Monday, November 10, 2014

Halloween play group, pumpkin carving, trunk-or-treat, Halloween night

 Time to get the rest of October/Halloween blogged.

random picture: Brooklyn playing school during nap/quiet time.  Her favorite thing to do right now is play school.  I love how she lines them all up and they each have a chair.  

Our ward did a Halloween themed play group.  My friend Allie put it all together and did a great job.  The kids decorated Halloween sugar cookies, went "fishing", there was a photo booth, and tossed bean bags in the hole.







We carved pumpkins that night for FHE and invited Tal and Alison over to do it with us (or mostly to help us :))   I carved out most the guts of 4 pumpkins, but Brooklyn and Jake each got their hands in there and helped.  Brooklyn thought it was cool.  Jake, not so much.  He kept asking me to wipe his hands. 



Then it was Tal and John's job to carve...the free handed everything and did a good job.  The kids were happy with how they turned out.  I forgot to take a picture of the finished product.




random picture:  Brooklyn having a play date with her friends Madison and Reese.  They all had babies under their shirts and asked me to feel them kick :)  

another random picture:  Brooklyn took a pumpkin to preschool and painted it.  She insisted on picking the perfect spot outside for it.  I didn't realize she was only in underwear until I checked on her.  She was out there for a solid 15 minutes.  Good thing we have really nice, understanding, non-judgmental neighbors. 

This year our ward didn't officially do a trunk-or-treat because it was stake conference that week (along with the temple open house) and I guess there is a rule you aren't allowed to have any organized church activities that week.  So my friend Rachael put together an "un-organized" trunk-or-treat in the church parking lot.  There was still a good turn out and the kids had fun going through all the cars 3 times.


This was the first year we took the kids trick-or-treating on Halloween. (except when we took Brooklyn at 9 months).  We went to our bishops neighborhood and had so much fun.  Arizonians sure know how to do Halloween!  Tons of houses were decked out, some had music playing, some were handing out drinks and bottled water, and everyone sat in their driveways with a big bowl of candy.  The kids got tons of candy and we were only out for an hour.  The weather was perfect.  We went with our friends Jon and Mandy.  The kids were so cute at saying "trick-or-treat...thank you...happy Halloween" every time they went up to someone.

When we got home they dumped out their loot (my favorite thing to do as a kid) and picked one to eat.  They happily shared with John and I and everyday since ask for one piece a day.  

Holidays are so fun with kids!

Friday, November 7, 2014

Tolmachoff Farm

The Saturday before Halloween we went to Tolmachoff Farm with Jon, Mandy, Reese, and Jensen.  It is a fun place - pumpkins to pick (which we didn't..$8 for a tiny pumpkin), bounce house, corn pit, slide, water pipe duck races, animals to pet, corn maze.

It was super crowded and 95 dang degrees outside, but we still had a good time. 

Remmy - almost 5 months old

Jake - 2 1/2 on the left; last years picture on the right (I guess I like pumpkin shirts and converse shoes :))


Brooklyn - 3 1/2 on the left; last years picture on the right


happy thing spent most of the time in the carseat





I didn't read the sign until Jake was petting the pony and it nipped his hand.



They loved the corn pit!  Jake, Jensen, Reese, and Brooklyn


 giant spider web made out of rope to play on

 2014

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

MWU trick-or-treating



These two were cuddling and giggling on the couch together, watching a show.  It was the cutest thing.  They sat like this for half an hour.  I think they love each other.


The year for Halloween, Brooklyn was Alice in Wonderland (or Alison Wonderland as she called herself), Jake was the mad hatter, and Remmy the rabbit.  I borrowed the costumes from Jeannette.  Brooklyn fit perfect.  Jake's and Remmy's were big, but we made them work.

Brooklyn - 3 1/2

Jake - 2 1/2

Remmy - 5 months

I tried to get a group shot but it wasn't very successful


Our first Halloween activity was trick-or-treating at Dad's school, one of my favorite.  Midwestern does a great job of having fun, family oriented activities during the holidays.  We met up with friends  and the kids went to the different buildings trick-or-treating.  They had bounce houses to play on outside, along with food and games.

My favorite was Jake - every time he would pick a candy he would show it to the person giving it to him and ask "ok?"  He had to double check each time that it was okay he took it :)



family picture outside after trick-or-treating

We tried to get a big picture of all the kids but that didn't happen.  I wish we had a video camera of all of us trying to get our kids to be happy and cooperative.  You can tell that Brooklyn is in tears.  I told her to smile or I would throw away all her candy...ha ha, oops!  I obviously just made it worse.  She was so tired.  Jake just stood there saying "cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese."


love these three

makes me laugh every time.