Bringing It All Up To Speed

It's 11:46am. Let me rephrase that: It's *only* 11:46am. It's been a weird morning but then I find that to be true of any day when there is a child in the house who is not feeling well. The hours go on f.o.r.e.v.e.r. but I'm never really sure why it feels that way.

It's quiet, too. Which is weird when my two children are in the same house. It's rarely ever quiet when they are together. Right now? Not a noise beyond the strains of a television show can be heard. It's just....so quiet.

I'll take advantage of that though and post a few pumpkin carving photos. Since we were all sick last week we didn't get around to carving until Saturday afternoon. It worked out well though and gave the kids something to do while they waited for the magical hour of Trick or Treating.

And a few stand alones of my favorites:

Trunk or Treat Revisted

Friday night was the first annual Trunk or Treat at Kelton's school. It was pulled together by none other than the Parent Teacher Organization (Go us! Well - "Go Ingrid and Casey!" since it was the two of us working on it) and was a fantastic success!

We had at least 50 cars with their trunks decorated in various Halloween fashion and, I would hazard a guess, at least 400 Halloween clad youngsters trick or treating. It was so much fun!

Here are a few photos from the night:

The back of Dakota's car all decked out and ready:

The kids are STILL talking about how much fun they had and you know what? That alone is worth all the work. :)

Back Among the Living....Mostly

It takes more than flu (or flu-like symptoms) to keep Dakota away from her beloved Halloween. Actually, she is feeling much better today and since this is the day of her departments Halloween Party she headed to work in full vampire fashion. Seems appropriate since she has felt very pale for almost a week now. :) (get it - pale. vampire.)



I find it amusing and fun how into dressing up for Halloween she is. Between Dakota and the kids, Halloween is a big deal around here. Personally I've never been one for dressing up however even this year I am joining the ranks by dressing up as an prison inmate. (It's a costume we have on hand and - joy of all joys! I actually can fit into it again!) I'd much rather have been a witch but all the costumes I saw for that just didn't do it for me. Maybe next year.

Tomorrow is Trunk or Treat night at Kelton's school. I'm hoping the rain will hold off during the event but even if it doesn't, we have a nice alternate plan and I suspect that the dressed up trick or treaters will show up no matter what. At least, I know my two little goblins will! They have been eagerly counting down the days to this weekend all month.

Tis the Season.....

....for decorating pumpkins. :)



Just look at this great project that Kaylen made at MOMS Club this morning. It was so easy and a lot of fun. Very festive.



PS: I can explain the orange shirt under the red jumper.....sorta. You know how your job as a parent is to raise strong people who are sure of the choices they make? With this girl I am well on my way. She is as strong-willed as they come and quite sure about her clothing choices. She is her own person to be sure. :)

Little Bo Who?

A few weeks ago the Halloween costume catalogs started arriving and my kids went nutty. They poured over the pages for days, circling all the things they dreamed of being. Early on Kaylen locked onto the costume for Little Bo Peep and no amount of "Well...let's wait and see what else we can find before deciding." would change her mind.



Oh no. She wanted to be "Little Bo Sheep"



Day after day (and usually several times a day) she asked if I had ordered it yet.



Day after day I would say "Not yet."



Finally it became clear that she really was committed to being "Little Bo Sheep" and I figured I should take steps before the dreaded "sold out" appeared on the website.



After 4 days of "Is it here yet?" the box arrived and my daughter was bursting at the seam with happiness. And I have to say - she makes a pretty cute Little Bo Sheep. :)

My Little Boo-ers!

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

Happy Halloween!!

This morning, after sending Kelton off to Crazy Hair and Hat day at school, Kaylen and I got busy getting her ready for her play group Halloween Party! To say the kids were excited today is putting it very, very mildly. :)

Here are a few pictures to enjoy! As you can see, part of Kaylen's fun involved decorating cookies. Yum!! (Thanks Mel!!! It was a great time!)

Kelton's crazy hair and hat:





Kaylen's Halloween Party:

Just a couple of my favorites:

Buckets of Candy

Oh my. We have a lot of candy in this house. After I put the kids to bed tonight I dumped their buckets and sorted through everything. I tossed out all the hard, potentially teeth breaking candy and ate a few of my favorites. They still have way more than any two children need and the thing is; we didn't visit all that many houses. I would say less than 15 (a few houses right around us, Dakota's sister's block and Grandma and Grandpa) and yet - we have 3.5lbs (yes, pounds!) of candy. Wait - there would have been more. The kids were binging throughout the day, some last night, I threw out a bunch and eat a few. So let's say 4.25lbs of candy.

That is insane!! And the kids are loving every second of having their own "loot". The happiness it brings is unreal...and a bit frightening to the mommy. That's a lot of sugar highs just waiting to come my way.....and with them bouncing off the walls I am sure to send them outside to run it off. If I'm not careful with how I dispense all this sugar, I'm sure to have our neighbors calling their friendly realtor just to move away from the wacky people next door to hype their kids up on sugar and let them loose in the world. :)

Don't you wish you lived next door to me this week? :) :) :)

Our Halloween

My characters - before heading out.

Kelton the Clown and Dakota the Knight

My Favorite Funny Face

Kaylen the Care Bear

Family Photo

The kids and me

The kids and me

Kaylen enjoying a treat.

It's all MINE!!!

We hope you all had a great night as well. :)

As Kelton Said.....

....even the weather knows it is Halloween!!

Look at the "creepy" fog that rolled in this morning. :)





I actually love, love, love mornings like this. When I got up at 7, it was 34 degrees. Brrrrrr......and oh so perfect for Halloween!

Halloween Party

Today was my MOMS Club annual Halloween party. My little Care Bear decided to ditch the Care Bear in favor of Kelton's old puppy costume and I have to say, it was nice to have a little puppy for the third time (Kelton was a puppy when he was 18 months and again at 2.5. His choice - we had a different costume for him though I can't recall what it was. Oh wait! Pooh Bear? I don't know...something cute. I know he was Pooh and Kaylen was Piglet on Kaylen's first Halloween but I think the Pooh costume was big enough to cover two years. So yeah - I'm going with Pooh.) Anyway - she was darling and she really got into character by barking at people when they talked with her. After the party we went to pick up Kelton and she was the hit of kindergarten pick up! :)

Halloween Popcorn Balls

I made Halloween popcorn balls this weekend. And yes, *I* made. I know this may come as a shock to those who know of my incredible dislike for all things kitchen/food related but really, these suckers are so easy and sooooooooo good that I just had to have them. The rest of the family was busy with carious things so that left me. So I went in there and just whipped 'em up. Sadly, a mere 36 hours later, I've eaten most of them but YUMMY!!!!!!!

If you are looking for a quick and oh-so-delicious Halloween treat, make these!!!

Best Ever Popcorn Balls

PS..I added the candy corn - it's not in the recipe. Just add a good size amount and roll with it. :)