Halloween

Christmas is my all time favorite holiday but now that I have kids I have to tell you, Halloween is a very close second!  Last year was just amazing seeing it for the first time through a child's eyes so I was really looking forward to seeing both kid's reactions this year.  We have kept ourselves very busy with all kind of fall projects.  Here are the pirate hats that we made one afternoon.

 

Tyler decided that he didn't want to carve pumpkins this year.  Instead he wanted to paint them.  We had already decorated his and Emma's pumpkins so I really thought that he would want to help carve Marshall's and mine but he was insistent that we paint.  I am happy to report that Sprouts sells pumpkin seeds in their dried seed area and they are fabulous-- so don't worry I got my pumpkin seed fix!

This is a quick video of the painting in progress.

I went to make a quick phone call and left Marshall out there to watch the kids...this is what happened!=)

Only in Arizona can you strip down the kids in late October and let them get cleaned up outside!!!

Today was a VERY busy day.  I put on the kid's costumes and we went to Tyler's school for the Halloween parade.  After the parade we went back to the classroom for a party.  Marshall took a few hours off from work and came with us so I was able to help out with one of the centers. Both Tyler and Emma had a great time.

I know she thinks she is ready to go to school but I am far from being ready to let this baby out of my site!=)

After lunch and naps we put the costumes back on and went over to my friend, Angela's house. She put together little treat bags for the kids that were perfect...yummy treats and a Matchbox for Tyler and a necklace and bracelet for Emma....they could not have been more pleased.

We went home where we met up with Marie, Rob, and Evan had pizza and headed out for trick-or-treating.  

Evan made it around the block but was ready to call it quits before my two were so we said our goodbyes and headed off for more fun.  Tyler did a great job of saying "trick-or-treat" and thank you to each person that answered the door.  He even told quite a few people, "Have a Happy Halloween!"  Emma totally got into it too...she was all about taking the candy out of the big bowls and putting it in her stash.

When we got home we let them hand out candy for a little while.  Tyler was hysterical, he was standing outside the door yelling, "Hey kids come to my house and I will give you candy!!!"

It was a wonderful day and such a fun night.  Like I said earlier, there is just nothing like seeing a holiday through the eyes of a child.

One look at this photo will tell you that Emma had about as much fun as a girl can take...she was worn out and ready for bed!

Siblings

Tyler is as rough and tumble as a boy can be and Emma is the biggest girly girl ever but I am happy to say that for as different as my two kids are they actually do get along pretty well.  It has taken awhile, but Emma has learned to stand up  for herself and pretty much holds her own during the daily wrestling matches!=)

Here is a fun video I took of them playing together.

Update

We have been busy doing all kind of fun fall activities around here.  We haven't carved our pumpkins yet but the kids colored some for the front yard.

Marshall and Emma tagged along with Tyler on his first field trip.  The kids went to a farm where the got to feed horses, pick pumpkins, jump in a jumping castle, ride on the coolest teeter totter ever, and have a picnic!

Fall also means a new season of Dancing with the Stars!  I am happy to report that Emma loves it as much as Tyler so we have dance night every Monday.  Here is Tyler doing his Old School Hip Hop Dance!=)

Emma's little buddy Evan came over for arts and crafts today.  Marie made us some home made orange playdoh, which the kids loved, and I had them make a ghost.  Here are the little artists hard at work.

Happy 80th Birthday Granny!

I had a very quick but wonderful trip back to Missouri over the weekend.  Here are a few pictures from Granny's birthday celebration.

Granny surrounded by her children: Mom (Mary), John, Denton, and RoseAnn

My Mom with three of her four (Katie was in Washington DC running The Marine Corps Marathon)

Granny with most of the grandkids (l-r Matthew, Michael, India, Sarah, Marie, and Gabriel) Katie and Silas are missing.

Matt, Marie, and I

Matt and I

Friday, October 24th

I am leaving this morning to go to Missouri for my grandmother's 80th b-day.  With Marshall just starting a new business and the cost of flights and all the other child travel costs we decided it would be easiest if I just went by myself.  You might want to say a small prayer for Marshall this weekend as he stays at home with the kids by himself.  I am very jealous of him today because he gets to go with Tyler on his first field-trip!  I am sure that the three of them will have a blast and according to Tyler they will eat lots of pizza and ice cream!=)

Here is our latest installment of "What Is He Saying".

Last but not least, here is a Birthday Message for Granny.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and I will post some new kid pics when I get back on Monday.

Thursday

We have had a busy week.  Marie drove over Sunday night after work and arrived for a quick visit early Monday morning.  The kids were so glad to see her.  The highlight of the trip for the kids was probably all the dancing to the eclectic music selection on her ipod.  The highlight of the trip for her was hearing Emma say "Aunt Marie"!!=)  It really is so nice having her come see us....now all I have to do is convince her to move here.

Tuesday, Marie went with me for Emma's 18 mos. appointment.  She weighed 22.2 lbs. (25%) and was 32" (50%).  Everything else was totally on track.  As you can see from this picture she really isn't 18 months old...she is a sixteen year old princess stuck in a little body!=)

Wednesday my dear friend, Keli, and her two beautiful children, Tyler and Mia, came for a visit.  Keli was my neighbor when we lived in Phoenix but she moved to Chicago.  Lucky for us her parents still live in Arizona so we get to see them on occasion.  The kids played well together and we got the chance to catch up a little bit in between refereeing the boys.=)  The funniest part of the day was trying to have the boys nap together.  They laid in bed and giggled and carried on until we just gave up on them and let them come out of the room to play some more.  Winnie was quite a hit for the kids, she gave Tyler and Mia the same sad pathetic "please go away from me" look that she gives my children.  We sure wished they lived closer so that we could get together more often.  Here are a few pictures from our day.

Tonight I took Tyler to the library for Corduroy's birthday party--he is 40 years old!  The kids got to hear stories, make a paper Corduroy, and eat cupcakes.

7 Random Facts

I was tagged by my friend Anna to do this.  So here goes.

1.  I am a natural blonde who has never colored her hair...can you believe that neither of my kids are toe heads?!?

2.  My favorite thing in the world to eat is Sushi...I would eat it every single day if we could afford it!=)

3.  I have the best "getting engaged" story.  It starts off with me almost dying of a stomach virus and ends with Marshall on one knee in a boat next to the arch in Cabo San Lucas.

4.  Feet bother me.  Unmanicured feet disturb me.  Bare feet on a dash board gross me out!!!!

5.  I am like a 16 year old girl with my TV viewing.  I am addicted to The Hills, 90210, Tori and Dean...and others that I am too embarrassed to admit!=(

6.  If I could have it to do all over again I would have gotten my degree in business....I really don't see myself going back to teaching when I return to the work force.

7.  I can't jump rope anymore because I pee my pants...thanks Tyler and Emma!=)

I am tagging Corinne,  Val,  and Keli,..if you have time keep this going.

Weekend Update

We had a busy weekend.  Marshall was in Dallas for his annual OU/Texas golf get together so I got to take Tyler to Itty Bitty Sports for the first time.  Emma went to my friend, Marie's house to play with Evan while Tyler and I headed off for our first attempt at T-Ball.  I am SO PROUD of my little guy.  He pretty much rocked at T-Ball.  This didn't really surprise me because he hits the ball off of the T at home all the time but the shocked looked on some of the dad's faces just made my heart swell with pride.  Out of the nine kids that were there Tyler was the only one who never missed the ball.  I even had three different dads ask me how old was Tyler and ask if we practiced at home a lot!  (I know I am bragging but it is just the proud mommy in me!)

Emma had lots of fun with her buddy!

(I will put a picture here as soon as Marie emails them=)

Even though OU lost my little fan still enjoyed watching the game.  We ordered him this uniform for Halloween.  Emma has an OU cheerleading outfit that Uncle Matt got her last Christmas that she will be wearing.

On Sunday morning we got an early start and headed off to Willcox, Arizona where they have a pumpkin patch.  We had perfect fall weather, it was in the 60's so we got to wear jeans for the first time this season.  When we got down there we took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch where we got to choose and cut our perfect pumpkins.  Tyler did most of the picking for us. Both of the kids loved the hay ride part the best.  Here are a few pictures from our day.

Geo Trax

So last Christmas we thought that we were the coolest parents ever by having Santa deliver a train table to Tyler.  Although he still occasionally plays with it he just isn't as excited about it as we thought he would be.  The most play it gets is when he and Emma go in to his room and have a "big wreck" which daddy always has to fix later that evening.  Here are before and after pics of their latest wreck. 

My friend, Keli, has been telling me about Geo Trax and how much her son, Tyler loves it. She also said even older kids that come over to play enjoy playing with it.  So on Saturday we went to Tyler's first "friend" birthday party and the little boy had Geo Trax set up in the front room. Tyler could not get enough of it.  Even after all the other kids went outside to play he snuck back in to play with the train.  He kept telling me how cool it was.  I thought about it and decided to ask him if he wanted to sell his train table and get a Geo Trax one.  He was over the moon!  So I took pictures of it and we put it on Craigslist.  I also took that opportunity to clean out the toy room and and sell some of the stuff the kids no longer play with.  I made $65 so far and a lady is coming to pick up the train table on Sat..she is buying it $90.  

Since they were his train table and his toys I wanted to get the beginning part of Geo Trax now so that he can see an immediate return on his sale!=)  After I took him to school today Emma and I went to Target and got it for him.  I put it together while she napped.  I didn't tell him about it when I picked him up but when we got home I made him go to his room and wait for his surprise (I had to put in the batteries!).

Here he is when he first saw it.

You can click here to see a quick video of him playing with it.

PS--The two of them are so enthralled with it I was just able to do my blog while they played by themselves in the toy room!=)