Gobble-tee Goo-k

~Happy Halloween 2012~

Yes, all of these pictures are of this Halloween celebrated over about 4 days. Not ONE of the kids costumes were the same at any given party. 

I have decided that options may just be the key to less fuss. I hate talking my kids into wearing their costume, or messing with accessories falling off, or arguing that a cowgirl does NOT wear ballet slippers but DOES wear a shirt:) The thing that makes me smirk the most about costume selection is that my kids LOVE to dress up! It's our main staple for play time at home. They pick them out and put them on themselves and mostly choose the outfits that are logical together.....western wear goes together, dance attire goes together, superheroes have appropriate weapons, etc. So it baffles me when Halloween rolls around and we have selected and/or bought a special outfit that they would chose to boycott and argue about wearing it!! What's the deal with that?  

So in light of all that, I have learned to pick my battles on this one. Halloween costumes will never be one of them. In addition to the fact that I never plan ahead when it comes to costumes anyway it also may help me avoid the SUPER SCRAMBLE. So, they picked the costume they wanted for each party this year (with a minimal amount of direction anyway) and none ended up being worn more than once. Go figure. I guess it IS like having Halloween each day when you have a large dress-up bin!

We did Trunk-or-Treating with great church friends at the farm (friends property). The kids ran wild through a semi-haunted hay maze, chased barn cats, and picked at a wonderful potluck (that we adults thoroughly enjoyed) so they could get straight to business collecting candy from each car's trunk! 

Kai a SWAT member, Addie a cross between ballerina & gymnast, and Eli a one-eyed pirate. 

One-eyed E was quite proud of this manly mustache. When walking from car to car he was quiet to say "trick or treat" but lingered around at each trunk to make eye contact for his "thank you's" So precious!

Warm and happy to collect some sweet treats! She is wearing a turtleneck, a long-sleeved unitard and a leotard with a tu-tu with white socks and ballet slippers! Again, she chose this "costume." 

Eli playing a throwing game to receive his candy!

I voted myself most warm and cozy costume. I'm very willing to pull this one out again next year! We decorated the back of the van with spiders (spiders are super creepy in our house recently especially since we've been finding BLACK WIDOWS everywhere now that we are packing to move--yikes).

We went to our playgroup Halloween party! It was an art getting this pic....more than half the kids there are 3 or under. We had spooky treats and played ghost bowling and pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern. It was a wild time!

Addie was a ballerina, Kai was a SWAT member but less accessorized, and Eli was Mator from Cars.

Instead of tramping around from house to house, we decided to hit a church Harvest Party. There were games, face painting, food, etc. TONS of kids in fun costumes but also requiring waiting in line for activities.

Kai and Eli were cowboys and Addie was in her unitard with a different tu-tu and different sparkle shoes. We could just call her a "dancer."

Waiting in line patiently.......

 Each of the kids got their faces painted! 

Eli requested a "cow." Not sure where she was going with this one....slightly disappointing. When we reminded Eli to say "thank you" to the lady he gave a turned-up-nose-look and shook his head. Poor guy.

Addie LOVED her butterfly full face! 

This cowboy needed a horse.....pretty amazing if you ask me! I like how she tied it right into the sideburns he already had! :)

Our lil happy dancer (right before her meltdown)

Derrick taught Kai how to sort his candy.....yah, I know, who really does that? My OCD husband taught him the categories for taking proper candy inventory. Oh gezzzzz

Well, we all stayed safe and will be rationing our load of candy for weeks to come. I feel like there's always need for extra emphasis on thorough toothbrushing habits this time of year in our house! I honestly look forward to the years I sit at home waiting for the doorbell to ring with little tykes vs prowling the streets!  Hope you Halloween was more happy than spooky.

Fall flies

Our fall has been filled with baking pumpkin muffins and more importantly eating them, cuddling up on the couch together for family movies and pumpkin carving. It's been filled with much much more, but man it gets away from me. 

My little bakers. Addie and Eli dump in ingredients and Kai cracks eggs or helps prep some ingredients. It's hectic baking you could say! I have great memories baking with my mom and brothers as a kid. The licks of batter or dough are what I recall as the highlight! My kids are following in my footsteps. I think that's what they are waiting for in this pic!

Boys Best Friend.
Kai and Scout have become closer buddies. He's taking more responsibility for her by
 helping feed her breakfast and supper and giving her lots of love and attention. He includes her in his play and talks to her regularly. I have busted them on the couch and the Love Sac together (which is not allowed).

Cheese Ball.
We laugh at Eli frequently. He has always been our funny man. We question him daily if he learned ________(whatever he's doing) at "Funny School." He thinks it's hilarious and plays it up every chance he gets! Every time he finishes something he states "I cashed it" (picking up on his Daddy's goofy phrases). He's molting right out of his toddler skin and into early preschooler mode. He's speaking in mostly complete sentences and throwing much more complex and manipulative tantrums (lucky me).

This little Diva loves to dress up (partly dress up as you can see) and dance. She chooses a dance outfit and instructs me to crank up the music in the kitchen. She's all sassy OR all sweet as usual but bordering along drama queen as well. She's working hard on dropping her afternoon nap, which is the culprit to sassy and drama queen modes later in the day :(

Each of the munchkins carved their own pumpkins this year, each with a different face. Eli was hesitant on touching the "guts" at first but Addie jumped right in! Yes, she's in her underwear. It's hard to capture home life without her being at least half naked these days.

Gettin' the guts out

A little too much? Derrick drilled nostrils in Kai's pumpkin.

With their finished and lit pumpkins!

Other Highlights:

• The kids and I got to go on Kai's 1st preschool field trip to Fountain Creek Nature Center. They enjoyed the animal education puppet show more than the actual nature hike to my surprise! Great program. 
• God provided GREATLY at our 1st ever Process Skateboard Ministry Fundraiser. We raised enough $ to buy a van/bus for transportation, outreach, mission trips, etc etc. Check out skateprocess.com if you don't know much about this ministry.
• We continue to wait to close on our NEW HOUSE. We've had multiple delays this month and we are daily trusting OUR plan is not the BEST plan. 
• Halloween costume parties are on the calendar in T-minus 3 days and I have yet to even give it a thought! This is fairly typical of me :(

Happy Fall.

Celebrating Kai Christmas Style

We had GREAT chaos with 3 of our 4 cousins over Kai's birthday weekend at the North Pole! There are 7 of them 7 and under.....it's always WILD! Always FUN!

It was the first birthday we've celebrated together ever, so we did it right! Thanks Papa and MooMoo!

The kids rode SO many rides. We did as many as our little hearts desired! It was very impressive how brave and enthusiastic the 3 little ones were!

Addie posing in the sleigh

Eli psyched about his ladybug

My cutie niece, Ella

Everyone on the very fast roller coaster

The girls spinning the tea cups

Cousins age 7 and under....minus little Tessa (1) who was sick

Eli the bus driver

Kai blowing the candles on his Rice Krispie treats

YUM! Kai, Drew, Ella, Addie

Eli sandwich with Uncle Garrett and Derrick

Kai is 5! Thanks Papa and MooMoo

Aunt Mimi and the troops with Santa

Sleigh ride with Papa and MooMoo.....it is really an art to get all these faces looking and smiling at once!


Loved spending our day with family! I left with 2 thoughts from this extravagant day,  "why don't our cousins live in CO?" and "why have we not been here before?"