October came and went faster then any month I think I have ever had. We have had birthday parties and LOTS of Halloween parties and even a wedding..Here is the down low...
#1....Molly turns 4!! Our amazing friends daughter Molly is an amazing old soul. If you know her you totally know what I mean. She brings out the absolute best in every child she interacts with. Her birthday party was incredible and the kind of party that every little girl would want. Not kidding when I say she had about 40 kids there!! Now that is popularity. It was also a surprise birthday party and lets just say it was priceless for everyone that saw her. Of course Kevin, the boys and I were about an hour late so that is no surprise that we missed it, but we saw the video and I know they will be playing this daily for years to come.
#2....Ghouls Night Out!! My girlfriend Leah is in love with Halloween and when I say in love with it, I mean its a count down to Halloween every year! L is an artist so as you can imagine her home is decked out with hundreds of decorations topping off with a wrapped mummy hanging from the ceiling and its all very tasteful. You know you have had a great party when glasses get broke and there was dancing until the early hours of the morning.
#3....Bethany Roo's 1st birthday (Molly's little sister). This was such a sweet little gathering. It was the kind of birthday party that I always want to throw but I can never seem to get to that point. It was simple. Cake, ice cream, friends. This birthday was perfection. Maybe someday I can make it to that point.
#4....Lindsay and AJ's wedding. We struggled trying to figure out what in the world we were going to do with our children. The ceremony and reception was at the beach which is about 3 hours away from here. There were not going to be kids or at least very many children attending so we did not want to bring Jackson. As we all know he is a handful as most 2 year olds are and did not want any of his tantrums showing off at the wedding. So we arranged for Jack to have his very 1st sleepover... Carol is such a good friend to us and she loves our babies like they are her family, which we need badly. Jackson is in LOVE with her son Michael (he is 4 almost 5) and wants to be just like him. We talked about how he was going to go "night night" there and when he woke up mommy and daddy would come get him. Well it worked. No tears all day/night!! I missed him badly though. I actually missed him before we even dropped him off. It amazes me how he can drive me so crazy but I can't stand to be away from him.
The wedding however was beautiful. The weather was 75 degrees and sunny...5:30PM, small gathering of friends and family. Very simple and elegant. Lindsay was stunning. She had on one of the MOST amazing wedding dresses I have ever laid eyes on. She sparkled in the sunlight and she had the perfect red lips to match her beauty. Open bar, live band and one amazing dinner to follow. We had a great time but had to cut the party short since we wanted to drive back home that evening so Brecki could sleep. Being in his carseat is such torture for him. We wanted to bypass as much crying as possible.
#5....Harvest Party at school. What ever happened to Halloween parties at school?? I guess its all in the name of religion and afraid of being under fire for offending anyone. I guess this is just the beginning of all of this "politically correct" titles. I was very excited to go to Jack's class for this party. I actually showered and was there to the school of course 10 minutes late. When I walked into his class they were all sitting around the tables doing a pumpkin craft. It was quiet with just mumbled talking from some of the parents. Jackson saw me and immediately was talking my ear off. "Mamma...mamma....mamma..." He was not so patient waiting for his cupcake but once he got it, he took the tiniest bites. Some of you may have seen Jackson eat but he will eat something for hours. Its like he savors every little bite. Then the kids sat down on the carpet and got white lunch bags with their names on it and trick or treated. Each bag was filled with 1 lollipop, 1 bag of m&ms, and 1 tiny play dough. All Jackson cared about was the lollipop. Before I knew it the party was over. I will say I was very disappointed. #1 There were only a handful of parents there and their are 20 kids in the class!! #2 No music???!! What kind of party is this? I probably should not complain because I did not sign up to be a room mom. I can barely take care of my two kids and do my daily chores then to volunteer right now, but I know they could have had a better party then that. Like maybe some games, songs....etc....It was just so disappointing.
PUMPKIN PATCH-Okay this was not a party but it is an annual event and something we crammed into between parties. Since Jackson was born we have been going out to the same pumpkin patch. It is a quiet little farm about 35 minutes from downtown and 10 minutes from us. Its like a hidden gem of pumpkin patches. Every year we have went with our friend's the Robbin's and have a blast. We tailgate (classy) and then of course do the rounds of playing on the all slides, seeing the animals, playing on all the statues and playing in old combines and tractors. Every year they add more things to do. When Barb and I went a few weeks ago we actually stayed for two hours and it seemed like we were there for just a few minutes. There is definitely not a dull moment to be had. Its so big that it never seems crowded. They have a super cute little store with snack type items and drinks. Jackson loved the slide so much and of course Kevin was not like me and let him go down by himself. SCARY!! Jackson also loved the tractor ride out to the pumpkins. He and Davis had fun picking up every pumpkin they came across. We got 2 pumpkins and payed less then $5 for them. I look forward to this every year. Brecken seemed unphased. Maybe next year he will be a little bit more interested.
I love this video!
Jackson and Davis...This is trouble!
Oh Hi baby Brecki!
Either one or the other is not happy...all the time.
#6.....Halloween Party #1!! Kids and adults dressed up to the nines! I of course struggled to decide weather or not Jack would wear his actual costume or a pillowcase made into a ghost. I decided to make his ghost costume literally 10 minutes before we were out the door. It was a major disaster. He hated it and we now have one less usable pillowcase in the house. So he wore his pirate costume and I just prayed he wouldn't get it too dirty. We also decided to make fondue to bring over. What we did not take into consideration is that the cheese would separate on the 25 minute drive to the party!! YUCK! Nothing like gritty, crumbly fondue!! I guess its fitting for a Halloween party. When we pulled up to Jackie and Paul's house I could see ghosts hanging from their kitchen chandelier and after hearing the laughter inside the house I could not wait to get my beer glass filled! My friend J is very creative and every holiday is a holiday in her house. Columbus Day, Presidents Day, you name it...If it is on the calendar as a holiday they are celebrating in some way. One the many reasons I love her so much. Halloween being her most favorite holiday, the party seemed to match. The party ended with a dance party in the kitchen, Molly break dancing and Roo raising the roof! Jackson still does sign language and he was signing for MORE MORE MORE!! There is not a better dance party then when you are doing it with your children. My most favorite thing though was the aftermath of crunched gold fish that covered every inch of the floor. Truly a good, memorable time.
#7.....Halloween Party #2!! Kevin and I have trouble asking anyone for help when it comes to the kids. Help even meaning "Please watch our kids so we can have a night of fun!!" We were invited to two adult Halloween parties this year. One party that we LOVE to go to and haven't been in years. But with our end all be all sitter Carol just watching Jackson overnight for the wedding the weekend before we felt we could not ask her again so soon so we can just have a good time. So we yet declined another party. Luckily our friends Leah and Kyle invited us to a party in their neighborhood with the luxury of Leah's mom coming over to her house to watch all 3 of the children!! A win win. So a sleepover we had!
Kevin has had this idea for costumes for about 4 years. Wow, its been four years since our last dress up as The Morton Salt Girl and Senator Larry Craig. So here were are dressing up as Sunny and Chair. I will be a sun, and Kevin a chair. On Friday, Kevin asks me to get 7 tubes of wrapping paper so he can make his chair. So I make the trip with both kids to the Dollar Store....After slamming Jack's finger in the car door, opening 3 things of candy in the store to make up for it, and then Breck crying because he is in his car seat we left the store completely frazzled. Brecken of course screaming the entire way home because he was hungry (and he hates his carseat) and when I get home I open the door and all seven tubes of wrapping paper come tumbling out of the car and its raining outside...Its honestly never a dull trip anywhere with two kids. Anyway.....The morning of the party Kevin decides he is NOT going to use the wrapping paper. He is going to make it out of wood. OMG, you can imagine the annoyance I had. But nonetheless, it looks awesome and much better then it would have with the wrapping paper tubes.
The night was crazy. We left at 8 PM after a little struggle to get Jack down to bed. The house was amazing, like truly amazing. It looked like we walked into an actual bar. There was a Flip cup table, a ridiculous full size beautiful bar with a bartender included, two kegs, and a creepy scream guy in the corner not talking to anyone. Kevin's chair made a perfect place for people to set jello shots, beer, and even dirty paper plates. I was mistaken for a discolored statue of liberty many times and to Kevin's and my dismay we did not get any recognition for our AWESOME costumes. After making it home by 1:30AM asleep by 3AM and up again by 6:30AM to head home with both boys, you can imagine how we felt. My morning consisted of Brecken eating or sucking on his first food (fruit loops) and Jackson walking around the house with eggs. ...yes you heard me. Actual eggs that you cook with. I AM NEVER DRINKING AGAIN until party #8.
Sunny and Chair
Kevin and Leah
Kevin and Kyle!
#8......Halloween Party #3....I guess you can see that my friends LOVE Halloween! Shanna and Dave are no exception. They put so much thought and effort into this party. I was going to go as my go to costume Pocahontas, but I could not find my costume anywhere and in the state of mind I was in after the night before I didn't have much other energy to be creative. But then realized we have a BOB MARLEY costume and with Shanna loving Bob, I knew it was perfect. Even though I looked ridiculous and I was the only other adult dressed up besides the host/hostess, Jackson thought I was cool with my dreads and knit hat. I put Brecken in his chicken suit and Jackson in cowboy boats, a plaid shirt and wrangler jeans and we were off 30 minutes late. :) The house was so beautiful. It really was. Very tasteful and not scary because some of the children are scared of darker side of Halloween. She had made paper balls and hung them from the ceiling, her ice cubes were colored bones and eye balls, they had coolers of beer and pitchers of homemade bloody marys. I took it upon myself to have several. Dave is a bit of a chef and he made some of best slider burgers I have ever had (secret ingredient swiss miss) and to top it off the cheese was in the shapes of ghosts and pumpkins. We ended the party with the kids hitting the pinata, and Caleb, Jack and Lera running wild in circles chasing each other. I LOVE seeing Jack playing with his friends. The smiles on the kids' faces make me want to stay in that moment forever.
Our Hosts! Shanna, Liam, Dave and Caleb
Yum...
Me, Linda (Baby Eva) and Shanna! I'm not wearing my hideous wig at the moment..
Trying to get a picture of all the kids is HARD!!
Chili, beer bread and left over bloody mary's to start our night. Jack was a pirate, Breck a chicken, Liam and Caleb as Cookie Monster and his cookie! Super fun and super cute. Jackson was crazed by lollipops. I had mistakenly bought a box at Costco in hopes of helping him with this potty training and well I was right, but unfortunately he eats them for hours (because he is savoring every last lick) and that has to be good for your teeth right?? So I am trying not to talk about them and get the out of the house immediately but on our little evening out they were of course giving them out and guess who wanted them right then and there!! So we had a few tantrums, which my husband deals with much better then I do. Caleb was adorable with him talking to everyone and wanting to go into everyone's houses. He is such a sweet little boy. I love them all so much. Jackson was mistaked for a girl...not once but twice. I guess its time to get that hair cut again. We missed the culdesac that hands out beer but we saw a really cool projection tv on the side of someone's house. We decided they were showing that awful Halloween movie. We returned home to Jackson having a blister from his shoes, Liam asleep on his mom, and with our last candy handout with kids who just got done smoking and dressed up as themselves and with that we turned out our lights!
Arggggg
Pure love.
My baby girl...Oh I mean boy.
Pirate and Cookie Monster
Brecki and Liam (cookie)
