Candy Fest 2012- Happy Halloween!!!!!!

 

We were all excited this year for trick or treating!!

Memorable experiences included:

* A giant skull/demon... probably the size of a small van hanging from the porch ceiling of a house. You couldn't pay Maria a million dollars to go to that house.

* Friends from church had a spooky pathway up to their door with fake spiders. They hadn't had a lot of trick or treaters, so we got 6 giant handfuls of candy. Then, it was just all too much for Maria and she started screaming because the spiders were so scary. She clung to the lady from church and begged her to help her. We were right next to her, but that wasn't close enough. The pathway was blocking her from leaving and she almost collapsed from being so overwhelmed with fear. Poor thing....

 

Joe always gets tons of compliments on his onesie, as one man called it. We just call it a tigger costume.

The weather was gorgeous. We started early around 5:20PM. Not too cold and there was a spooky full moon!

Yayacita!!!!!! She hooked us up with the goooooood stuff!!! Giant candy bars for everyone!!!

Helping brother. So tender. We ended at 8:43PM exactly. You just kind of know when everyone is done.

Yes. This is an entire wagon full of candy. Careful, if you stare at it too closely you might catch diabetes.

Fortunately the kiddos were pretty tired, so candy fest (where we let them eat all the candy they want) only lasted 10 minutes. Eli did NOT get to go hog wild and we're just hoping we don't have to clean up barf tonight. I'm hoping to freeze most of the chocolate for holiday baking but we're going to have to start thinking of how to get rid of it all without wasting. Any suggestions?

Principal's Honors List

So Christina's first graded report card was all A's. She got the highest ribbon... yellow and made Principal's List. We're proud. Even though grades aren't everything... of course.

Reno High Trick or Treat Night

Halloween is finally almost here!

I'm trying to get used to the new camera. Change is so hard sometimes.

It's nice that I don't have to worry about costumes. The kiddos have plenty to choose from. I found Eli's costume last year for $3. The girls loved it and he was a hit with the highschoolers too!

Comparing to Spanish Springs, this was fairly ghetto. However, there were waaaaaaaaay less people which I was a big fan of and it was essentially free. I donated just to be nice. The girls had a great time and Eli loved looking around. He also got very excited for his lollipop and to hold candy.

Face Painting. Thank you teenagers. Thank you.

There were these 2 boys running the doughnut game. They would take people's tickets and the doughnut would fall on the ground so the kids would walk away with nothing. Somehow, Christina and Maria were able to eat all of their doughnut without it falling. Talented I suppose.

 

Overall- I'd go again. Christina won the cake walk 2 times- hooray for a box of twinkies and 40 sugar cookies!! I ran into an old high school secretary. She looked gorgeous and the same as she did ... 13 years ago. The weird thing was she remembered my maiden name and my mother by her first name. I couldn't for the life of me think how I knew her, but she figured it out. We also saw our cousin Zoe there. Reno truly is the biggest little city.

October Art Farts 2012

Creepy Monsters- we took watered down acrylics and blew them with straws.

Bats and Witches' smelly feet!

Scary Scarecrows!

Cute Pumpkin Black Cats

We got a kick out of Maria's "Trick or smell my feet!"

We went over our pumpkins with modge podge glitter, they are very sparkly!

Hannah's Baby Shower

Snow in the mountains in October. Makes for a beautiful drive over the pass. I was surprised because I felt like I was even embracing it... getting all ready for the holiday season coming. It's exciting. I'm sure I'll be done with the cold by next week or tomorrow.

We decided to spend the day before in Sacramento. What to do? Fairytale land of course!! And the Zoo!!

Everyone had fun, but Eli especially! He loved everything about it!! I think it made the girls even more excited because they could show him around and take him down slides. They are such good big sisters.

Maria did her mini-marathon on the crooked mile.... 4 times. My runner!!

 

And then my camera broke. As well as my sanity.

How, as a mother of beautiful children who are just the funnest bunch ever, am I supposed to live without a camera? To document the joys and awesomeness.

It was tres bizzare because everything I saw was like a picture that I knew my stale mind would forget and it was tres depressing.

Tres drepessing.

Thank you, 6 years of french. You've served me tres well.

 

Fortunately my fabulous birthers have decided to give me their camera. Really, I am a spoiled rotten child. Thanks Papa and Yaya.

 

We stayed with my Aunty Sheila who I just adore. She made a great dinner and had the girls helping her. They had a blast cooking together. After bed, I stayed up awhile and watched reality TV with her. It was great!! I'd never seen these shows, Scared Straight & Jershey Shore. Scared Straight was just plain interesting. I enjoyed the way the prisoners heckled and threatened these punk children. I enjoyed watching them cry for some odd reason. Jershey Shore was ridiculous. I couldn't even believe that these were real human beings. The word "meat" was pulsing unspoken through everything they did. Totally bizarre. But awesome because I was watching it with my Aunt.

 

Plus Aunty Sheila has the most comfortable bed EVER. It was the bed that all the siblings were on & broke while taking care of Nana. Good memories.

 

Next stop was Aunt Pam's. Erin, Aunt Sheila & Aunt Pam threw a beautiful shower. Aunt Pam's backyard is gorgeous and even has a magical fairy section according to the ladies. Elijah had fun playing on the basketball court and the food was delicious. All the kiddos had a blast playing with their cousin Carson. Carson is a total love bug!!! He was giving hugs, kisses and playing so nicely. I'm so glad that the cousins are just tender and so kind. I love seeing them play together.

 

We headed home, but stopped for dinner in Roseville at a place called John's Incredible Pizza Co.

Incredible indeed.

If Chucky Cheese became a meth addict and bred with a bloody crusted liver, I'm positive it'd be more pleasant that John's Incredible Bat Sh*t Crazy Pizza Co.

And I'm not really one for swearing.

But seriously, this was a kidnappers paradise.

A girl threw up right in front of us. Quote Maria, "Ew. I see her macaroni and cheese."

We all felt dirty. And had the runs, not so incredibly, the day after.

 

But that feels wrong to end the post that way so....

 

We're so excited Daren and Hannah. They are going to be great parents. Hooray for more cousins!

4 MILES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 miles

47 minutes

11 minute 45 second mile

 

Woo Hoo!!!!!!

Books! Books! Books!!

Well, it was the summer of Narnia. We read all 7 books and it was fabulous!! The 7th book, The Last Battle was kind of a trip at the end. Very surreal trying to tie everything together. Honestly, I think that's where the producers of Lost got their idea.

We're now reading A Wrinkle in Time. It's really bizarre because I just grabbed a book off the shelf, but I guess CS Lewis and L'Engle have very similar writing styles and religious viewpoints. It's actually much harder reading and the vocabulary is well above the girls level sometimes, but the overall whimsical tale is very compelling and I think the girls like it so far. Though not like Narnia. The heroines in Narnia are more valiant and kind and seem better developed than Meg. But we'll see what time and reading bring.

Fun Halloween Times

We've had a lot of fun playing this roll the dice and draw a monster game! The girls get quite clever naming the monsters as sounds. Bless you pinterest.

Sparks Crossing Halloween Fair

Last year this could have been compared to mold or pus. I'm sorry to be so explicit, but really I have no other way to describe it. However this year, it was 75% better. In all honesty, we attend for the free pumpkin.

Why do I always make them pose by weird mascots for pictures? Does this bear make me want to go get my hair cut at Shearz? No. Because he looks homeless.

Home Depot is what made the event. These were the greatest guys ever! They were so helpful and wonderful with the kiddos. Maria must have hammered the guys fingers 30 times.

We're definitely going to start back up with the building clinics. The girls made handy bird feeders that attach to windows! Can't wait to see our feathered friends during winter!!

Elijah loves to be around people. He is totally like his dad.

Home Depot also provided paint to paint the pumpkins.

There were plenty of spots to trick or treat. Sonic gave out these horrible blue icee things. Oh my goodness!! Pure sugar tasted better than these. I'm sure they were laced with heroin.

We lucked out with the bounce house... no line! After us, 50 people.

AND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Every 20 minutes these ladies came out to shimmy and shake to Ghost Busters.

Bless you Reno. Bless you.

Through your dancing am I less afraid of Ghosts?

Absolutely.

..............

Absolutely.