HALLOWEEN

I'm stirring and stirring and stirring my brew. Ooohhh, oooohhh. I'm stirring and stirring and stirring my brew. Ooohhh, ooohhh. Tip toe, tip toe, tip toe, BOO! Three witches haunted our house on Halloween (and the night before at the Trunk-or-Treat). We had a pink witch, an orange witch, and a purple witch. I wish this picture showed the costumes better. Isabelle has on bright pink tights and a pink belt and Eva has on orange and black stripped leggings and they both have awesome dresses and capes (that I made myself).

Daddy and Jack decided not to join with the theme and opted instead to dress as a fireman and a soccer player (he's been looking for a reason to wear this jersey since he got home from his mission). We all had fun and brought home loads of treats. Happy Halloween!

Storybook Character Dress-up Day

No Halloween costumes were allowed at school but on Friday (Oct. 30th) the kids were allowed to dress-up as a favorite storybook character (had to be a book first if it was also a movie). And they had to bring the book with them to school.

Jack decided to be Max from the Max and Tiny books. He looked fabulous despite the fact that he has too much hair to make it all stand up straight.

Isabelle has been reading the American Girls books and picked Kit Kittredge to dress as. She, too, looked fabulous. And we didn't have to buy anything!

Belle's 6th Birthday

Belle had an awesome birthday whose celebrations spanned almost 10 days! To start with, on Friday Oct 23rd she had a GNO (Girls' Night Out) with 3 friends. Allison Greenwood, from her primary class, Kacie Padovich, a long time friend, and Kailey Choi, who is in Belle's class at school and lives on our street. Dad took Jack to the YMCA so that it was just us girls at home, we had cheese pizza, Belle's favorite, and some cupcakes while we watched the Hannah Montana movie, also Belle's favorite. The girls all had a blast and when the movie finished they taught each other cool dance moves and did cartwheels 'til they were dizzy. This was the simplest and best birthday party ever. Unfourtunately I forgot to take pictures of the event. Oops!

The following Wednesday, her class celebrated her birthday (the teacher was scheduled to miss the actual birthday so they did it early) and she received a book from Ms. Conine. Then on Thursday (29th, actual birthday) Jack, Eva and I had lunch with her at school and brought her a bouquet of flowers, she got to be on the announcements with the principal in the morning, she wore a birthday hat all day, and she had an overall fantastic day. Her friend Kacie came over to give her a present (Miley Cyrus t-shirt) in the evening and we opened all her gifts. Jewelry was the theme, and Christopher and I gave her a new jewerly box to keep it all in.

The best gift was a locket with pictures of Christopher and I that she loves (we watched A Little Princess recently and she fell in love with the idea of the locket which went perfectly with our theme for her birthday very conveniently). She says her locket holds hugs and every time she needs a hug she can just hug the locket and know that it's really a hug from us. After presents we went to CiCi's for some pizza, and since it's a buffet and they have dessert we put off cake until Sunday.

Sunday my cousins Daniel and Kat Herring came over for dinner and brought yet another present, Tinkerbell. Then we all enjoyed some Angel Food Cake with whipped cream and strawberries. Isabelle's not a big fan of icing on cakes so I was more than thrilled to introduce her to my favorie birthday treat. And it was yummy!

More Pumpkin Fun!

For Playgroup today we went to a pumpkin patch and had a blast with all of our friends. I am really starting to enjoy time with just me and Eva but I always feel bad that Belle and Jack have to miss out on stuff. Belle almost cried when we drove past the pumpkin patch after school and she asked if we could go, I told her that Eva and I had gone early today and it almost broke her heart that we had done something so fun without her. However, I did have a lovely time with Eva as evidenced by these super cute pumpkin pictures. We walked around and enjoyed all the pumpkins for a little while and then decorated the ones we had bought with some awesome jack-o-lantern sticker kits. Oh, and I absolutely love Eva's leggings. They were $1 at Target and I couldn't pass them up. This was the perfect occasion to wear them, she just blends in with the surroundings. If I must say so myself, she's pretty adorable.

Getting Ready to 'BOO!'

Christopher accidentally left his laptop at work (I hope it's still there in the morning) and he came home a little early so we took advantage of the chance to do some of our Halloween preparations. We started out with a couple of large pumpkins to carve and ate some candy corn while we did it. Christopher always has wonderful pumpkins and I always feel the lack of creativity and ability on my part so for the first time we purchased a little kit with tiny little detail knives and about 15 patterns (so that's how people make those fabulous pumpkins you see).

The girls set to work on a ghost that says boo in his middle and the boys cut out a skull. Neither group knew what the other was making (except for maybe Jack who couldn't help but look at ours as often as possible). Then we took them to the front porch, lit them up, and admired eachothers hard work. I'm rather proud actually, I think they both turned out spectacular (for the first time ever).


But our family night of Halloween fun did not end there. We had been recently Boo'd (doorbell ditched with a bucket of Halloween candy). It's going around our neighborhood. Everyone is supposed to post the sign that comes with their goodies on their front door showing that they've been Boo'd and then do it to two neighbors who haven't been Boo'd. So we packed up two ghost buckets full of goodies and the girls and I watched from the window while Christohper, all dressed in black, took Jack (all dressed in black) on his first ever doorbell ditch. Jack believes that the girl across the street is in his class, even though I have been unable to confirm whether or not it's true, but I'm sure she goes to their school nonetheless, so that's who he chose for his trip. Isabelle also chose a girl from her class who lives down the block from us but unfortunately we aren't exactly sure which house she lives in (it's around a corner) so we are spying for her car and we'll probably get to do her in the next few days. Isabelle doesn't understand why she can't just stand on the porch and hand the candy to her friend so she'll know who it's from. We had to explain several times that the point is we don't want them to know who it's from. When she found out that she's supposed to be a ghost and she'll get to act like one, she liked the idea a lot better. She is, after all, quite the actrice. My little ghosts are so adorable :-)

What a night! The kids are having a blast and it's great to get the full attention of Daddy for a few hours.

Toothless Grin

So after 4 teeth I finally took some pictures. Yes that is Isabelle with a giant whole in the front of her face. Normally there a shining white teeth there but for now she'll have to do without. I have no idea how she'll even be able to eat but I guess it's all part of the Lord's plan so I'm sure she'll figure something out. Anyhow, here's my toothless girl!

It's amazing how this whole tooth thing works, really, it's almost like magic. Every time a tooth falls (or gets yanked) out Isabelle finds $1 under her pillow the following morning in place of the tooth she deposited there. She also finds a nice little note from a beautiful little fairy claiming to be responsible for the collection of her teeth. She loves it!

First Bus Ride

So, the first day of school we waited for the bus, and waited, and waited. It didn't show up and it was getting late so I drove them to school. But by the second day things were a little smoother so they got to ride the bus and loved it. I don't know what it is about a bus that is so appealing to little ones. Anyhow, the first week, they loaded up onto the bus and then Eva and I got in the car and would be at the school waiting for them when the bus arrived to let them off. Then I could walk them to breakfast and to their classes and make sure everyone knew where to go. They did great and got the hang of it really quick. Now Eva gets to sleep in and I just say good-bye at the end of the street! So here they are waiting for the bus (the second day) and climbing on. I can't believe I am old enough to have kids that ride a bus.