A Night of Trick-or-Treating

Halloween Night is always so pumped up for the kids....they always think it is going to be the best night ever. I even remember as a kid....it is almost as cool as Christmas Morning for the kids....not so much the adults. But no matter the circumstances, they always seem to make the best of it.

First of all Grandma Nanny wanted to come and see the kids before they went trick-or-treating, so we had to hurry and get them ready, cause Nanny was on her way. So we hurried and got the kids ready, Nanny came and brought the kids a treat, and then we had to wait an hour or so before it got dark. I have this fetish with not letting my kids go till dark.....Cause Matt, as a kid, use to go trick-or-treating right when he got home from school.....EMBARRASSING! Where was Nan when Matt would go trick-or-treating after school? Or is Matt exaggerating?

We took some Halloween pics, and then rode the 4-wheeler down to the neighbors. So when I said the kids always make the best of the situation on Halloween, it was because the weather was not so great. It was sprinkling all day. When we went to meet our neighbors The Bundersons, there was no rain, but by the time we took more pics and waited for it to get darker, it had started raining pretty good. So we did the whole....drive in a car, from house to house, with all the kids shoved in the back. It was hard getting in and out of the car for prego mom, so Matt did a pretty good job of taking Casen door-to-door and not complaining. I did go to a few house, cause I wanted to see the kids and how cute they were. It was not raining too hard, it was just raining the whole time.

Casen was so cute.....he would run up, dragging his bag the whole way to the door and he would try to say Trick-or-treat, but it would come out as TRI-TREE. Then he would say Thank you. It was cute. And if someone put the bowl out and let the kids take their own candy, he would just keep taking and putting it into his bag. Hilarious. No limits. No manners. I love that age.

Cade was also quite the trooper. I was laughing. He reminded me of what Matt would have been like as a kid....first one to the door, first one to the next house. I had to keep reminding him it was not a race and to have fun with his friends. And Corey looked so cute as a little cowgirl too. She had fun too....and no complaining because of the rain. AMAZING!

After the kids bags were full, we both went home to our separate houses for a bit. I fed my kids dinner, REAL FOOD. And then we went to our other neighbors house for hot chocolate and cookies. We stayed there for about an hour, let the kids play while the adults talked, and then we were ready to go home and get the kids in bed. All in all, the rain sucked, but the kids had fun and that is all that mattered. I was excited to go walking from house to house, but for some reason the weather has not been cooperating with our plans this month! At least it was not COLD. That is the worst, when they are all bundled up in coats and you can't even see their costumes.

School Halloween Carnival

So today was the school carnival and my kids wanted to go. They had been hearing about it at school and we had never been.... I had also been hearing about it around the neighborhood...."It is so crowded, hot, sweaty, long lines, etc." But is Halloween and Carnivals really for us as adults or the kids? Most of the stuff we do with our kids, is not so fun for us. It is fun to see them getting excited because they are having so much fun. Anyway, we decided to go and brave the confusion. We tried to go a little early to fight some of the crowd.

First of all, I got to dress Casen up in his little dragon/dinosaur costume and he looked so freakin adorable. I was in love with him all night.....so first of all let me put this in there really quick...being pregnant and due in February, I keep thinking that Casen will not be my baby anymore. As I rock him to bed at night and snuggle with him, I keep thinking he is growing up so fast and once the baby is here, he will seem so grown up. So I told Matt the other day, that when the baby does arrive, I made a conscious decision, I want to remember to put the baby down, and make sure to hold Casen too and enjoy him before he grows as big as my other kids. So anyway, last night, as I dressed him up and watched him running around in his little dragon outfit, I was in love. He looked so freakin cute. He looked like this FAST LITTLE DINO running around. So funny. And everyone loved his little outfit. He was almost grown out of it. He was taller than I thought and everything was a little stretched. And he did keep his hat on for quite awhile.

But we got there and it was not too crowded... we ate some dinner...pizza and nachos...so healthy. And then by then, we started to see some of our neighbors and friends. So the kids started to get in lines and play games, and eat cotton candy and all that. It did get a little sweaty and hot and my prego legs were aching and I was craving for a chair. But we made it through....with only a few tears...from a competitive sister who was not winning any games and only getting tootsie rolls and not prizes. She is so competitive sometimes, it drives me crazy. Anyway, we ended up staying a couple hours....the kids showed daddy their classrooms, they even got to get their fortunes told. We waited in a 30 minute line for fortunes and they both came out forgetting their fortunes. The only think they could remember was that Corey was going to have 4 kids and Cade 1. But it was fun to see a few friends and see all the kids dressed up. But I was exhausted and ready to come home and get comfy. I think the kids had fun!

And then this morning....so cute...the kids were practicing trick-or-treating and showing Casen, our 1.5 year old, the ropes of trick-or-treating. He was too young last year and he had the swine flu last year, so this will be his first year trick-or-treating. He is so excited. He was even saying "Trick-or-Treat" while practicing this morning. I am excited to see him trick-or-treat tonight. I can still remember Cade at his age, trick-or-treating and what a kick we got out of it. Cade would just raise his hand in the air until the person at the door would put it in his hand. So freakin funny! I am a little nervous though, cause we are going to stay in our neighborhood this year, with all the HILLS and I hope I don't go into labor. Maybe I will make Matt bring the 4-wheeler and take me to the top of each hill and walk down....

Halloween Dress-Up Day @ School

So today was dress-up Halloween Day at school and the kids always love that. My 2 older kids decided to be a cowgirl and cowboy this year and I loved their costumes, but the only thing I am not loving.....was Cade's hat. It came with his costume and so did not fit. It was too small. So we went out and found him another one today for actual Halloween and for the school carnival tonight...cause a hat can really make a costume. But at 8:00 in the morning, when costumes are not fitting, there is not a whole lot you can do about it. Anyway, they both looked cute and I love taking them to the bus stop, every year at Halloween, to check out the other costumes the kids and their parents have created or found. So we met the cousins at the bus stop and took a cute pic. Jaice's costumes are always so fun....his mom his so creative. Cade kept talking about Jaice's costume and how much he loved it. I think Cade really thought Jaice rode around on that scarecrows back all day. He asked me how did Jaice fit in those baby Jammies? So funny! But they both came home excited to tell me all about their day and what kids were wearing and what they got to do. Halloween is always so pumped up, just like the other holidays, and then it is here and gone so quickly. My kids have already had so much candy and Halloween is not even here yet! TOMORROW BABY!

Love Dressing up my Kiddos for the Holidays

Corey had dance class twice this week and got to dress up in her Halloween costume and bring some treats. We are really getting good use out of her costume. I think this week, she will have worn it 4 times, for different events. So getting my moneys' worth. But she had alot of fun and looked so cute. And of course, Cade and Casen love to be in all my pics too....hard to get Corey alone.

I love dressing up my kids, so I bought Corey a cute little Halloween shirt and tights that she was looking forward to wearing to school. Cade had a few Halloween shirts too that he wore all week, but by Thursday he had worn them so many times, I had to put a stop to wearing it again that week. So we stuck to orange and blue stripes for Caderman. (If you are thinking I am obsessed about clothes, you are right? I love to shop and match outfits for my kids. It is a hobby I have developed....a hobby that Matt does not love!)

I also bought the kids some jammies for Halloween, which they looked so cute in and smelled so clean after their baths. I have started giving the kids baths at night and even though I am exhausted at night, Corey and Cade can bathe on their own, so I just have to tend to Casen.....but it has made it so much easier in the mornings and our mornings run so much smoother without baths......especially in the winter when the house is a little chilly in the mornings....and getting out of a bath when the air is cold, is no fun! I especially love Casen in his little skeleton jammies...those tighter jammies look so cute on babies. I just love em. Oh and not to mention his glow in the dark and he loved that!

Winning an Award for Creativity.....WHAT???

So as you know, from our previous post on BULLSEYE the Horse, we are just not a very crafty family, but GUESS WHAT? My kids won 1st place at the Greenville Pumpkin Decorating Contest. Can you believe that? Their mascot is a dragon, so we decided to make a dragon pumpkin. We spray-painted it green, put on a few face pieces, got one of dad's socks and stuffed it and painted it green for the tail, and Corey's idea was the red toothpicks for spikes, on the back. So it was not too much work, just a little preparation and THE THOMPSONS actually won an award for creativity. Craziness. I can't tell if I am more excited about winning or my kids?

Cade came home from school, half day, and told me that him and Corey won the pumpkin contest. I did not really know what he meant because he does not get all the details, but when Corey came home later, she told me that 1st place was MOST LIKED. So I guess the kids voted and they liked ours the best. Then most creative was 2nd, most funny was 3rd, and so forth. Corey said she was so excited. She was crossing her fingers when they announced it over the intercom. I was so happy for them....And Casen got to be my little helped...carrying to the pumpkin to and from school this week....a little tricky with a belly in the way and holding a 1.5 year olds hand.

Random Pics

So these two pics were taken by my 2 sister-in-laws and I just thought they were so cute and I couldn't leave them out. The first pic was CRAZY HAIR DAY at Greenville Elementary. And I was out of town....So I left crazy hair day up to Grandma Nanny, who was babysitting, which was a little scary. But she did it. She did what they wanted, they were happy and that was all that mattered. Lynley made sure my kids were appropriate and that she didn't have to make any last minute changes due to unhappy kids...she snapped a few pics and off to school they went. And they loved it. My kids love to do all the Dress-up days. Lynley did say that Cade had spray paint in his ears, his nose, his forehead, and even his boogers were red. But he was happy with it, so she left it. And Corey was also pleased with her UPDO. Sad that I missed it, but at least I got a pic of it.

And the 2nd pic was so cute too. I was over at Mandy's getting my hair done and the kids were playing outside. They were so cute! We looked outside and saw this and she snapped a pic. She said that kids usually fight over who gets to drive the Mustang, but they were all content this day on who was driving and where they were all sitting. My kids love this little Mustang car and they are asking for something like it for Christmas. They are fun, but so Pricey. We will have to see what Christmas brings this year....

Kids Halloween Craft Party

My kids love to do crafts and so as I was looking through this Oreintal Trading magazine, I kept seeing all these great crafts, but they only came in packages of 12. And they were so cheap. So we decided to invite the older cousins over and a few neighborhood friends to join us in these crafts.

We just had some fun junk food snacks, about 3 crafts for the kids to put together, and a few games. Oh and don't forget the awesome Halloween music. I think the kids loved the games, like most kids do. And most of the kids liked the crafts too. We only had 2 adults to help with crafts, me and Mandy, so I had Corey and Cade and Jaice and Brenna helping the other kids with their crafts. They all turned out super cute. We made a Haunted House Foam Frame, a cute paper plate black cat, and Halloween masks....pumpkin, cat, and witch masks. The kids all had fun. But I was sure glad I kept the party to 2 hours and not 3. I thought about doing it for 3 hours, to make enough time for all the crafts and games, but at 1.5 hours in to the party, some kids were done and asking what else we had planned. It is amazing how fast paced kids parties are. And there wasn't even too bad of a mess afterwards.

It was so cute to see my nephew Jaice and how helpful he was with Casen. He was helping me watch him and keep track of him and keep him entertained. And I looked over one time and he was helping one of Cade's little friends glue his craft together. It was cute! What a great helper.

My kids said they had alot of fun. Mandy and Sherri stayed till about 7:00 PM.....keeping me company. Our husbands were all hunting for the weekend. After they left, I cleaned for a few hours, put my kids to bed, and then I crashed too. It was a hit!

Pumpkin Walk Field Trips

I decided this year to meet Cade's Kindergarten class at the Pumpkin Walk, with Casen and to walk around with this class. The Pumpkin Walk is a really cool event that North Logan holds every year. It brings tons of people to it. Anyway, being pregnant, I did not walk from the school to the walk because I am trying to take it easy. So we were waiting at the park for Mrs. Petersons class to arrive, and when I saw Cade I just laughed to myself. It was so cute. Everyone in the class had a walking buddy they had to hold hands with, on the way to the walk. So most partners were boy-boy or girl-girl, but when I saw Cade he was holding this cute little girls hand, and I just thought it was adorable....that he wasn' too embarrassed to do that. So I said Hi to him, his class took a few pics, and then as they started the walk...it was like I did not exist. He took this little girls hand again and they walked around the different scenes with their class. It was so funny. I asked him who is little friend was and he told me it was EMMA. Well she sits at his table in class because he talks about her all the time. So then it was even cuter.

I kept laughing to myself, that he did not really even need me there. Corey pays alot more attention to me when I show up to her events and she wants to push Casen around in the stroller and show him off, etc. Where I had to beg for Cade's attention. So funny how your kids can be so different. Anyway, we got to see all the booths, and I was talking to a bunch of the other moms. And one mom I talked too, was Emma's mom and we were joking about what we should do about them....holding hands, etc., but we just both let it go and thought it was so cute and funny. I guess her little girl talks about Cade all the time too. And we were both joking about why we even came, that our kids were not paying attention to us. So funny! Towards the end, they noticed us again and came and hung out with us for the last 10 minutes or so. And that is when I ran into Corey's class. I had no idea Corey's class was even going, so that was a surprise, but a nice surprise. So I said good-bye to Cade's class because they were headed back to school, and then I hung out with Corey's class for 15 minutes or so. It was a fun day to see them with their friends and classes and to get to see all the awesome booths. That is when Corey told me she thought our horse was cool until she saw all these other peoples' creative ideas. I think my kids are realizing I am just not creative in the crafts department.

It was fun to see our neighborhoods scenes....TOY STORY and A BUGS LIFE. They turned out really cute. Some of the other ones we saw were Charlie Brown, Polar Express, Madagascar, The Muppets, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, How to Train a Dragon, Spongebob, Smurfs, Flinstones, Up, Dr. Seuss,Lion King, etc. They were really great. This years, I thought was especially great!

Not A Creative Bone in my Body

Ok...SO NO Laughting. I am the most uncreative person ever. Every year, our city, North Logan, holds an event called the Pumpkin Walk. It is a huge hit. There is a theme every year and every booth has to fit that theme. Families or neighborhoods or work places volunteer to take on a booth. This year the theme was linked to CARTOONS.....cant remember the actual theme. And all the characters in the booth have to be made with pumpkins, squash, etc. A bunch of families in our neighborhood decided to take on A BUGS LIFE and TOY STORY. So our family got put in charge of making the horse BULLSEYE in a TOY STORY. All the school classes from all over Cache Valley come to see it during the day and tons of families come every night for 5 days or so to come and see it. It is always very crowded every year. Kinda fun!

I have ideas, but they never look like the idea I have in my head. I am so NOT CREATIVE. Our horse took like 3 hours and it looked embarassingly WEIRD. I don't sew so everything was safety pinned....the legs were too long, the head too small. I ruined my kids play horse by spray painting it and glue gunning it. I ended up using the pumpkin as the body and just spray painting it brown. Anyway, embarrassing!

My kids thought it looked good until they saw all the other booths at the walk. And Matt and I agreed, it looked like hell from the very start. After the pumpkin walk, we both kept saying...we should have done it this way. Anyway, it is over with......and maybe next year they will give us an easier character or maybe not ask us to particpate at all. J/K. Matt and I kept laughing...telling the kids not to tell anyone we made it....your friends might make fun of you, etc. But they kept telling everyone. So funny! It gave us a fun laugh. But it was fun being a part of a scene and getting a little more involved.