Happy Halloween!

This week we have had some Halloween fun. We had special Halloween cookies. My friend owns a cookie decorating business and I bought a dozen of these cute cookies to celebrate the holiday. We had our marriage group over on Monday to help us eat them but the kids got to get in on the action too. Plus they (the kids) got to watch Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest one more time before the season is over.

We carved pumpkins because what is Halloween without carving pumpkins? I told the kids months ago that we were going with traditional Jack-o-lantern faces this year. So it was a nice carving session. We only listened to our special Halloween playlist once! 

And now today is finally Halloween. And because Mother Nature put the trick in the treat this year, we have a snowy winter wonderland. 

We got about two inches of snow overnight and it's still snowing. And will keep snowing until this afternoon. We've already told the kids that we are going to plan B of Halloween costumes since neither costume of theirs is warm enough. 

But today is an out of uniform day and we don't have a late start thank goodness, so there's still fun going on! Happy Halloween!

The Scariest October I Can Remember

That's probably a dramatic exaggeration of course. But the wrong season's weather has crashed into this spooky week and I am not super excited about it. The backyard was protected for the most part by our beautiful tree, it just knocked down a ton of the leaves. 

The front begrudgingly looks awfully pretty. The little frosting of snow on top of the pretty orange tree. 

It's going to be melted by afternoon certainly. I hope anyway. But I am not ready for this to be a real thing just yet. And on Thursday (HALLOWEEN) we are supposed to get about 3 inches. That gets into actual shoveling category.

Happy Tuesday everyone.

The Halloween Festivities Have Begun!

 Last night was the school Trunk-Or-Treat and so officially the Halloween fun has kicked off! My kids were excited and they had their pumpkins ready to go.

M is a panda. With a tutu. Because if you can't be a panda wearing a tutu is it even Halloween? 

 You have to really zoom in but those are her Panda shoes. She has been restricted from wearing them until it was Halloween so this was their first big outing except for school Mass the day she got them. After next week they can be in regular rotation and she's pretty excited about that!

This guy is Waldo with the book. Husband even made it so that it opens and has three pages so you can find Waldo. C also likes to hide behind the book like on some of the book covers. 

It was a very successful first Halloween excursion. Although, I was underwhelmed with the candy selection for "parent tax" this year. But that's probably for the best anyhow right? 

Turning 5!

Turning 5 is a big deal, especially when your big day falls on a school day! And even more so when you get to have your very first friend party ever!

Poor M, with her birthday, always landing right within the Halloween hype of trunk-or-treats and parties and things, we've never been able to figure out the perfect friend party for her. But this year, we made it happen! And it was the cherry on top of an already wonderful day.

My panda loving girl got a panda birthday banner this year.

I honestly just love them so much! 

After a nice birthday picture with her brother, she got to open his gift to her. He couldn't wait another minute! 

It was Skipper! And she was delighted. Now she has all of the Barbie sisters. Chelsea, Stacie, Skipper, and Barbie! 

M had a great day at school. She got to be the Good Apple which means she got to sit in the elephant chair, and she got a birthday crown and a gift from her teachers. She also got to bring in a birthday treat and they sang to her at snack time. 

I picked her and the rest of the 3 Musketeers (it honestly happened that it was my day with them but I would have traded for the day anyhow) and we killed a little time at Barnes and Noble and then had Chick-Fil-A for lunch. Before we headed down the mall hallway for her party! 

M got to invite 5 friends (because she's 5) and we had a party at Build-A-Bear. It was just the absolute best party, self-contained, a TON of fun and so easy on Mom and Dad. We had a party leader who did the fun stuff and we just had a great time. 

There were hats, and games, songs and fun. The name tags became the labels on the boxes and then, of course, everyone got to build a bear. (Or animal, since two kids picked bunnies.) You can choose which package you want and I picked a package where each kid got an animal and outfit. They had 6 animals to choose from and our group picked 4 of the options. 

It was SO wonderful. After our time at Build-A-Bear was over we went out to the rotunda and had ice cream and opened presents. Yep, right in the mall. But it was in the early afternoon on a Tuesday which for 4 and 5-year-olds who are in preschool is totally doable and also the mall was pretty empty. (We had Build-A-Bear to ourselves in fact.) 

Later after pancakes for dinner, her choice, we had her birthday cake. (I know! School treats, ice cream and cake all in one day, we definitely brushed teeth!) 

And she got to open her presents from Mom and Dad. Including the Raquel which was the other Barbie character that she was missing. She was so happy!

Turning 5 was so much fun and we had a wonderful (tiring) day! Happy birthday little girl! We are so glad we could celebrate you so well! 

It's Your Day Little Girl

Oh My Little Miss, I cannot even put into words how full my heart is knowing that you are five! Today is such a special day for you and I am so excited that you will be celebrated so well.

You are my little extrovert, you just love and adore people and being around them. It is so hard for me since I am the opposite but you help me grow and now we both have some truly fabulous friendships and that is all because of your smiling personality.

This past year has been one of big changes. You will sit and color for hours and hours. You draw the absolute sweetest pictures and can write the words "Cat" "Boo" "Zoo" and "Eek" from memory. (So obviously the really important words.) You are just starting to sound things out and I look forward to this year because I know it's when you're going to become a reader.

I adore watching you play in a group. For the most part, you just exude kindness and joy. And that's all you little girl, you have a very kind heart. (Except every once in a while you don't like to share toys with your brother and friends.) I honestly don't think I've ever heard you speak unkindly about anyone not related to you. (Again, sometimes you take your frustrations out on your family but we love you and we can handle it.)

You love all things Barbie and Disney. And I am just going to go with that because one day you won't want to go with me to Target just to go down the Barbie aisle and marvel at the options. You love to cook and help in the kitchen and I love that about you so much. You have such a genuine enthusiasm for life and experiencing everything in it.

This past year of going to school Mass every week and then regular Sunday Mass has finally sunk in and you're pretty darn good at it now. Hallelujah. We are still working at forming you into having a deep faith but I am just so proud of you for how far you've come with participating and not complaining at Mass.

You love to be outside and active. Riding your bike or scooter, running and climbing. Playing soccer/. (And how I love to watch you play soccer.) You are just in your element outside running around and your joy is contagious. You even got C to want a bike too so that's pretty amazing! Still my early bird, every morning bursts forth with your joyful energy. And it takes you about .2 seconds to fall asleep at night. (But you are not a good bedmate, it's good you have your own space!)

No matter what dramatic overreaction you experience or your inability to stop crying, please know that I love you from the bottom of my heart. I will tuck you in and sing you a song every night forever if you'll let me. You keep snuggling your goat and Shu Shu and I will just melt with pride every night that you are mine. Five seems pretty big to me, but I love you for everything you bring to my life and I hope this next year is fantastic.

I love you forever,*
Mom

*What we say at bedtime every night as I close your door.

A Fun Friday!

Hello from today's FUN FRIDAY!

Today has been spent deep cleaning the house, which doesn't sound particularly fun but getting Fall cleaning taken care of is good!

Earlier today I went to school to pray the rosary with the whole school.

Apparently, there was some initiative for a million children around the world to pray the rosary together, so we participated. 

Then what makes today so fun was today the kids went on similar field trips! Preschool had a "pumpkin patch" today. Parents were not invited. (Which is just fine with me!) By pumpkin patch I mean they stuck some hay bales and pumpkins in the grass across the street from the school and each kid took one home. But it was fun! 

My little pumpkin sure liked it anyway! 

But first grade went on an actual field trip (on a bus and everything) to a pumpkin patch too! Parents WERE invited but I sent Husband along while M and I cleaned her room. It sounds like they had a ton of fun and look at how perfect of a day it was! 

On this crisp, sunny day it sure feels like pumpkin weather. Would you believe I've never had a pumpkin spice latte? I think I may go get one next week! 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

A Little Bragging

There's a lot on this old blog about my kids and how fabulous I think they are. But I don't want to skip over Husband and how he is pretty great too. Yesterday was his big work event that he plans all year. He was joking around in the morning before he left because I wanted to take a picture of him in his special shirt. 

He checked in a few times during the day to keep me updated on how it was all going. Apparently, it went just fine. So that's good. When he comes home from the food show that's when my job really begins since the smell of fry oil is overwhelming. So I soak his clothes and immediately get the washing machine going. 

The ground beef I had on hand for tacos hadn't thawed hardly at all, I should have pulled it out earlier I guess. So we decided to go out to dinner to celebrate the end of the food show! 

I swear our kids came too but I just didn't take a picture of them. We had a really nice dinner out, chatting and enjoying each other's company and we even celebrated with a milkshake. We rarely get dessert when we go out so this was a special treat!

I took this picture off of the Facebook page of the restaurant.

I have always wanted to try their s'mores shake and it did not disappoint. I was honestly a little sad we all shared it because it was so good. We will almost certainly get one again. It was a delicious end to a good day for Husband! 

A Weekend Recap

Is it really even a Monday is the blog-o-verse isn't chock-full of weekend recap posts? Yeah, let me just add mine to the pile then.

We had a good weekend ultimately.

M and I went to "Bundled Up Saturday" at the soccer field. Her team did well but she did not score this week.

But the sun was shining which did make all the difference in our spirits. It was still cold and windy though. 

After we got home we were all a little hangry, so we went out for a late lunch at Texas Roadhouse. Our kids have never ever been there. It wasn't actually our original plan but where we were planning to go changed the set up so it was ordering at a counter and they didn't even have what we wanted on the menu anymore. 

Anyway, after fresh rolls with honey butter and some steak, we were all in much better moods. Which is good because we had a big party to go to Saturday night. 

We went to Fr. Nicholas' birthday party! Fr. Nicholas was assigned to our parish as the school priest this past school year and he really bonded with C. He is such a Holy man and we were all sad when he was reassigned to a parish in the next town beginning in July. But C was devastated. He cried and cried when he found out and even still misses him often and speaks about him. 

It needs to be said that we LOVE our newly assigned priest too and he is also a wonderful Holy man but we haven't formed the same bond with him yet. 

Anyway, we were delighted to be invited to his birthday party a friend threw for him and the kids were SO happy. 

Yesterday was just a regular one for us but that's okay. 

Here We Go Again

Hello, cold Fall. I didn't actually miss you much at all. I much prefer 65 degrees Fall. But here you are.

I bought a new furnace filter so if I do actually give in a turn that on we are ready for it. Tomorrow our soccer league has deemed the day Bundled Up Saturday because it's going to be right around freezing during the games. But thems the breaks.

Yesterday it was a gloomy-looking sort of day, and there was a misty drizzle for a lot of it. But it was still warm and that was welcomed.

I had the kids again and we had a lot of fun. We went to the garden center to play in the corn box and they were big fans!

So, like Elsa says, let the storm* rage on, the cold never bothered me anyway. Thankfully I had dug the mittens out already so the backpacks are stocked for recess needs. 

*Only like this is perfectly normal, not record-setting like January and it's going to be fine even if it is disappointing since it was so nice yesterday. I am super thankful we aren't supposed to see snow this weekend like some people are. 

End of An Era

Earlier this week, M received her final book from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

Dolly's incredible program sends children a book once a month from birth until age 5! Promoting literacy and education in a simple and convenient way. While my children are blessed enough to have a book lover for a mother, and these books are just another part of their book collections, not all kids are so lucky and that's where Dolly comes in. 

While my heart breaks just a little that she turns 5! this month and our mailbox will no longer have a book arriving every month, I am so thankful for the years we received books and we will cherish some of the fantastic stories we have been introduced to over the years.

A Weekend Away

We had a wonderful weekend away visiting family. M's soccer game was canceled due to rain. (Everything's flooded again... 2019 has been wet!) We stopped for a lunch at McDonald's and they had a pretty nice playplace actually. They also had coloring sheets. It was kind of a really nice McDonald's. 

Anyway, we got there and we finally got to meet this nugget. This is my nephew B. 

The kids got right to work helping sorting and bagging apples. 

Sunday's weather was better and after Mass we got to meet Schnitzel the dog. (Which C declares as his favorite part of the weekend.)

He also found a woolly bear caterpillar and he thought that was good too. 

I got a picture of all the cousins. These are all they've got. Both of their other side's aunts and uncles are childless so it's good to get the crew together. All the kids are looking/smiling and when you add an infant in the mix that's pretty impressive to get this one. 

We are happy to have a family orchard to go home to every fall. 

This kid also likes not being the only boy now. 

Now we are back to Monday with a good week ahead. 

Preschool Playdate

Yesterday was my day with the Three Musketeers. They are learning about the letter C this week at school so I wanted to extend the fun! It was like my old school preschool days with C. Our house is smaller than the other kids so if I don't schedule stuff out they run amuck which I regret due to the mess.

From 11:00-11:30 they had free playtime. This is the exact right amount of time, minimal fighting and mess!

11:30-11:50 We made a corn craft!  It's basically a simple fine motor activity but we just listened to music and chatted. It was fun.

And hey, corn starts with C!

From 11:55-12:15 We had some gross motor time and they did Cosmic Kids Yoga. Cracker the Dragon. Well, I made lunch. They did yoga. 

12:15-12:30 They ate their C lunch! Chicken nuggets, Cheetos, Carrots and Chocolate Milk. 

12:30-1:00 They played Cloud Dough. They loved it. Seriously, any sensory activity works for this age. We did water beads last time. I will have to plan something awesome for next week!

1:00-1:15 We worked on a Cat Craft! 

1:15-1:30 We had a cotton ball race. You use a straw to blow a cotton ball across the room. This activity went from fun to frustrating back to fun. 

Everyone got a Chocolate Coin as a prize no matter which place they were in. 

1:30-2:00 We played cool games. (This is a stretch for C but they like to play games and any time they have to take turns and practice sportsmanship is good for them!) We played Spot-It. M is getting so good at it. It's a real favorite here. 

We also played Shark Bite and then the kids got to play for just a while before we went back to school. 

It was a wonderful day!