Happy Halloween!

It was a drizzly "All Hallow's Eve" this year - but that didn't stop us.  My boys had made a discovery a few weeks back.... "Mom" says they. "Did you know that on Halloween, people go door to door and get CANDY?!?!?!"  It's true.  I had kept that little fact from my children for NINE YEARS, before the cat was out of the bag.  It's just - October is cold, you know?  And they get plenty of candy from the parties, so... why ACTUALLY go Trick or Treating??? They were all excited about this new door-to-door thing, and I tried to evade it even further by grounding them for a laundry infraction (hiding it instead of putting it away).  But, because I'm a wimp of a mother, and shouldn't even be allowed to wear the Mommy name-tag - I caved.  Totally caved.  Just like every parenting book says you should never do.  Mommy fail for horrible parenting, but Mommy score for not making her kids cry on Halloween.  Whatcha gonna do.

 

Reagan announced, approximately one hour before we were to hit the school Halloween party, that she didn't WANT to be Glinda the Good Witch, which is what she had been planning for... I don't know... 4 months or so.  Sorry sistah.  Can't change your mind this late in the game.  Not. Gonna. Happen.   But she whined and wailed, and, as we all just discovered in the previous paragraph- I'm a total wimp.  So I sank even further into my cave-hole.    She got to be a zebra fairy for the school party, as long as she agreed to be Glinda for the Chassell evening party.  Which wasn't a big deal, because she just raided her dress up clothes and threw together everything that had stripes.  Worked for me.  Tears avoided, but good-Mommy-card revoked.    I DID convince her to leave the sponge-rollers in her hair for the vast duration of the day, because with the humidity at 105% (it's possible here, I swear), I knew those curls wouldn't last if we took them out a moment too soon. 

 

Quinn was none too happy about his costume for the evening party.  He had dressed as a wizard for school and Treat Street last week, but let his mother talk him into being an Emerald City Guard for the evening event.  He just KNEW that no-one would recognize what his costume was supposed to be, and he would just be the dumb guy with the green hat.  I assured him that every living person on the entire planet has seen the Wizard of Oz, and there would be no mistaking his identity.  He was glum as he paraded around the party, but... Mom was right.  The judges knew he was from the Land of Oz, and awarded him 2nd prize in his age group.  Listen to your Mama, kid.  Reagan won 1st prize in her age group, and the children came back rich and happy.  We ended the evening by reading "The Hobbit" around the fire before bedtime.   All in all, not a bad day. 

 

 

 

 

AND.... POOF!  Zebra fairy morphs into Glinda the Good Witch!

Nine years into the Mommy gig, and the kids go Trick or Treating for the first time. 

 

Chess and the 4 Year Old

The boys were about the same age as Reagan when Rob first taught them how to play chess.  Reagan keeps bringing the board to Daddy and begging him to teach her.  When I asked how she did, Rob said "Alright, I guess."  I mean, it's CHESS.  I suppose we can't expect much more than "alright" from a 4 year old, eh?  I think she just likes playing with the horses and queens.

Halloween Treats

These Monster Cookies are going to visit Mrs. Hainault's 4th Grade Classroom come October 31st.  That is, if they survive that long.  Cookies seem to mysteriously disappear around here.

 

And, yes.  I know full well that I have taken far more pictures of these cookies than of my children this week.  But the cookies listen to me better, and stay still when I ask them.

Pumpkin Carving at Grandma and Grandpa's

Because they are awesome, Grandma and Grandpa agreed to let three small people spend the night so that mom and dad could go on a date.  Because they are even AWESOMER, they carved pumpkins with them.  Here are the results...

Treat Street

Rob (a.k.a. "The Curmudgeon") may whine and grunt and complain about taking his children out for trick or treating.  But when it comes right down to it... he does the job.  He might even enjoy himself.  Good Dad.  Good Dad.

WHAT?!/!? ALREADY?!?!?!

  The "S" word has returned to the Copper Country.  Way. Too. Soon.  I mean - the leaves are still in full color on the tress!!!  All of this white stuff means we have enjoyed a total of FIVE months without snow.  Spring, Summer and Fall lasted... POOF.  Five months.  

It's going to be another LOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG winter, isn't it?

Enjoying Fall

The leaves are starting to fall... can't procrastinate, because it's all going to be gone soon.  I had big plans of taking the kids hiking to view the colors from somewhere up high - some location to take it all in at once.  Of course by the time we got home from church, and unpacked groceries, and ate lunch, it just all seemed like too much effort to load up again to head out.  So, instead, we explored the woods behind our house.  It was like entering into a whole new world... the kids' world, where every turn held a "fort", each clearing had it's own specific name.  The woods are their territory, and they shared it with me.  I loved it.  At one turn in the path, past the "field of ferns", Quinn announced that we were in "deep secret" territory ("I call this the dark dungeon, Mom"), and photos were forbidden.  I snuck a few anyway, because it was too pretty back there not to... Colby distracted his brother for me so I could take the photos. He said it was only fair, since they spend a good deal of their time sneaking things around ME.  Thanks for that, son.