Trick-or-Treat

Happy Halloween!

Where to begin?! Lots of pictures with this post. 

We carved pumpkins for FHE, had a ward Chili and Cornbread cook-off with carnival games followed with trunk-or-treating and then went trick-or-treating with friends on Halloween. I think we have plenty of candy and wore our costumes enough.

I made brain and skeleton face cupcakes for the cupcake walk. The Young Women ran that activity so I got to search pinterest for cupcake ideas. I wanted to do something that I haven't done before. The brain ones were super easy. I even googled how to make flesh colored frosting for them. Love google!

Preston was Buzz Lightyear- to infinity and beyond!!! He was this by default. I had gotten this costume on clearance a couple years ago and so I brought it out and told him he was going to be Buzz. He was fine with it and actually was really excited (even though before whenever I asked him if he wanted to be Buzz he would say no he wanted to be an elephant or Mario or Spiderman, haha). My friend had some Buzz wings that we borrowed and they completed the costume, thanks Kati! Preston would say, "check out my wings" and then spin around to show you. 

Kate was a perfect Clown. She was hilarious in her costume. Every time I looked at her I would laugh. She didn't like me laughing at her because she thought I was making fun of her so I had to convince her that I wasn't making fun of her I was laughing because she was funny. She is wearing a vintage clown costume that my Grandma Joyce made for my Uncle Tom!

Chelsea was a Chicken. She was puffy and so warm in it. Her double chin and chubby cheeks were darling in it. Kate, Lindsey and now Chelsea have all worn this costume. Chelsea was very tired at the Trunk-or-treat activity and fell asleep on Kyle. Then she was screaming in the car while Kyle was handing out candy and I was taking the younger kids around. I had the diaper bag and it had her bottle in it. oops! It was kind of stressful that night. You have the dinner (this year we all ate before and it was WAYYY better, plus the gym is so tiny and was packed), the activities and then the trunk-or-treat and all the kids want/need to do everything. It was tiring! Oh and I needed to help clean up the YW activity afterwards.

Lindsey was a Black Kitty Cat. She looked cute with her tail sticking out and her headband- except she kept taking the headband off. She is at a fun age where she wants to do everything and follow the bigger kids. She had fun this Halloween doing the trick-or-treating and all the games. 

Mummy Bowling

Candyland Cupcake Walk 

Donut Eating

We had to get a picture of these 3 boys because they were all newborns at the Ward activity 5 years ago! The Grossarth's moved back into the area after being gone for a few years so we thought it was awesome how these boys were back together again for Halloween.

This picture is from 5 years ago! L-R: Jeanne Grossarth with Jackson, Kati Owens with Dallin and me with Preston

I had to take a picture of these cute witch shoes that Linda Watson made for EVERY table at the ward activity.

  

Linda also brought all her decorations from home and made the front entrance festive. There's even more than this picture shows. She went through a lot of work! It looked great!

Getting ready to go Trick-or-treating on Halloween! We ate monster brains (spaghetti), monster guts (cottage cheese), witch nails (corn) and twisted witch fingers (twisted breadsticks) for our candlelit Halloween dinner.

We went trick-or-treating with Alyssa, Dallin and Ashlynn Owens in their new neighborhood. We had a Halloween Miracle...it didn't rain while we were trick-or-treating!!! It was raining at first so we pulled out our umbrellas, but after the 2nd house it stopped and it didn't rain again. We could see stars in the sky, it wasn't cold and no rain. It was a perfect night! This really is amazing considering it was torrential downpour raining ALL DAY LONG! The kids had fun. Preston lasted longer than 2 houses (that's how long he lasted last year), but then was asking to go home constantly after a little while. Kate could have kept going, but we stopped her so we could go home. Lindsey and Preston were scared of the boys with scary masks so we had to stay away from those groups.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to our favorite pumpkin patch, The Farm, in Snohomish. Our friends Kevin and Jeanne Grossarth and their 3 kids came with us too. It was a fun afternoon filled with playing in the corn pit, riding the cow train, riding the tractor wagon, jumping off hay bales, going through a hay maze, seeing animals, watching the pig show, going through giant tube slides, jumping on a new bouncy toy and getting fresh yummy kettle corn (after waiting in a very long line). Oh and did we get pumpkins at the pumpkin patch? Nope. Going to the store to get them where they're cheaper. haha! It was cold and chilly with a little wind, but no rain until we were walking back to our car. That's pretty good for over here. 

Wicked!

The Wicked musical is back in Seattle. It has been 6 yrs since I saw it with my Mom and sisters. I heard it was coming awhile ago from friends that were going, but I figured with a newborn we'd not go. Well, as I heard commercials on the radio and listened to the music I wanted to go again! I looked on Craigslist and found tickets for $50 a seat (the seats were great too) which was amazing because when we looked online tickets were $80 in the nosebleed section! So I emailed the person selling them and met her at Olive Garden 15 minutes away from us at 9 pm at night- I had just looked on Craigslist at 6 pm that same night! It happened fast. The tickets were for the show on the following Tuesday night (the 16th). I felt like a drug dealer going at night meeting someone with lots of cash. haha! She was selling 3 tickets so I bought them all and we took Kate. Kate liked it, but got a little restless towards the end. Kyle liked it too, but said Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables were still better. :) What a fun night though! I have been singing "Popular" and "Defying Gravity" since then!

What We've Been Up To

We went to Olive Garden for lunch on Preston's birthday a couple weeks ago and when they heard he was the one that chose to go there (he loves their breadsticks, he ate like 3 there!) the manager came to our table to wish him a happy birthday and told us to pick out a dessert for free. We tried the sugar donut things that you dip in sauces, chocolate, raspberry and caramel. It was delish. Oh and of course they/we sang to him there. He thought it was fun.

Potty training Lindsey, which actually was easier than I anticipated. I hate potty training but really the last 2 kids were really easy compared to Kate (I think I tried too soon for her so it was a long, dragged out process). Knock on wood, but I think she's got it!

Went to my parent's one weekend. My Mom put on a Halloween party for the cousins. What a fun grandma! We played spider web, feed the monster, stick the wart on the witch, made candy necklaces, did the cupcake walk and had a ghost pinata. The kids loved it.

Watching Chelsea grow up too fast. She weighed 15 lbs 15 oz at her 4 month check-up. She's my chubbiest baby. She is a happy baby.

Kate going at the ghost pinata

The main reason we came to my parents a couple weeks ago was to see Sara's new baby boy, Zane. He was born on October 4th so now on my side of the family we have birthdays on Sept 30th, 2 birthdays on Oct 1st, Oct 4th, Oct 5th and Oct 6th. Someone's gonna have to have babies on the 2nd and 3rd to make it a complete week of birthdays!

The kids chillin' with my Dad. I think it's funny how Preston crosses his legs like this while playing the iPad. 

Kate holding Zane. He smells like a newborn and is so little. Can't believe how fast they grow up (don't miss the sleepless nights though! Well, actually I still wake up with Chelsea- ugh, but not as much as a newborn). He's covered with light blonde/reddish hair and is cute. He weighed 9 lbs 8 oz, a big boy. Sara is looking and doing amazing.

Dance Off with Lindsey and Kate to Barbie The Princess and The Popstar movie. The music is kind of catchy, kind of like Katy Perry songs.

Trying hard to sit up...I love her profile- chubby cheeks, double chin and raised eyebrows. haha!

Preston is Five!

Happy 5th Birthday Preston!

We can't believe he's 5 already. He didn't have preschool on Friday so we took treats to his class on Thursday. I love going to his class because the teachers love him and it's such a positive environment. I hear good things about him, instead of negative things, and I feel like he's appreciated there. It's like a breath of fresh air. Everywhere else they don't "understand" him and it can be hard. His teacher, Mrs. Christine, is always willing to talk to me and help me deal with the challenges that I have with Preston (mainly social issues like sharing toys and playing nice with others- which stresses me out!). 

After Preston handed out his cupcakes, we sang happy birthday to him. We stayed for the teachers to hold Chelsea and then stayed for circle time, of course. Lindsey loved it. 

Preston loves elephants and the color blue. I found some cake ideas online and he picked out which elephant cake he wanted. I was happy with how it turned out. Frosting it took forever. It was a big cake. I made the balloon out of rice krispy treats b/c I didn't have a round bowl to cook cake in. The rice krispy was much easier to frost and the kids ate that better than the cake! Go figure.

Kyle helped me hang tablecloths from the ceiling to make a circus tent feel. (Trust me, he wasn't too excited to help me hang them. haha.) It made it more festive at least.

We had a friend birthday party on Friday afternoon. My amazing Mom drove over just for the day (5 hrs round trip!!!). She was excited to see the kids and she helped me out with his birthday party. I loved having her help and company (plus she brings cute decorations, yummy homemade rolls and bread!).

We had Kate the Clown come visit the birthday party. She was hilarious. What a good sister! This picture makes me laugh every time I see it.

Here is Preston, Jackson Grossarth and Dallin Owens. They were born only a few weeks apart 5 yrs ago. What's crazy is Jackson's family moved out of state for several years for work and school then just happened to move back to this area recently! So here they are together again 5 yrs later. We have a picture at the ward Halloween party of these 3 boys in their carseats as newborns. Other kids were invited, but 2 forgot (oops :)), 1 kid had surgery and 1 kid got sick the day of.

We made paper plate clowns. You can see the example on the table. They did really good with this craft. 

We crawled through tunnels and tents, then walked the tight rope, then finished off by sitting on a whoopie cushion. That was my favorite part. Actually, the kids loved it too, but it made me laugh watching them. Sadly though, the whoopie cushion got a hole. bummer. 

We played hot elephant. :)

Our visiting clown told stories. We also fed the elephant peanuts. I painted an elephant on a cardboard box and they threw peanuts into it.

Then cake time!

For his real birthday on Saturday, Kyle took him and Kate to the Everett Children's Museum in the morning. He wanted to go there to play the trains. Then, we all met up at Olive Garden for lunch. When they heard he chose to go there for his birthday (he loves their breadsticks, I think he ate 3) the manager came over to say "hi" and told us to pick out a dessert for free. We were spoiled! He had a fun day. We love you Preston!