Halloween Fun

May I just say that trick-or-treating in 80 degree weather is LAME. But fun was had by all. As we started our evening, all of the kids were hootin' and hollerin' about how they were going to trick-or-treat for hours. Needless to say, about 45 minutes in I was hearing "Mom can you hold my bucket?"and "Can we go home now?".

The three older kids planned their own costumes. Although, I admit I had a blast helping Katie with hers. Cutest Little Witch in the West.

I shopped for an orange sweatsuit for Alex so I could make a tiger costume, but no dice. So he landed Nate's Anakin Skywalker getup from last year. He was the cutest little Jedi you ever saw.

Alex had an interesting trick-or-treat strategy. For the first few houses, he was just happy to get one piece of candy. But everyone thought he was so cute, they would give him handfuls. Eventually when he was handed only one piece, he would quietly say, "One more, peas". They thought he was so cute, they kept giving him MORE! By the time we were done, I think his bucket was about 3 lbs heavier than the others kids'!

Katie decided she wanted to be a witch instead of a princess this year. I guess it happens at some point in every woman's life. :-P But, tell me I'm not going to be in trouble with this one and her big brown eyes...

The boys begged to be soldiers, so I scavenged through Savers and found some legit fatigues. Dad lended us some of his pins and voila! Here's a "before" picture and a"midway-through-before-we-crashed" picture.

Nathan had his own particular way of trick-or-treating. This was his exact line at every single house. I think he rehearsed it before hand.

"Trick-or-treat! How are you? I hope you're good. Happy Halloween and Thank you!"

Sometimes he didn't even wait for their answer. He just streamed right through that, took the candy and bailed. :-)

Darrick carrying Alex after his Jedi powers were drained.

We had a blast! We even topped off the night with a visit to Grandma and Steve at Steve's football game. (Darn it! I should have taken a picture of Steve playing his tuba and hanging all over the girls in the brass section. :-P)

The Pumpkin "Patch"

OK, so it's really the pumpkin "lot" near our house. But honestly, the kids didn't know the difference. And when you add in $20 bucks in gas and a $4 per person charge just to go into the pumpkin patch (not including the per pound price), I better be walkin out with a gold plated 25lb pumpkin!

So here's our trip to the "patch" and our goopy fun.

Alex wanted to "drive" the wagon. I'm not looking forward to his 16th birthday.

Katie and Alex wanted to paint their pumpkins. Ethan and Nathan carved theirs.

From left to right: Katie's, Alex's, Ethan's and then Nate's pumpkin.

I forgot to add in this video! So here it is...

Kids Rock the Vote!

(Note: Though Tom Brokaw did not stop by the house, these are the answers the kids gave me when asked these questions.)

"Now kids, can you tell me who you would vote for and why?"

"Welllll, I voted for John McCain."

"And why did you vote for McCain, Katie?"

"Because he's looks like a really nice Grandpa."

"And who did you vote for, Ethan?"

"I voted for Obama because I feel good within him."

"Wow. We knew Obama was the Messiah but we didn't know he was a Jedi too!
And Nathan, how about you?"

"I voted for Ron Paul."

"Interesting. Why did you choose Ron Paul?"

"Because my friend Tyler voted for him."

Cody & Alex

Ahhh, Blue Raspberry Ring Pops....

And now for your moment of Zen...

Younger or Shorter?

On the car ride home from Costco today:

N: Mom, back when I was older I used to...
E: Back when you were older or shorter?
N: No. When I was older.
E: Nathan, you can't be older before you are now.
N: No, back when I was older than I was after I was younger.

Yeah. Think about that one. ;-)

Dinner Time Discussions

Everytime we sit down to dinner, I make it a point to ask the kids how their days went. Sometimes they run away with the conversation and dinner time turns into dinner and a show for me. :-)



N=Nate, K=Kate, E=Ethan, M=Me

M: How was school guys?
N: Good. I went to Camp Cooper. I saw snakes.
K: I've seen snakes before. I saw one today too.
M: What did you do at Camp Cooper, Nathan?
E: I know what he did at Camp Cooper because I went there last year when I was a second grader. It's really cool!
K: Me too!
E&N: You're not even a second grader Katie. You liar.
K: Hmmph!

Skip ahead to the Astronomy lesson...

N: But the scientists don't like Pluto so they made it not a planet anymore. Now there are only 8.
M: Nathan, scientists like Pluto but there are certain rules/guidelines you have to follow in order to be a planet.
N: Wait a minute. So scientists grounded Pluto because it wasn't following the rules?
M: Uhh...

And then a few minutes later (Ethan is quietly eating. He's knows better than to get in the middle of a Nate/Kate discussion.)...


N: Some planets are hot and fiery like a volcano. Some volcanoes are big and have lava and some don't have lava. Those ones are called mountains.
K: No. Volcanoes are like hills, not mountains. Gosh.
N: Noooo. If volcanoes were not real then they would be fantasy.