Happy Halloween 2013!

It would be an understatement to say that my kids love Halloween.  Actually, they can hardly wait for it and countdown to it every year.  The big decision was to decide what to be this year.  

Hailey decided to be a witch again this year.  I was extremely glad since I absolutely LOVE this little witch costume we got on clearance a few years ago.  She is so darling!

We even spiced it up and bought some glow-in-the-dark green hair to add to it.

And of course we had to write BOO on her cheeks - that's a must in her book!

Zach decided to be a vampire this year.  We found this costume online for pretty cheap and he was thrilled.

He didn't want anything special done with his hair ...

... but we found some fake blood to have dripping from his mouth - scary!

 Tate chose to be Buzz Lightyear.  It really wasn't a fair choice since his options were costumes we already had, but lucky for us, he loves Toy Story, so he was more than excited to see that as an option.  The costume is still a little bit big, but he was thrilled and I'm thrilled that he'll more than likely be happy to wear it next year too.

He was so cute, it just makes me realize how big he is getting!

Here's a quick picture of all 3 of them before Zach and Hailey headed off to school.  Love these 3!

Half an hour later, Tate and I were sitting in the school gym watching the Halloween Parade.  Last year we weren't as prepared with the camera when both the kids came by, so this year we paid extra attention so that we didn't miss them.

Here comes Hailey!

She was so cute and was all smiles!

Tate was so excited to see her, he was jumping up and down yelling her name!  She was so sweet and waved back to him!

 Here comes Zach!

They were all walking so fast, it was hard to snap too many pictures, but I actually got pictures of the front of him this year!

Tate was quick to get his attention too and was so excited to see his brother.

Zach even slowed down so I could get a good picture of him.

Later on that evening after dinner, we took to trick-or-treating the neighborhood.  The kids were so excited and were basically running from house to house.

 This was usually the scene - the two older kids way up in front and the little one a bit behind.  But they were great about waiting for him once they got up to the door.

Yes, it was another successful Halloween.  Mom and Dad were just about as worn out as the kids once the evening was over.  Good thing it's a whole year before it comes around again - I think we all ate enough candy to last at least that long!

A Few Random Pictures

Just a few random pictures of the day to day at our house the last little while.  Tate and Hailey love to sit together and read or draw pictures.  Sometimes they play school and sometimes they are just being together.  It's so cute to watch the two of them.

Papa made Zach some new shelves for his room and they look so good!  We especially love the extra space that is up and away from a 3 year old's roaming hands!

Tate has recently fallen in love with doing puzzles.  Every day he spends an hour or two on the floor putting together some of the puzzles we have. 

I haven't gotten a picture of it yet, but usually he does all that he has and lines them all up along the end of the kitchen and living room floors.  He sure loves them!

Just another few items that make up the day to day life of our family.

Nana and Papa's Halloween Party

Nana and Papa always have a Halloween Party in October.  The kids look forward to this party all year long.  There are so many fun activities and they get to play, play, play!

The first item of business was to head to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins.  I forgot to take some pictures, but they had so much fun walking through the fields and picking out the perfect pumpkin to bring home.  Then they ran through the corn maze about a hundred times!

Once they got home and did some other fun halloween crafts, it was time to decorate the pumpkins.  The little ones had a table all to themselves and had a blast painting their pumpkins.  Tate of course chose green and Libby had pink and purple.

Tate was focused for about 2 minutes before he decided he was done, but it was cute watching him concentrate on getting his pumpkin just right.

Hailey was all about the polkadots this year.  She painted her whole pumpkin white ...

... and then added pink and purple polkadots.  She was having a blast on the same table as Jocelyn and Mylee.

After Tate finished with his pumpkin, he informed me that he was so super, super hungry!  So we had to go in the house and find a snack to tide him over until dinner.  We found a sugar cookie and he dug right into it!

As you can tell, he enjoyed immensely!

Zach decided he wanted to graduate from painting his pumpkin to actually carving it.  So he and his Dad worked on it for about an hour.  Zach did most of the work, which he loved, even pulling out all the yucky innards!

Then he set to work carving it.  He went back and forth between a manual saw and a battery powered one.

At some point during the day, Uncle Taylor thought it would be hilarious to wrap our car in caution tape.

But the joke was on him since the kids threw a bunch of tape on his truck too!

There was also a game of dress the dads as mummies.

Almost everyone had someone to wrap up!

I think all the kids enjoyed this just a little bit too much!

But all the guys were good sports.

Hailey and Jocelyn really had fun wrapping up Jeremiah.

After the mummies, it was time to get dressed up and go trick-or-treating.  Our kids were so cute as a vampire, witch, and Buzz Lightyear.

Here are all the grandkids with Nana and Papa.

It sure was a fun party and the kids had a blast!  Thanks Nana and Papa for such a great party!

Tate - Itty Bitty Football 2013

I made the mistake of telling Tate I was signing him up for Itty Bitty Football about 3 weeks before it started.  I don't know what I was thinking because it was a nightmare of those 3 weeks with him asking about 100 times a day if it was time to go to his football!  

How we survived that 3 weeks, I'll never know.  But at long last, the day came when it was time to go.  We arrived and found out that his team was the SF 49ers!  He was so excited, he could hardly stop smiling.

I love Itty Bitty because they set up a bunch of stations around the gym at our community center and teach the kids all of the different skills in the sport.  One of the stations was kicking the football, here Tate is getting ready to kick.

They also do a bunch of warm-ups before they get started, here is is doing some pushups or something like unto it.

Here's another station where they were lining up and running down the field (or across the gym).  Love his little stance!

Another station where they were throwing it to the kids and having them throw it back.

I literally have a ton of videos that I took because the pictures just don't do the whole experience justice, so I'm attaching a few of some of the things he did.

Here he is running the football.  He was supposed to run across the gym and back, but as you can tell, he couldn't help running around the cones (multiple times)!

Here he is running through the hoops.  This one was hilarious to me!  He's got pretty good coordination for a 3 year old!

Here he is catching and throwing the football.

Here he is running around cones, he was the only one that got what they wanted him to do from the start.  Pretty smart boy!

And last, but not least, doing jumping jacks.  Why is it always so funny to watch little kids do jumping jacks???  Sorry this video is sideways, I accidentally filmed it that way and can't seem to get it turned!

And of course the last day, they pull out the parachute.  The kid absolutely love this and I can't blame them.

Tate thought it was the best thing ever!

After waiting so long, it seemed that Itty Bitty was over before we knew it.  But Tate had a blast and I had so much fun watching him.  He reminds me so much of Zach when he did Itty Bitty.  

I came right home the last day and signed him up for Itty Bitty Basketball for January - but you can bet that I didn't tell him!  Nor will I until the day of, I don't think I can handle days and days of asking if it's time for Itty Bitty!

Way to go Tate, you did great and we sure are proud of you!

A Lawncare Specialist in the Making

I don't know what it is about mowing the lawn that excites a 3 year old boy, but there must be something.  Tate has been obsessed with "mowving the lawn" as he puts it this year.  

He can hardly wait week to week when the boys mow the lawn and he is right out there with them with his lawnmower ...

... going back and forth, following them around.

And of course you can't forget about trimming!

It was too cute to watch him this year.  

Most of the time when he would go out back to play, he'd inform me that he was going in the "backyark to mowv the lawn."  I guess there were just days that we needed it done and he couldn't wait around for Dad to get home to do it!

Love this little guy and the funny things he gets into!