Playing Catch-Up: October 2014

Ok, so blogspot hates me. I get it; I abandoned my blog for four months and now it's punishing me. Seriously, blogspot! Life happens! What am I talking about, you wonder? Well, I had to rewrite the second half of my my September post because it wouldn't let me save it and then froze up on me. And now, it's put the pictures I selected in backwards order... Whatever. We'll roll with it. So with that being said... Major Events of October (In Reverse order): Halloween, Halloween parties, Vash's last day of Fall season Soccer, Shramm's Farm, Fischer's Hospital trip, and other Halloween fun.

The kids were super tired after an hour of trick or treating in the rain. Made out like bandits anyway. So we continued our tradition of getting out of our costumes, getting cozy, and watching a movie to wind down before bed.

Fischer offering to share a sucker and then changing his mind at the last minute.

Talked Rhyla into wearing her Anna costume for actual Halloween night because it was so cold! She even sported the boots and twin braids. So legit :)

Vash's five year old preschool class on the day of their Halloween party. He can be spotted between coronation Anna and the Care Bear. That's my green ninja!

Rhyla was one of three Elsas at her three year old preschool classs, but she was the only one with the diamond crown so... I guess that's grounds for bragging? (I kid. Personally, I loved the Violet Incredible costume. How original is that?!?!?)

Rhyla even got to dress up as Tinkerbell for dance class the week of Halloween. And then of course, she refused to eat her dinner and wasn't allowed to go to dance, lol. She looked cute for the ten minutes I let her wear it.

My boys being darling and rough-housy at the same time. 

(Again, out of order but whatever.) The kiddos on Halloween night. Final picture before we headed out into the rain. And yes, I made the boys' costumes but bought Rhyla's because, let's be honest; I'm not awesome enough to try my hand at Princess costumes yet.

Isn't he the cutest lion ever? (I don't even want to hear, "But he looks like a bear..." He's just a very tanned lion, ok? Let it go.)

Speaking of cutest things, Mr. Fisch took a tumble onto a cup he was playing with and bit clear through his upper lip; You can probably guess that that resulted in a trip to the hospital and stitches. Three stitches to be exactly. I was crying pretty hard but he was just mad that we were holding him down. I mean, the kid just slept in the car on the way there so he couldn't have been too upset.

It healed up quickly, but it took me a long time to forget him calling out "Ma, ma, ma, ma,!" when they were stitching him up and I wasn't allowed to pick him up yet. Oh, the things mothers endure. Love this peanut so much.  

Selfie king Vash; This was at the ice cream place after Schramm's farm.

Our good friends that came with us to the farm showed us this place. The ice cream was pretty terrific. Wish we'd gotten more than one cone to share between the five of us. LOL.

Rhyla trying on Lucy for size. Can't wait to show her the tape of when I played Lucy some day. 

My "super" family. Iron Vash, Thor-la, Spider-Fisch, and Captain Ameri- Dad.

All farms, I'm realizing, have petting zoos. Why didn't I realize this sooner? I'd have packed more hand sanitizer.

This was the only free activity as Schramm's besides the zoo. Oh, they had hay rides and a corn maze and a corn pen, but they were all extra. Psh. And here I thought this was going to be like Schneff Farm's in AZ. Oh well. Still had a good time.

Random Bestie Shot; Soak it up people. You're looking at two future famous authors.

Ok, so the toddler maze was free. That was a plus. Of course, for Vash who is too tall and old for the maze, it was a lot like wander around and giggle at the little kids who couldn't see over the bails of hay.

Pumpkins; for sale of course.

Daddy isn't happy unless he's breaking the cardinal rule of not scaring the mama. At least he didn't put Fischer up there!

Tiny hay bail mountains... must be explored!

The bravest of the brave crawled under the mountain via a tunnel. Can anyone say claustrophobic?

My tiny mountaineer.

One the of extra activities we splurged on for the kiddos. Vash actually managed to get on twice, even though we only paid for him to ride once. When we asked how he got another ride, he said, "I just asked." Oops!

My baby doll couldn't have been more thrilled. Isn't she beautiful?

Peanut, who is too little to ride horses, rode Daddy's shoulders instead.

Couldn't find any Indians to smoke peace pipes with but thought I'd share the tepee anyway.

Anybody want to build a snowman?

Despite the look on his face, Vash is quite happy to be measure in terms of pumpkins.

Vash and his coach, Zach. This kid talked for days about how excited he was for getting that medal. I know some people think participation medals are lame, but those people obviously haven't seen how happy those things make little kids who are just learning and trying new things. At least in this instance, I'm pro participation medals. 

And of course, we had to take our annual trip out to the Disney Store for their Halloween party.

Craig makes a pretty good lion too, I'd say.

Gotta love dancing in a Disney Store.

This was our ward trunk or treat night. We got to eat delicious chili and let our fellow church goers sugar our kids up before bedtime. (I might sound sarcastic, but I actually enjoyed the whole thing immensely. Anytime my kids are happy, I'm happy.)

Speaking of; these kids got so sick of me taking their pictures in their costumes. They only tolerated it because they were getting so much candy!

Random Jamberry plug: Halloween nails courtesy of Amberly. Love these things.

And thanks to blogspot we're back at the Disney story party. The kids got to make their own mouse ears, learn a new dance, and got a goody bag filled with treats and activity sheets.

The Fisch even got down and into character for a while there.

And of course he wouldn't keep the hat on. Couldn't really blame him though; it gets hot wearing all fleece!

Decorating our ears.

I think he was entranced with the dancing at this point.

Miss Rhyla and her Nana.

You'd be surprised how many funny looks you get when you bring your child to the mall dressed as a ninja.

There's just not enough squishing of this kid. I could kiss those cheeks all day.

We were super excited to have Nana and Papa out for a short visit around Craig's birthday. That's Papa helping with the pumpkin carving and Fisch holding.

Vash wanted to do a thorough job of cleaning those seeds out. He found the task gross though and kept talking about how yucky the seeds felt, LOL. 

Miss "thang"!

Darling girl helped me paint my white pumpkin to be even whiter.

And I just couldn't resist turning it into Cinderella's Pumpkin carriage.

Random cute shot of Fischer's surprised face. Couldn't say what he's looking at though.

Almost forgot to mention; Craigery had a birthday! A milestone one too, which I think makes it more fun/stressful? I made him a S'more cake and he decorated the house... a lot. Think the whole nine yards type decorating. It was super.

See? I have proof. Kids love decorations.

While we set up for Halloween Fischer decided to eat dirt. Pretty sure that's a rite of passage, but I might have to look it up.

Make a cute spoonful craft for added decoration; Milk jug ghosts!

Could she have any more sass? Oh that pose... Oh that face! Love this girl.

And these are the pumpkins from Kerber's that we have to paint because they're too small to paint. Mine is the flowers, Rhyla is the almost Mike Wasowski, and Vash's is the skeleton.

Peanut and I enjoying ice cream at Kerber's. That field trip has to be one of my favorites that the kids get to participate in. Hay ride, pumpkin picking, ice cream, and playgrounds? Can't be beat.

The aforementioned playground.

Rhyla and two of her besties. Eliana, and Tessa. Can you imagine this shot taken again in twelve years? For some reason, I totally saw them as teenagers when I looked at this.

Mr. Smiles. He was the best helper and lead Fischer around the play set.

Pumpkin picking time!

Vash has graduated from getting whatever ice cream is the brightest to always getting chocolate.

Whereas Rhyla has learned that blue is always cotton candy no matter where you go, so she's changed from pink to blue.

Enjoying the weather before our hayride.

Sibling love<3

Our house all done up for Halloween. 

And this was the beginning of the month, our first fall festival at one of the local churches. Good food, bouncy slides, and games. 

Each of the kids got a bag full of candy. (Do you see it? She's wearing pants because it was hailing outside and I told her she'd have to wear them if she wanted to play on the bouncy things. Though for the record, I prefer the dresses. I hope she NEVER outgrows that phase.

Rhyla flashing her plumber smile while she and Vash wait for their turn for the obstacle course.

So, October was great. I think I packed at least one, if not two, activities into every weekend. We made so many fun crafts and took fun trips. We bough a mess of pumpkins and carved or painted them. We ate too much candy and watched movies that probably gave us nightmares, lol. I'm loving this stage with the kids and the holidays. They make everything the most fun ever. No joke. The munchkins are my favorite and best friends in the world.