Halloween!

We started the morning with a costume parade at James' school.

Isabel started her morning by dressing in last years costume! (She stayed in this ALL day - deciding to give up the sleeping beauty costume.)
My little pumpkin!
Here's the two of them waiting and watching for James to march past in the parade
There he is! After the parade, the kids danced the monster mash and purple people eater for us. It was fun! The school had also built a maze in the gym for the kids to explore during PE. James talked about it ALL afternoon!
The kids getting ready to head out for candy
Wyatt pumpkin
Izzy Cinderella
James Ninja
Mental Note: if you like to pass out candy to strangers on Halloween, don't move to the country. We had ZERO trick or treaters this year. BUT, I have decided this is actually a good thing! First, it's a save in $'s otherwise spent on sugar. Second, we can board up the ranch next year and JL can walk around with us!

Lucky for us, we happen to live near enough to a neighborhood that is known for being fabulous on Halloween night. We met up with a group of our friends and sent the kids out!

The neighborhood didn't disappoint.! It was like stepping back in time! All the homes are styled like a quaint, old-school neighborhood. Big porches, hanging eves, picket fences - it's cute just on its own. But on Halloween, everyone pulls out decoration upon decoration and the streets are lined with children! It was fabulous! Spooky music was playing at nearly every porch, the occupants dressed in costume sitting in rockers ready to heap out loads of candy to the kids!

See what I mean!










Everyone had a great time!!

Pumpkin Carving

Today we carved pumpkins for Halloween tomorrow!
James was fascinated with the pumpkin guts
And the pumpkin seeds.
Izzy did NOT like the icky of the pumpkin guts
But she got use to it and then dived right in
Although after a while, she wanted it OFF her fingers
Once they had drawn their faces, I carved them up.
I think they turned out sooo cute!
Wyatt inspected our work once he woke up from his nap :)
Izzy's pumpkin - she wanted a ghost!
Wyatt's pumpkin - he wanted round eyes
Mine and James' pumpkins. James made his have a super spooky mouth!
After our carvings, James helped Daddy hang up the rain gauge he got for his birthday. We're hoping to fill it soon!!

JL's B-Day

Today we celebrated JL's birthday! He took the day off work so we could party in style. Originally the plan was to take the boat out, but the weather had other ideas, so we settled to some early Christmas shopping and lunch at his favorite restaurant. :)

He thought this was a great ranch hat ... if we were in Iowa
Can't get enough chips'n'salsa!
Once the kids were all home, it was time for presents!


Then Bowling!!

Isabel loved bowling this time around. Usually she tires after just 2 frames, this time she went strong into the 7th. She also came in 2nd place on score!!
James always loves to bowl! He is very focused on his aim and getting the ramp set just perfect before he rolls the ball.
Wyatt is our cheering section. He also likes to make sure the bowling balls are all lined up nice and pretty for us :)
After bowling: CAKE!
Make a wish!

Happy Birthday Dad! We all love you!

Sunday

Most of the day was spent in a sugar coma. When we were coherent, we were at church. I got a new calling (1st Counselor in Primary) which I am SUPER excited about!

In between my sugar naps, I did manage to snap a few pictures I wanted to share....

THE very first thing all the kids did post church was dig into their candy collections.
E looked particularly pretty at church today.
Somewhere along the day, she dug into the costumes and put on the pumpkin hat. She then proudly walked up to me and said "look Mom - I'm growing a skem!" (That is her word for stem.) It cracked me up! Not to mention she is adorable!
Just incase I had hoped to snap out of my sugar trance, JL produced a fabulous Turkey off the smoker for us to enjoy for dinner. It was wonderful! I can't even describe it - so flavorful and tender! Oh my gosh it was good!

Saturday

Little League ended for the season this past Saturday. It was tournament play, which basically meant, you play until you lose. Our first game started at 11:30. We lost, so we didn't go on to play at 2. But if you ask James, he'll tell you that he won the baseball tournament. :)

Each kid on his team was given a trophy after the game. His coach also gave each boy a signed baseball and a bunch of treats. How can you not feel like a winner? James seemed to really enjoy the season, so we hope he'll want to play again this spring. JL really enjoyed being the ast. coach. He's thinking he may want to coach this spring.

James last at bat
Here he is with JL waiting for the go ahead to score a run
James with Coach
So proud of his trophy!
Wyatt being Dad
After playing on the ranch for a while, it was time to get ready for our church chili cook-off and trunk or treat! This is something my kids look forward to each year. Generally they get more candy here than they do on Halloween! It's ridiculous! But they are in kid heaven, so I figure what's a little candy here and there...

Wyatt declined to wear the costume I had hoped he would be. Instead, he was all for the little pumpkin costume!
All of us in our costumes
I'm pretty sure I never saw Wyatt without something in his mouth the entire night! Here he is chomping down on a brownie after eating two bowls of chili.
And here he is at the end of the night eating a few M&M's from his candy stash
Here's our trunk decor
Isabel and James picked each decoration and chose where it should go. They wanted our trunk to be the spookiest!