Happy Halloween

Excitement!  That one word says it all.  The kids were excited to wear their Halloween Costumes and excited to go trick or treating.

We went over to our friend's, the Kilgers, house for for dinner and trick or treating. 

Dave said trick or treating was the most stressful thing he has ever done.  Ha! Ha!  Five kiddos all going at a different pace plus hundreds of other people's kids out and about.  I am not exaggerating when I say it took all three of us to keep an eye on everyone.

Payton and Breanne led the pack, running from one house to the next, Dave calling, "Wait!" after them.  Lincoln was in the middle after he took his costume off, his spider legs kept latching onto anyone that came within a foot of him.  Janey and Cailyn brought up the rear, Janey fell to the back when her candy bag got too heavy.  So cute!  Ha! Ha!

Payton and Lincoln finished the night by counting and sorting their loot.

Bernal Ward Halloween Party

Tonight was our ward Halloween Party.

We had a slight mishap about 45 minutes before we left for the party.  I was making the soup to take to the party and Payton starts yelling at me from what I thought was her bedroom.  I was in the middle of making the soup and couldn't (or should I say shouldn't) just leave it at the point I was at.  I was little little annoyed because Lincoln was taking his nap and that is what Payton was supposed to be doing.  Grrr.  Anyway, I hollered back to Payton that I couldn't hear her and that she needed to come to me and talk to me.  It was a flashback to that TV show that I am not sure is even still on where the mom is yelling, "Stop yelling, you're going to wake the baby!"  Ha! Ha!  Anyway, she comes out with her dress pulled up and her panties and leggings around her ankles...she had been yelling to me from the bathroom...she didn't make it...she peed in her costume...I was not happy.  Fortunately, our washing machine has a "speed wash" that only takes 30 minutes compared to the normal 90 minutes cycles.  I was barely able to get her costume washed and dried before the party.

The party was great!  My parents, my grandma and her friend Bob, and my sister and her family all came with us.  Lots of games and activities.  Eating doughnuts from a string, bean bag toss, dart throwing, face painting, bowling for pumpkins, a pumpkin walk, and pumpkin decorating.

No dice on the doughnut game.  Neither Payton or Lincoln wanted to do it. 

The bean bag toss was a hit and they were doubly excited when they found out they got a prize for participating.  :o) 

Dart throwing was a toss up, Payton was interested in throwing the darts to pop the balloons but Lincoln was not.  In fact, all Lincoln wanted was a balloon.  Walked right up to the board, snatched a balloon, and wouldn't let it go. At least he knows what he wants.

Face painting. Uh no.  They wouldn't even go up to the table.  Ha!  Ha!

Bowling for Ghosts.  They were all for it.  No one else was in the room at the time and this was a game they were familiar with.  :o)  Again, Payton with her aim...It makes me laugh.

Pumpkin Walk/Pumpkin Decorating.  BIG HIT.  Lincoln just loves those little pumpkins.  They are just his size.  And both of them LOVE stickers.  Dave helped Lincoln with his pumpkin and Payton worked solo on hers.  With Dave's help, Lincoln's pumpkin looked like it had a face.  Payton's pumpkin looked more like abstract art.  I think someone handed her a handful of sticker to choose from and she used all of them.  Ha! Ha!  Like I said, they love stickers.

Dinner was good.  My soup ended up turning out pretty good even with the distraction.  :o)  Oh and they had homemade root beer.  Super yummy!

Couldn't leave a picture of my sister out.  She always has the best costumes.

Trunk or Treating.  Payton appears to be a pro at trick or treating now.  Lincoln is still learning but his picked it up fast.  He actually said "trick or treat" and then said "thank you" after he was given candy.  All by himself!   So cute!

Fun times!

Halloween Parties

Today was Payton's Preschool Halloween Party.  Halloween costumes and Trunk or Treating, what more could a kid ask for.  :o)  I am so happy that Payton and Lincoln were over their sicknesses so that they could both enjoy the day.

Trunk or Treat

Payton's Preschool Class

Payton was so excited to wear her witch costume.  She is so cute!

Today was also our Bernal Ward Halloween Party Play Group.  Yummy Food.  Build a Spider.  Bingo.  Bowling for Ghosts.  Flying Witches.  Doughnuts on a String.  Fun times.

One of my favorite moments was watching Lincoln somehow fit the entire spider cookie in his mouth and eat it with out choking.  He had such a look of concentration as he was chewing and swallowing it.  Ha! Ha!

One of my other favorite moments was watching Payton bowl for ghosts.  She has horrible aim.  I think I may have to come up with some fun ideas to help her out.  Bean bag toss anyone?  Oh well, she certainly had fun trying, over and over and over.  :o)

The Ghosts.

I think the ghost were laughing at her. Nanner Nanner Boo Boo.  Ha!  Ha!

 Other cute moments from the evening...

Linc's turn to bowl.

 

Flying Witches.

Muffins and Spiders

After yesterday we decided it was a good idea to stay home and lay low today.  Payton was so much better today.  Thank goodness.  I wish I could say the same for myself.  :o)  The sinus pressure is killing me.  I think Dave is getting it too.  :o(

I decided I wanted to try a recipe I found for pumpkin muffins.  I either got it from Jillian's website or HungryGirl.com, so they have to be healthy.  Right?  Ha!  Ha!  They were super yummy and both
Payton and Lincoln ate them.  Yay!


Click for recipe.

Payton said a couple of really funny things today.  The first thing was when she was saying the prayer at lunch.  She said, "Please bless all the snot to come out of mommy's head."  Cracked me up.  Then later she walked over to me and I bent over to talk with her at face level and she said, "Mommy, your tummy is really...full."  Is this her way of telling me that I am getting fat?  Ha! Ha! Sheesh, tough crowd.

I finished Lincoln's spider costume while they were down for a nap.  He really wanted to be a spider for Halloween but neither Dave or I could find a costume that we didn't think looked stupid.  So while we were out shopping the other day we found a larger spider decoration and decided we could just some how attach it to his back.  Ha! Ha!  I have to laugh because every time I see this spider I think of how my friend Jessica reacted to it.  Then I think, "Wait, did that thing just move?"  or "Hey, how did you get from the family room into the kitchen?  I don't remember seeing anyone carry you?"  Anyway, I sewed some straps onto the body of the spider so Lincoln could wear it like a backpack.  So far he seems to really like it.  We will have to see tomorrow if he still feels the same way at the Halloween Play Date.

I left the red eye to make him look more scary.  :o)

Home Sick

When it rains it pours...

The kids were down with nasty colds last week which they were nice enough to share with me.  Wonderful!  Although I have had it for several days, this morning was especially fun as I woke up with the worst sinus headache that I can remember having since right before Lincoln was born.  I was miserable.  Dave told me to take a nice long hot shower, some Sudifed, and some Tylenol, and wished me luck with the day.  Thanks a lot!  :o)

Then Payton woke up screaming.  I went into her room and found that she had thrown up.  Nice!  Got her cleaned up and she appeared to be fine.  Maybe it was just a freak thing.  Nope.  She has been throwing up all day long.  Poor kid.  I feel so bad for her.  She looks miserable.  Pale. Dark circles under her eyes.

Lincoln. Lincoln has been our entertainment for the day.  He has been so goofy. Jumping onto and off of the couches.  Dragging his potty into the Family Room...

Needless to say, mommy has been very busy today.

Souper Saturday

Today was a crazy day.  I went from one thing to the next with no rest in between.  Don't get me wrong everything I did was fun, I was just exhausted by the end of the day.

First up, Souper Saturday.  So fun!  My friend Jessica came up and went with me.  I have really missed hanging out with her.  The big project that we worked on was a grapevine wreath with felt flowers.  I am totally a copycat crafter.  I copied the demo wreath in color and kept looking at the flowers Jessica was making for inspiration on my own.  I was a little nervous that I wasn't going to like it but in the end and with a little help in felt flower arrangement from Jessica I love how it turned out.  :o)

As soon as Souper Saturday was over I shuttled Payton over to a birthday party and went to Hancock Fabric with Jessica.  I have got to get to work on Lincoln's Halloween costume...Just not around Jessica.  Ha! Ha!  Fake or not she has serious arachnophobia.  :o)

Got home with enough time to fix Payton's Rapunzel dress before I went to pick her up from the birthday party so that she could wear it to Disney on Ice.

Went to Dinner with everyone going to Disney on Ice.

Fixed Payton's Cinderella dress for Caeden as we were driving from the restaurant to the HP Pavilion.

And for the finale of the day Disney on Ice Treasure Trove.  Everyone loved it.  Payton was glued from the moment we walked through the door and sat down.  Lincoln was even mesmerized for parts of it. 

Dave and I had a little surprise for Payton too.  Initially she had wanted to be Rapunzel for Halloween and then changed her mind to wanting to be a witch.  While she still wanted to be Rapunzel we got her a Rapunzel wig to go with her dress.  We let her wear it to Disney on Ice.  It goes down to her calves.  She was giddy with excitement.  So cute!
 

Pumpkin Party

We have a very busy weekend planned and all of us are at different stages of a nasty cold.  Guh!  So I decided that we needed to forgo our Gilroy play date and rest up for the weekend. 

Tonight was Johnny and Anna's 7th Annual Pumpkin Party.  They always have a big pumpkin carving contest with awesome prizes for the winners.  One of the prizes this year was a Mac Book Pro.  WOW!  Anyway, I thought I would get a head start and gut our pumpkins before the party.  I figured this would give us more time to work on the pumpkins and keep the kids interested for longer.

Payton was not a fan of the pumpkin guts, she cried when she stuck her hand inside...Lincoln on the other hand was brave but not very productive at getting the guts out of the pumpkin only moving them around on the inside.  Ha!  Ha!  It was still fun to watch.

After naps I had a little craft planned for them.  I have wanted to do this little craft since I saw it on Pintrest a couple of weeks ago but just hadn't found the right time.  So I seized the opportunity today. 

Dave got home around 6 and we headed over for the Pumpkin Party.  Yummy food.  Yummy desserts.  We were given the rules for the Pumpkin Carving contest and went to work.  Payton, Lincoln, and I worked on a pumpkin and Dave worked on another.  Payton decided that we should carve a witch.  I think we did a good job.  We found a stencil and decided it was too hard to cut out all the parts of the stencil so just drew it on the pumpkin.  I thought we did a really good job and then when we were done we started looking around at other people's pumpkins.  People do not mess around at this event.  There were so many awesome pumpkins, including my sister's.  She did her freehand and didn't even have a picture to copy.  Just came up with it in her own head.  I was wondering where my creativity went, I guess my sister got both of our shares.  Ha! Ha!

Payton with our witch.

My sister's "Scary Face" Pumpkin.  I think it is pretty awesome.

The party peeps.

Vomit

I have been thinking about this all day.  At what point did I become OK with catching vomit in my hand?

Lincoln threw up on Dave and my bed this morning.  In an effort, to contain the vomit I put my hand under his mouth.  Oh, how I wish I would have and could have caught everything...

Yuck!

Why do I even try?

I have been on the hunt for kids clothes lately.  Both Payton and Lincoln seem to have gone through a growth spurt.  This used to be really fun for me but now both of my children are extremely picky about what they wear.

Lincoln is intent on wearing his Pj's all day and it is a major battle every morning to get him into clothes.  So I have resigned to finding shirts with monsters, dinosaurs, car, etc. on them so he will think they are more exciting than his Pj's.

Payton on the other hand refuses to wear anything but a dress.  Can't even pull off a skirt and shirt combo.  No amount of convincing will change her mind on this.  So there is my mission finding cute dresses for Payton that she can wear to play in .

I feel like I have been successful in finding some really cute things.  I even hunted down some cute shoes to accessorize perfectly.  I showed them to Payton and she was super excited about them.  So why when I told her to go get her shoe did she come out like this? 

 At least the socks matched, right?  Ha!  Ha!

Today was my sister's birthday.  Happy Birthday Jen! 

We all met up at Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  Yummy!  If you haven't checked out their new skinnylicious menu you should definitely take a look.  I had a very tasty Turkey, Bacon, Avocado Sandwich.  :o)

I think we all had a good time.  Payton and Caeden are always so excited to see each other.  They are so cute running towards each other yelling each others name.  Ha! Ha!  Lincoln was having a great time will Julian.  I am not totally sure what they were doing but Lincoln was laughing the entire time.  I love to hear him laugh.

I made Jen a cake.  Do you have any idea how stressful it is to make a cake for a professional cake maker?  It was a lemon cake with lemon drizzle and raspberries and blueberries.  It was pretty yummy if I do say so myself. 

I don't want to take a nap!

I have gone back to the gym!  Today was day 2.  Yay me.  :o)  I have been working out at home for the past few months and decided it was about time to head on back.  It feels good.

Lincoln and Payton are still a little under the weather.  Lincoln even threw up mucus in the car this morning.  Very gross.

I tried to get Payton to take a nap today to which she chanted over and over, "I don't want to take a nap."  She stayed in her room for about a half an hour and then came out and danced around the family room for a while.  Next thing I know I look over and see Payton...

I don't want to take a nap!  :o)

A Quiet Day At Home

Lincoln has been suffering from a nasty runny nose and both Payton and Lincoln are now suffering form a nasty cough. They sound like smokers.  Blahh!  I hate being sick.

We spend the entire day doing this...

And this...

Yes, the TV was our friend today.