Autumn Festivities

I always dread Halloween. For one, I don't like masked people. Mascots are a huge no for me, so naturally, Halloween is not a favorite of mine. Secondly, I don't like having to stress about what the kids are going to dress up as.

This year however, Halloween has come and went without much stress to be had. Miss Gail didn't care what she was going to be, and ended up dressing up as something different at every opportunity she had. HD was the easy one. He wanted to be a StormTrooper. There was no amount of convincing him otherwise. Because I wasn't buying a costume or putting together a costume for Miss Gail, I felt I could justify buying him his beloved StormTrooper costume.

JP on the other hand, came with a problem we might never know what caused. He was all in to be a cop and utilize HD's costume from last year. When it came time to put it on, there were so many tears. From what I gathered, he could see his chest when he put the top on, not realizing he had to wear clothes under his costume. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to get him to put a shirt on under it, to no avail. When we eventually managed to leave the house for our first event, he reluctantly wore his dark blue cop pants, a long sleeved black shirt, and HD's batman mask from a couple years back. Of course the rest of the batman costume was no where to be found. He wonders why I wanted him to try his costume on a few days prior...

When we did make it out of the house to go to the school's Trunk or Treat, I had two very eager, but calm children and one not-so-happy batman. We weren't planning on going to the event, but the kids realized half an hour before it started there was going to be candy there. By the time we actually got to the school, there was only half an hour left, and most of the candy had been given out already. Regardless, they acted like they had never been trick-or-treating before. When we walked up to the parking lot, I literally had to push them up to the first car. Nerves anyone?

Things to note about this picture: This is Miss Gail's back-up princess dress. We got the first one soaking wet while do facials that afternoon. Her shirt is on backwards, but she insists it isn't. We would have been smiling but we had just seen Moana and the boys told her it wasn't the real one. She wanted to meet her but I heard her speaking Spanish, so I'm not sure how that interaction would have went. HD is convinced Storm Troopers never take their helmets off. Even to eat.

 The next morning HD, Miss Gail, and I walked down to the preschool for their Autumn Party. I love how Miss Gail walked around holding up her pant legs! JP stayed home because "I don't need more candy." I think he was still grumbling from the night before.

 We couldn't have had a more perfect day last Saturday. It was gorgeous out! HD wore his mask for most of the walk, and walked just like a Storm Trooper.

 We were one of the first ones to arrive, and again, their nerves were through the roof. The gym had about 10 games set-up and they wanted nothing to do with them. They would have rather I let them stand in the middle of the gym than play any of the games. I did manage to drag them around the gym to try out all the games before heading outside to the bouncey house and other activities.

 I think their favorite game was the cake walk. They would walk around on number while music played and stop on a number when the music stopped playing. If your number was drawn, you'd get a prize from the dessert table. Miss Gail chose a plate of cookies and cupcakes, where as HD chose a large piece of carrot cake. "It's my choice mom."

I love autumn so much. I love how leaves can bring so much joy! And just look at all the colors! Such a beautiful walk home!

 

 Finally we made it to Halloween where we had a Storm Trooper, a fully dressed and happy Batman, and his sidekick Robin. Batman insisted he get a picture with just his sidekick. He is so sweet to her. I love the relationship they have. Melts my heart!

When it was go-time, the kids sprinted across the street to Al's house. They stood outside for a little bit while my sister and I watched Al sprint through the house to the kitchen to get candy. After going next door to the other neighbor's home, Miss Gail declared, "This is the best day ever!" We made the loop, finishing at "the scary house" before returning home to empty their buckets. On our way up the drive to the house, Robin and I turned around to see a gingerbread man walking creepily up the road towards us. I have no idea where it came from but I wanted nothing to do with it so I shooed the kids up to the door. Once they knocked, the ladies on the other side started scratching at the door. All three kids were frozen. And then the ghost behind them started to play and swooped down toward them. I'm sure they were ready to turn around. After the fact they decided it was the best house ever! 

 Perry had just got back from work as we dumped out our buckets so he came out with us as we walked down to a few more houses before calling it a night around 7:30, afterall I had to get to bed so I could get a little rest before work.

The one thing I enjoy about working the night shift is the extra snuggles I get from my kids. Usually 2 of the 4 nights I go to bed around 6, I have a child join me around 7:30. In this case, it was my little princess-ninja-turtle-Robin who curled up into bed with me. I recall rolling over away from her, only to have her attempt to be the big spoon, as she draped her arm over me. I never want to her grow up!

Siemer's Pumpkin Patch + Red Wagon

While Kile and Chris prepared for Dylan's birthday party, I thought it would be fun to take the kids to pick apples. I think everyone in the family was excited to go! This was the last weekend of the Apple Festival so I figured there were still going to be a few left for picking. I was wrong. Mom fail. 

All the kids were disappointed when we had to pack up in the car. Instead of going back to Aunt Kile's, we went to a pumpkin patch which also had activities for the kids. We went there last year and rode the train but that was about it. 

We didn't buy any pumpkins this year, as we already had some at home, but we did take advantage of the games! 

Hunter and JP had the option of riding the train or going down the giant slide. They chose 30-seconds of fun.

Charlotte chose 5 minutes of fun riding "Little Toot." She was so excited! She waved and waved as they left the station. 

As the train drove around for a little bit, her thoughts about the train completely changed.

By the end, she looked terrified and was overly anxious to get out. Did you have fun? *nods head* Do you want to do it again? *Vigorously shakes head*

Before we turned to go, Perry spotted pedal cars in the corner. I completely forgot about these! They definitely got their ticket worth on these! There wasn't a line of people waiting to use them so the lady let them go around a few times. JP went around once and had to take a break. Hunter could have spent all day doing this.

They attempted to race, but Hunter cheated by cutting through the middle of the track...

They had so much fun! I kind of wanted to try them out too...

Charlotte was mad she didn't get a turn. (She wouldn't have been able to reach the pedals!) We spent about 15 minutes watching the boys go around. By the end of it, Charlotte was almost asleep in Perry's arms. If she had her blanket, she probably would have been,

We weren't the least bit surprised when she fell asleep in the car. We had stay up WAY past our bedtime the night before.

The last time we were in Spokane it was for my friend's wedding. It coincided with Hoopfest downtown. The kids really wanted to play on the Red Wagon, but we said no way. It was much more peaceful downtown this trip. 

The first time she made it to the top of the wagon, she sat like she was going to go down the slide, but later got up and went back down the stairs. Eventually she braved the slide.

I was surprised she didn't fly off the end!

And I made this happen. Hunter hated every minute of it so I didn't have a lot of time to go back and forth between the original picture and their set-up. But hey!

Next time we'll work off of this one!

It's Time for the Corn Maze!

Since I began working in February, our family time has really decreased and I hate it. Recently I expressed I would be okay working one day a week if other people needed/wanted more hours. My wish was granted, even though I'm sure my pocketbook isn't going to be so in love with the idea once the decreased paychecks roll in! 

On my first Sunday off, I suggested we head over to the corn maze. It's become a tradition in our family; one the boys ask about year round. While it was a little windy out, the kids had a lot of fun!

Charlotte loved wandering through the kids' hay bale maze. She was so cute to watch as she navigated to the middle of the maze to get to the slide. 

Not a very good picture, but the slide is a large culvert. Hunter loved it too! As Charlotte became more comfortable going down the slide, she started getting more adventurous by going down backwards. 

They ran into one of many dead ends in the corn maze so I made them stop for a picture. Hunter's eyes are closed in all of them...

After the maze, they did a little bit of free play. Charlotte went back for more rides on the slide, cheating the system and just climbing over all the bales to get to the middle faster. She was so good as waiting in line for her turn too. I don't know that I've really taught her that. She's so patient, unless we're at the grocery store...

We let the kids pick out pumpkins to bring home as well. I was a little surprised with their choices. Hunter picked out a small white one. It's lopsided and can't stand up like a normal pumpkin. JP chose a small orange one, ignoring all the green ones. Charlotte picked out the largest of the kids' and struggled to carry it. Adorable.

JP wanted me to take this picture. You'd think he'd at least smile for it?!

Before we left to go home and watch football, we stopped at the petting zoo. Hunter and JP put their "masks" on to potentially scare the animals. So thoughtful of them...

Charlotte wasn't having much of the petting zoo and preferred if we weren't even there. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon as a family on the couch watching the football games, and me checking my fantasy team over and over. I also surprised Perry a few days before by buying all the ingredients for his dad's chex mix called "Nuts and Bolts." He had the boys help him whip up a batch the night before and then they all nibbled on them throughout the day. It was a perfect afternoon!

Missoula Maze with Grandma

Because Hunter had been having some issues listening on the bus, his bus driver and I created a rewards system for him. The other week he earned his reward of going to a movie at the theatre. Per his request, we invited Grandma to join us. We planned on going to the movie on a Saturday, but since the maze isn't open on Saturdays, we had Grandma come to town early so she could join us at the corn maze. 

 Each year there is a different theme to the maze. This year it was all about mining. 

 We all took turns leading the group, switching off when we hit a dead end, or if the boys kept taking us in circles. 

 I was fortunate enough this year to not have to tote a baby around on my chest. She was very content hanging with dad. 

 In the middle of the hay bale portion of the maze, someone volunteered to take a group photo of us. We almost had an extra person in our picture because he wasn't paying enough attention to the fact that we were taking a picture...

 At the end of the maze, we snagged a few more pictures before the boys ran off to play. 

 I took Charli to the kid's maze and she had fun wandering around through the bales. 

 Since we were on a time crunch to get Perry, Grandma, Hunter and JP to the movie on time, we had to cut our time there shorter than I would have liked. I made sure we checked out the petting zoo before we left though. 

Although the weather was a bit chillier than we would have liked, I know everyone enjoyed their time there. I hope we can go one more time before it closes for the year!