The Messiest Play Date EVER!

Today the boys and I hosted a "Halloween Sugar-Fest" play date with my moms group, which turned out to be FAR messier than I had ever imagined it would be (and I imagined it was going to be pretty darn messy!). I think there were about 8 moms and 12 kids between the ages of 3 months to 4 years here, so there were quite a few too many kids running around the house at once. Several of the moms brought Halloween treats, mostly consisting of cupcakes slathered with piles of heavily saturated and over dyed black and orange food coloring. Kids, frosting and that much food coloring is never a good mix, which I can now fully attest to. By the end of the afternoon almost all of the kids were running around here with frosting stained faces that wouldn't wash off. Luckily, I was smart enough to have the foresite not to let my kids eat the black ones!


The second disastrous mess came in the form of Trick-or-Treat bag decorating. It really was my own fault for giving shaker bottles of glitter to a group of little kids, but the resulting sparkle storm that is making my back patio shimmer like Dorothy's ruby slippers will make me re-think that decision the next time I want to play arts-and-crafts with other people's kids. Fortunately not too much of it ended up in the house...except for the container that Sutton dumped all over his entire body, but that's a whole other story!


After a few hours of eating and chatting all the moms and kids finally went home, and I had to set about the task of completely re-cleaning the house before the kids woke up from their naps. Fortunately they both woke up in pretty good moods, and we snuggled up together and watched a little bit of Nightmare Before Christmas (or as Sawyer calls it, "Oogie Boogie") while Mitch was playing his first indoor softball game of the season. Tomorrow the boys are going to do some pretend trick-or-treating at Traci's house, so I'm going to send them in a couple of their dress up costumes instead of the Gabba-wear just in case they get it messed up or dirty (which is pretty much guaranteed!), and I'll be trying to catch up on some work and getting the rest of the glitter in the back yard cleaned up! Grandma and Grandpa will be here on Friday for Halloween, and Sawyer is really excited to see them. He keeps saying "I got to show this to Grandpa" and "I wanna tell my Grandma" about everything right now!


P.S. - We won 4th place in the Halloween decorating contest! The prize is a $50 gift certificate, but we're not sure where it's to...guess we'll have to wait and see! Tomorrow night we're going to take the boys for a drive to see all eight of the winning houses. Maybe we'll get some ideas that will help us take it to #1 next year!



Hattie, Sutton & Sawyer playing with Playdoh before the big crowd got there

This was actually the least messy part of the day!

Playing on the swings and making trick-or-treat bags

Sawyer & Savannah engrossed in their work

Poor Savannah had a permanent moustache and goatee from the horrible black frosting!

The frosting on MY cupcakes was totally rad and didn't stain any faces :)

Trunk or Treat

Tonight we took the boys to "Trunk or Treat" pre-Halloween trick or treating at Silverado Middle School in Roseville. There were a whole bunch of cars decorated in this year's theme of "cartoons," and some even had some really fun extras like entire Thomas train set-ups in the trunk of their car or dvd players showing the movies that their car decorations were based upon. In case you haven't heard me mention it a zillion times already, the boys were dressed up as Yo Gabba Gabba characters - Sutton was DJ Lance Rock and Sawyer was Brobee (the green monster). We met up with Hattie (and Holly, Chris and Karen) who was dressed up as Toodee (the blue cat-dragon), and together they all had a blast going from car to car collecting goodies. No one really knew who they were, but we pretty much had expected that to happen since the show is more of a cult hit and not so mainstream. Most of the people thought that Saw was a dinosaur, but I was happy when one guy saw Sutton and said "Allllright! DJ Lance Rock! You look great, little buddy!" They also went bowling with mini pumpkins, played ring toss around toy ducks, jumped in the bounce house and dug through a giant bale of hay to find little toy prizes.

It was a really warm night and their costumes are extremely hot, so I'm glad they were good sports about keeping them on for such a long time. I'm honestly amazed that Sutton didn't even try to take off his glasses until the end of the evening! We all had a really fun time, and they got quite a haul of sugary goodness (which I am currently sneaking into as I type this!). It looks like it will quite possibly be a rainy Halloween evening, so I'm really grateful that we got to have a nice time tonight before the bad weather hits us. Who knows, if it ends up pouring down rain that night, Sawyer might have to end up wearing his fireman costume instead since it's actually a raincoat. I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed that it doesn't rain, because the boys both looked super cute tonight, and I definitely want to show off all the hard work that I put into their costumes one more time!



Just another reminder as to who the kids were all dressed up as



Yoooo Gabba Gabba!



Can you tell that they had both just woke up from their naps lol



Sutton rockin' the DJ Lance look



After weeks of not even wanting to try on his costume, tonight Sawyer actually WANTED to wear it - yay!



Kicking back and relaxing on our way to Trunk or Treat



Our whole Gabba gang! Toodee, DJ Lance Rock & Brobee

Hattie and Saw checking out the Thomas car

Lollipop #1

Lollipop #2

Lollipops, lollipops and more lollipops...

Time for a bounce house break to burn off all that sugar!

Bowling with mini pumpkins

Ring toss - he'd finally gotten too hot in his furry costume!

"Your House Looks SOOO Awesome!"

Our exterior Halloween decorations are finally finished and put up, and not a minute too soon since tonight is the night for the association judging! We've been busting our butts for the past three days getting it all put together, and I'm really happy with the finished results. It's definitely different from last year, not only because it's a new house, but also because we felt like we needed to make it a little more kid friendly since our boys are now more aware of things that are "scary." It should be a great backdrop for Halloween pictures at our playgroup next week!

We've had every kid in the neighborhood over at our house today checking things out and helping out, and I think it's safe to say that they all think we're the coolest people on the block now! Even their parents have come over to hang out for awhile and chat and let us know how much they love the decor - yay! While I was outside this evening trying to take a few pictures, a car slowed down and stopped right in front of our house. I thought it was probably one of the contest judges, but after a minute the guy rolled down his window and said to me, "I just have to say that your house looks SOOO awesome!" before he drove down the adjacent court to pick somebody up. The new neighbors that are moving in two doors down seemed to be impressed as well since they stopped Mitch to talk to him and then slowed down and took another lingering look on their way out. So, whether or not we end up winning a prize, we're the coolest house on the block right now, and that's all that matters LOL!

It's incredibly hard to get good pictures that actually give you the whole feeling and atmosphere of the outdoor lighting and all, but here are my attempts!

My favorite part is definitely the silhouette of the hanging man in the window...which I stayed up until all hours of the night painting last night!

Mitch made our creepy ghost grave keeper. We used one of Jessi's doll heads from cosmetology school to make it look like there might actually be someone inside the costume waiting to scare you!

Here are a few pics of the boys helping to get everything all set up...

Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawr!

Mr. Cool

10/23/08

I can't believe that October is flying by so quickly that I've only managed to post just a few blogs for the month! We've been keeping really busy and enjoying the nice weather by getting out of the house and spending as much time outdoors as possible. We took a trip to the pediatrician's new office yesterday so that S&S could get their first flu shots, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was and how well they both did - Halloween rewards stickers all around! Speaking of rewards stickers, we have also been dilligently working on potty training with Sawyer, and he is now wearing underwear almost all of the time that we are at home with very few accidents (he's not quite ready to move on to underwear for out-of-the-house activities yet, but it's getting close!). I can't believe how quickly he's growing up! Conversations with him are really on a whole different level now, and sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a 20-year old midget LOL!

We're getting ready for the Halloween festivities to begin - this weekend we are going to choose between a few fall festivals and early trick-or-treat activities that are planned in the community (Holly, I'm down for Trunk-or-Treat if you are!), next week we are hosting a pre-Halloween Sugar Fest play group on Wednesday, and then Grandma and Grandpa will be coming for a visit to join us for Halloween night and the following weekend. We want to take the boys up to Apple Hill sometime during that weekend so we can enjoy all the apple goodness after the pumpkin picking crowds have cleared out of there. I can't wait! I need to go somewhere where I can see enough trees and colored leaves to remind me that it's Fall!


Here are some photos of what we've been doing this week...



Aunt Kari decided to spend her birthday working out her arm muscles by giving S&S a blankie ride around Gigi's kitchen - I'm sure the floors ended up squeaky clean!



Happy Birthday Kari!



Nathan brought his new black lab puppy, Lucy, over to play for the evening



Oh no! Lucy stole my blankie!

After three weeks, Smokey has finally discovered Boots the fish

There's no better place to go after the doctor than to the park!

I wonder if swinging will still make him this happy when he's older. Right now, it trumps everything else.

"Look at me. I flying like SUPERMAN!"

Sawyer taught Sutton how to twist the swing up and then spin around on your belly

He was so proud of his new preppy sweater this morning that he actually said "I look SO cute my new sweater. You take a picture of me, please?"

Flashing forward to First Day of School Pictures 2011

Photo Overload - Pumpkin Farm

This morning we took the kids to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm for our annual pumpkin picking adventure. For those who have never heard of this place, it's located out in Wheatland, but I can promise you it's well worth the drive (and the extra gas money!). There are SO many things for the kids to do there - petting zoo, train rides, corn maze, slides galore, old train cars to explore, a wooden train to climb in/on, pig races, a dog show, the cider press and tractors to explore, and of course, the always popular hay bounce. There's also a lot for the parents to do and lots of yummy treats to eat along the way.

We experienced the scariest 15 minutes of my life this morning when Sawyer went up the stairs to the barn slide and then never came down. Sutton and I were off behind the barn playing with a tractor in the rock pit, and Mitch was waiting at the bottom of the slide for Sawyer to come down. After he saw the same kids go up and down the slide more than once, he knew that something was wrong. He went up the stairs and couldn't find him up there either, so we quickly raced around the entire place calling for him, but he was no where to be found. Fortunately, he ended up at the Lost & Found center...I guess he thought there were too many kids upstairs waiting for the slide, so he had gone back down the stairs instead of going down the slide, and then he couldn't find Mitch at the bottom. It definitely felt like a "Mommy Test" to see if I could remain calm during the ordeal, and I did manage to stay level headed even though I was freaking out inside. We were all pretty shaken up, but in the end everybody was safe, fine and glad to have our family reunited.

We had some muffins and carmel apples and tried to shake off the scary experience, and then we decided to take a ride on the train. By that point, Sutton was ready for his nap, and we hadn't even gone into the field to pick our pumpkins yet! As you can see in the pictures, he was getting pretty crabby, and he definitely didn't want to be going on a train ride! We somehow managed to make it out into the field for pumpkin picking, and we came home with four huge pumpkins to carve. It was a long morning, but aside from the few scary and cranky moments, we all had a really good time. Now the boys are sleeping for a little while, then it's off to Gigi and Granddad's house for Kari's birthday BBQ!



We love the pumpkin farm!


The cool kids travelling in style


Sawyer's favorite thing to do at the farm is play in the hay


Sutton driving the wooden choo choo train


Carmel apple goodness


Sutton ate his all the way down to the seeds!


Checking out the cider press in action


Peek-a-Boo!



"I being patient."


Waiting for the train ride


One of the scarecrows on the train ride route



Train ride, train ride, going on a train ride...


Not his finest moment of the day, but he tried to hang in there





The hay ride! Sawyer scooted too far forward to get into the picture :(


Finally - time to pick pumpkins!


Checking out a caterpillar crawling in the pumpkin patch


Hmmm...picking out a pumpkin is a tough decision!



Sawyer's photography skills


Why are these things soooo heavy???


From a few days ago...

Playing with his Halloween kitty flashlight


Enjoying Mommy's chocolate chip waffles


Sawyer modeling the "Baby Legs" legwarmers that Mommy made - on his arms. The lack of pants is due to his awesome attempts at potty training this week. He's doing great!!!