YM/YW Halloween Party

We had our combined YM/YW Halloween Party this week. So fun!!! We had treats - everyone brought a treat to share - we had a great assortment of yummy and scary treats!



We had games - we had hula hoop stand offs, eating a donut off a string contest, a balloon popping war, and bobbing for apples. Wow - the YW really held their own - even against the older boys - yeah!!!



After a while, Steve brought Reagan and Cole to the party. They were eager to try their hand at each of the games AND to sample the yummy treats. Reagan and Cole (and Steve) are honorary YW at this point, so they are always welcome :)

We had a great party - its always fun to be with the YM - especially in our ward since we are so small.



Go Cole!!!!!

Halloween Gymnastics

When Reagan was in dance class, each year during the week of Halloween, the dancers were able to wear their Halloween costumes. Well, apparently, it is the same at gymnastics. I wasn't sure how Reagan was going to do with her "Snow Fairy" costume, so, I encouraged her to wear her "backup" costume of Supergirl. She was excited about that and we were off to gymnastics.



The girls were so cute in their little costumes - doing bar work, on the balance beam, etc. as witches, animals or princesses. So cute!!! They even hung a broom from the ceiling and let each of the gymnasts ride on it as it swung back and forth. Here's our Supergirl gymnast...

Cornbellies

Ugggh!!! - This is the second "event" of pics that I can't seem to recover. Still working on it and I hope to "update" this post with more pics - I took a ton of them at Cornbellies - we had such a great time! Here's all I can share for now.....



As is our fall tradition, we went to Cornbellies. Reagan and Cole always have a great time. There are so many activities to do and things to see. I always laugh that what I think is "awesome" doesn't necessarily keep their attention and what they think is awesome is the same stuff that they can do anywhere or anytime. Oh well, we're here for them, so, if they want to climb on hay bales - ok - let's go!



We went mid-day and stayed until it was dark - what a fun day! We came home and had hot cocoa and enjoyed just being together.

   
 

Ward Halloween Party

Ugggh - so, this post and the next post are incomplete. We had a hard drive problem (Apple covered it - thank goodness), and when I restored from our back up, there are two "events" in iPhoto that show something should be in them, but no pics are there - uggggh! So, I have the pics Steve took on his phone, but none of the ones I took on our camera. I'm working with a backup specialist to try to recover the photos, but until then, this is all I have. I'm hoping that after we restore the pics, I'll be able to "update" this post with great pics of our Ward Halloween Party. Until then .... this is all you get :(



We had to leave Boondocks (see our last post) in order to attend our Ward Halloween Party. It was a great party!!! Each auxiliary had a booth or table with prizes and candy. The YW were in charge of the cake walk - they were great! There was great food, fun with friends, games galore, and a costume contest. Reagan and Cole had a blast!!!! Here are the pics I have:

Boondocks!!!!

We live by Boondocks, but we've never been there before. I think I just looked at the place from the freeway and thought with bumper boats and race cars, that we were just not big enough or old enough for that place yet. Well, I was seriously wrong! Reagan was invited to a birthday party there and Cole ended up being the Plus 1 (as usual). They both had a great time. They had tons of tokens and lots of games to play them on. Cole is usually a race car/motorcycle game type of guy while Reagan is all about getting those tickets - she is an animal!

 

After they climbed all over the jungle gym and spent all their tokens, the party headed outside for junior race cars. Cole was substantially lower than the height requirement, but I had him stand in line anyway (let's make them deny us, right??). There was a teenager in charge and when it came time for the kids to drive, I started asking him if he had ever been run over by a car or if he'd seen anybody crash really big. He told me story after story and the kids just walked right by him and he didn't even check one of them. I had a bit of a second thought when I looked at Cole and he was smaller than all the other drivers, but he did great. I had to laugh that all the other kids were yelling and smiling while he had a very serious look on his face. Other than the golf cart, this was probably the first time he has driven anything. He obviously felt the weight of this responsibility. He drove very carefully, but had fun. After that, he begged to go again, but we had to leave - we were late for another party.


Yep - we'll definitely be back to Boondocks - Two thumbs up for sure!!!!!

 

Dance Class Halloween Get Together

We aren't in dance class this year, but we were with the same friends for three years when we were in dance. So, we love to get together still and have fun. What a better time than Halloween for a former dance class friend party.



We dressed up, met at our house, made crafts, decorated cookies, played, and just enjoyed being together. We miss our dance class peeps, but with a little extra effort, we'll be able to keep in touch.
 

Changes

A few days ago, we had great, even warm, weather. We carved our pumpkins and put them outside. Well, today, they were covered in snow. Yep - winter is here ... or .... at least, it is coming.



Cole was so excited to have snow - he wanted to go outside before school and make a snowman. Well, we barely make it to school on time without such activities - it would have to wait until after school. Unfortunately, after school, most of the snow on the ground had melted. He was SO sad. I saw some snow still on the trampoline and convinced him that we could make a mini-snowman. He was all in! We headed outside with our candies and our carrots and we gathered up the remaining snow on the tramp and made a sad looking snowman. Cole didn't mind that it was the "Charlie Brown" version of a snowman - he just wanted to make one. By the end of the day, all the snow was gone and our snowman had disappeared. No matter, a few days later, we received another snow storm that brought more snow (and it lasted all day this time).



By the time Steve came home from work, there was little snow left in the yard. Despite this, Cole was determined to have a snowball fight with Steve. Cole is brutal. He will hit you while you are re-loading, while you are talking with someone else or while you are looking the other way. He doesn't mind getting hit during these times either - he just laughs harder and harder. Steve indulged him for a while and then let him have it. Reagan just tried to avoid getting caught in the fray.

Carving Pumpkins

Well, its that time of year again. We needed to carve our pumpkins. We bought them a couple of weeks ago, but need to get going in order to enjoy them through Halloween. Shannon came over and we printed off some templates from the internet and we carved away. Steve had the unenviable job of cleaning out the pumpkins. Shannon attached the templates and put the holes in. I carved.
 

Reagan was an all around cheerleader. You know - she didn't want to get messy, she didn't want to cut into the pumpkin and she didn't want to clean up :)  She DID, however, want to celebrate each phase of our little operation.



Reagan and Cole were so proud of their pumpkins..... so was I!!!! They looked great. We put candles in them and put them on the table on the deck. That way, the cold would help them keep longer and we could see them from the kitchen and family room. LOVE IT!!!!!
 

Left Out

Steve needed to go to his parents' house to help with something for their computer. So, one day, he decided to head over during lunch. Well, to his surprise, all of his sisters were there having lunch with his parents. He asked "Hey - what are you guys all doing here?" They answered "Having our monthly lunch get together." He was surprised. "You mean, you all get together once a month? Since when?" he asked. The response was "Since .... ever."



I think it stung Steve a little bit that the girls get together but the boys don't. I mean, the boys go with their dad on fishing trips or hiking or camping outings, but not on a regular basis and certainly not once a month. He felt slightly left out. However, I notice, he didn't feel left out enough to start up a monthly lunch with the brothers and their parents :)

Enjoy your visits ladies .... and maybe one time the SILs can join you. We'll bring the food. xoxo

Aliens... Really???

This week, Cole came home from school ALL EXCITED! He started telling me about how he learned about this boy who had a boat and he went the wrong way .... and he found some aliens. Wow - I asked where he learned about this boy. He said he learned about him at school. Just to clarify, I asked whether he learned it from his teacher or from another child at school. He responded that he learned it from his teacher. Now, I'm fairly certain that they aren't teaching Aliens 101 at the school, so, I asked for more details about these aliens. "Aliens, really?" I said. He responded "Yeah, aliens." he said and then he formed his lips into an "O" position and put his hand over his mouth again and again while making the sound "Awww Wahhh Wahhh Wahhh". "OH! INDIANS!" I said. He looked at me and said "Yeah, right, Indians. The boy went the wrong way and found Indians." Knowing Columbus Day was this week, I took a chance... "Are we talking about Christopher Columbus?" I asked.  He gasped and looked at me, totally shocked that I could know anything about what he was learning in preschool. He continued his story ... "Yeah, Christopher Columbus. He 'fought' his boat would fall off the 'earf' because he 'fought' the 'earf' was flat, but really, the 'earf' is AROUND. Yep, he 'scovered' the 'earf' is around." As he said that, he made a ball with his hands, to make sure that I knew what he was talking about. Too cute!



I just had to laugh at his whole description - his story and his conclusion about the "earf" being "around" - all of it. What am I going to do when he is too big to share all his wonderful stories with me? Oh well, until then, I'll just enjoy the daily reports of the aliens they learned about in preschool :)

Cole's Hot Wheels Party

For months before Cole's birthday, he wanted a Dinosaur Party. I was somewhat stumped on what to do for that. Nothing I found online seemed like a good idea - I figured I'd just wing it. Well, about 3 weeks before Cole's party, he changed his mind to a Hot Wheels Party. OK - now I've got something to work with. We found the cutest (seriously - the cutest) invitations. They were basically boxes that when you opened them up, they were a race track with a little car tucked inside and the spectators, the white checkered flags, etc. We sent out our invitations and got to work.



I found these great little cars from Oriental Trading - everyone could have several cars. They weren't Hot Wheels, but close enough. Then, we found Hot Wheels at the Dollar Store and bought several of those. I found four foot high black and white checkered flags and we found a great cake.

Cole's 16 friends arrived on Saturday and the kids made Halloween crafts until all had arrived. Then, they started playing together. Well, let's just say that a boy party is VASTLY different from a girl party. Reagan had 16 friends for her Tea Party in May, but it was a bustle of activity and chatter, not the screaming, raging, jumping, running party that this evolved into. Luckily, Steve took over and herded them all outside for a Hot Wheels scavenger hunt. They found 20 Hot Wheels cars in the yard which meant enough for everyone to have a chance to find one. Next, we had some races from one set of checkered flags to the next. The kids really got into the races. We had planned more activities for outside, but when it started to rain more than a sprinkle, we headed inside.



We next had pizza and breadsticks. After that, the rain had stopped (a bit), so, we headed back outside for the piñata. We had a race car that we hung in the gazebo. The kids loved hitting that thing, but I swear, it just wouldn't break. Finally, Steve took a swing at it and it broke open with candy and toys going everywhere. It was a free for all. Kids crawled all over the gazebo to fill the halloween treat bags that we had given them.

 

After that, we returned to the house and opened presents. After that, we sang to Cole and had cake. Finally, while the kids were waiting for their parents, they frosted and decorated (and ate) sugar cookies. We had great Hot Wheels gift bags for the kids to take home with cars, stickers, toys and candies inside. It was a great party and Cole had an awesome time. He loved having his friends come to play and he loved being the center of attention. Happy Happy Birthday Cole!!!!!


Just a note - I must say how surprised I am that parents will just bring their kids to the house of someone they don't know and drop them off. I haven't yet left Reagan and Cole at a party with someone we don't know and it scares me to even think of doing so. If I don't know the parents, I don't know what their household is like, what their rules are or what might happen there. I'm not saying I'm the picture of trustworthiness and care. One of Cole's friends apparently announced "I had a great time at your party Cole - I'll see you tomorrow at school." and he walked out the front door. Luckily one of the other parents overheard this and brought it to my attention. I caught him in our circle, heading for the street. Ugggh!!!! I didn't think that I'd have to lock the kids into my house. It never dawned on me that one of them would decide to walk home (I don't even know where he lives or how far it is.) I was mortified. I made sure to tell his mom when she came to get him so as to avert any future "escapes". Of course this is also the boy who told me he was allergic to juice and to milk, but who ate 4 pieces of pizza (and carried an extra slice down to the gazebo in case he got hungry while smashing a piñata). She just laughed that he tried to leave for home and reported that he isn't allergic to anything - go figure. Anyway, I guess everyone has their own comfort zone with this and I'm sure I won't be able to accompany Reagan and Cole to every party until their weddings, but while they are young, I've got to do what I can to protect them - even if that means going to what others think is "too far".  I think I've always been like this, but my fear was heightened a couple of years ago when the father of one of Reagan's dance class  kids turned out to be a very, very bad man. Luckily, our children weren't ever alone with him, but it scared me enough that I'm sure that now I'm overly, overly protective. Oh well, that's how its going to be for a while. I know I can't keep everything from hurting or affecting our children, but I'm sure going to do my best to try.

Cole's First Year Book

In honor of Cole's fifth birthday, I wanted to remember what a cutie patootie he was as a baby. I never did post his First Year Book from our wonderful photographer - English Photo. When we first had Reagan and Cole, I thought "Oh - a first year book - great idea." I had no idea how much I would treasure these books as a memory of their first years. Cole is our big five year old now, but once upon a time, he was a little, chunky, beautiful, happy, baby boy. Check him out. (Note - another slide show with music here, so, turn off the sound if you don't want it.)

Happy Birthday Cole !!!!

Cole's birthday fell on a school day. He was so excited to go to school and be "Spotlighted". We took in some baby pictures, some family pictures and filled out a form about Cole's favorite things. He was called up front and his teachers told the class about Cole. Then, they all sang Happy Birthday to him and he was on cloud 9!!



Later that night, we had Cole's "Family Birthday". He chose to go to Bonsai (one of our favorite restaurants). Cole rivaled Steve for catching shrimp in his mouth, thrown by the chef. When we returned home, Cole opened his presents from us.



I seriously can't believe how fast five years has gone. I swear that Cole was just learning to talk and walk. He has grown into such a wonderful, little boy. He is kind and helpful, yet all boy. He loves all kinds of toys, but especially loves toy cars and Star Wars toys. He usually gets along with Reagan and loves to play with her. He takes her lead (what choice does he have?) and comes up with great ideas of what they should do. He tells me that he loves me at least once a day and often tells me how pretty I look or he notices some new thing I have on or something I did. He is free with his hugs and kisses and his compliments. He adores Steve. He wants to be just like him and tries to mimic Steve all the time. Our family truly wouldn't be complete without our Cole Cole. I hope his next five years are as much of a joy as the last five - we love him so very much!!!!

Halloween Costume Pics

We are loving our Halloween costumes this year. Originally, Cole wanted to be a knight and Reagan wanted to be Supergirl. Well, we ordered our costumes in August and when they arrived, I was seriously disappointed. The Supergirl costume was cheap looking and while Cole had a knight tunic and some weapons, he didn't look very regal. So, when I saw these cute costumes at Gymboree (and on half price I might add), I ordered them with the hope that they would sell themselves once they arrived. They did not disappoint. We received this huge box from Gymboree and Reagan and Cole were loving opening each new package. They were so excited by the time they got the new Knight and the Snow Fairy costumes on that they officially changed their minds.

Each year I question whether or not I should get their pics taken in their Halloween Costumes and just about every year, I go ahead and do it. We have our usual, family photographer - English Photo. However, for your cheapo Halloween pics, I head to Target. They do a good job, they are in and out quickly and they are really reasonable on their prices if you work their coupons. I end up getting some for the grandparents, some for Steve's girls and some for us to put all around the house. LOVE IT! So, check out our Brave Knight and our Snow Fairy!!! (Ps - sorry for some of the pics not having great resolution and note - the slideshow has music set to it, so, mute your speakers if you don't want to hear it.)