Everything Else Related to Halloween

I'm not really into carving pumpkins (I think because we've been living in humid climates where it only takes a few days for the pumpkin to turn disgusting and moldy), but Russ asked about it this year, so I picked up a pumpkin at the store for Monday's family night activity.

Russ made the girls do the dirty work (except Brenna, who refused to touch any of the inside goop).

While Russ carved, Kaylee practiced her photo-bombing skills (thank you, Studio C).

We named him Chuck.

We had Halloween activities going on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday night. This pic is from Tuesday, and was the only night Brenna wore her clown nose. She couldn't keep it on. The following night we painted her nose instead, but on Halloween she didn't want anything done with it. So I'm pretty sure most people guessed her costume to be a scarecrow or a hippie by then. Oh well. 

"Mary had a little lamb" was not fond of her bonnet.

Gypsy

50's Girl

Clown

Russ, unlike me, always likes to wear some sort of costume. Your guess is as good as mine in terms of what he was going for this year.

Hope ya'll had a very HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Halloween Eats

This year I tried to be a fun Mom by making lots of Halloween themed food the last week of October. Most items were a success, though there were a few failures as well. 

We are still new enough in our neighborhood that we don't know everyone on our cul-de-sac. So, we decided to deliver some holiday cookies to the 11 other houses on our street for our family night activity on Monday. The cookies were a WIN with the neighbors, and my own kiddos. 

I found this adorable recipe for Candy Corn Quesadillas that I decided to try. My kids eat quesadillas all the time, so I figured they wouldn't mind some cheese, crushed Doritos, and sour cream on top. Wrong. This was my biggest FAIL of the week. Russ and I ate them, and everyone else ate up the few pieces I had left plain for McKell.

We've done Mummy Dogs in the past, and I think they're fun and tasty (definitely a labor of love though, especially if you buy cheap crescent roll dough that falls apart). The Mini-Orange Pumpkins and Banana Ghosts were pulled from a friend's Facebook post. Easy and cute and the kids all love fruit. WIN.

We've also done Pumpkin Pancakes and Spider Sausages in the past. Ashlyn doesn't like pancakes, so I wasn't planning to make any for her. Russ doesn't care for chocolate chips, so I was planning to make some plain pancakes for him. And when I asked Kaylee if she wanted plain pancakes, or pumpkin face pancakes, she said plain. I only made a few pancakes with chocolate chip faces for me and Brenna and I patted myself on the back for catering to everyone's wishes. But when we sat down to eat Kaylee and Ashlyn both grabbed one of my jack-o-lantern pancakes. I was like, "What!? I specifically asked each of you what you wanted, and you did NOT want one of these pancakes." So, in the end they were a WIN, but I was sad I only got to eat one of them. Boo to fickle children.

But hooray for holidays and doing fun things to celebrate. :)

Pass It On

Here's another favorite article of clothing that has now been worn by all 4 girls.

General Conference

We always look forward to General Conference weekend. But there are times when I feel like it's complete chaos - noisy kids, crazy messes, fussy babies, etc. This time around, however, was AWESOME. I felt like all the kids, even McKell, were super good. They didn't sit quietly on the couch taking notes during all 8 hours, but they did listen some, and they did take notes some, and they didn't leave my house a disaster, and they didn't go crazy. So nice. I felt like I was able to pay attention to nearly all the speakers. 

The 3 older girls have "General Conference Journals" and special pens
that only come out during General Conference weekend.

I'm always trying to come up with activities to keep everyone entertained. This year I printed off and laminated pictures and names of the First Presidency and 12 Apostles. I put them all on a poster, and on other posters I had labels for each session. When someone spoke, their picture and name got moved over to the appropriate session heading (I had extra papers to write in the names of other speakers, too.)

Russ is especially fond of these weekends, since it means he doesn't have any church responsibilities to take him away . He loves spending the days at home with all of us.

Pics from the Park

Look Who's Walking Now

September Wrap-Up

So here are a few miscellaneous pics from last month.

Brenna decided to be a baby in her doll stroller. Luckily she's still petite enough that she didn't crash through.

McKell is definitely my most adventurous baby.
She was pretty thrilled when she figured out how to climb up on this little chair.

Then she thought she'd try a bigger chair.  Happily, she has not yet accomplished this feat.
(However, she was a terror on the playground the other day - scaling the slide and climbing over EVERYTHING.)

Ashlyn still provides plenty of silliness. And for those of you who think my house is always clean, this picture is proof to the contrary. :)

This is how McKell usually entertains herself while I'm making dinner in the kitchen.

Here's Brenna's sunflower picture hanging on the bulletin board at the preschool.

Someone around here really likes playing peek-a-boo nowadays.

Russ was travelling for work quite a bit during September, but he did manage to be home for his own birthday celebration. When I asked him what he wanted for dessert his response was, "my own mango".