Pumpkins & Fantasy Football

I just wanted to share our pumpkins this year.

Cameron's pumpkin is the skull and cross bones, matching his pirate costume this year.

Loving Zoe's choice of a peace sign this year. She added a heart, smiley face and star surrounding it.

Olivia's pumpkin is the cat. I loved watching her look on with disgust as my kids pulled the goop out of their pumpkins  :)

I carved the "Happy Hallow tween" It was the twins pumpkin and that's the best I could come up with.

And this year Audrey designed her own pumpkin face and carved it all out herself. Turned out great!

Here are some of the fun shots of the kids posing with pumpkins.

 

 Here I am forcing the kids to pose with their pumpkins, while in their pjs, and it is freezing outside.

Also, wanted to share. I'm the last one up tonight. Watching the Monday Night Football game by myself. This is the most important game of the weekend! (good thing that The Pack was on BYE)

Philip Rivers is tring to mess this thing up for me, but has gotten his act together a little, and then tried messing is up for me again.

Seriously?!? OVERTIME  :(

 me vs. my husband . . . the most important Fantasy Football game of my season.

I'm going to bed, but I'm hoping that I wake up to

BRAGGING RIGHTS UNTIL NEXT YEAR!!!

otherwise, he will . . .

Happy Halloween!

Missed the old neighborhood this year. I wonder how many people were looking for our Frankstein blow up to take their photos under this year? Sorry, it's still in storage . . .

This year Zoe was Cleopatra. (I think she picked it because of all the makeup. She also talked me into fake eyelashes with gold lashes.) She loved her costume and looked beautiful in it.

Audrey was a Monster Bride. (It was the perfect costume for her, a little punky.)

 

I told her she looked too sweet in the first pic to be a Monster Bride, that's the reason for the second pic where she looks like someone who may just marry Frankenstein.

Then there is my fierce little pirate, Cameron.

Daddy told Cameron that pirates put their sword in their mouth when they swing on vines through the jungle . . . so that is him showing me  :)  I'm wondering why the pirate is in the jungle?!?  :)

So for the twins . . . I had a skunk costume that my mother had made originally for Audrey, and Cameron also wore it. I wanted to find a good combo for the boys. All I could think of is to turn one of them into a flower (a Bambi reference), but my husband would never have gone for it. And I didn't want to mark one of them for life :)

I searched eBay for fuzzy animal costumes and found the most perfect rodent to join my skunk.

 

My little porcupine! This costume made me so happy  :)  And even if he won't have let me put the hat on, his hair still would have worked (My little fuzzy wuzzy!)

 

And lastly, Castiel, my little Stinker  :)  If you know him, it suits him well. Not by odor . . . by personality.

 

I also had to get this picture, because I have the same with Audrey and Cameron.

L-O-V-E that tail dragging behind him  :)

So we all headed out tonight, a little late, but makeup fixes and forcing twins into costumes took a little longer than expected.

They made a haul! All of them. And multiply that by seven and account for all the candy that we bought to hand out to Trick-or-Treaters, which the doorbell rang only 4 times after we returned . . . and two of the times it was our children coming back  :) We have so much candy in the house . . . it should theoretically last all year.

I am always amazed at how fast kids catch on to Trick-or-Treating. The twins figured it out on the first house. After that, all KC said to get Emmitt moving faster was "More Candy". We pulled them along in a wagon, and they were checking out their stashes after every house.

I dumped out their candy when we got home.

And this is the twin checking out Eli's stash.

I think that they both have a new favorite holiday.

And I want to thank all my kids for handing over all their Almond Joys to mommy. Now that is love <3

HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all!

Little Farmer with the Kids :)

I decided to return to my hometown of FDL for 24 hours with the kids.

I packed everyone into one suitcase with plans to go to the Little Farmer.

The last time I went to there was when Zoe was little, nearly 10 tens ago. I was long past due for a visit.

It's the best place in the area to go for pumpkins and carmel apples! I went there growing up, as did my husband. (I actually always got pumpkins from my uncle's and aunt's farm though)

I made last minute plans with the Grandparents, sadly Grandpa S was MIA up at the Lakehouse. You were missed Grandpa! The first thing the twins said to Grandma was, "Grandpa???"

I think the entire town was visiting on the same day. It was BUSY!

What a beautiful day it was, actually quite hot. I was glad that none of the kids got sunburnt.

The day was fun-filled with adventure for the kids. So much to do!

The boys weren't sure about feeding the goats, but they caught on fast.

And we played and explored. Castiel was so brave and tried everything. He had to climb everything, walk through everything and balance across everything.

The kids patiently waited and played while we waited a half hour for a hayride. But the closer we got, the harder it was for the twins to not walk toward the tractor. They waved at all the lucky people who rode away before us.

Emmitt doesn't do well in the heat and I messed up his naptime. He did get a second wind, but before that kicked in, we dealt with a little of this.

And we tried to pose for cute pics. (When you can't pick out a photo that they all cooperate in, might as well pick one that none of them do  :)  except Cam posing in the middle)

My favorite picture of the day  :)

We also enjoyed carmel apples, but my fingers were too sticky to take pictures  :)

And I did get in a little trouble for not bringing any home for KC . . . oops  :)

Great day, great family, great place . . . I won't wait as long to visit again!

Zoe Up A Tree :)

Since Aunt Tracy demands to know . . .

Of course she's reading, it's Zoe  :)  She's reading the second Harry Potter book, and she doesn't want to put it down. She might just finish the whole series this month. My father will be so proud  :)

And when the rest of the kids came out and started making too much noise.

She found a different tree . . . further away  :)

Love my Zoe  <3

Guess What's Going on in This Picture???

I saw her from in the house. She wasn't actively climbing, just hanging in the tree. So I went out to investigate . . .

All I can say is . . . Only My Zoe!!!

Blankey Baby!!!

I don't think that I had any kind of security blanket as a child, but I know that my husband did until it was falling apart at the seams.

Zoe had a stuffed dog that she named "Rags". She was never completely attached to him. If he went missing for a while, it didn't bother her. She just liked having him around.

Audrey and Cameron were never attached to anything.

Then there is Emmitt. He has claimed a blue and brown polka dotted blanket. The funny thing is, as babies I always wrapped Castiel up in it.

He started grabbing it from the laundry pile months ago and I let him have it. Then he started asking for it when I layed him in bed and I gave it to him. Now he has a grip on it when I take him out of bed and I let him carry it around.

Now he doesn't like other people using it, otherwise he will fight them for it.

This is what happened this weekend when I decided to wash it.

You can almost hear the pleading in the pictures :)

We went down by the lake and fed the fish for a bit and he forgot all about it.

As soon as we got back, he stood infront of the dryer and asked for it.

Then he preceded to drag his freshly clean, still warm blanket around the kitchen floor  :)

 

Whatever puts a big smile across that face, makes me happy  :)

Funny thing, Castiel wants to do everything his brother does. So sometimes, he chooses to have a blankey too  :)  As long as he doesn't choose his brothers, he'll be okay . . .