my brain to come up with fun ideas (that don't involve the TV). Pearl is actually pretty easy going. But I know I was very involved with June (back when I had one child) and I want to try and do some of the same with Pearl. I admit that it is very easy to let younger children amuse themselves or play with older siblings. (Heck, isn't that why I had more than one in the first place?)

Pearl and I are the dynamic duo, because Preschool finally started for this one.

Man, she is excited. And ready. I think I mentioned that I had worries about Daisy wanting to go to school, but she is just fine. She is a champ actually. Who knew that I would be the one struggling with the change? I'm sure I will adjust and it everything will be great. I just need to dust off the old brain and get to work...

Just Whorn it by the Pool

My children, like yours, attend the local elementary school. They learn to read and write. They learn math and science. They learn social lessons. As a parent, I enjoy the times my kids come to me to either 1) show off their homework or 2) ask for help (while I can still give it).

Tonight, Robyn delighted me with a sample of her homework:

As you can see, this particular homework is about verb agreement and verb tense. I think Robyn's got it figured out. "Mom whore her kimono yesterday...oh and there she is whorin' it up by the pool." Kids keep it real for ya. I'm sure the picture in my mind and the picture in Robyn's mind are very different.

I may not correct this before I let her turn it in. I wonder if teachers will think less of me. Perhaps they'll think mhore of me.

Pumpkinland Revisited

Pumpkinland is practically a tradition around here. We have gone again, and again, and again. We don't always get there but we always enjoy it when we do. This year, only Ivory's class from school went, leaving four children who still hadn't gone. (Well, and two parents...but do parents really count?)

Tyler was busy one Saturday, so I thought I would take the kids out. It happened to be the same Saturday that I took June out for pictures. (Lest you think we face paint her every day.) Coincidentally the same Saturday that I hurt my back. Lucky for me, all the kids are old enough to run around on their own and I am allowed to traipse along and take pictures.

Always got to get a group shot.

There were some etched pumpkins displayed. This was my favorite.

And then we got to the corn maze. The maze was weird this year. It wasn't very mazey, if that makes any sense. There were hardly any turns and we never found a secret room or anything. I asked other people and they had the same problem. We did find a cat however. It is the Vineyard Garden cat and he came along for a while.

I enjoyed following the striped socks.

See how not twisty?

I adore this shot here.

We eventually got around to the cut-out people and you always have to stop and take a couple pictures.

We lost the cat for a while but then it came back and June had her turn holding it. I think she was proving that she LIKES cats. There has been much debate as to whether she is allergic to them. If she is, it is hardly severe, evidenced by this smile and her lack of adverse reactions.

The kids played and requested pictures as usual. Who knows what Ives is doing, but she is proud of it.

They had a new theme this year. It went along with Alice in Wonderland. Here I am in the Queen of Hearts room.

And they changed the big pumpkin to a Cheshire Cat.

No, that is not my child. Mine had all deserted me to go play on the bouncy toys by then.

Check out that hair on Pearl. She sure has a lot. And it looks awesome when she is bouncing around.

Back to the Alice theme. We were supposed to be looking for Alices along the way. We found two. (I think one of the turkey's was named Alice and we missed that. There were supposed to be some Alice's in the maze, but we never found any. Like I said, it was weird this year.

But the kids still had fun. There was a shadow box that was new.

Then eventually Pearl took her shoes off and was confined to the wagon. Does anyone else have children that take their shoes off at random inconvenient moments?

And then Daisy saw Pearl with no shoes, and decided that would be a good idea. She took hers off and walked around in the muddy sand. That is when I stopped taking pictures and started watching children more closely. (With some intermittent scolding.) (And possibly I lost some children for a while as well. This is why you bring two parents.)

But we managed to leave with a wagon load of pumpkins, two shoeless children, one sore back, three free bags of popcorn, and mostly smiles all around. We'll call that a success.

We love you Pumpkinland. Thanks for always being there.