Ward Halloween Party

Here we are getting ready to go to our Ward's Halloween Party. 

 Madison was Tinkerbell

 Statton was Spiderman

 Cassidy was Rapunzel

 Love these kids!

 The ward party was fun. They had a cupcake walk which all the kids did...and dad.

 This was a cute game. Tape the eyeball to the monster. They would even spin the kids a bit.

 Wow Cassidy you were way off...hehe

 They of course didn't blindfold Madison and just let her put the eyeball on the monster.

 Statton thought it was funny watching the other people try and eat the donut off the string. When the boys asked if he wanted to try he jumped at the chance. He of course was trying to hold it and eat it and we had to tell him he couldn't use his hands. Well that was too hard so he gave up and let Madison try. She of course struggled also. But that was pretty funny to watch them try.

So they had hay bales lined up on each side of the barn and everyone would sit in a row with their candy and the kids could just walk around and get their candy. I was a little disappointed in that but of course the kids didn't care.

 Statton and Cassidy were so nice and polite waiting their turns between candy and for the kids in front of them. Madison on the other hand figured out quickly what was going on and was running around the other kids, crowding in front of them, and walking through so fast between people she missed a few. She was done with the first line of candy before Statton and Cassidy were halfway through. I had to make her wait for   her brother and sister before starting the next line and she zipped through that one just as fast. Good thing she's little and cute and can get away with it...this year.

 Blair doing his part to contribute to childhood obesity.

 Just a quick shot after they got done getting their candy.

 After giving out candy they threw some hay on the floor. (which smelled old and moldy and I was a little concerned about breathing that in) and turned on some music and had a barn dance. The kids loved running around on the hay and Cassidy and Statton did their best to imitate the other dancers.

 Blair doing his best to dance with Madison who of course just wanted to be dragged and thrown around.

 I loved this. They must have seen someone else get dipped because the rest of the night Statton kept trying to dip Cassidy. They weren't too bad at it. Didn't work out so well when Cassidy tried to dip Statton. They both ended up on the floor and I was laughing.

 Blair taking his turn dancing with his oldest children.

 In the truck on the way home from our party. I think we all had a good time. Nice to have such a great ward to enjoy these holiday's with.

Cassidy and Statton start Preschool

I had been going back and forth about enrolling the kids in preschool or not. Blair had a job interview with a company and if that worked out then we were going to have to move again. Also I had been toying with the idea of going out to Hawaii and staying with my sister for a month to break up the last few months of her husband's deployment. The job Blair had interviewed for ended up not working out which we were okay with considering we are just a few months from topping out with this apprenticeship and we really just want to be done. The next week after finding out about the job I found a Montessorri type preschool for the twins and signed them up. They started about 2 weeks before November. I felt really bad that I wouldn't be able to go out and see my sister but I felt better about staying in Riverton with Blair and putting the kids in school. I enrolled them on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 11:45-2:45.

 Cassidy and Statton were super excited to start going to school. I was excited to have a few hours for just Madison and I.

School has been good so far. About 2 weeks into it Cassidy started crying every time I would drop them off and leave. Then it got to the point she would have melt downs before we had even left the house. The school said she would calm down after I had left and do relatively fine the rest of the time. This lasted for about 3 weeks and then one day we got ready to go and she was fine and when I dropped her off she ran right in and put her backpack and coat away and I left and she ran to the window and gave me a big smile and wave goodbye. I had taken my friend and neighbor Danielle with me that day so Cassidy was excited to show Danielle where her coat and backpack went. I don't know if that helped her or what but since then she has been great and looks forward to going. Statton on the other hand has never had a problem going to school and really enjoys it. We did Parent-Teacher conference the 29th of November and even with the late start they are both doing great and progressing really well. I'm so glad to have a little bit of normalcy in our crazy life.

Blinging out our pumpkins!

Later that day after the pumpkin patch we decided to decorate our pumpkins. I had seen an idea in Parenting magazine about taking some watered down glue and painting it on the pumpkin then sprinkling them with glitter. The pumpkins in the magazine were super cute so I thought that sounded better than carving. Mostly because who is going to trust their 4 year olds and 2 year old with a knife so really mom ends up doing all the work. This way I figured they could do their own and make all the mess they wanted....outside. 

 They all enjoyed making a mess with the glitter and we had it everywhere. Our neighbor Danielle came over with her dogs and helped out for a little bit and her poor dog had glitter on him for weeks.

 Showing off some of our progress.

 This is the one I did. Not like the magazine at all. I think I needed to paint the glue on thicker. Oh well we had fun and they were pretty cute. Side note. Do not leave outside in the rain.

 So these are the finished products. Madison did not like standing behind her pumpkin for the picture for some reason.

Not sure if I would do this again or not but it certainly was a change and the kids enjoyed being able to make a mess. Two months later there is still glitter on that table.