Happy Halloween

I got up early this morning to help Ryan get ready for work.  He's been planning his costume since last November, when I saw this on Pinterest:

Meet DumbleDora.  It's a mash-up of Dumbledore and Dora the Explorer.  Our version was a little bit different from the Pinterest version.  I made a "smoking cap" (with no pattern, by the way, and having no idea what I was doing) instead of trying to find a Dora wig.  In the Harry Potter movies, it seems like Dumbledore wore a smoking cap more often than a wizard hat.

 And that Dora backpack we have got put to good use.

After school, we all got ready to go to the church Halloween carnival and Trunk or Treat.  We were running behind, and only got a family shot before running out the door to finish getting ready for the carnival.  

 We got more pictures at the church, though.

 Barbie Annie and Barbie Princess Maddie

 Emma sporting the Maori costume.

Elizabeth as Medusa.  Her costume is a white bed sheet and dollar store snakes hot glued to clips.

 I braided Elizabeth's hair to go along with the snake theme.  She was clearly trying to turn me to stone for taking so many pictures of her.

 Jessiela and Elizabeth

 Emma, Amerie (Audrey Hepburn) and Kaylee (Little Bo Peep)

 Tiffany (struck by lightning) and '70s muumuu and hair me

My bangs are horrible, aren't they?  I was trying for Farrah Fawcett hair. This is an authentic '70s muumuu.  All I can say about the muumuu is that it's really bright.  At least I wasn't any brighter than Ryan.

Ryan's beard had seen some hard usage by this point in his day.   

The kids tried hard to get a tummy ache, clearly ignoring my, "Just eat one or two please."

Update 11/3/13  An old lady at church told me today how much she liked my Halloween costume, and how nice and "Hawaiian" I looked.  I just thanked her, as I figured it would be rude to say the muumuu was chosen because it was the ugliest thing I could find.

Preschool Halloween Party

We had a Halloween party at preschool today.  I was a little late in showing up, but at least I didn't miss anything too important.  Here's all the kids lined up in their costumes.

 Annie (Sleeping Beauty), Maddie (Snow White), Savannah (princess), Kennedy (Red Riding Hood), Noah (Pirate), Jaxon (Power Ranger?), and Sean (Dinosaur).

 We played games and sang songs.

Everyone brought something for lunch.

Gwen came too.  It was kinda funny, sweet little Gwen sitting in the corner eating her lunch, as I didn't have a proper seat for her.  She certainly isn't one of my children at that age.  Mine would be wandering and spreading crumbs all over.

Jack o lanterns

Our annual Family Home Evening before Halloween Pumpkin Carving began after attending a last minute wedding.  We carved pumpkins that we grew.  

 Played in the pumpkin guts.

Emma did all of her own carving, and Elizabeth did most of hers as well. 

 Daddy did a LOT of the scraping, and carved Maddie's pumpkin.

 Mom carved Annie's pumpkin, with much direction from Annie.

 (L-R) Annie, Elizabeth, Ryan, Danae, Emma, Maddie

 We carved the backs of 4 of the pumpkins, too.  Annie's A, Elizabeth's E, Dad's Pi (Pumpkin Pie...), and Maddie's M at the end.

I'm A Terrible Friend

I have a friend, whom I see relatively often, and I respect and admire a great deal.  And today I stole something from her, and lied about it.

Before everyone decides to "unfriend" terrible me on Facebook, let me fill you in on the rest of the story.

Today I was helping out with preschool at Tiffany's house.  I had Gwen (who is about 14 months old) with me. Sean is obsessed with Gwen, and is unable to keep his ungentle hands to himself, Gwen did not nap well and was cranky, and I can't let Gwen have her binky because Sean will steal and hide the binky when my eyes are not focused on him.  Oh yes, let's do these crafts and educational stuff while all this other nonsense is going on.  Ha.  It was a rather frustrating day, and I was glad when preschool was over.  

I was in the middle of feeding the kids lunch when Tiffany called.  "Have you seen my keys?" she wanted to know.

Oh dear.  Gwen LOVES keys.  I vaguely remembered Gwen over at the entry table trying to grab the keys left there.  But I could not remember seeing them going anywhere.  She was only there for a moment, because she followed me to Tiffany's room while I was setting up the play and pack for nap time.

Tiffany frantically called two more times.  Were the keys in the diaper bag?  Did they come home with me?  No.  Where else was Gwen playing?  Um... It seems like she was mostly attached to me when she wasn't napping.  I had no idea where the keys might have gone.  I racked my brain, and felt awful.  Tiffany couldn't go volunteer in her son's classroom today, because I am responsible for losing her keys.

Fast forward to tonight around 6 pm.  I was out of town buying gifts for upcoming birthdays.  Walking out of Target, I reached into my purse and pulled out.... not my keys.  

Tiffany's keys.  They do look rather like mine.  How on earth did they get into my purse?  I had stashed my purse in the car, and only brought in the diaper bag when I was at Tiffany's house.  I was perplexed, and doubly ashamed.  Meet Danae, the Worst Friend Ever.

I texted her.  "So, I found your keys.  Can I bring them by later?"

Two hours later, I was on Tiffany's doorstep.  By then, I had more or less figured out how the lost keys ended up in my purse.  I think Gwen had them when she came into Tiffany's room, and I had taken them from her when I put her down for a nap.  I tucked them away into my hoodie pocket (after all, they looked a lot like mine), and promptly forgot about them.  Then when it was time to go, I looked for my keys in the diaper (because that's where I left them), and went on my merry little way.  And later, when I felt Tiffany's keys in my pocket, I dumped them in my purse without really looking at them.

I stood on Tiffany's porch, freezing without my coat, with my explanation and an apology.  Tiffany said she was glad this happened.  While tearing her house apart, she found her missing phone.  And she could stop feeling guilty for forgetting to feed our cat while we were out of town 7 years ago, when the cat was permanently MIA when we got back.

Through the Years

It was picture day a week or two ago, and today the girls brought home their official school picture.  As I was putting the new picture up, I got to looking at all the past pictures.  It's fun watching the age progression.

Elizabeth, starting in preschool and ending with 3rd grade:

 Emma, starting in preschool and ending with 5th grade:

 Then I matched up Annie and Maddie with their older sisters' preschool photos for a comparison.  (Although what I should have done is dig those other shirts out and had Annie and Maddie wear them too.)

Hula Girls

For Halloween Emma really wants to be a "hula girl."  Rather than buy a coconut bra and pathetic grass skirt from the store, I called up my mom and asked for help.  It arrived, in the form of three giant plastic tubs of supplies and choices.  

So, we played dress up while Emma picked out her favorite.  

 Check out Maddie strutting her "stuff."  This is what she looks like when she tries on certain items of my underwear...

 Elizabeth was going for the all yellow look.

 Emma dubbed the pink dress the "Princess Dress" and really wanted to wear that one for Halloween.  I nixed that one, as it was a wee bit too long.  I remember thinking it was really pretty when I was younger, too.  Now it just says "late '80s or early '90s" to me.

Elizabeth, all ready to become the Goddess of the Volcano, Pele.

The kids thought I needed to try on more.  So I tried on the Pink Princess dress:

 It fit more comfortably Before Kids, and not over so many other clothes.  (Can't.... breathe....)  It was also made for my mom, who is a bit shorter than I am.  (We also kept bothering Ryan, who was just trying to do his homework.  "Look, Daddy!")

Thanks, Mom.  It was a fun blast from the past.  The kids loved trying on all the old costumes.

Bill's Berry Farm

While the teachers went to a nice long day of in service training last Friday (after a nice long week of parent teacher conferences), I took all my girls and Gwen (who I have been watching during the day) to Bill's Berry Farm.  We met up with some other moms and kids looking to spend a fun day out.

State Fair

Last month, we went to our local state fair.  And because I am "cool like that," I am now getting the pictures uploaded.

The first thing we did was check out Ryan's FFA display in the Ag Building.

 We played with the other displays.

 Had giant ice cream cones.

Checked out the tractors.

Rode the sky ride thingy.

 Watched the hypnosis dude and laughed a lot.  (Emma and Elizabeth both thought it was funny too this year.)

 And ate an elephant ear.