Happy Halloween!

So, we spent several days celebrating Halloween this year! Because it fell on a Sunday that meant parties at school on Friday, trick-or-treating on Saturday and fun things like Thriller and a preschool party throughout the week! P.S. This and the next few posts are out of order...oops! Just realized that as I'm typing. Oh well...at least I'm blogging, right? :)

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This is how Friday morning started out...after the parade (which I don't have pics of because I had my video camera out trying to catch my kids as they ran by) ...I stopped by the kids' classes to try and get a picture of them. Here is Ry at recess in his hobo costume (which consisted of borrowed bits and pieces from neighbors and MY jeans...which he kept calling "HUGE" much to my disappointment).

This is the end of Tay's 4th grade Halloween program! I had the video camera out while they were singing and as soon as I got my regular camera out they were leaving. As soon as I went to take a picture, he turned the other way (not even on purpose...this is Taylor, not Ryan we're talking about)! Sounds about right either way. :)

Isn't his boxer costume awesome? We put "bruise tattoos" on him and they looked so real!

We stopped by Mason's 1st grade party to take a quick picture, but I couldn't stay. I had a classroom full of 3rd graders waiting for a party! :)

I am the room parent for Katey's class, so I got to throw her a party! :) This is her not wanting me to take her picture while she's "bowling for ghosts"!

(I snuck another one anyways)


She didn't like getting her picture taken with me, but her teacher (and I) insisted! :)

We decided to run to Grandma Pat's for dinner and so we threw our costumes on and posed for some quick pictures! They turned out pretty good considering how big of a hurry we were in!

Ry the hobo

Tay the boxer

Katey the American Idol contestant! (Don't ask, it was $15 in the clearance section of a catalog and she LOVED it!)

Mr. Mase...a.k.a. Spiderman...a.k.a...Peter Parker (we weren't allowed to call him Mason all night long!)

A super happy Tigger! He was a skeleton at his preschool party, but he said he couldn't be a skeleton for trick-or-treating because that's what he was last year. :)

My sweet little bunny! Oh, how I love hand-me-down costumes! It reminds me so much of when Katey wore that about 7 years ago! :)

Grandpa Bill and Grandma Pat always do donuts and hot chocolate in their decorated garage for their trick-or-treaters! It was a tradition at their old house and now their new neighbors are loving it too! What a fun (CRAZY) weekend! :)

Hayden's preschool party!

Hayden's preschool teachers needed some moms to help out at their Halloween party! I was one of the lucky ones that got to go! :) It was so much fun and I loved being there with Hayden!

Hayden with his cute little friends! He goes to such a cute little preschool and he absolutely loves it!! :)

THRILLER!!!!

Katey's 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Webster, is OBSESSED with Michael Jackson! (That is a huge understatement!) She taught her class and the other A track 3rd grade class the whole Thriller dance! We got to watch them perform and they DID NOT disappoint! It was truly awesome! I couldn't believe how awesome Katey did! Luckily I took the video camera, unluckily she was behind a tall girl for at least 1/2 of the dance! :)

Katey's teacher gave us the idea of baby powder to make her look dead. It certainly worked.

Madison Rosetti, Karli Trujillo and Katey. Aren't they cute!? :)

Why do we even carve pumpkins anyways?

Soph was quite the little helper this year! Much more so than last year...

I think my Mom misses doing these crazy things! She has carved pumpkins with us for the last 3 years! The kids love having her here and we love having an extra set of hands! (Or scooping arms...)

Chris helping Hayden get it just right. :)

Why do boys have to stab pumpkins anyways?

Oh, it was hard helping Mase! He wanted it just so...I'm afraid I wasn't catching his vision.

He does seem pretty happy with the finished product though! :)

Missy, the little princess, waiting for Chris to finish!

They turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. :)

Love these kiddos...enough to buy them pumpkins AND help carve them!

Ry HATES getting his picture taken...

...so I always have to sneak one of him!

Ok, so these are not pumpkins...don't be confused! They are the apples off of our tree!

And here's what I did to them! :) Happy Halloween!

One more funny story...

So, tonite Katey cut her finger and was washing the blood off. Ryan said, "Katey, that's good blood! Don't waste it! Suck on it and put it back in your body where it belongs!" To which Chris replied, "There are people in hospitals dying from lack of blood! How dare you waste it!" We thought it was pretty dang funny. Especially because he was dead serious...and he's 11. :)

Here are the pics...finally....

Actually, this one has nothing to do with anything...just a great picture that captures who they are and how they roll...

Like I said in my last post, Hayden and Soph were playing 'puppies' outside. As soon as I tried to take a picture they stopped and Soph just wanted to get my camera. :)

Oops, lost a shoe...let's stop and fix that real quick.

These are the best 'puppy' pictures I could get. :)

Man, I love them!

Kids say the darndest things...

So, my kids have said and done some seriously funny things today. They are escaping my memory as I type...that's about how long my brain can retain something...I had better type fast!

So, the lunch menu today at school was "fish and chips". Katey and I had a long discussion about it last nite. She originally said she wanted cold lunch but overheard the boys and me talking about "fish and chips". She changed her mind to hot lunch and insisted she likes fish sticks (after me trying to talk her out of it because I know her better than that). Sooo...after school I asked her how she liked "fish and chips". She looked COMPLETELY disgusted and said, "It wasn't fish and chips! It was fish sticks and fries!!" I forgot about her deep love for chips (all kinds) and didn't even think of explaining that "chips" are "fries" in that instance. Nor did I think that was what persuaded her to change her mind. She told me she tried 2 bites of fish and it tasted really funny so she couldn't finish it. That's my girl. :) I'm sure she still liked the fries, even though they weren't "chips". :)

I went outside to get the kids to come in for a bath and found Hayden and Sophey crawling around on the cold, wet lawn pretending to be puppies. Soph is the cutest puppy ever. She crawls around with her tongue hanging out trying to lick everyone. I don't even know if she understands what a puppy is or how to be one (she is only 20 months old), but I do know the big kids have trained her well. They call her "Puppy Elmo" & as soon as she hears that, she comes runnin' (or crawlin' I suppose). Hayden is a cute puppy too, but he seems to think that puppies are hyper and obnoxious...well, I guess they really are. :) I ran to get the camera and by the time I went to take their picture Soph was more interested in the camera than in being a puppy. So, between that and the fact that I'm too lazy to go and get my camera right now, I won't be posting pics...at least not tonite.

At football practice Taylor got a football card of himself. It's pretty cool actually...it looks like a real football card and it has his picture and name on it and everything. One of the parents on the team made them for all of the boys. On the way home from practice Taylor decided that it is now his most prized possession. He said, "Mom, I know this may be too much to ask...but, can I have my card polished daily?" I think he was more serious than he was joking. He is a little over-the-top sometimes. I have NO IDEA where he would get that from!

We totally procrastinated doing homework this week. I don't know if it's because Chris is out of town or if we're having a hard time adjusting to being back on track this week or if football is taking up too much time...ok, who am I kidding, it's clearly all 3! Anyways, I try to do a little bit of homework here and there with Mason because doing it all at once is WAY too overwhelming for him. (Keep in mind he has 2-3 times more homework than any of the big kids and he's only in 1st grade!) So, today we had over an hour straight of homework to do. Mase tends to just shut down when he's feeling overwhelmed, so every few minutes I had to remind him to focus and to bribe him to keep going. He was just dragging trying to get through practicing spelling words, making words out of scrambled letters, reading a story and talking about what happened in it, etc. Once we got to the math part he told me to "shoo". I said, "What do you mean 'shoo'?" He said, "I mean go away and don't come back until I'm done. I can do this part by myself." So, I "shooed" and he whizzed right thru his math...2 worksheets of it! I helped in his class this morning and he was doing a math center. He kept coming over to the table I was working at to show me how great he was doing. They were doing "doubles" math...as in 2+2=4 and 8+8=16, etc. That's the math homework he had to do also and he was THRILLED to be doing it. I swear I can never figure that kid out. He always amazes me. He can frustrate me to no end, but he always surprises me along the way. Maybe I should "shoo" more often and just let him do it on his own time. It would save us both some drama.

Ryan didn't necessarily say anything funny today but I can't leave him out of this post! :) When Chris is out of town Ryan takes it upon himself to be "the man of the house". He sits in Chris' spot at the dinner table, he helps me with everything and he has that nice, quiet, calming presence just like his daddy. :) Don't know what I'd do without him...or the rest of them either. They keep me going and even though it's total chaos around here, I wouldn't change it for anything. Not any of it. Even though sometimes I have to remind myself of that. Especially when Chris is gone. Luckily he'll be home tomorrow and Ry can go back to being a regular 11 year old. :)

Witches Night Out...well, sort of...

Katey and Me all "witched out" and ready to go...

...we picked up Bailee (and her Mom, Katie)...

...one more photo and we're ready to go!

We went to a yummy dinner at Spaghetti Factory and then to Gardner Village. It wasn't the official "Witches Night Out", but you can go there dressed as a witch any time in October and it's normal. (Truly we weren't the only ones!)

Love this sign!

Funny girls!

Katie, Bailee, Katey and me.

We even talked Mollie into going with us, we couldn't talk her into dressing up though.

Katey loved having her there either way.:)

The girls wanted spiders painted on their faces...

Katey DID NOT like her spider because it wasn't the same as Bailee's. :)

So, she went to the lady who did Bailee's to have her fix it. Spoiled much?

A bunch of the McCann ladies joined us...Tami and her girls, G-Mac, Sally and her granddaughters, and that strange boy with a witch hat and wig. :)

We had such a great time! Thanks Katie for planning such a fun night!!