Slacker

I haven't updated here in a week! WOW! I doubt it's a record for me, given vacations and whatnot but it certainly is longer than I like to go regardless.

Life has just been busy. Not unusually so, but sometimes, when there is down time, I am just too tired or have other things in mind that I want to do, like catch on recorded tv or read. It seems like I have been doing both in marathon sessions, rather than just a bit at a time.

This weekend, in particular has been and will continue to be busy. Yesterday we had trick or treating with the kids. We went to the old neighborhood as usual, and met up with the Ryan family. Ryun's sister and her family walked with us for a while as well, which was nice. Speaking of being busy, we don't seem them as often as we should/want to for that reason alone, so when we do, it's a good thing. Tonight is the big Halloween party we have every year. This year marks 10 years since the first one, so I plan on making it memorable...which of course they all are. It seems like we will have a good turnout which is nice. Tomorrow we are heading to my parents house for my nephew Jack's third birthday. How the heck he managed to go from being born to three so fast I have no idea...kids have a funny way of speeding up time.

Anyway, I am hoping to keep up here a little better than I have been. We'll see what happens.

Halloween Town Boston

We took the kids to Halloween Town Boston yesterday. It was fun, even if it was a little overwhelming for Julia. She had fun, but in her own way, which was, you know different from how the other kids enjoyed it. The kids got all kinds of goodies, candy included. Anyway, I took pictures!

She wanted something scary. This worked. I left the red eye in for effect, which also worked.

Emily wanted candy corn eyes.

That's Dan Zanes of Playhouse Disney fame. Katherine and Julia particularly enjoyed listening to him sing and dance.

As you can tell, Julia was totally thrilled with the whole event. As for Ryun, this picture was the result of my calling his name and just snapping the picture.

The kids got to draw on a zip car. Very cool! Here is Emily's art work.

Julia wanted nothing to do with face painting when the girls got theirs done earlier in the day, free. In typical Julia style she decided as we were getting ready to leave that she did want her face painted after all. The original place was all the way at the other end of the building, and the last time we had been by, the line was miles long. So, I gave in and paid $10 which seemed like a bit much. Honestly though, at that point I may have given them my life savings for her to Julia to get her face painted. When she wants to participate in something, you just can't let the opportunity pass her by. She sat perfectly still the whole time and as you can see, the tiger face she picked out came out great! Turns out the face painter was from Art on The Spot, a local art studio here in Middleboro, just down the street a ways from us.

We took the kids to diner at Friendly's on the way home, which, as is usually the case at Friendly's, was a huge hit.

Halloween Pictures

In keeping with tradition, we went over to my parents neighborhood, met up with the Ryan family, and went trick or treating with the kids. Julia did remarkably well, walking for the entire night, until she declared, "I want to go back to Mimi and Papa's" at which time, I plopped her in the carriage I had brought just in case. Ryun continued on with the older two, and even ventured in to the next neighborhood before heading back to Mimi and Papa's around 8:30 or so. It was weird starting out later than normal. We had to wait until it was dark enough, which really didn't happen until 6:30 or so. Julia fell asleep just about as soon as we pulled out of my parents neighborhood on the way home, and the Emily and Katherine crashed after teeth brushing and pajamas.

I only managed to get a few pictures, the quality of which is questionable. They look a little grainy to me which is more than likely because I had to print them first, as opposed to uploading them directly from my camera.

Katherine Jackie and Nate, posing at Mimi and Papa's house.

This was taken just after Julia almost fell (Mommy saved her from a skinned knee or two by holding a little tighter to her hand as I felt her starting to trip). She looks like she's saying, "Whoa, that was a close call."

Finally, this was taken on Nana Judy's front stairs, just before we set out for the night.

Painted Pumpkins

In order we have Julia's, Katherine's, Emily's and mine. I ended up donating the two small ones we had left to Julia's classroom, but we still have to large ones to carve this weekend.

Lazy Sundays...

...are like, the best thing ever. Technically, I wasn't even that lazy considering I got a good chunk of the laundry done and cleaned the kitchen so, I guess a better way of phrasing it would be, "Family Sundays." I love the weekend days which involve hanging around the house all day with the family, leaving only to procure coffee. We painted pumpkins, which I would have pictures to share here if my damn camera wasn't broken (I can take pictures but the place where I plug the cord in to upload is broken). I have a bunch of pictures I need to get off the camera so I really should make the trip to CVS and get them on disc. Smart Mommy decided that since it was a nice day, we would paint them out on the deck, saving the kitchen from the mess that undoubtedly results when three kids and an adult paint. Julia thought is was fun, but was more interested in running around in the back yard than in painting. Katherine showed off some mad skills painting a really scary face on her pumpkin and Emily honored the method of abstract art, painting her whole pumpkin in what appeared to be a random design. I went with stripes, because I am boring, but it ended up looking like one of those painted pumpkins you find in stores (not that I am bragging or anything). We have two pumpkins left to carve, but, in order to prevent them from rotting before Halloween, we decided to hold off and make that next weekends fun fall activity.

Anyway, it was a nice day, ending with what turned out to be a nice dinner (mainly because everyone ate it without complaint). I will post the recipe at some point here but when I manage to cook a meal that yields no complaints from anyone, I feel all accomplished.

Halloween

Just because I am so darn creative (yeah right), I have decided to make Emily and Katherine's costumes this year. I went online with them and looked at a bunch of different options and they both decided on this:



They had both expressed an interest in being "Diva-like Pop Stars" which I figured wouldn't be too difficult. I found feather boas on Ebay dirt cheap and after some quick thinking realized they already have outfits to wear that will work. At the beginning of the school year I bought them both velour pant suits...Katherine's is black and Emily's red. I am going to use double sided tape to attach the feather boa around the pant legs, and am going to use painted old paper towel rolls with styrofoam balls rolled in glitter for the microphones. I will probably buy some glitter for their face and hair, and have Mimi do their hair all fancy for the day of.

Julia is going to be a "butterfly princess," which was decided the other day in Rite Aid, where I happen to find butterfly wings, a wand and a tiara for a total of $7.99. She has a cute purple dress already and all she will need is some tights.

YAY for being all organized in advance!