spooky dinner and pumpkin carving

John called me the week of Halloween and said he had a surprise.  He said he couldn't keep it from me any longer, but the doctor he is working with bought him a plane ticket home for the weekend!  How nice is that!!  John said the doctor either really likes him or just feels really bad for him :)  Maybe both!  Anyway, so generous of him and something we all needed and appreciated so much.  We kept it a secret from the kids and they were so excited guessing on the way to the airport who it was we were picking up.

Remmy is definitely a daddy's girl and didn't leave John's side all weekend.  She wanted nothing to do with me, which was a nice break for me too :)  I thought this picture was so sweet.  As soon as he got home they showed him our Halloween books and requested he read to them.

We carved out the guts of our 5 pumpkins that afternoon.  We were having dinner and carving the rest of the pumpkins later that night with friends.  I thought carving out the guts before would save a ton of time.  Brooklyn and Remmy loved helping, Jake, not so much.  He picked out 2 seeds and called it good.  

Our good friends, Nate and Kayla Bartholomew, invited us over for a spooky Halloween dinner (Papa Murphy's pumpkin face pizza, salad, fruit) and to carve pumpkins.  They have 3 kids as well and they are all right around the same age, same gender.

Kayla had everything decorated and tables set with cute stuff.  

that is a lot of pumpkins to carve!

Remmy up in their business on the table.  I tried doing an Olaf for Jake and failed miserably.  I had a bad cutting knife, but that is just an excuse.  I was awful.  I ended up accidentally cutting off his head and had to make two huge eyes instead, yeah bad.  John was much better at carving and after my failed attempt I sat back and watched.

I was proud of Brooklyn.  She carved her pumpkin entirely by herself, her request.  I gave her a knife and supervised.  She was thrilled to do it and with the way it turned out.  I didn't get a picture, but she did a great job.

the babies - Remmy (17 months) and Lainey (almost 1)

Kayla had doughnuts and set up the string game for the kids.  The older girls loved it, Jake was just frustrated and wanted to eat his (surprise surprise).  Some of these pictures crack me up.

gave up quick and used his hands

Witches Party 2015

I had fun planning another witches party this year, but also sad that it was my last in Arizona.  I always copy Jeannette's ideas for her party that year, which makes it so easy.

The only stressful part was my backyard that week.  I had a huge mess to clean up by myself.  I worked on it a lot throughout the week leading up to the party.  Saturday morning I woke up to more water leaking in the backyard!  Ah!!  I called my landlord immediately and they came right over to fix it.  I was able to get that mess cleaned up in time for the party.  It was worth being able to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather during the party! 

I did the usual bread bowls and soup (made by friends Alison and Janet), veggie tray, fruit tray, salad, and for dessert my friend Morgan made her delicious cupcakes.  The only food I did was the bread bowls - ordered those from the grocery store.  Easy peasy!  

21 girls came, 30 were invited..so a great turnout!  I love all these women and am grateful to know each of them.  They have made our time here in Arizona so good.

And a few random pictures from my phone:

 

I was working and Brooklyn was supposed to be having quiet time.  She got in my mascara and was so excited to show me what she did.  Oh boy!  She actually didn't do too bad.

Well..two days later, I finished my work and Remmy was still asleep so I decided to lay down.  I walked out to Brooklyn like this (picture on the left).  I surprisingly didn't get mad at all.  I think I was so shocked and just speechless.  I told her she can never do that again though.  She did it with waterproof mascara.  I put two coats of Vaseline all over her face and that got it off.  She took a bath for an hour after that and got a good scrub down. 

Last soccer practice - We celebrated by going out for pizza.  Brooklyn loved soccer and had so much fun doing it with her friends Reese, Lexi, and Gretta.  I'm going to sign her up again in the spring.

ward trunk-or-treat

Tayvri and Remmy - this is Remmy's "cheese" face...love it

And this was AMAZING.  I filled up my whole tank in my van for $20 the other day!  Gas was $1.99/gallon, plus I got 80 cents off per gallon with my frys VIP card.  Sweet!

Midwestern trick-or-treating

My mom drove back to Arizona with me.  It was so nice to have her company in the car and then have her stay a few days with us.  The night we got back, LUCKILY I decided to look outside in the backyard.  I stepped out onto the deck in 3 inches of water.  Our entire backyard was COVERED.  I quickly took pictures and sent them to our landlord.  I tried calling John because I didn't know where to turn the water off.  He didn't answer, was already asleep.  Thankfully my landlords were still up and came right over.  They turned the water off and came back the next morning and found the problem.  A sprinkler had broke - we have no idea how long it had been broken - probably the whole 10 days I was gone.  I got a notice on the front door from the water department that said we had a high usage of water this month.  Last month we used 10,000 gallons (water bill was $80) and this month we used 283,000 gallons!!  Yikes!!  I haven't gotten the water bill yet, but if you do the math....!!

 These pictures don't do it justice - our deck was covered in mud and water was everywhere.

My friend Janet and I did a craft/sugar cookie decorating Halloween at the park for a bunch of kids. She did the craft and I made the sugar cookies for the kids to decorate.

Annabelle and Jake 

The first time the kids got to dress up was for Midwestern's trick-or-treating.  This is one of my favorite events that they do.  The kids trick-or-treat all around campus and they also have games outside, bounce houses, food, crafts, etc. 

This year for Halloween we did "Jake and the Never Land Pirates" theme.  The kids costumes came together really easy.  I just had to make Jake and Remmy's vest and everything else I already had or bought.

Jake as Jake

Brooklyn as Izzy

Remmy as Cubby - the chubby little boy :)

eating their snacks after trick-or-treating - costumes were starting to come off at this point

It was a little chaotic taking 3 kids alone to such a packed event, but we went with friends and the kids were really good.