Halloween 2014

We had so much fun this Halloween!  This was the first year that we did a family costume theme and we made the costumes as well!

The Incredibles!!!

We got the idea to be The Incredibles earlier this year.  I mean, c'mon, we have our very own "Baby Jack Jack!"  I am so glad we decided to do this.  It made Halloween just that much more fun...for all of us!

I wasn't sure how to go about making the costumes and Jason said, "red sweatsuits!"  I figured I'd find sweats for the kids with no problem and struggle finding ours.  Wrong!  I found adult ones right away and the kids ended up with red, cotton shirts and fleece pants, ha!  The logos are made of fleece and I stitched them on, piece by piece, by hand.  Jason made the masks out of black duct tape.  It was a joint effort!

The Saturday before Halloween the Lion's Club in a neighboring town had a family night.  There were crafts and hayrides.  We met a couple of friends there and had a great time!

D, Joe and L

On Halloween day, Amelia's school had a Halloween parade and then the kindergartners had a short program for the parents.  We asked Amelia if she wanted a separate costume for school since being an Incredible alone isn't very much fun and she jumped at the chance to be, what else, a cat.  

It was the cutest little parade and the songs they sang for us afterwards...priceless.  

Amelia and her best friend, J.  These two go all the way back to 4K!

We found out this year that our kids just aren't big into trick-or-treating.  They were excited at the first few houses but then wanted to be done.  We narrowed it down to it being dark so next year we are going to make sure they each have their own flashlights.  For now, I don't mind the lack of candy in the house ;)

We're already brainstorming what we can be next year!  I forgot how much fun it was to dress up!

Long Weekend

I had last Friday off and after Amelia's O/T we met some friends at Lookout Ridge!

 

We played for about three hours again!  The kids have so much fun and burn off so much energy there - it's great!

Saturday, Amelia went to a cat show with my mom and sister in the cities.  Jason, the boys and I went shopping for a few groceries/ingredients for soup and chili.  After that little excursion we stayed in the entire weekend - it's too cold to want to leave the house!  We pretty much watched movies all weekend :)

Sunday night movie (Ice Age) in a tent!

A little Jackson for good measure :)

We had a scheduled day off school yesterday and today was cancelled because of the cold weather so Amelia is also enjoying a long weekend!

Temperature on my way into work this morning!

Joe seems to be suffering from fifths disease aka "slapped cheek syndrome."  

It just kind of showed up yesterday.  He is a bit congested but no fever or other symptoms.  My googling only turned up fifths disease so we are just watching him for now since it is viral and requires no medical treatment.  We are going in Friday for Jackson's well-baby visit and I plan to ask her about it, especially if it hasn't cleared up by then!

Well, I have a crying Jackson and a messy room to help the big kids clean up!  Stay warm!

Snow Fun!

Yesterday we went to a friends Christmas gathering!  We had a huge meal with a turkey, a ham, stuffing, sweet potatoes, corn, homemade mashed potatoes, Jason's "famous" green beans almondine and more!  It was delicious!

Before the sun got too low we took all the kids outside to play in the snow!

Her first snow angel of the season!

W had a blast pulling Joey around!

Joey and C

Amelia had a blast on a tiny hill with this saucer sled!

Joey shoveled - a lot.  He was "cleaning up!"

These babies were all born within four months of each other!  D, C, W and Joey :)

W and Joey both wanted to pull C and D!

After coming inside the adults played a game called "Last Word" - so fun!  I had never heard of it but it was seriously a blast!  We totally wanted to play another round but unruly/tired kids won and we ended the day after just one round!

Just so he's not left out, here is Jackson:

His first (successful) time in the Bumbo!

Lookout Ridge

Yesterday afternoon we met some friends at Lookout Ridge - an indoor play park!  We have already been feeling cooped up this winter and needed a way to burn some energy off!

Amelia showed me to the top of the climbing structure! 

THREE kids SMILING?!?!?!  Success!

Baby Jackson fell asleep towards the end of our play time!

We played for two and a half hours - well worth the admission of $4.50 a kid!

Surprise Visit

This weekend Lisa and I went down by Madison to surprise our friend Marie with a visit!  We had been planning to do this awhile now and this was the third weekend we tried to make it happen and it finally worked out!

We stayed up late talking Friday night and spent yesterday shopping, went out to dinner and watched a movie.  We also got some playtime in with Marie's little cutie:

It's true that time files with good friends - this weekend went by far too fast! 

Silent Night

It is very quiet in our apartment - both kids are spending the night at my parent's house tonight!  We dropped them off and then headed to an early dinner with some friends.  Marie and her family are in town for the holidays and I'm glad we were able to squeeze in a little visit.

Jason made fresh, homemade salsa when we got home.  

Perfect snack for watching football.  I've been converted.  Store bought, jarred salsa will never compare to the fresh stuff.  YUM! 

Jason is in the championship for fantasy football this weekend and his opponent has one player still playing - and racking up points.  Currently, Jason is less than three points ahead and the third quarter just started.  So, there is plenty of time for his opponent to pull ahead and win.  He asked me to just remind him that it doesn't matter, no one cares and it's not a big deal - lol!  

I've got a long day at work tomorrow before we start our Christmas festivities so I think I might turn in before I get a second wind and stay up too late!

Three Little Men

Leyton - 4 months, Joe and Dan - one year :)

 Thankful for time with friends this weekend :)

Happy Wednesday!

Linked toWordless Wednesday @  5 Minutes for Mom

Birthday Party Fun

Last Saturday we were invited to celebrate W's first birthday!  We know W's parents through one of my best friends and we all have babies right around the same age.  It is a lot of fun getting together!

H - 11 months, W - 12 months, C - 11 months, Joe - 10 months and D - 9 months

Babies with big sisters!

It was a wonderful afternoon!  We spent a ton of time outside - W's parents have a great yard!  Joe was enthralled with ladder-golf:

He played with this, alone, for at least fifteen minutes.  I'm betting he would have played longer but I took him in for present opening!

There were a lot of fun new toys for W but the hit was definitely the activity table. 

These guys (and gal) loved this thing!  Even Amelia squeezed in there a few times.  We don't have one of these tables so it was brand new to my kids!

Amelia had the best time.  She ran around with dogs and cats, pulled the wagon, played with C's big sister, S, visited the chicken coop several times and her favorite part of any birthday - cake.

Both kids were completely wiped out from our afternoon but they would not sleep on the way home!  Go figure ;)  We're looking forward to the next time we can get together with everyone again! 

 

Little Friends

Amelia (3) and S (4)

Joey (10 months) and D (9 months)

Happy Wednesday!

Linked to "Wordless Wednesday" @ 5 Minutes for Mom

Don't Break the Ice!

Happy Wednesday!

Linked to Wordless Wednesday @ 5 Minutes for Mom

Weekend Highlights

We had another full weekend!

Friday night, before going to my parent's for the night, Amelia was a self-proclaimed "cow doctor."

She only "worked" on cows and, well, her mama.

Saturday morning we visited with our friend, Marie, and her son, Leyton!  They were in town so her husband could help out with a family member's move so we got to visit about two hours at my parent's house!

Joe - 10 months, Leyton - 7 weeks

After our visit Jason and I had a date afternoon/evening.  We had Mexican for a late lunch and then headed towards Minneapolis.  On our way we stopped at a thrift shop and found awesome deals on children's books (69 cents each - hardback, paperback or board) and Carter's pajamas for $2.99 that were maybe worn twice - they looked brand new!

Once we arrived in Minneapolis we walked around Mill Ruins Park which was really neat!

After exploring the park we headed to our final destination - The Guthrie Theater.  Jason (with the help of his mom) got tickets for us to see Roman Holiday.  It was a really nice surprise since I had no idea he even knew I liked that movie!

We enjoyed the musical a lot!

On our way home we stopped for pizza at Pizza Luce.  Funny tangent - when I was younger my dad took us to Pizza Luce and our server had green hair.  This apparently scared my sister and I and we started referring to it as "green hair pizza" and never wanted to go there.  Now I love it!

This trip we ordered the "Athena" pizza which has spinach, artichokes, red onion, tomatoes, feta and kalamata olives (which I held off my half.)  It was really good!  We ordered a larger size to have leftovers for work this week which was a nice treat today!

Sunday my parents brought the kids home.  We had dinner out in the parking lot with our neighbors, Matt and Dallas.  We cooked up the zucchini from our garden with some garden-grown oregano, fresh red potatoes and white onion from a local farmer.  In addition to that we also got sweet corn from the same farmer as well as a cucumber which we had with balsamic vinegar and onions.

It was really good and it felt really good knowing that all of the food came either from our garden or a local farm.  Our gardening goal has been met - we grew something and were able to eat it!  

We watched a bit of the Olympics closing ceremonies before bed and I am a little glad the Olympics are over.  We enjoyed watching them, especially Amelia, but it is also nice not feeling like we are missing something when we aren't inside with the TV on in the background!  Plus, this week is "Shark Week" on Discovery Channel and I know a certain little girl who loves "haw-eeks!"  

Car Buddies

Amelia and her friend, S, spent all day together today.  This is a first for them because S is usually at daycare until around 6 p.m. but today we had the first of two walk-throughs of the apartments in preparation for new owners so S's mom took the day off.  

I got so much done around here because Amelia and S were in her room playing and Joe took two naps!  They were short naps but two naps nonetheless.  This evening we got out of the house finally and Amelia and S rode around the parking lot on their little cars - a typical evening activity around here.

Silly girls.  I guess this is what happens when you spend all day playing and having fun - you get a little wild :)

Meeting Leyton

Sunday we made a special trip down to southern Wisconsin to meet baby Leyton!  

 

He was born almost a month ago and we didn't want to wait any longer to meet him!  Added bonus - our other friends, Lisa and Al, were there...it's been a long time since the three of us girls were together!

A favorite spot while driving through middle WI

We left early and arrived just before lunch!  We grilled, chatted and watched kids play.  It was a great afternoon!

Mamas with the boys

Dads with the boys

 

The "Three Amigos!"

Amelia is absent from all the group shots because she was too busy hanging out with Marie and Jordan's dog, Lucy.  You could not bribe her away from that dog the whole afternoon!

We headed back home in the evening so I could catch a few hours sleep before work yesterday.

I still can't believe that Lisa, Marie and I have four kids between us.  Crazy!