Halloween Part Two

So, for the Jack-o-lanterns of Halloween . . .

Over the years, Brad and I have wised up regarding the whole pumpkin carving thing.

In years past, we'd let the kids pick out the biggest pumpkin they could find. Each. And then we would all carve a pumpkin. Even the kids. With their "big" ones. Of course, none of the kids could really carve, so we would. And of course, none of the kids would really want to rip out the inner guts, so we would. It would be a really LONG night.

Now, we still let them pick out pumpkins, but we remind them that the bigger it is, the more guts there are to rip out. And we only carve two.

This year we had the boys vs the girls. I had bought one of those pumpkin carving kits with stencils. The boys tried to use them but took one look at how intricate it could be and decided to go out on their own creative whim. The girls, always up for a challenge (or maybe that is just me,) went with the stencil.

It was hard! Truly, not incredibly enjoyable as the paper ripped in the pumpkin juice. However, we were pretty satisfied with the results. I think ours turned out the best . . . but I could be biased. ;)

Swimming

This past fall, the kids took swim lessons at a private swim school in the area.

I must admit, I was pretty shocked writing out the check . . . $750! But, it was for three kids, for semi-private lessons, for 12 weeks. And it was somewhat close to us. (Well, in the country 20 minutes is "close" for an activity.)

I've put the kids in lessons before and no matter how "great" the program was, they never did seem to be able to swim by the end of it. I had almost given up on formal lessons, especially since we spent our first summer here without a/c at my sister in law's pool and the kids were finally starting to swim on their own, but the kids insisted on going to classes. And since I found out that they could all be taught at roughly the same time, on the same day, I was sold.

Jackson, by far was the most improved. When he first started, it was ugly. They had him do the "front crawl" . . . maybe he thought they meant drowning crawfish crawl? I felt really bad for him. (In order to get them all at the same time, he had to bump up to Jayden's class, so in his defense, he had a lot of ground to cover.) However, when they practiced their dives, he caught on right away and was actually recommended to go on in diving. And, by the end of the lessons, he could actually do the front crawl . . . even if it was only for a few "perfect" strokes. I was so impressed.

Jayden was the teacher's pet. He likes to work hard and was always striving to improve. Even though his strokes were pretty solid, he always asked the instructor about what he needed to do next. I think he really enjoyed the class and he has become a fairly strong swimmer now.

Avery, well, she had fun. Her instructor took her and her swim buddy on swims to disney world (aka. around the pool) while they kicked their legs. She was able to do some floats all on her own by the end and even doggie paddled a few strokes without any floatation device. I guess she's still a bit young to expect much more.

All in all, I was fairly impressed with the swim school, though I don't think we'll be back. The pool was a bit run down and always smelled of mildew and now all their suits do too! (Still!) We'll have to see I guess.

Buzz Buzz

Busy, busy.

It's crazy how fast life goes and how little time (or mostly, energy) I have to do little things like keeping up on blogging . . . or even keeping up with family photos!! Eek. I've been so horribly bad at taking photos of the kids lately.

But, good news for anyone who still cares to check back here . . . new posts are in the works. It's going to take a while to dig out of all the over due blog posts (like the boys' birthdays FROM TWO YEARS ago!).

As daunting as it is, it still seems more fun than cleaning my house right now so it might actually get done. The blogging and picture taking. Not so much the house cleaning!

Dog or Rug?

That is basically the question that is on forefront of conversation here.

Guillermo, seems to think that our (once) beautiful ivory shag rug is the place to eat (chili that the kids left out) and then also the place to urinate . . . and defecate said chili . . . in eleven places . . . in soft, squishy pieces.

I worked for over a week steam cleaning, scrubbing, treating the rug with vinegar . . . only to have Guillermo pee all over it . . . before it was even dry . . . or free from cleaning agent smells.

I've been rooting for him all this time (for the most part), but now I think I'm going to favour the idea of having a nice shag rug for the family to enjoy over having a black fur ball who runs away constantly (coming back after rolling in poo), pees and poos on our rug and barks incessantly.

If anyone knows of a good home . . . please let me know. I think his days here are up.

Christmas Quotes

I was hunting for some Christmas quotes online and came across this one and thought I'd share:

Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people once a year.- Victor Borge

(Chuckle.) Well, then Christmas is certainly the time to visit then!

Wish Lists

The final lists have been made and mailed out with two weeks to spare. Here they are. Sadly, our kids don't seem to think that Santa has some kind of budget alotment for each kid. Perhaps there should be a new movie/TV special about how Santa handles Christmas in an economic downturn!

Jayden

Still asking for an iPod touch . . . I wonder if Santa has connections with Apple? I'm pretty sure he doesn't have connections with hp!

Jackson

Apart from his jumping castle and ride on car, there is really little he wants. The biggest things he has been asking for are a chess set and wallet.

Avery

Wants every Disney princess doll . . . even the ones that are lost at the bottom of her closet. And a doll house and doll accessories.

Liv

The easiest to please . . . if you can figure out what her picture is of. However, we took them to Toy'r'us the other day to buy presents for each other (big mistake . . . they only found and whined about what they wanted for themselves) and she went crazy over Elmo.

Seeking Sympathy

Jackson has become tired of always being the one who gets into trouble and has started wanting more attention for the wrongs against him.

The other week he came running off the bus . . .

"Mo-om! Jayden was punching me on the bus! Are you going to talk to him?"

"Jayden, why did you punch Jackson? You know that is not acceptable." I questioned Jayden.

"Well, Mom, it was because he was trying to stick a needle in my ear!"

Up here for Remembrance Day/Veteran's Day we pin plastic poppies to our left chest to show our support. Jackson had taken his apart and found creative ways to get attention.

"Jackson!" I exclaimed, "I don't blame Jayden. I would beat you up if you tried to do that to me too."

"But aren't you still going to talk to him??"

Roll eyes.

Halloween

Happy Halloween! (Well, only one day late . . . and since I still haven't posted about my boys' birthdays . . . from two years ago, you could say I'm getting more "timely!")

Just a quick pic of our cute little octopus! She was the hit every where we went . . . totally worth the exuberant price tag for the costume from PBK. (Eek! I think I squirted some ink thinking about that!)

Trick or treating went well for her first "real" trip out . . . it took about two houses before she realized she was getting candy. And then about 8 before she lost interest in the candy and started focusing on people's decorations. Much like her mom, she was scoping out all the goods, admiring the carvings, the lights, the decor . . . only when she found some she liked, she started stuffing them in her treat bag!

Oh, and if you didn't get enough candy, we've got plenty to donate. I have thrown out a couple of bags and still have about THREE reusable grocery bags FULL. Any takers?? Anyone know of a donation candy bank?? Anyone need some candy for an upcoming Santa parade??

Halloween Food

We are hosting the family for Halloween again this year. So, in an effort to get the kids to eat something before heading out and gorging on sugar, we're trying to get some interesting Halloween food ideas.

Here are some things I have come across . . . (Note: if you have a weak stomache, you may want to by-pass this post!)

First up is an appetizer of alien tentacles.

And monster eye balls.

Okay, not so bad, you say?

How about moving on to the main dishes of fleshworm? Complete with oozing guts?

Mice in blood?

Rat on a stick??

And finish things off with some delightful desserts . . .

Thorax cake (7 different cakes and toppings).

Gelatin heart . . . that oozes blood when you cut into the artery.

Not sure any of these will end up on our menu. But, if you want them on your plate, check out this_site.

Sleepless

At 3:30 am. At 4:00 am.

At 2 pm.

2:05 pm.

2:07 pm.

Last night was rough. Between Liv crying . . . and playing . . . and eating (really??) and Avery falling out of bed and finding her way into ours . . . and Guillermo barking at the cyotes roaming through our neighbourhood . . . few people got any sleep in our house.

Little Liv

Little Liv.

Such a bright light in a day of crazy kids. (Today was a PA day, fyi.)

But as she was feeding cereal to her little lamb, I couldn't help but smile and be thankful for my sweet little kids. Or at the very least, for being reminded how sweet they can be (as wild screams and thumps were heard above for most of the day.)

Cousins

Since I am SO behind on blogging these days . . . here is a snipet of what we did this summer!

We had my brother and his family come out to visit.

It was really fun to see them all (it had been over two years since they last visited) and it was neat to see Eve and Avery get along so famously.

Here are a couple of pictures I snapped of them trading secrets and having an afternoon slumber party!

Avery

Taking some pictures yesterday in our backyard.

Granted, the setting wasn't ideal, but the light looked nice, and it had been a while since I took some photos!

Also, trying out some new editing techniques . . . what do you think?

Reading Buddy

All my kids have been into reading. However, none have been quite as excited to hear the word, "book" as Liv is.

She can hardly contain herself and runs to grab one and hops into her reading chair. Often, Guillermo comes in to hear as well.

Lake Fairy