Thursday, October 31, 2013

Trick Or Treat!

 Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays. I think it's fun to see the kids in the cute costumes and it is fun to let our kids get a little candy (a rare treat!) but I really really loathe the bloody, gory, sinister Halloween stuff. It seems to be a big thing in our neighborhood to decorate houses and lawns with dead people, bloody hands sticking out of the lawn, and pretty much anything evil or scary that you can think of! Not a fan.

However, even though it isn't my favorite, I really love making my kiddos happy so once again I pricked my fingers raw and had hand cramps today after staying up waaaaay too late to finish the costumes last night! All in all, I'd say about $20 on materials for costumes for 3 kids isn't bad!


The boys had their Halloween parade at school today. It was raining all day so it was inside and all the parents lined the gym and the kids marched around. Very cute! All the teachers/staff were dressed as Despicable Me's:)




The trees in our neighborhood are just gorgeous right now! Full trees of vibrant reds, oranges and yellows!


Presenting Samuel the Magician!! He originally wanted to be a skateboarding Angry Bird (hmm) but after getting a magic card trick set this weekend, he quickly changed to a magician. His hat is made of felt and cardboard~not bad! I think his costume is my favorite of all three:)


Zakkai originally wanted to be a Ninja...until he realized he'd have to wear a mask. So he settled on the idea of a football player. He wanted to borrow football gear from our neighbor but he is about 3 times bigger than Z. So last night, from about 11:30-1am, I made him an Ohio State "jersey" from one of Ben's old t-shirts. It says "Ohio State" on the front and has the "O" ...


And I sewed a "Z" and a "06" on the back (for 6 years old). He was pretty happy!


Cuties!

And a little Piggy! We were on our way to JoAnn's for supplies and E decided she wanted to be a pig and didn't look back! I threw together her costume this morning. She thought it was pretty fun!


Samuel loves his sister! (and vice versa!)


Trick or Treat!


Serious Piggy!

With a curly tail!

Thankfully, there was a brief break in the rain around 5pm so we headed out to do a little trick or treating. This was Eliana's first time participating and she LOVED it! She got a lot of compliments, which we didn't mind hearing at all:)

Monday, October 28, 2013

Boys!

 Our boys have been very busy lately! They are full of life, energy, questions, ideas, jokes and creativity. And sometimes they wear me out:) Only sometimes, though!


Zakkai has been a little bookworm lately! He started reading "Diary of A Wimpy Kid" last week and he carries a couple copies around with him most places. And he is actually reading them instead of just paying attention to the pictures:)


Isn't he handsome! He looks so old in this picture! One night at dinner last week, I looked at Samuel and he looked just like Ben and I told him "You look so much like your Daddy." Zakkai piped up immediately and asked, "Do I look like anybody?" I told him that he looks so much like my side of the family! I often see my sister, my grandma and my mom in him. He really liked feeling special! And then he said, "So, I look like the girls??" ha!


Samuel is pretty handsome himself! He is growing so much. He struggles with a bit of teenager-y attitude, which we constantly have to work on, but he is quick, sharp, funny and very smart! He used a belated bday gift card this weekend and got a magic card trick set and in 2 days, learned 5-6 very cool tricks!! He is practicing so he can put on a show for our families at Thanksgiving:)


We got a free table and chairs several years ago and they have been used well. I even recovered them and painted them a couple years ago but slowly they have deteriorated and some of the legs of the chairs and table have barely been hanging on. This chair finally bit the dust this weekend! We usually kept it in the spot where one of the boys would sit on it but it had gotten moved somehow and I happened to be looking at Ben right as he was in motion to sit on it and it was like slow-motion. I called out, "Nooooooooo!" and he looked so surprised as he slowly collapsed to the floor. It was a little funny:)

Needless to say, a table and chairs will be added to our growing list of someday furniture replacement !

This was a picture I took of my wild animals to send a "Happy Birthday" message to their cousin, Dylan! I so wish they could live closer...


And this weekend, we made flubber!! I found the post on pinterest, of course, and it was super easy to make! The boys were SO excited and kept bugging all weekend once we told them we would make it. Here they are pouring in the glue...


And stirring in the food coloring. They agreed on green:)


After some mixing...flubber!


Ready to play with!



The boys were ready to play with flubber after homework this afternoon! Zakkai was nice enough to share with Eliana, who just loved it! She used some playdough tools to cut it and make shapes. I'm glad we tried this one!


It was a little warmer today (low 50s) and sunny so after a busy morning of cleaning and laundry, I took my little big girl out on her pink scooter and to the park, which she has dubbed, "The Hello Kitty Park." Even though it has nothing whatsoever to do with Hello Kitty:)

We were the only ones there and it was just fun to hang out with her! Too bad it didn't wear her out enough for a nap....

Tomorrow I'll be working on Halloween costumes!

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Cheesy Grins and Pumpkins!



I am so far behind on pictures and stories due to my blog neglect. I will try to catch up!


Before E's birthday, I did a quick little project and made her an apron from tea towels I bought at Ikea!



I really thought she would choose the pink ones but at the last minute, she went for blue:) It's a cute little apron with a pocket ready for treasures! She was very busy talking on her calculator phone when I was snapping pics:) Which probably was a good thing, considering every picture of her now contains a cheesy grimace that she considers a helpful smile....sigh.


And what is a post without a picture of Baby Anna! Since it has gotten so cold outside in the mornings, Baby C now wears shoes and Eliana pilfers them in the day for her own baby:) Such a funny girl!


Here are the pumpkins we carved last weekend with my mom and stepdad!


Here's Mugga's charming pumpkin. He actually looked scarier not lit up!


Guess who's?! Samuel and Daddy carved this masterpiece!


This was Papa's pumpkin, which we voted the creepiest!


And Zakkai's pumpkin, which since the picture has lost some teeth due to squirrel stealing! Apparently, squirrels like pumpkins! (which makes the boys so mad!)


For her birthday, Eliana got some cute Dora wall decal stickers! We headed upstairs immediately so she could stick them on and boy, did she have fun!!


The first couple of days I had to stop her from ripping them off and crumpling them up and rearranging them. I think she's settled down a bit and just loves to look at them!


And here is Eliana's very first self-portrait!! In the middle of this week, she just started drawing people out of nowhere! We didn't even know she could! First she told me she could only draw boys and didn't know how to draw girls. Ha! I thought Daddy would get a kick out of that;)

But then yesterday, she sat down at the table and drew herself! She says she doesn't know how to draw legs but even legless, we thought this was adorable!! Definitely a keeper.

So there's Eliana overload:) Stay tuned tomorrow for something fun the boys got to make tonight!!

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Birthday Overload!

 When I say birthday overload, I mean birthday overload! Not only do I have pictures of our fantastic three year old and her very pink birthday, I also have received news of FOUR births of friends and family in the past week and a half!

Three are from our former house group and we are so happy for all of them! Two little girls and one little boy! And just yesterday, my cousin's baby was born! You may remember my post from last month about the adoption that literally fell into their laps and the outpouring from friends and family was absolutely amazing! Tomorrow they will get to hold their little guy in their arms for the first time. So, so exciting!

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures I can share of all these birthday babies, so you will have to make do with MY birthday baby!


Cheese! Think she will do??

On Friday night, my mom and stepdad arrived from Ohio! The boys had just been tucked into bed but as soon as they heard the voices of their beloved Mugga and Papa, they ran down the stairs for hugs! We sent them back to bed quickly, with the promise of parties and fun on Saturday:)

We were up early and my mom had the great idea of going on a pumpkin hunt so we could carve pumpkins!

We decided not to drive far to a pumpkin farm and spend any extra money, so instead we checked out a local farmer's market for pumpkins (way too big!) and ended up buying some at the grocery store. Lame, I know, but we were pleased with our picks! Everyone sat down get their creative juices flowing and plan out their pumpkin faces while I made lunch and a birthday cake!


Eliana played while some football played in the background:)


Finally, it was time to don birthday hats and sing to a birthday girl!!


Eliana and her big bro:)

Pink table!

In happy remembrance of my grandma's cakes she used to make for us (with Barbies!), I made a Dora Dress cake!! Eliana was SO excited and a little confused when she saw Dora sitting in her cake:) We assured her that Dora would be just fine after a bath!


Eliana is into these new "cheesy" ham grins these days. Sigh.


A few raspberries for garnish and she was ready! Eliana blew out the candle in one quick blow! After Ben cut a few of the pieces out, Eliana peeked at the cake and said, "Dora's naked!!" haha.


After we gobbled up our pink vanilla cake, we got to give some presents to our excited birthday girl!



From us, she got an adorable (if I don't say so myself!) doll set which included a bouncy seat, a pack n' play (or as E calls it, a "Pack n' place), carseat, clip on high chair and diaper bag! She LOVED it!


Then while Daddy was putting together her gift from Mugga and Papa (stay tuned, pics below!), Eliana got to check out her new doll equipment. Let's just say that Baby Anna is one lucky baby doll!


"Reading" a little birthday card from Grandma:) She also got a couple of magic bottles and 2 doll onsies from Samuel and Zakkai. Again, huge hit!


See what I mean about the cheesiness??


Tada! A little mommy bird told Mugga and Papa that this little girl has been hankering for a pink scooter of her very own and voila, she got one! She just loves her new wheels!!

 
A special box arrived from Grandma which had some playdough (always a huge hit!!), a new snazzy purse and a Minnie Mouse hat in it, which she insists on wearing every day! Even the boys got into playing with the playdough:)
 
 


 Afterwards we lined up our cool pumpkins for a pic. Mugga's, Samuel's, Papa's and Zakkai's, which started out having a "booger" in it's nose but thankfully, Zakkai decided to remove it! Boys.


We decided to let E paint her pumpkin instead! So while I whipped up some pizza dough for dinner, a very tired girl did a little painting. She didn't last long after this!

 
Hard at work!


Naked Dora!

More tomorrow!

p.s. If you notice some blog changes in the next few days, I am not crazy; I know I just "redecorated" but I got notice that my free blog background will be deleted in the next week or so because the lady who does them is no longer offering them free. Bummer! So I'm on the hunt for some new backgrounds. Bear with me!

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