A Homemade Halloween

Homemade Halloween costumes are the BEST! I'm so glad my kids let me put theirs together this year. It was so much fun. Last night we went to a Halloween event at the school and took the costumes for a test drive!

Doesn't he look freaky?! For Noah's Joker costume, I just got a can of the green hair spray $3, a tray of halloween make-up $1 at the Dollar Tree, and some purple fabric dye $2. The rest of the stuff we had at home. We dyed a cream colored blazer that didn't really fit anyone and it took super well. Costume Total: $6

For Presley's spider costume we got two pairs of men's dress socks from the dollar store $2, filled those us with all the grocery bags I needed to recycle, and made the cool legs! I used safety pins like crazy so I didn't have to sew. We got some wiggly eyes at Michael's for $2 and the black beanie from the dollar store $1. Total for whole costume: $5

Charlie wanted make up like Noah so we made him a dead pirate. We had the pirate accessories in our dress up bin from Disney World (thanks grandma and grandpa!). I just cut the bottom of some old pants to make him a look more authentic. That idea came from my brilliant friend Kate and her little guy's costume. Charlie's costume Total $0. Priceless!!

Then I wore Presley's over sized vampire dress. Ha! I'm a geek, but I love getting into the spirit of the season. Pres later wanted her face painted black! She looked hilarious!

Then here's another shot of Charlie in our neighborhood. It was 80 degrees yesterday and the colors were amazing! Today it's back to the high 50's, but it's still so pretty outside.

Note: giant bag of snacks :) Pirate's booty, Argh!

Toddler Time Halloween Style

We had Charlie's toddler group at our house today. I have to say it was well attended. We squeezed as many kids as we could in our house to learn about the letter G and number 6. We made ghost mobiles and ate spooky snacks and loads of treats. Once we got the hang of the group it was so so fun.

Some cute costumes

Art and Pumpkins

I'm in charge of an outing group at church and for October we decided to go to the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) in Boston. Josh and I hadn't been since we were engaged. It was a thrill for me to get so inspired and to talk to my kids about the art. Last minute I started to panic that I had just invited a group of families to go see art that might have inappropriate images for children. Luckily there was nothing of the sort and the kids were just fascinated by all the creativity. Lots of work that provoked questions like, "how did they do that?" or "what is that for?" or "can we watch that clip again?" We took the train then a bus and that was the highlight of Charlie's week. He woke up the next morning saying, "bus,train,bus,train" over and over again.

I LOVE this pic of Noah (my little work of art)

I promise one of these days I'll get a picture of Noah making a normal face. Everyone's a comedian in this house!

Since Josh had gotten back in town, he was dying for a night in with the kids. We did the city slicker version of going to the pumpkin patch. We loaded up the neighborhood wagon with kids and blankets, then walked a few blocks to the grocery store. We brought the wagon in and all and loaded up the pumpkins!

EEK!

We went to a spooky birthday party on Friday night. I just bought a Halloween make-up kit from the dollar store and let the kids have at it. Everyone wanted white faces and we wound up with three different costumes. Vampire princess, the Joker, and a dead pirate.

Yesterday we had our family from Rhode Island (Josh's Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruth) up for Noah's soccer game. We played "Just Dance" while we waited for the pizza to arrive!

Whirlwind Days

Since we last spoke, Justin arrived in Cambridge on Tuesday. We have been doing all sorts of things with him since. Saturday we went to a Harvard v. Cornell football game. We had a great view, but we were on the Cornell side. Boo. I had never seen Noah eat a hot dog so fast! He is such a big eater these days.

What's that behind Josh? JUSTIN! on a date! This guy moves fast.

My attempt at sports photography. I needed one of those gigantor lenses they were using down on the field.

Then today was the big race I had been training for since July. Here's our running group. Love these guys!

Sooo crowded! There were 8,200 runners. Most of the race was trying to get around all the slow pokes and blockades of friends. Next time I need a strategy!

Waiting for mom to cross the finish line.

Here's my name in the race results! (click to enlarge)

Now Josh is leaving for Utah for a week bright and early tomorrow morning. A science conference and a speaking gig at my alma mater.

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D is for Donut

We miss Noah and Presley lots around here when they go to school. But I'd be lying if I said we don't have a lot of fun and that it can be a party around here too! Yesterday we hosted a toddler group that some friends and I do for the kids 18 mos to 3 years old. We talk about letters and numbers, sing, play, read books and have a (nutritious?) snack. :) For the letter D we did donuts on a string. It was so funny to watch.

No hands is HARD!

Check out my little cheater in the corner!

Conference Sunday

Right now we are thoroughly enjoying our Conference Sunday. It is incredibly nice to have an extra day where we don't have to be anywhere. We usually have church on Sunday (which is THREE HOURS long), but twice a year we have General Conference. Where we stay home and watch a broadcast from our church leaders in Salt Lake City over the internet.

It's one of those crisp fall days here in cambridge. We are snuggling up in blankets and staying in our pjs! I made home made chicken and rice soup for lunch and some apple crisp for dessert. My favorite thing to make with all the apples we pick from the orchard:

I use the Betty Crocker recipe:

1/2 cu br. sugar

1/2 cu quick oats

1/4 cu flour

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 cu butter softened

6 apples (we used McIntosh and Empire)

heat oven to 350. cut up apples and put in 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish. mix up br sugar, oats, flour, and cinnamon, then cut in the butter till it makes coarse crumbs. Sprinkle apples with sugar, then the oat mixture and pop in the oven for 40 minutes. Serve with Boston Vanilla bean ice cream. Unless you live somewhere other than Boston. :)

Snuggle up, Chuck! Check out our new couch. It is so comfy as you can see.

Charlie should be exhausted. He unleashed his reign of terror on Noah this morning and totally bit his cheek. I think Charlie just wanted to see what would happen because he did it so randomly. Poor Noah. It looks like someone with red lipstick kissed his cheek. Hopefully the bruise heals ASAP.

A few quick updates on us:

• the kids had their "back to school night". Went great.
• We are stoked for all the things Pres is going to get to do in her class this year. She seems to be making buddies and enjoying herself. She is totally drained by the end of the day. Presley has been banned from the monkey bars since she has gone to the the nurse twice because of them. Boooo! BUT! She has learned to snap her fingers all by herself and is impressing peers all around. YAAAY!!!
• Noah seems to be plugging along in his class. It is the intro to independence at school seems like. The teachers are so much more hands off so far in second grade. Noah thinks it's cool. He has been dealing with his own recess issue of football. He loves playing but the big kids aren't letting him on the team. His solution was to bring his own ball. When the kids took the ball and started playing again without him, his next solution has been to bring TWO balls! So far so good on that one. He wants to solve this prob on his own. It's pretty cute what he comes up with.
• Josh's 22 year old brother, Justin is coming for a long visit this Tuesday. We are so excited! The kids already have it planned out where he will be sitting for dinner.
• My 10K race is a week from Monday on Columbus day.
• Josh is leaving the day after for a science conference trip to Utah. He will also be speaking at BYU. Wish him luck!