Halloween 2016

Saturday evening we carved pumpkins. None of my kids will touch pumpkin guts and this makes me mad. It never occurred to me as a child to whine and refuse to do it. Next year I'm not carving anyone's pumpkin or scraping out guts until they give a good honest effort reaching in and pulling out the guts themselves.

 Erica wanted a happy pumpkin.

Henry wanted a scary one with four triangle teeth and a crooked nose.

Sarah wanted big eyes, an upside down nose and lots of teeth. She did a lot of the carving herself.

For dinner I made zombie punch but failed to take a picture. I filled latex gloves I stole from the doctor's office with pomegranate juice, froze them then peeled off the gloves and then put them in a punch bowl full of Sprite. The kids didn't believe the floating red icy hands were really zombie hands but it took them the better part of dinner to guess how I made them.

Justin's pie of the month has nothing to do with Halloween other than the timing. Sunday I made this Atlantic Beach pie which is very similar to the Lemon Pie we all love. Major difference is this has a saltine crust instead of a graham cracker crust. The crust didn't taste like saltines, just extra crunchy. We think we like the Lemon Pie better because it has more filling and we missed the graham cracker taste.

All right, after pie we lit our pumpkins. (We forgot to do it Saturday night)

Here's Sarah as Hermoine before she headed to school. I was a lame mom and didn't go to the Halloween parade. I love to see kids in their costumes and I think it's a timeless school tradition but I did not feel like parking 4 blocks away and waddling to the gym. (Rees is at a dead end street so it's always a pain to park for these school events.) Maybe next year.

I told Sarah some kids dress like this every day for school (minus the cape and wand) and she thought that was funny. She called me later that day and asked me to bring her a shirt because she was dying of heat. I told her no because there were only 30 minutes left of school.

Henry got in his costume right after breakfast which is a good thing because I discovered two seams that had come undone after 6 months of playing in it. Then we had ghost sandwiches for lunch. I didn't get a picture before he ate the ghost head.

Here's my Captain America showing off his moves.

And my little Anna with her Anna braids. She kills me.

My nephew Mason joined us that evening for trick-or-treating. I wanted to stay in my neighborhood since there are tons of town homes down the street so way less walking for me.

Sarah did such a good job looking out for Erica. And when Henry had to go home for a bathroom break, Sarah kindly took his bucket with her.

Erica ate candy constantly the entire time. She was soooo slow since she was unwrapping things while walking. We were always waiting for her to catch up.

This house always decorates their yard so cleverly.

Today while everyone was at school or sleeping, I took all the decorations down. I like decorating for holidays but I think I like undecorating even more.

My kids made these pumpkins. I didn't really want to keep them because they are huge and my kids will probably make new ones next year so I took pictures of them and threw them away.

I like November because Thanksgiving is awesome and you don't have to do anything to get ready except decide what you're taking to Thanksgiving dinner. Oh, and have a baby. This year's November plans include having a baby. Have a baby, look through some recipes. I'm all over it.

Octoberfest

This is how October feels when you're due in November.

Henry's Homemade Calendar

We've been really busy. Scratch that. What I mean is I've been really tired. I guess there's a difference. But we've managed to get out and enjoy the fall.

Sarah's hair on crazy hair day. I didn't get a picture of the back because the bus was pulling up right then.

I will go to great lengths to avoid crowds. I don't know if I have agoraphobia or because taking my kids anywhere is such a test of patience for me, but I always try to go to places when I think they will be the least crowded. So I planned on taking my kids to Jakers right when it opened even if that meant Sarah was late for school.

Here's a math problem. If 1/3 of a cup of kernals makes 3 cups of popcorn, how much popped popcorn does Jakers corn pit make?  Bonus question. How many socks are in the pit?

I was finding corn all over the house the rest of the day as it fell out of their pockets and hems.

This is the best I could do to get a group shot of them.

I took a picture of the bench Justin and I were sitting on because he said it was a cool bench and I took that to mean "I will make you a bench like this someday." Now I have pictures for him to draw up his plans. See how considerate I am?

I have a brazillion pictures of them coming down the slide but I'll just post one of each child. (Can you see the crowds increasing? Ack!)

Those are Henry's socks and shoes on the bale. He's that kid.

Best big sister.

Erica is telling me that the sheep is stepping in his food and getting it all yucky.

Does anyone else thinks it's random that they have a kangaroo among the farm animals?

Hay bale maze. It was for kids but it's actually all my attention span can handle as well.

My family plus a random kid. Good job October sky. Way to be crazy blue.

Then we picked out pumpkins. This is the first one she saw but I made her wait while we checked out all the others. Then we went back for this one because "It is special to me."

Here they all are in our new car. Erica loves it the most because she sits by the window. I like it because no one can touch each other. Erica is very protective of the seat next to her and will get mad if anything is in "baby brother's seat".

Then we took Sarah back to school. I was pulling straw out of her hair as I walked her in.

For fall break, we took the kids up to where Justin parked his parents' trailer for the hunting season.

As soon as we arrived, Justin told us that he left the keys to the trailer in the truck which was at Nate's house 2 hours away. The kind hunters at the neighboring deer camp came over with their 50 keys from various trailers to see if one would work. None of them opened the door but one did open a hatch that Justin was able to crawl through to get inside and open the door.

These people were serious campers/hunters and had been up there for 2 weeks. They wore their orange all day every day, you guys. While Justin was shimmying through some trap door in the trailer, they started talking about hunting to me and I probably had the weirdest look on my face because I wanted to say "Please don't assume just because I'm here I have any idea what's going on and what ridges are what and where deer are or where the elk go at night. " I didn't even dare strike up a conversation with the young mother of the group because even her 1 year old was wearing orange. Nicest and most helpful, resourceful people you'd ever meet though.

This is Justin's ideal deer camp. Multiple families, mess hall, atv's.

Justin put the kids to work moving firewood to the other side of the trailer. They loved it.

Look at the little pioneers.

Then we went to the pond and the kids threw rocks in the water because they can't not throw rocks in bodies of water.

My kids made friends with the boy from the legit deer camp. He's the one in orange. He was always in orange.

Erica was just happy to finally "go hunting with Dad"

He found 2 elk from camp. He's good.

I don't care who you are. That is a good looking kid.

Erica was so excited for smores. Turns out she likes her smores a la carte. Raw marshmallow then a bite of chocolate and then a graham cracker some time later. And more marshmallows.

It was really cold. The chocolate got so hard that it was a little difficult to eat.

Turns out Henry loves to roast marshmallows. He's very patient. He doesn't really like to eat them so I get to.

Then we went inside because we were freezing. The kids huddled up to the vents to warm up. Henry must have drawn the short straw to get the vent by the toilet.

Erica thought Teddy needed the warm air more than she did.

While I spent most of the time reading and napping, the kids practiced sawing. They loved sawing wood more than they loved hauling it. I think they would have made great frontier children.

Friday night I took the kids back home. Justin stayed as the next morning was the opener of the deer hunt (Hey, I do know something!) Erica has been telling me since "Next time let's not leave Dad at the trailer. I miss my friend Dad."

Raising Erica

Living with Erica is an experience. I'm not saying she's the weirdest kid ever but she's definitely my weirdest kid. And it's impressive that someone so small can have such a big personality. I think it's her constant talking. She's chatty the moment she wakes up "I'm ready to get out of my crib! I closed my eyes and dreamed. I can get out now! Mom! I WANT TO GET OUT! "

She likes to show me what she's eating. All the time. I don't like it but she feels like it is important information.

She's pretty independent-minded. I think it comes from seeing her brother and sister do stuff for themselves so she thinks that's just what you do. For the most part it doesn't bother me except for when she makes huge messes.

I find her in strange places in various stages of undress.

Erica; Sarah is special to me.
Me: Am I special to you?
E: No! I'm special to Sarah.
M: You're special to me.
E: And I'm special to Sarah.

I just love her blue eyes.

Her goofiness I can credit Henry. He either taught her everything she knows or just brings it out in her.

She's the best little sister. She's game for any shenanigans he comes up with.

She's grown up a lot in the last few months. No more diapers? Hair long enough to braid? She's on the verge of losing her crib to the baby too. She's handling it all like a champ. I'm the one having a hard time.

She calls these "Anna braids"

Finding her in another random spot. She loves to be on my lap but not cuddled and held. She just wants to talk and be wiggly and play. She'll hang out with me forever just sitting and talking.

She tries to eat like this during dinner too but gets in trouble.

Whenever I get after her or say no "Don't get mad at me. You're my friend."

"I hurt my chin. Candy will make me feel better."

"I have these right here. They're called my eyeballs" (eyebrows)

One day she was being especially goofy.
M: Erica, where did you come from?
E: From my nest.

"Will you put on a song so I can be a dancing baby?"

(Coming in from the garden picking tomatoes)
Henry: Mom, I got four slivers in a row! (points to 4 red spots on his palm)
Erica not understanding what Henry said but not wanting to be left out: Mom! I got pink slippers in a row!

Just in the last day or so she's been experimenting with fake crying and making up things to be sad about. I don't think she's trying to be manipulative (yet) but I don't know what it is she's trying to figure out.

Thursday she got to sit in the truck while we connected it to the trailer. She thought this meant she was going hunting with dad.

This conversation went on for a long time.

I finally convinced her to stay but she's brought it up repeatedly even after he left.

She'll put her hand on my stomach and declare "The baby kicked me. He wants to come out and play with me."

We'll see how she handles not being the baby anymore. I think she'll like it and the baby will be very entertained.