Happy Halloween!

It was a busy day at our house. I was room mom for the first grade Halloween party and of course had to stop by each of the other boys parties to say hi. The school has an annual Halloween parade with all of the kids in their costumes which is really cute. All the kids line up with their class and parade around the outside of the building for the parents to see. Apparently no one in our neighborhood is employed because it is standing room only! I will post those pictures when I have more time. After school we picked up Happy Meals and came home to get ready to trick or treat. As you can see we got tons of candy (and this picture is just the banned nut stuff!!!) We went out around 5 and came home around 7. We would have done the last half hour but Lake insisted that "We have ENOUGH candy now!!" I hope to hold that over his head at some later date! Everyone was exhausted from a big day and a lot of sugar. Usually we pile all 4 bags into one big pile in the middle of the floor but just as me picking the costumes has been banned...this was a fight too. The boys insisted on keeping their own pile separated. I should have known this was coming because we stopped at home midpoint to empty the bags (a conscientious mom probably would have called it a night and that was enough...but....)and they were all concerned how i was piling it! I guess that they are really growing up!

Cool or Tacky?!

There is a house in Naperville that we drive by each Halloween. This is the first year that all 4 boys really appreciate the decorations. I'm pretty sure what I think of it but the boys just LOVE it! The yard is full of decorations for Halloween. And when I say full I mean FULL! Not quite the subtle, tasteful fall adornment that I prefer but the boys love it! What do you think?

Wordless Wednesday

Trunk or Treating...

Our church has an annual fall festival/Halloween party and we have been taking the boys almost since the beginning. The festival has lots of craft stations, cookie decorating, bouncy house, games, pumpkin decorating etc. At the end people in the church line up their cars and give out candy...it's called trunk or treating. The boys love it and I have to say it is a really efficient way to get candy! Logan's costume hasn't come yet and he refused to dress up in anything other than BEN 10 so he just tagged along in regular clothes. The other boys were Super Heros. Here are a few shots of them.

Do you think it bounces?

First let me start that Landon loves basketballs. If you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up ...he wants to be a basketball player. He likes to watch them go into the hoop. He likes to sit on them and roll around and even just likes to hold them. He also loves to throw them really hard at the ground and see them bounce up. Well...not all basketballs bounce. Last Saturday we all went to Hobby lobby to look for a lamp. Again...taking 4 boys along to Hobby Lobby wouldn't be my first choice but Steve wanted to go for some reason... (possibly not wanting to be left home alone with 4 little boys while I went off shopping?!) we arrived and off Steve went with three of the boys and Landon followed me over to the "sports" themed section. He immediately went to a resin basketball bank and grabbed it and threw it with all of his might onto the floor to see the "bounce." Well...unfortuately it was made of resin and not of rubber...the look on his face was priceless...it was a mix of confusion that the ball didn't bounce and a look of horror to see what my reaction was going to be with the pile of debris laying in front of us? Well...hopefully I passed the test. I didn't wig out since I knew that he really thought it was just a real basketball for bouncing. I tried to use it as a lesson and we went to find someone to help us clean it up and offer to pay for it. We ended up with a really nice manager who cleaned up the pieces and was actually more concerned that Landon was hurt (he wasn't.) We didn't have to pay for it (well...I was buying 4 banks anyway so I think they knew they were already getting their money's worth out of me!) Landon said "Uh oh...I'm sorry" and we were quickly forgiven. Now when he sees a basketball he mentions Hobby Lobby and tells me "It didn't bounce!"

Happy Birthday Kim!

When my mom told me that I was going to be a big sister I remember specifically requesting that it needed to be a sister. I did not want a brother and was adamnent about that fact. Fortunately I got one and 34 years ago my sister was born. She wasn't quite big enough to play with but eventually she was entertaining enough if I wasn't unfortunate to be babysitting her every Friday night while my parents went out. Her we are on her 2nd Halloween. She would have just turned one a few days before. Happy Birthday Kim!!

Word Wall Challenge!

Logan is in first grade this year and every Friday they have a spelling test which they call the Word Wall Challenge. He brings it home every Friday and today it was a 5/5! He typically does well but I was worried this week because usually I make him practice every night and this week I didn't since grandma and grandpa were visiting. He still did great and even got the bonus words! Yea Logan!!

Halloween 2007 3 little monkies jumping on the bed...

One fell off and bumped his head...momma called the Dr. and the Dr. said..."NO MORE MONKIES JUMPING ON THE BED!!" This story has been a favorite of the boys as long as I can remember. Steve used to read it to them in their 2 month NICU stay almost daily. They have grown into the story and get lots of daily jumps in on their beds. Somehow so far...we haven't had to call a real doctor but who knows...I'm sure that the day will come!

Where's the fire?! Halloween 2006

This is one of my favorite Halloween pictures of the boys. This is Halloween 2006.The costumes were warm (and reusable..they were real raincoats!!, the wagon fun to create, and they seemed to have fun and got lots of candy which is the point right?

Halloween 2005

This isn't my favorite picture from our Zoo themed Halloween back in 2005 but it will have to do...my scanner isn't working and I don't have the better one saved on this computer. The boys were zoo animals and the wagon was decorated as each animal's habitat. In case you can't tell...they were an elephant, a giraffe, and lion and a gorilla. Steve and I each had shirts with Zoo Keeper on the back. They were a bigger hit than the animal costumes!

Logan's first Halloween 2002

Since yesterday I was mentioning how little the boys have changed since last year...I thought I would post some pictures of Logan from his first Halloween and how much he has changed! Now remember that Logan was only 14 months old when the triplets were born but he did have a whole year all to himself. He was the most photographed baby that existed. Typically I took him to Picture People on the 14th of every month for a "monthly" shot plus special occasions for the whole first year. The first few months I took sometimes every other week. Aaah...the luxuries of one child! Needless to say once the triplets came the professional photo shoots slowed waaaay down. I still took lots of pictures but taking 4 kids to the mall was not at the top of my to do list. His first year he was SuperMan/baby! Looking at poor Logan in the pumpkin costume...photos were not on the top of his to do list either. Enjoy!

Last year at Jonamac...

I was talking to one of my friends about photos this morning and I mentioned how little my guys have changed over the last year...Here is a picture from the pumpkin farm last year. Take a look and see if you agree. Maybe a little taller but still pretty much the same!

The enthusiastic writer...

Lake is loving school. He is the first one ready in the morning and he never complains about going! Somedays he is even waiting in the car when I finally get everyone else out there. Lake seems to love writing in school. He comes home and draws and writes for hours. Last week he decided to label everything in the house. The kindergarten classrooms have everything labeled to help kids learn to read so Lake has decided it would serve some purpose here also...he can read well but his spelling is still a work in progress:

The Planting Project

We did a small project of pumpkin planting. Well... we didn't actually plant pumpkins...we planted flower seeds into tiny ceramic pumpkins that we broke the tops out of (it was a kit!!) and then all we had to do was water them. The boys loved it and didn't make too big of mess. They love watering it everyday and we saw some sprouts yesterday. We may have flowers by Thanksgiving!

The Great Pumpkin Hunt

Last weekend we ventured out to our favorite pumpkin patch/apple orchard called Jonamac. We have been going for the last few years and the boys really look forward to it. This year we went a little earlier than usual and there were actually pumpkins left! Of course being the bargain hunter that I am...I already had a porch full so we were good on that either way! We had a great day and fit in a lot of activities. The boys have definate likes and dislikes so we split up for awhile. We did a petting zoo, rode ponies, rode the apple train, played in the hay maze, raced ducks in a water trough, crawled through tunnels, played on the slides, picked apples, searched for pumpkins, did the apple slingshot, and much more. Here are some photos from the day!

Halloween 2004

Since I've been busy reading There was an old lady who swallowed a fly today (the same copies are starting to cycle back in...)I thought I would share another
Halloween picture from the past...Here are the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf circa 2004! This is the choo choo wagon that I decorated to look like the pig houses. This was the ideal vehicle to take 4 toddlers around the neighborhood. I'm going to miss that wagon this year. I finally parted with it this summer and it should be interesting how long we will be out without a ride!