Happy Halloween

Since Halloween is today (Sunday) we did our celebrating yesterday. We started the day going to Grandpa and Grandma Boyack's for trick-or-treating and to see cousins. The kids were excited to get into their costumes and go knock on their door. We got there and they said trick-or-treat and Grandma gave them a bag of goodies and glow in the dark bracelets. We ate donuts, played, scared Grandpa with a rat and then got ready for Makena's last soccer game.


Tyler, Ryan, Gretchen, Makena, Hailey and Kali

Makena has had a great season for soccer. She has loved it and has shown so much improvement from the beginning of spring soccer. She has loved her coach and team! It has been so much fun watching her play and seeing the excitement on her face when she would score a goal. Grandpa and Grandma, me and Kali all watched the game while Jarel took the little ones home for lunch and a nap.


Makena and Abby


This is how Kali spent most of the game doing. It was chilly, so she curled up in Grandma's jacket.





Makena and Fisher


Makena, Abby and Fisher running after the ball.


Ladybug = Soccer Star


The DinoSquad team: Issac, Abby, Sam, Mason, Makena, Fisher and Coach


Makena receiving her medal


Makena with her coach

After the game, we came home, had lunch and the kids took a nap, then it was off to Grandpa and Grandma Hathaway's home for the trunk-or-treat. Jarel took Makena, Kali and Tyler while I stayed home with Hailey. It was cold and was going to rain and I didn't want her out in the weather. So while Hailey and I had some quiet time, Jarel was having a fun time watching the kids have fun. They got lots of goodies and had dinner over there.








We had a lamb (Zoe), Frog (Chad), Mermaid (MacKenzie), Monster (Kali), Dragon (Hudson), Ladybug (Makena), Paper Doll (Jenn) and a Pumpkin (Tyler)




When Jarel and the kids got home, it was really raining outside. Makena was ready to go trick-or-treating, but I told her lets wait just a little bit and see if the rain will settle down or stop. About 15 minutes later, a kid came to our door and Jarel answered it and said the rain had stopped. So, we got the kids ready and off we went. We met up with our neighbors and the kids thought that was fun to go with their friends. Kali was running up to the doors telling me "let's go to this one," Makena was chatting away with Alyssa and Tyler kept saying "candy, more candy." I carried Tyler most of the way because his little legs couldn't keep up with the bigger kids. We were out for about 1 1/2 hours and the kids were troopers. I kept asking Tyler if he wanted to go up to this door and he would say "yes, candy" and he would go up, wait his turn and then say "tic treat" and once they put a piece in his bag and would say "tank you." Makena and Tyler didn't want to go home, but Kali had had enough so our neighbor took Kali and his little girl home and we finished the going to the houses on our little route. By the time we were almost home, Makena was dragging and Tyler was telling me he wanted to go home. Their little hands were cold (they wouldn't keep their gloves on) and their noses were red and they were ready to be done and have some of their candy. So with it starting off raining and a little disappointing, it turned out nice and a very fun evening. The kids all had a great time and couldn't wait to get a piece of their candy in their mouths. Makena was all concerned about how many pieces of candy she got and so she counted and came out with 96 pieces! Enough to last the rest of the week!!!!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween.


The kids getting ready to go out


Tyler

Carving Pumpkins

Tonight was pumpkin carving at the Hathaway's home. I will admit, I am not a huge fan of carving pumpkins. It is messy and hard for the kids to do. BUT...I am a huge fan of having fun with the kids and letting them do the things they want to do. So, we got the pumpkins and knives out and went to work. A great idea I got was for me to carve the tops off and scoop out the seeds and then have the kids draw the face on the pumpkins that they wanted me to carve out. It turned out GREAT!! The mess stayed in one area and the kids were thrilled that they got to draw the face they wanted and they had a blast. Makena wanted hair on her pumpkin, I told her that I would cute some pieces out to make hair. She didn't believe me that it would work, but after I got done with her pumpkin, she was quite pleased and she talked the other kids into having hair on their pumpkin!

We are such mean parents and while we were cutting the tops off the pumpkins, we asked the kids if they have ever heard of "pumpkin mice." Of course they hadn't, so we explained that while the pumpkins are growing in the garden, sometimes mice will get inside and they live in them and eat the seeds until we carve them and take the tops off then they run out of them and back to the garden. Trying to tell them with a straight face was hard, but we managed. Makena and Kali were both afraid, but kept telling us that mice don't go in the pumpkins. After we told them, not to worry the mice only live in the biggest pumpkins in the garden (they picked the biggest pumpkins to carve) then they were convinced a mouse was in their pumpkin. So after I cut the top on Kali's pumpkin, she didn't dare take the top off. I took it off and told the girls, "wow, Kali, you were lucky. There wasn't a mouse in yours." She was relieved and started to draw her face on her pumpkin. Then came Makena's pumpkin. As I was cutting I told her I hit something hard, it must have been a mouse. She didn't want anything to do with the pumpkin. Once I took the top off and showed her there was no mouse, she was so happy!!! Now, Makena got this toy rat from school the other day, so I had Jarel get the rat and as I was scooping out the seeds from Makena's pumpkin, Jarel slipped the rat inside and I scooped it up, with some seeds, and placed it in front of the girls. Makena jumped and then said, "hay, that is my rat. How did it get in there? You guys were teasing us." It was fun, we all had a good laugh and the evening was a good one.


Tyler smiling for the camera.


Trying not to look at dad as he was taking the picture.


Makena drawing the face on her pumpkin for mom to carve.


Kali drawing her pumpkin's face.


Tyler and Makena.


Tyler was fascinated by the top of the pumpkin. He thought it was cool you could take the top off and then put it back on again.


Makena seeing what's in the pumpkin.


Makena and Kali making silly faces.


Kali, Tyler and Makena with their finished pumpkins.


Makena with her pumpkin. You can't see it, but her pumpkin has hair. We carved strands of hair into the pumpkin. That was her favorite part.


Makena thought it would be funny to take a picture of her with her pumpkin as her head!


Kali holding her pumpkin.


Tyler with his pumpkin. I tried turning the pumpkin around so we could see the face, and he did not like that idea. So we got the side view of his pumpkin.


Let us not forget about Hailey. She was a good girl and slept the entire time we were carving pumpkins.


Continuing to sleep on the couch.

Halloween Parade

Makena had her Halloween Parade at school today. Me and the other 3 kids went and watched her. She was very excited about going around to the other classes and showing her costume off.

Lesson Learned...I Hope!

Yesterday, I went grocery shopping at Smith's with Makena and Kali. We were doing our shopping, the kids were out of control, running around, acting like penguins on the floor, and being their normal selves. We bought our groceries and left the store. As we were walking out, I noticed Kali had a big cheek full of something. I thought to myself, "did I give her gum before we left to the store? No, I didn't." So I asked Kali what was in her mouth and she said, "nothing." Which I knew the response would be. So I asked her to show me what was in her mouth and she pulled out 8 pieces of raspberry gummy candies. I told her we don't just take candy from the store, we have to pay for it. So we went back into the store and went to the customer service desk and had to explain that "a little girl took some candy and we needed to pay for it." Kali had gotten the candy from their bulk section. The lady was very nice and we paid for the candy and left. Kali wasn't at all scared that we had to go back inside and talk with the lady to pay for the candy she kept asking me "why" and so I just kept telling her why we had too. Hopefully she learned something from this and she won't take candy again!!

Tyler...Tyler

Tyler came running out of his room today laughing. This is what he was laughing about!

One Month

Hailey is one month today. The time goes by so fast. She is getting so big and being more alert. She hardly cries at all. She is sleeping pretty well. She gets up about twice a night to eat, but then goes right back to sleep! She is eating like a champ, holding her head up pretty well, and is a wonderful baby. We are so lucky to have her here with us and feel blessed every day.

Monster, 2 Ladybugs and a Pumpkin

Hailey


Ladybug...Makena. I had picked out Hailey's outfit a week before we were thinking of a costume for Makena. When we went to Old Navy, Makena saw this ladybug outfit and had to have it so she would match the baby. It was cute and she was so excited!


Our baby Ladybug...Hailey.


Cute little pumpkin!


Monster (Kali), Ladybug (Makena), Ladybug (Hailey) and Pumpkin (Tyler)


Like last year, Kali didn't want to wear a costume but was super excited to wear "Halloween pajamas." When we went to the store to get her pajamas, there was a kitty one, a cute witch one, but Kali wanted the MONSTER pajamas!