Halloween Heroes and Champions!

My Halloween post is late.  It's impossible to keep up with everything this time of the year.  The main reason for my lack of posting is because I recently accepted a full-time job in the Education Department at SKyPAC.  I have been fortunate enough and prayed longingly for the "right" kind of full-time job.  My position couldn't be more perfect for me, and my director Andee Rudloff is simply wonderful.  I love what I do and feel incredibly lucky to work with youth and teachers in the visual and performing arts. YAY!

Halloween came fast and furious.  We took our church group for an annual Halloween parade for our neighbors next door at Grant Village.  The residents always love seeing the kids and are so generous with their goody bags and candy distribution. Isaac decided early on that he wanted to be Chuck Norris.  I wasn't exactly sure how to pull that off, but I love Vistaprint.  It's one of those online marketing/promotional sites which offers products (business cards, note cards, t-shirts) cheap.  I designed him a Chuck Norris shirt:

The shirt coupled with a bandana and some USA flag leggings (thanks Karson) and you have Chuck, or Bruce Springsteen, whatever, it worked and he liked it.  Karson was determined to be a skin suit.  I can't imagine dressing up in anything more awful than a skin suit--it's constricting, fits tight--a nightmare in my opinion. With those kind of strikes against it, I wanted to make sure that Karson would like it before purchasing it. She went to the big orange tent, tried it on, loved it and wanted it.  Fortunately, she found a a fellow skin suit lover at church.  Her friend Tanner was a black shadow skin suit--I especially love the fro.

 I thought Miles was going to be Luigi for the 3rd year in a row.  We have a slew of costumes, not sure why?  I'm thinking I must have picked up a couple post-Halloween when all the costumes go for 70% off.  I started asking him the rolodex of costume choices: wolf ninja, power ranger, zombie doctor, Luigi?  He got super excited when I said Luigi, like it was all he ever wanted to be.  However, he is a costume switcher and at the last minute chose a Swamp Monster.  The third child is usually the most flexible =).

I decided not to run around the school this year like a crazy maniac going from class to class and missing every "fall" party in the process.  I planted in Miles's class and enjoyed watching him and all his friends!

Singing and dancing to "Dem Bones".

Miles and the ladies...he loves 'em.

Halloween was a bust this year in Kentucky.  The weather was crummy.  Every county within a 20 mile radius of us switched trick-or-treating to Friday night.  Not Warren County, NOPE, they didn't want to switch it, thought it would conflict with to many other events going on that night.  SO, many neighborhoods throughout Warren County switched to Friday.  It worked out perfectly for us because Karson actually had a volleyball game the night of Halloween.

It wasn't just any game either, it was a tournament game.  The Spikers had already played two other tournament games. and this particular one would put them in the Championship game.  It was a biggie, and we WON! I decided to purchase vampire fangs for all the girls--thought it would make for a cute picture.  This picture wouldn't have been quite as good if we had lost.  Lots of parents brought treats in for the girls.  It was an exciting and different way to spend Halloween night.

HERO ALERT:  Karson got a bracelet loom for her birthday and has been one determined girl when it comes to churning out those suckers.  She has gotten the basics down but decided to go for the gold and make one of those floral-starburst bracelets.  She watched videos and worked hard on it for three solid days.  When she went to remove it from the loom, it was a bust.  She erupted like a volcano and at one point launched the loom through her room.  I felt so sorry for her--all that time and mini-eruptions here and there didn't yield the beautiful bracelet she had dreamed of.  NOW, this is the kind of man I married so be jealous...I told Matt about what happened via text that morning.  Later that night, he sat down with the loom, watched the video and was able to construct the starburst bracelet--it took him about an hour, but it was priceless.  What a man!

The Spikers made it to the final game on Saturday at Warren East High School.  We were playing against Set For Life, a team that had already beat us in season play.  We won the first game, they won the second which took us into the final match.  I wish I had better news, but we didn't win!  Booo!  It was a tight game, and they ended up beating us by two points--a tear jerker.  Karson was so disappointed and crying.  Those kind of losses are so hard.  However, the team showed a lot of class, were good sports and never tore each other down--that's always a WIN in my book.  We enjoyed watching these girls play for the last couple months.

There is NO transition between volleyball and basketball which started this week.  Karson moved straight into three nights a week of practice from now until Thanksgiving.  Isaac is also playing this time, and his practices fall at the same time and same place.  Great odds!  Go Hawks!  Go Spartans!  Pictures coming soon!

My 11 Year Old Pumpkin

Does celebrating a birthday in October get any more exciting?!? ~ There are endless options for parties, the weather is generally pleasant, sweets are in abundance, leaves are changing, mums and pumpkins decorate many homes and the list goes on. Karson is at the end of her volleyball season but still had three games scheduled for the week.  One landed on October 22nd which meant having a party on her actual birthday was out.   She also had a game Friday night and Saturday morning.  I wanted to try and squeeze her party in last week instead of waiting until this week with fall/school parties and Halloween.  I thought a pumpkin painting party would be PERFECT, and after looking at the schedule, figured Thursday would work as well as any.  My girlfriends and I love have pumpkin painting parties around the holiday, and I just knew a bunch of 10 & 11 year old girls would love it too.  

I churned out some invitations and pasted them on brown paper bag backing (love the way they turned out).  It was quick and cheap. I also attended a party at Jackson's a few weeks ago and was able to get some cheap pie pumpkins for $2.  I already had acrylic paints and paintbrushes.  I decided to purchase some a few accent pieces like pom poms, sequins, jewels, googly eyes and a few extra paints for more variety.

The weather was super cold last week.  I had planned on doing the pumpkin painting on the back porch because my patio table is rather large and more accommodating than my kitchen table.  However, the freezing cold wind and weather prevented that from happening.  I moved the paint station in the kitchen which worked out fine.

Karson had her hopes set on an ALL GIRLS party.  However with two little brothers in the mix, that doesn't always happen.  Matt texted me early in the day and told me that his dad was going to come and pick them up (Matt started his bowling season and isn't around much on Mondays and Thursdays).  I knew Isaac would be more than happy to get out of dodge.  Miles, on the other hand, woke up that morning talking about the party, the GIRLS and asked me over and over again when the girls would be getting to our house.  He couldn't wait!  Debbie came over to pick them up, and we couldn't convince him to leave.  Isaac told him to protect their room and darted out the door.  Miles hung around for a little bit of the party.  Colvin came by a little later and picked him up (even though he really had zero desire to leave--stinker).

I fixed some simple finger foods for the girls (sandwiches, smokies, chips).  I got a little carried away with the sugar.  I decided not to get an actual birthday cake.  I got her a small one last year and none of the girls ate it.  I went for the mini-cupcakes which were a big hit.

Blessed with amazing friends.  Love this group of girls!

The party lasted about two hours.  There were points during it that I couldn't even tell I had eight girls in the house.

And, then, there were points when I could. 

And, then, there were points where the make-up came out.

We had a fun night of celebrating and are thankful for the 11 years we've had with our special FIRST born child.  Karson received lots of cash for her birthday this year.  Honestly, it was the best gift since she's been saving up to buy an electric scooter.  I'm thinking we'll be making a trip to TRU real soon!

Miles Turns 7

Miles celebrated his 7th birthday on Thursday.  There's nothing more exciting at his age than a birthday.  He counted down the days and would tell me (even while we were at Disney) exactly how many days until his birthday.  I think he needs an advent calendar of his own for the month of October. He was smiling ear to ear when he woke up that morning.  We immediately got dressed and ready.  **Sidenote:  Thursday was a whirlwind.  Plano had selected that day for parent/teacher conferences so I had to find a way to schedule three separate conferences AND host a birthday party that afternoon. This would be easy to do if Matt hadn't started bowling this month, and the team practices land on Monday and Thursday each week. Did our  mention my lives are crazy, busy this month???**  We actually had to be at school at 7:45 because I had a conference with Isaac's teacher.  We up bright and early and got to give Miles his birthday gift.  I think he and Isaac managed to get each and every package opened and played with before we left. 

Can he get any cuter!?!?  Ms. Ferry was putting on his birthday hat when I got to her classroom that morning.  I wanted to let her know that I would be bringing donuts to the class that afternoon.  But first, I had another teacher conference to attend with Karson's teacher at 9:15.  I managed to get all three of my conferences in that day somehow.  

We are fortunate to live close to Chaney's Dairy Barn, and I thought it would be the perfect place for a party this year. I asked Miles what kind of cake he'd like and his answer was like music to my ears, a chocolate cake.  Woo hoo.  I love a good chocolate cake.  However, I didn't really have a party "theme" so I did my best to try and figure out what color scheme and idea would go well with Chaney's.  I went with a cow patterned theme.   Since our local Wal-Mart bakery is under renovation, I didn't want to take a chance on ordering my cake there.  I chose Kroger.  What an excellent choice it was, and I will probably go there in the future.  The bakery people are super helpful and attentive.  The cake was also delicious and as affordable as Wal-Mart.  I think the cow cake turned out adorable.  I was also able to find some brown and white table cloths and paper plates at Mighty Dollar.  We got complimentary balloons with the rental space. Brown, white and red were in abundance along with bandanna patterned napkins.  It was the perfect place for a fall party.

Little did I know that the weather was going to actually turn cooler this week--why, hello fall.  The day started out real rocky.  The skies were gray and overcast and a light drizzle was falling.  I was keeping my fingers crossed it would clear up (it had rained the ENTIRE day before).  The forecast said it was supposed to clear, but it certainly didn't look that way.  Fortunately, around lunchtime, the sun started shining, and all the clouds started to roll out.  Whew.  Chaney's is designed for outdoor play--there is not much to do inside the dairy barn itself.

The kids had a blast playing at Chaney's.  I think they were all just excited it wasn't raining. They were running all over the place.  Once all the kids arrived, we got to go on a hayride.

We even got to see and pet a baby calf.

Our wild crew!

My life!

Happy birthday to you Miles! 

Miles must have set a record of some sort for opening up presents faster than anyone.  He couldn't wait to open those presents, and I held him off for much of the night because I knew it would be fast and furious (and it was).  We are so fortunate to have such loving and generous family and friends.  Birthdays are a wonderful reminder of how lucky we are and how good we have it! 

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We spent this afternoon working on carving our Halloween pumpkin.  It's right around the corner, ya know!  Everyone in the family had a job.  Miles and I worked on carving the top and getting all the insides scooped out.

Isaac, the artist in the family, drew the face for our Jack O'Lantern.  He did a couple of sample drawings on notebook paper and let us pick which one we liked the best.

Working at hard at drawing the perfect face.

Karson and Matt did the carving of the face.

SPOOOOOOKY!