Halloween 2011

 Maybe...just maybe...I overdo a little on holidays.

Kyle was getting ready for school, and I told him, "Happy Halloween!"  His response?  "We get ANOTHER Halloween!!!??? THREE of them????"  Hopefully he'll remember the passion and energy I had for these special occasions when I'm old and tired and only able to do one Halloween a year!

Per tradition, we just HAD to carve some pumpkins for Halloween.  First, the boys decided on designs. 

 Dad was on knife duty.  Kyle, as always, supervised, with direction.

It's always so fun to pull off the top and check out the guts!

I showed the boys how to scoop out the goop.

Then, I let each one of them try it on their own.

Ryan, still in that lovely oral phase, decided to test the taste of the pumpkin.  Hey, he DID have a big spoon in his hand.  What did we expect?

Finally, we have the finished products:

After cleanup and dinner, we did take the boys out trick-or-treating.  It was AMAZING how quickly Kyle caught on again.  He was SPRINTING from house to house with such joy.  That makes all the effort of 3 Halloweens worth it.  {Even Dad was grinning, and asked later if we should've let him go to even more houses!}  People loved our costumes, and a group of 9-10 year old girls couldn't get enough of Kyle.  They kept oooing and awwwing and hugged him, telling him they loved him and how cute he is.  {Kyle laughed afterwards and remarked, "They liked me." I told him he's probably going to hear that a lot in his life and to not let it go to his head.}

Once we got back, Kyle and Ryan had a blast handing out candy to our own trick-or-treaters.  Kyle cracked me up everytime the doorbell rang.  Some of the dialogue went a little like this:
 {Ding-Dong}
Kyle {while running to the door}: "Just a minute!  Coming!"
Kids: "Trick-or-Treat!"
Kyle: "Hi guys!" or "You're scary!" or "I love those costumes!" or "Look at all the kids!!!" or "Hold on just a second.  Mom's getting the candy.  It will be just a minute.  Here you go.....you're welcome!" 

Some kids would make comments about Kyle's costume, too, and he enjoyed explaining who he and Ryan were and also showing off our Halloween decorations.  We got lots of compliments on our jack-o-lanterns, too.  People thought they were so good they just HAD to be store-bought.  We must've done a pretty good job!

Kyle had a very plentiful Halloween.  I'm now on candy patrol, but he's good about asking if he can have a piece and being happy with whatever he gets, which is quite a lot....

Happy Halloween!

Trunk-or-Treat #2

 Kyle's school also had a trunk-or-treat, so we decided to make an appearance there.  Kyle gladly volunteered to carry an extra bucket to get more candy "for Ryan."

{The Thing 1 wig was too itchy, so we decided to spray Kyle's hair for dress up night #2.}

Kyle begged to pose in the fall photo booth.  Seriously.  He's the one who brought it up first, with no mention from his mother, the blogger.  

We ran into one of Kyle's teachers, Ms. Lora!

Kyle was in love with the bouncy thing and the slide.  I'm surprised we were able to pull him away!

 Meanwhile, Ryan chilled with Grandma, who decided to leave the Grinch at home in favor of something more comfortable. 

The Cat was SO over Halloween activities and was grateful for iphone to help pass the time.

We ended the night with more things and another cat!

The Halloween fun is almost over, but I'm so glad I was able to keep baby #3 inside long enough to enjoy dressing up at least one more time!

Kyle's 1st Primary Program

 Here's Kyle, all ready for his first sacrament meeting program in the primary.  He's been SO excited to say his part, practicing and trying to be on his best behavior.  He even got to go to a Saturday practice/pizza party--and thanked God for this in his bedtime prayers.

It's silly in a way that this is a milestone for me, but I think of all the years of yearning to be a mother, seeing the primary children year after year up there singing and speaking, and wondering if I would ever see one of my own children up there, too------and the day is already here. 

Kyle's VERY favorite song is "the marching song," a.k.a. "Do As I'm Doing."  He also loves "Praise to the Man."  Before he performed at church, he wanted to get a "picture" of him practicing his line for the program.  {The prophet teaches us to live in righteousness and peace.}

The Sunbeams are an interesting bunch.  You never know what you're going to get when you let a bunch of 4 year olds loose up on the stand at the front of the chapel for a 30-45 minute program of words and music.  I had a fervent prayer in my heart that Kyle would not be "that kid" who goes berserk on the microphone and doesn't sit still or does something else embarrassing for the parent/humorous for other church members. 

Kyle did SO well, and it made me happy beyond belief.  He knew his part, said it slowly, stayed in his seat, followed the chorister, sang many of the songs and tried to mouth the words to the songs he didn't know, and gave us the occasional cute sideways glances and smiles throughout.  {He rarely sings at home, so I was so surprised by his performance.}  Kyle gets away with a lot by using his cuteness and charm to weasel into the hearts of many an outsider, so people are always SO shocked when I mention what a challenge he can be.  It was a small success to see the sweet, obedient, meek side of Kyle!


{We also got to rewatch Pres. Uchtdorf's talk from the recent Relief Society General Broadcast, "Forget-Me-Not." I couldn't help but be touched by his statement that we should "be thankful for all the small successes in [our] home[s].....these successes may seem tiny to you and they may go unnoticed by others, but God notices them and they are not small to Him."  How true and how much I needed to hear this because each time I have to struggle with Kyle's strong-willed, stubborn, full-of-life and energy chaos, I have to remember that there will be so many small successes that God notices and wants me to notice, too.  Today held a huge one for me, and I thank my Heavenly Father for that!}

Trunk-or-Treat #1

We went with a Dr. Seuss theme for Halloween this year.

The Cat in the Hat Characters:

The Cat, Thing 1 and Thing 2, the Mom, who's usually away the whole time!

Grandma and Grandpa got in on the fun, too.  They were the Grinch and Max, his dog:

After getting all dressed up, we headed out to our church's Trunk-or-Treat.  This was a 3-hour event, but we decided that the boys were pretty young to stay the whole time.  We went for the last few minutes of the carnival and had just enough time to set up our trunk.

Kyle LOVED all the Halloween/Fall Festival games.  Here he is, waiting in line for Plinko.

He did really well at shooting these rubber band guns! (I'm sure Gramps will be proud!)

Ryan was happy making a sticky mess with a lollipop that Kyle won for him.

More rubber band guns.

 A haunted fishing booth.

Then it was time to get out trunk-or-treat on.

The Grinch and Max held down the fort.  (Not too many people got these costumes and kept wishing Grandma and Grandpa a "Merry Christmas!")

Ryan didn't really catch on to the whole trick-or-treating thing, but was happy about getting candy to snack on!

 After the boys made the rounds, Kyle came back and helped pass out candy.

After we'd collected 2 buckets of candy and played several games, we headed over to Freebirds, where little monsters ate free if they showed up in costumes---not a bad ending to a fun night!

81 Weeks

Ryan's 18 month portrait:

P.S.  At Kyle's pumpkin party, people were talking about how cute Ryan is and how much he looks "just like Kyle."  I've gotten these comments before, but I also heard a new one, one for the record books.  "Wow.  He's going to be tall! Is Daddy tall?"  I just laughed and said, "You are the first person to EVER say that.  Most people tell me how little and short he is."  She couldn't believe it, and just said, "well, he looks like he has really long legs.  I think he's going to be tall."  I guess it just goes to show you that each person sees things in their own way. 

Regression

 I had already prepared myself for Ryan to have a little regression in certain areas after the baby was born.  I wasn't expecting him to start wanting his binky all the time BEFORE the new one comes along.  He's thrown some of the biggest fits of his life over us trying to take his binky away after he wakes up in the morning and/or from naps lately!  This is weird because, unlike Kyle, he's not been one to have his binky with him at all times--bedtime only.  I'm wondering if it has something to do with him being sick. 

Not to be without the spotlight, Kyle also had to pose for the camera.  Not having a binky, he just covered up his mouth with his blanket.  

I guess we'll see if things change once we all get over this sickness.

Pumpkin Party!

I survived my first school party as a mom...barely.  I'm exhausted, and I'm not even the head room mother, but just came to help out!  I'm telling you that doing parties for 5th graders was SO much easier!  {I guess it's hard to compare, though, since I am hugely pregnant and had Ryan in tow....}  I think all the effort was a success.

We went for an easy lunch--pizza, gogurt, and capri suns.  All but one kid were happy with the meal.  

Then, the kids did the "Five Little Pumpkins" story.   Kyle got to be the moon for the first go around and the 3rd pumpkin for the next reading. 

Then came the *fun* part--craft stations.  We had: 1) Handprint spiders with googly eyes.  2)  Candy toss. 3) Pumpkin decorating.  4) Jack-o-lantern lollipops. 5) Pumpkin Cookie decorating. 

I was in charge of the cookie station.  The famous sugar cookie recipe was a hit once again.  One of the moms asked, "what brand of dough did you use?"  She about died when I told her they were from scratch!  

After passing out goody bags and doing the "Oooookly-Spooookly" (Hokey-Pokey), it was time to clean up and go home.  Let the Halloween sugar coma begin.