Trick or Treat

Our little punk rocker (These are just her skull leggings, a cute little top, then I did her hair in a Mohawk of buns/pony tails, and colored some tattoos on her arms.  She didn't freak out, that's all that mattered.):

   

And our little skeleton ready to go trick or treating (I already bought the shirt for him and I made the pants using black pants and white contact paper.  Then I used baby powder and black eye shadow for his 'make-up'):

We went trick or treating at the shopping center across the street.  This seemed like the best idea since it was less walking and it took place from 3-6 so it worked with their bedtime.  They were a little unsure at first, but then had tons of fun by the end.

Enjoying the spoils before we could even get home:  

Taking a break on the way back home:

We went to our neighbor's get together for an hour to delay bedtime since tonight we change the clocks.  It was fun to meet neighbors, but we felt bad being the only ones with kids.  Makes me miss our life with no kids!  Everyone was super nice and they all had really great costumes.  The best was Flo the Progressive insurance checkout girl!  We didn't take a picture but this girl had her makeup, hair, outfit and even body language perfected.  So fun!

What do you want to be for Halloween?

Halloween with two opinionated toddlers is quite difficult.

Tinkerbell?  Are kidding me??  What's with all this tulle?  This costume is KILLING me!!

Peter Pan?  It's so bad I can't even wear my diaper any more!  ::streaks through the house::

Pink puffy monster?  No, no, no!

Dragon?  Get me outta here!

Rennissance girl?  Buzz Lightyear?  How many times to I have to say no?

  

Dumbo?  What are you doing to me?!!?  I don't look cute, I look ridiculous.

And the ones we tried but didn't take a picture of:  ballerina and Woody and both of those were no's. 

Stay tuned for their final costumes!

Adventures of a SAHD: Panic

We live on a busy street.  The speed limit is 35 mph and we live across the street from a school, but it's not uncommon to see people go 40-50 mph down our street.  There are tons of cars.  As a result we are hyper-vigilant whenever we have the kids and dog out front.  We keep a baby gate at the front door because we don't have a screen door and usually we strap the kids into the stroller before going out front.

Chris came home from the daily walk and entered through the patio gate.  After unstrapping the kids from the stroller and coming inside he proceeded to change Cooper's diaper.  When he was almost done he realizes he hasn't heard anything from Charlotte and looks up. 

He happened to look out the front window and what does he see?  Charlotte walking down the sidewalk out front!!  He quickly finishes with Cooper, panics and runs out front to get Charlotte.  Apparently he forgot to lock the gate after coming home and she decided to go for a walk by herself.

When Chris comes in he now realizes Cooper is nowhere to be seen.  He looks all over and then realizes the only place left to look is the office since he wasn't out front.  We have a baby gate up to prevent them from going in the office and they only way they can get in is the doggy door from the patio, but we usually barricade that--except for this time.

When Chris gets to the office he finds Cooper acting like a king sitting in his office chair with the mouse in one hand and a half eaten powdered sugar donut in the other hand.  Unfortunately he was so panicked from losing 2 kids within a few minutes that he didn't take any pictures of Cooper eating the donut.

Toddlers are curious little things!

Guts in, Guts out

We carved our pumpkins yesterday!  It was so much more work this year than last year, but a lot more fun too!   Here is what it sounded like:

Be careful, watch your fingers, the knife is sharp.  Uh-oh, that top doesn't fit this pumpkin, put it on this one instead.  Good job, now put the guts in the bowl!  Oh, you want to put them in the pumpkin instead.  Okay, that will work. 

   

Hehe, does that feel weird Cooper?

Well, feet don't go in the guts, what did you expect?

Oh that can't possibly taste very good.  Oh my gosh, you took a bite!  Oh, don't touch the camera, your hands are dirty.  Oh, how sweet, kisses and dirty pumpkin hands!

Okay, time to put the guts back in the bowl.  Help mommy put the seeds in this bowl.  No just the seeds.  Okay good job.  No just the seeds.  Charlotte, these are seeds, put them in this bowl.  Oh, kisses for mommy, thanks!

Cooper sit down on your tricycle, you are going to fall.  You don't need the toothpicks, give them to mommy.

We just put the guts in the bowl and you're putting them in the pumpkin again?

Cooper sit down on your tricycle. 

Do you want to take a picture with pumpkins?  No, you want to take a picture of mommy?

Oh, okay, daddy's turn now? 

Okay, your turn.  Sit down by the pumpkins.  Cooper, can you sit down?

No, okay.  Well then be cute Charlotte. Ha, daddy got you Cooper.  Hmm, that will have to work then.

Plan B

This is what Charlotte thinks of her costume:

We were planning to do Tinker Bell for Charlotte, Peter Pan for Cooper, Wendy for me, and Captain Hook for Chris.  However, Charlotte HATES her Tinker Bell costume (I think it's the tulle) and I don't want her to be miserable or else we'll all be miserable.

On to Plan B, and maybe even Plan C.  I've checked with Caren to see if she still has her Woody and Jessie costumes (from Toy Story).  If that doesn't work I'm going to convert Cooper's Peter Pan costume to Scarecrow and then buy Charlotte a Dorothy costume.  I know she'll wear a dress and some sparkly shoes.  Or at least a dress...she may get picky about the shoes.  Next year she gets to choose the whole dang thing.

Pumpkin Patch

My, my what a difference a year makes for the pumpkin patch!  Last year they just wanted to eat the hay.

This year, Cooper tried to pick up the big pumpkins!      Cooper begging to ride the carousel.   

Charlotte starts out loving it.

Although Cooper looks unsure, he really loved it.

Cooper loved every bit of the carousel, including the mirrors and decoration in the center.

After a few seconds this is how Charlotte ended up for the rest of the ride.  She wanted to sit on a different horse, but we wouldn't let her since it's not safe to walk around on the ride while it's moving.

Then we wandered over to the petting zoo.  The kids LOVED this!  Charlotte loved feeding the animals once daddy showed her how.

Cooper got to feed them too.

But he wasn't so sure about it.

They loved the bunny rabbits and kept going back to the cage.  

  The funniest was the mean turkey.  Cooper thinking it was a nice as a goat, put his hand on the cage.  The turkey quickly tried to nip at his fingers.

Cooper pulled back in time but didn't appreciate the turkey trying to bite his finger.

Obviously telling me about the vicious turkey. 

Charlotte didn't fair so well with the turkey and did get her finger nipped a bit.  We left the petting zoo soon after. 

And went to the bounce house!  They had a blast and this would be a fun thing for a birthday party.  (See video at the end for more.)

 

Charlotte decided she needed a snack break. 

While Cooper went on a pony ride (after the carousel incident, we didn't want Charlotte thrown from a real horse because she gets upset).  See video below for more.

They also loved the car ride and went on it twice.  See video for them laughing. 

We were too busy chasing them around and enjoying ourselves to do any 'posed' pictures of either the kids or all of us as a family.  I suppose we can go back another day and do this.  I'm just glad we had so much fun!

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