Halloween 2013

Since Thanksgiving is creeping up RIGHT around the corner, I figured I’d better get with it and post something about Halloween. Cause, you know, if you don’t post something on the internet about it, it’s like it never happened. And now that I’m really thinking about it, there really isn’t that much to say about Halloween, so the bulk of this will be pictures of 2 cute kids.

We were supposed to go Trick or Treating with our good friends and their little girls. But at the time we were all infected with the Black Plague (seriously, I am STILL coughing), so we had to cancel and keep the germs to ourselves. Instead, we just meandered down our road and to Justin’s Aunt and Uncles house a few blocks away. It has become the tradition to stop there on Halloween. Justin’s aunt always has a special treat for the kids, and who doesn’t get a kick out of seeing small people in costumes.

Ah, I know what will be fun. Let’s do a little Throwback Thursday. Even though it’s Friday. Roll with me here people, and enjoy a couple of Justin’s well executed costumes, circa 2006 and 2007:

And here we have a synopsis of Thad’s costumes over his lifespan:

Thatcher’s lifespan is, of course, a bit shorter:

What you can’t see is this picture is Thatcher’s feet sticking out of the little froggy feet, which I had to cut open so my giant baby (6 months old at the time) could fit into the 12 month costume.

Which brings us to Halloween of 2013. We did some fun days of Preschool the week of Halloween: Bats, Pumpkins, Spiders, Skeletons and Scarecrows.

Here’s Thad making some skeletons using black playdoh (saved from day ONE of preschool….Ant Day), Q-tips and animal shaped cookie cutters. And him with a preschooler-sized printable skeleton that he pieced together. I’m still finding most of my ideas from preschoolalphabet.blogspot.com, but have also found a TON of free printable stuff from teacherspayteachers.org. Any printable stuff that we use I am keeping for next year, and hopefully setting myself up for an even easier process next time around.

The night before Halloween I brought home some pumpkins after work and BARELY convinced Thad to stick his hand inside and clean out the pumpkin. That kid does not enjoy grossness.

Thatcher, on the other hand, was slinging pumpkin goo all over the kitchen

And here are the hoodlums in their get-ups. I’ll post these in sequence so you can appreciate the fact that Thatcher’s smile and posture gets cheesier with every photo that I take.

Could you please have a larger smile and lean closer to the camera, sir.

Their costumes cost a grand total of 3.99, the only thing I bought was a Pocahontas costume from St.Vinnies that I cut up to be Thatcher’s Daniel Boone shirt. My mom had gotten the cowboy chaps, vest and hat at a garage sale earlier this summer, and I hid it away so Thad would be excited for it.

And clearly, he was:

Halloween night was a little drizzly and cold, but since we were close to home the whole time and really not out long, it was just fine. Since when is Halloween NOT drizzly and cold anyway…get used to it kids.

Thatcher most definitely did not understand what was going on. Thad got it, but is shy enough that he wasn’t running crazily from door to do. Mostly we had to shove him up steps and tell him what to say. He was quite happy to see his loot spread out on the counter, but since that night has totally forgotten about it, so it’s all sitting in the cabinet getting slowly picked away by me and Justin.

Thatcher’s really never eaten candy before, so I don’t think he realized the value of what was in those bright little packages. All except the SUCKERS.

Those he recognized.

testing

Things to do in the dark (and the rain)

Say what you want about the rain in Oregon, either love it or hate it, but you have to admit that it does affect the ability go play outside. As does the fact that it gets dark at 4:00 now. Lucky for you, I have a few thoughts on fun things to do in the dark, and/or in the rain.

1. Take advantage of the dark and play hide and seek inside!

Since my kids are the worst hiders of ALL TIME

                                                             

…we usually put a spin on that game and instead of people hiding, I hide toys, and then they come find them. The classic around here is hiding Little People. Fun every time.

Or, another fun spin, which I KNOW I saw a pin for, but now cannot find, is to cut out a bunch of bat shapes (here are some Martha Stewart templates), and tape them on to the ceiling in various spots. If you are awesome like us, you have a 3-pack of headlamps from Costco, and you can go hunting for bats. We just had “B is for Bats” day during Halloween week, so bats are on my mind.

Speaking of headlamps….

2. It’s still ok to go for walks if it’s dark

If you have small kids, you are well acquainted with the super fun few hours between dinner and bedtime. You know, when you are at your peak of exhaustion, and the kids are simultaneously bouncing off the walls. It’s a good time for everyone to leave the house and get some fresh air. Historically, we have always let the dark stop us for going on walks. We have all been sick in various combinations and ailments for a solid month, including Thatcher with bronchitis and Thad with Croup. Since cold fresh air is good for Croup, we took an after dinner walk in the dark a few weeks ago, and it was so much fun! The best part is that the boys both wear headlamps, which increases the fun factor by about a million. You could even take it up a notch and go kick around a soccer ball, play baseball, etc. Go nuts.

3. Enjoy some extra cuddle time with a good book

In attempt to battle the afternoon meltdowns, I re-instituted naptime for Thad a few months ago. A half our or so after Thatcher goes down for his nap, Thad and I go lay on my bed and read a chapter book for a while, and then I leave and let him rest. Most of the time he falls asleep instantly, but sometimes it’s just a good time to take a break and have a few minutes of down time. It also has been a great time for us to read some bigger kid books Thatcher-Free. I recently polled a bunch of people on their favorite chapter books as young kids (you can also find a bazillion book lists on Pinterest), and then the boys and I took a trip to St. Vinnies, where kids books are all $0.50. We stocked up on some good ones, and are currently reading Stuart Little.

Overdue Update

I haven’t been good about updates lately, and although we have been both busy and not really doing anything, I figured it was time to get something on here. It’s 6:30 am, and Thad just woke up (thanks a lot, Daylight Savings), so I will park him in front of the TV for 30 minutes. Good parenting.

So, let’s see. We’ll go back a ways.

We made a couple of weekend trips to Coos Bay toward the end up of summer. Justin and his dad have lots of work to do on their property because Justin’s sister will be getting married at the house next summer. And by lots of work, I mean like rebuilding part of the house. We’ll make many more trips there before next summer. But, the boys always have a blast and take advantage of that time to get really dirty and drive heavy machinery.

Justin also gets to do lots of his favorite activity. Digging. No, really, I think if someone paid him his same Forensic Scientist wages to dig ditches, he would do it in a heartbeat. He finds it oddly satisfying.

And of course, you can’t pass a summer in Coos Bay without eating barbequed oysters. I mean, I definitely can, because they are horrendous. But the rest of my family is in love with the nasty little things.

But how can you have hard feelings about a place that provides you with pictures like this of your kids?

Or have hard feelings against a father in law with this kind of sense of humor?

You just can’t, I tell ya. Please excuse the halo of frizz that you may note in the picture. We were on the coast and I have curly hair. Plus I probably hadn’t showered that day.

Traveling in the other direction, we also made a couple of weekend trips North to my parent’s house. One of which was a trip to meet and celebrate the birth of this little sweetie, Miss Jana, my brother’s daughter, who was born while we were on our vacation in July.

Jana brought the grandchild total up to 6 (and yes, I realize there are only 5 here…Ezra wasn’t there)

And the number of my immediate family members up to 302

Not quite. (Note that we are missing one of my brothers and his family, as well as Amber)

And, on a similar note, we are about to increase by 2 more! My sister is pregnant with her 3rd, and my sister in law, with her second! Same sisters that I was pregnant with when we had these three amigos last year.

Look at those chunkers! So, of course, that has made me question whether or not we are done in the kid arena, and have had some twinges of jealousy that Tessa and Aja are pregnant together again, when all 3 of us were last time. And then I remember how hard life with an infant is, and how it bring out all the worst parts of my personality, and I tell myself that I think we are done. We’ll see.

Okay, so that has gotten me through September. Not bad. Perhaps I will try to keep working on updates this week. No promises. I am a very organized person, but totally lacking in follow through. Happy Monday.