Another sucessful year.

I have a love hate relationship with Halloween. The crap food overflowing from those lovely orange pumpkin buckets. My kids always begging for more when I am sure they should be throwing up form a sugar overdose. Some I am surprised don't go into a diabetic coma. You would think I never let them have any other candy the rest of the year. Not true.... moderation in all things, right? I  do love their excitement for the decorations and fun. I love seeing them in their costumes, being kids and loving it. I love the excitement in their eyes as they run up to doors like this house is going to have something way more amazing than the last. The joy when it really happens. The oohing and awweing over friends great costumes and the planning for next year before this one is even over. The holiday I love to hate. Did I mention how much work it is for me? It's worth it.

All Over the Place

That is pretty much where this post is going.
We did celebrate Halloween,

over, and over, and over again. The worst part was getting everyone done and undone. The best part was seeing old friends and the big smiles on my kids faces. The kids loooove their loot. We had two different parades.We had a Trunk or Treat, a neighborhood dinner, and regular trick or treating. I took the kids costumes off last night and all but ran them back to the storage room. Now to remove the Halloween decor that I am glad to switch out. I am done!
One little tyke of ours had a minor surgery this week which made celebrating not as fun for him, and which caused him to exclaim, " I just want my old wiener back!" Any guesses? I bet you are right.
I am sure I never laughed so hard in my life. I think we have had to many laughs at his expense.
Got asked in Target, " Oh is this a preschool field trip?" I love the look on their faces when I say  "No, they are all mine."
We found a used mini van for those times when we do not need the beast. You have to take out a loan just to keep gas in those buggers. Sadly we can not go anywhere as a family with out it though. I am loving the ease at which I can buzz in and out of parking spaces again. You know, for those "preschool field trips" to Target.

Didn't even get pix of everyone in their costume this year, but I grabbed one of a few of them and my niece too.

Think I may end up back at the doctors office this week. One kid may be having an allergic reaction to Vaseline. You know the one who is incredibly uncomfortable and wanting things the way they were. One little boy of mine gave himself petekia (spelling?) That was one bad fit! I am guessing he will never hold his breath when he is that angry again. The nurse said it usually happens when some one is choked or strangled. Great, explain that to the school nurse.... I live a charmed life.

That's my new front door and hopefully with in the month the synthetic stucco on my house will be done and we can at least pretend not to be the rednecks we truly are. Do you know any cowgirls who wear converse? This one does. I never got around to finding boots. She didn't even care.

Had all sorts of plans for a pretty front step and I never got my flowers planted. You can see how well that plan worked.We didn't even carve pumpkins this year. It's all about the candy right? Who needs carved pumpkins anyway? Okay one tiny one C-Dog carved on his own way to early and by Halloween he looked like a wilted old man. That's how I feel, so me and the tiny Jack-O-lantern have something in common.
I have started my Christmas shopping and I am ready for a new holiday, How about you?

What

we do when we are not blogging. Life, that's what I call it. So much happenin around here, and no time to document it. I feel like I was sucked into a Halloween whirlwind. I mean really, who does not love a good
Halloween Parade?

And Another...

And Another.....

 I really do LOVE seeing my kiddos all dressed up and loving it. It just means alot of out of the house time for me and the small ones. Lot's of adventures happening around here.
We rode one of these,

Halloween Morning with our cousins and the kids LOVED it.Magicians came by and entertained. Lots of kiddos were dressed up. There was face painting and balloons. There was even a theatre car. Can you believe I was camera less? I forgot to put a card in my camera and I was SAD. They gave the kiddos tons of goodies including their own conductor hats. I raced home for some Mini Sessions  and Miss M did not want to miss out. She came out costume on perfectly and ready for her own camera time, poser:)

 I am glad she thought of it. She does make an adorable little cowgirl!
Tricked and treated with the kids. We are still treating of coarse......
I put them all to bed last night hiped up on sugar and stashed all Halloween costumes until next year. Tomorrow I will be saying goodbye to all the fun decor for the year. Time to move on. In fact I started listening to my favorite Christmas CD this week. I just couldn't help myself!! I have a lot of life to live this week. I guess we will see how much I get documented.

A FUN HALLOWEEN

You know it's Halloween when you find all or part of a costume inseparable from one or more of your kids. No breakfast today w/out the pirate hat. Me thinks I see someone had some chocolate for breakfast. I am glad some one got breakfast because Mom did not, she was to busy trying to get people dressed and out the door.





We were in a hurry this morning to see our favorite Power Ranger in his parade. OOPS he left with his costume on backward and I did not notice until I saw this pic. Those arms outstretched were a hug coming my way. I am so glad he is still willing to give me a hug in public.

Later in the day we went to see our Miss M parade around the school and show off her pretty princess gown. I am so grateful for teachers. That is not a job I could do.

Before we went candy gathering we took pics of ourselves all spruced up and our cousins too. We had a yummy dinner together. Sort of together... There is never enough room for all of us to actually eat together. I just love that. I love coming from a big family especially around holidays because a holiday means we get to spend some quality time together. I have a super funny bunch of brothers who married amazing woman and because we are all raising little ones it's hard to actually find a time where we are all able to meet at once unless it's a holiday. Yeah for holidays:)

Poor Little H had a rough night. She tried to get out of the wagon we were pulling the kids around in and went face first. She gave herself a nice bloody nose and changed the whole look of her Tinkerbell costume. So it was great when she fell a few more times and ripped her tights and skinned her knee. She was bloody scraped up mess and it was all for real. It was dark of coarse so we really couldn't tell how much blood had got on her or how much damage was done to her costume until we got home. The costume is a Miss M hand me down and since I am sure Bubbba does not want to wear it next year, we will cut our losses.

Now that all the candy gathering is done we can look forward to some wired kids and lots of begging for more. It's all part of the fun.

PUMPKIN TIME

I am usually more on top of things but again October has been an insane month for our family. We did not have chance to take the kids for FHE to pick out their pumpkins like we have done in the past so Daddy surprised the kids with two pumpkins to carve tonight. What a great time. Little H was so fascinated with the pumpkins. She tried so hard to get that pretty head of hers inside a pumpkin. I have such great memories of my childhood carving pumpkins with my family and the instant my hands get a hold of the gooey, slimy pumpkin innards they all come rushing back. We love to roast the pumpkin seeds and eat them while we watch Daddy carve away at the little orange ball. Daddy always gets the honors, we like all digits attached to our kids when we are done. My kids got to stay up extra late tonight and they LOOVE that because I am such a stickler for bedtime. Staying up late is such a special treat and they know it. That is going to end up being three nights in a row of kids up late. Oh boy I am in for it...kids all hyped up on sugar and tired.


Daddy did a great job!! Sissy and Wild Thing were actually afraid of the lit finished product. Layne is carving the second pumpkin as we speak. I made the poor tired kids hit the hay after the first one. Tomorrow is going to be a long day as it is.
HAPPY HAUNTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OCTOBER MADNESS

This has been the busiest Oct. I feel like life has gone from a sprint to a marathon. It has been fun, happy, and busy so I have no reason to complain. I have been happily entertained by my cute kids. We have had so much fun spending time together as a family on our vacations.

I really notice a difference especially in Lightning, when we make memories together. Bubba has been so entertaining lately. I can not get enough of this fun kid.

Check out this fun guy. I am sure he is confused as to what part of our body is supposed to meet with the lightning Mc Queen toilet seat. Potty training is in his near future and so I am getting prepared and trying to teach him about underwear and since he thinks you wear all pairs at once over your diaper, while adorning you head with the toilet seat we may be waiting a little longer to get into those big boy pants. Poor guy has all sorts of clothes issues these days. He is trying so hard to get himself out of the girly get up Sissy made him put on and parade around in this morning. She made him show off his girly style outside and I don't think he cared at first but towards the end he just had to be a boy again. Poor kid, just could not figure out how to get out of this frilly swimsuit:)

I have had a chance this month to try and improve my photo taking skills. Most of the time my kids are more than willing to be my models and sometimes it's fun to have a chance to do something different.
Melanie let me take pics of her sweet little girl. Thanks Melanie. I sure hope you find a few you like and that I got a few shots of what you were hoping for. I immediately saw things I could have done different. Thanks again for being willing to let me practice with your cutie pie!!

This sweet girl is always willing to pose and actually trys to find things for me to take pictures of. She actually suggested this umbrella that goes to her camping chair. I happily grabbed my camera. Halloween and all that goes with it has taken up a lot of time this year we have had and still have some fun parties to go to. I am trying my best to have a low key Halloween night Lightning can not wait to trick- or- treat. We have been in court for our kids a lot this month and tomorrows court date hopefully marks a beginning to a long awaited end and we can get Sissy and Bubbas files to the adoption unit and get on with the business of being an eternal family.

I PUT IT UP

I get all this fun stuff up and get my nappers out of bed. The first thing they do is investigate and begin the destruction process. I pulled Bubba aside and told him "Don't touch, If you touch I will take it all down . He said ok and proceeded to climb onto the kitchen table and play with a pumpkin. I said, "I told you no, I will take it all away". He said "NO" I said, "Oh yes I will!!"

he put both hands on his hips and leans forward and says "I TOLD YOU NO"

Nice Bubba, way to throw it back in my face!!

I need a good table runner to go under this stuff and I can not

find one I like.

OH SOOOOO FUN!!

Another contest is happening, Tammy is giving away some Halloween goodies. I LOVE Halloween!!! Since we do not get much of the fall feeling outside I like to have a lot of it inside. I found some fun ideas at martha strewart.com As part of the contest you have to share some of your favorite Halloween decor. I want to make some changes in mine and it is not up yet so I went idea hunting. I found some super fun stuff. Thanks Tammy for the excuse to browse the Internet for fun ideas. I am totally ready to get going now and bring out the fall fun.I sure wish I had stairs to use these mice cut outs on.I am going to make some of the tin candle holders. I am not into the ghoulish side of Halloween. I already have fun lights ,I just need the right spot, topiary, or tree. Now go on over and lessen my chances of winning.

I got another chance to play with my camera and do some relaxing scrapping this morning. While we are out waiting for Sissy's bus the babies hang out with us. They all but demolish my flowers. It keeps them out of the street so that's a plus. I just love that they all want to give me the flowers they pick. Sweet babies:0)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Party hopping is what we did. I think my poor kids spent more time in the car than they actually did trick or treating! I know they did because they only went to 4 houses all night. We started out at our ward party which is just dinner and then went to see G-ma C ,went to Aunt Coolnieces ward party where the kiddos had an absolute blast . They had their hands and faces painted and played w/their cousins. Lots of candy was scored at this party!! We went to my sisters and Mom and Dads and one strangers house because they had cool Halloween stuff all over and the kids were amazed by the sights and sounds. It was tiring and we were all over the city,but it was worth every minute! Hope everyone had a fun, safe, spooktacular night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!