Halloween 2015

We did it! All the dreams came true and now there is a lot of candy in the house. I'm going to start with photos from Daddy's work on Friday afternoon. We coordinated with Aunt Claire and got there at the same time this year.

Don't they look adorable?! Claire made Ian's costume. Respect. And I saw for myself that Moira can walk! Not in the parking lot - don't be crazy. But she can do it!

We were all staring her down. It was a lot of pressure.

This is the kind of cooperation I was dealing with. For once we were there on time and the kids had access to the good candy - and lots of it. When these guys had worn out one set of parents, we took our kids to the room where they were decorating cookies and watching a movie. What?! That's how late we usually are - I didn't even know that did the cookie thing.

Looking out Daddy's office window.

After we'd filled the bags and written all over Daddy's white board in his office, we went to eat at Brick Oven. You know, leg two of the Parental Triathlon. No photos, of course. Who wants to see the inside of the public bathroom anyway? The food was good, though. 

Halloween Day started with me running errands with Emil. I let him push the cart at Michaels and he didn't even topple one display! We found the glow sticks for my piano students, went home and ate breakfast and hurried to the piano recital. I love the Halloween recital because the kids dress up and some of them even stay in character for their performance. Everyone was my favorite - they looked so great and everyone played well. Bridget memorized "Harry's Wondrous World" and played it like a pro. 

We're a long way from the recitals where she wouldn't even sit on the piano bench without me. She's got this. 

We came home and did some Saturday stuff - I even planted bulbs (it's going to be awesome). Around 4:30 we went to see Grandma and play with Nate for a little bit.

Nate was a Minion. :)

This is how they play at Grandma and Grandpa's.

We got home and Emil insisted on waiting on the porch for Archibald to come by and pick him up. I guess earlier in the day, the Archibalds had hitched some wagons to their riding lawnmower and said it would be okay for Emil to ride in it to go trick-or-treating. They might as well carve that in stone. Emil didn't wait in vain, though. :)

Meanwhile, Bridget and I met Clara and her family to begin the trick-or-treating. The boys were just finishing our neighborhood when Bridget started, so Colin made a full two laps around the neighborhood.

This is one of their favorite babysitters. :)

One of our lovely neighbors was serving hot dogs and hot cocoa. I made Bridget sit by their cat because it looks just like Hermione's cat. She was into it.

Emil went home to get his fire truck. His helmet and trick-or-treat bag are in the back. Behind the ladder. Tee hee hee.

And then it was too dark for photos. We walked and walked and walked! Colin handed me his bag and Emil handed Brian his bag, the better to RUN to every door. All the kids had glow bracelets and necklaces on, which was really the only way we kept track of them. Emil walked next to me so I could listen to him complain about having to walk when he'd been able to ride behind the lawnmower. We heard a dog howl and Emil asked, "Was that a werewolf?" Me: "Probably." Brian and I were so tired by the time we got home at 7:30 that we hurried and got the kids bathed and prayers and in bed by 8:15. Secretly it was 7:15 because Daylight Savings was over, but whatever. Time for bed.

One Last Walk in the Gardens

Kristi, Rachelle and I took our kids to the big gardens at Thanksgiving Point on Monday when they didn't have school. It was pretty much the most beautiful day in history. The boys (all six of them) made up games and walked through every puddle while the girls (Bridget and Clara) spied on them and whispered to each other. Remember how I used to take Bridget to the gardens all the time? Yeah. The boys are getting gypped.

 Before the gardens, though, we visited Daddy at work and ate lunch with him. Notice his hunting beard.

Have you ever seen six little boys running through a magnificent rose garden? Pretty funny.

I've never seen this rose garden in full bloom like it was on Monday. It smelled so good! 

Henry, Eddie, Connor, Emil, Colin, and Weston.

They've added this glass sculpture since my last visit.

Colin got left behind on one of the million laps around the fountain stairs. Three seconds later he was up and running with a huge smile on his face. It ain't easy, people.

Isn't that beautiful? If only our kids didn't run through this kind of scenery.

Who is missing? Who else, Emil B. I took about ten of these pictures and Clara was looking down in all of them. Ah well. The boys look cool.

Skiers

For Christmas 2013, Bridget and Clara got the same gift from their Dads - skiing together. During January, Dan and Brian took Clara and Bridget skiing on two different Saturdays. The girls were in heaven. Brian would rather ski with Bridget than with his friends these days. There's something about watching our children discover wonderful things for the first time. 

The photo and the following video were from their first day on the slopes together. Snowing and freeeeezing. I love many things about the video - Brian is skiing backwards to catch the girls, Bridget is talking the whole time :), they're going so fast and look so smooth, that patch of sunlight they ski through, and Clara bops Bridget on the helmet with her ski pole as they pass Brian. Seven year-old girls - too cute. (Bridget is in the blue ski pants and the purple, blue and white coat that every other kid in her school has. I found that out the hard way when I looked for her in the bus line on a snowy day.)

Playing After School

Seeing Bridget and Clara playing in the driveway yesterday afternoon made me happy.  The light on Bridget's hair reminded me of the time my Grandpa Curtis told me my hair was the color of a new penny. :)  Bridget and Kodi covered the driveway with a very complicated hopscotch board on Saturday.  When I asked Bridget to get the mail earlier this week, I looked out the window and she was playing hopscotch in the driveway on her way to the mailbox.  Have you even heard of anything so cute in your whole life?!

  "Let's pretend we're sisters and we're both 10!"  Why 10?  Because that is the age Bridget can get her ears pierced.

Perfect.

Cookies With Friends

I know, I know - another post.  The thing is that I'm working on my 2011 blog book (at Blurb, in case you were wondering) and I can't put off these December activities because I want to finish the book during the holiday before piano lessons start again.  It's for the kids!  No, it's for me.  I've been patting myself on the back every time I go to edit anything in our book because I took pictures and documented our first year of having twins.  I did it!  It's all there!  It really happened.  :)

Our Christmas Countdown Chain activity for Friday was "Cookies with Friends."  We've had to move a few things around to accommodate last minute ideas and this was one of them.  Angelyn suggested it a week or so ago and we had to do it - it's just not the holiday until we do the cookie decorating.  I provided the cookie dough (Bridget and I made cookies earlier this month and I froze half of the dough - smarty smart smart) and the location.  Angelyn brought Tyce and Lauren and frosting and cookie cutters (I have a few, but she has a collection).  Kristi brought Clara, Eddie, Henry and a tag-along Austin and some sprinkles that weren't Easter themed.  (Bridget told me later that they played Freeze-Tag Special.  "Austin called it 'Special.'  The kids play Freeze Tag at the bus stop.  I don't understand Freeze Tag."  Hahahahaha!)  I didn't think we'd have enough cookie dough and I almost made more, but each kid ended up doing at least two cookies.  We definitely didn't need more.

Look at Colin in the background here.  He loves Angelyn's purse so so much.  Before we started decorating, he put on Emil's Woody hat and smiled big for the kids.  Why am I not surprised that he's a show-off. :)  I found Emil looking out the front window by himself a few times.  He wasn't enjoying the action as much as Colin did.

Notice where Lauren's left hand is - she's got this, Mom.

Bridget and Clara are expert at this by now.  They use lots and lots of sprinkles.

Eddie, Henry, Kristi, Tyce, and Austin hard at work.

See?  Lots and lots of sprinkles.

I asked all the kids to take a bite for a picture and Tyce and Eddie's were the only ones in focus.  Sorry!

 I posted the recipe for the cookies on The Seven Bum Kitchen if all this talk of cookies has made you want to do some yourself.  It's from the Cook's Illustrated Magazine November/December issue.  I highly recommend that magazine, by the way.  No ads - all good information and recipes.  It's fantastic.  (Also, we used store-bought frosting for this activity.  Easy peasy.)

Halloween 2011

Last year we spent Halloween in the Burlington, Vermont airport.  Bridget didn't get to wear her costume to preschool and she didn't get to go trick-or-treating.  I think we didn't even decorate since we knew we wouldn't be home.  (According to Bridget's little friend Ryder, we didn't decorate enough this year either.  That's been our favorite thing - he cupped his hands around his eyes and looked through our front window and told Bridget through the screen, "You need to decorate."  Hahahaha!  Back off, kid - you're talking to the daughter of a registered Fun Hater.)  After this weekend, we have officially over-compensated for missing Halloween last year.

First, I volunteered to help Bridget's class with their Halloween party.  It sounded so fun on paper - I'd get to see all the kids in their costumes and have fun playing games with them.  The reality was changing four diapers, getting myself dressed, getting all three kids into their costumes (Emil's is pasted on, if you can't tell), making copies of my lame "find the differences" game, and getting to the school before 9:05.  We dropped Bridget off, then went to the next town over to find a parking spot.  This was my initiation to the School Halloween Parade.  Oh!  THE HUMANITY!  So very many children and so very much noise.  The babies were delighted.  Not.

That's Bridget's teacher with the spider hat.

The babies and I followed the kindergartners back to their classroom where I thought we'd have their party right away.  First we had to watch the rest of the parade.

I could barely hear Colin screaming.

We finally got to the party, which was pretty adorable.  They decorated cookies, played my dumb games, read Halloween stories and wrapped each other in toilet paper to make themselves mummies.  All the kids were well-behaved.  I had to hold Colin the whole time until Emil lost his mind, then Bridget's teacher held Colin and I held Emil.

They also closed their eyes and Peter Pan picked one of them out to cover with a sheet and they had to remember which person was missing.  Bridget loved Lola's cowgirl costume.  "She was so beautiful."  :)

This little girl was Astrid from "How to Train Your Dragon."  I bow to the woman who made this costume because it was awesome.

We came home from that extravaganza and had some lunch and quiet time, which turned into an epic meltdown by Mama.  Someone didn't flush the toilet and left the door to the bathroom open for a couple of babies to discover the joy of splashing.  The babies and Someone got a bath and then everyone took a nap, by order of the queen.  Grrrrr.  Worst Halloween trick ever.

Ahhhhh.  After naps it was time to go trick-or-treating with Clara and Eddie!

 They were total pros.  Running everywhere, saying "trick-or-treat" as loud as they could.  Good form, all.

 It was getting dark, so pretty much all my photos are out-of-focus.  I loved this next one too much not to include it.

Oh, the happiness!  They were coming out of their skin with joy.  And then...

You can't really tell what's happening here, so I'll explain.  Cameron, a 12 year-old perfectly nice kid, came out the door just as the kids were about to get their own candy from the bowl on the porch.  He was wearing a scary mask and he chased them.  High pitched screams of terror followed.  We see that Bridget's fear instinct is to freeze up, while Clara and Eddie are running for their lives.  Is it so wrong that I'm laughing right now? 

Kristi helped get them their candy a few seconds later.  Look how creepy Cameron is in the door way.

It officially got too dark after this picture.  It's one of my favorites.  We have such a sweet neighborhood.  These girls are all taking just one candy from the bowl left on the porch.

Then it was time for a visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house for more candy, Chick-fil-a, and getting a load of Nate's costume.

Brainy smurf, y'all.  He requested it.

Colin has officially picked his favorite - Grandma.

Emil and Colin were fascinated by Nate and his blue face and glasses.

Good thing I didn't take any pictures of our church Halloween party on Saturday night or our pumpkin-carving party on Sunday night.  I'm so happy to be changing the calendar over to November today!  This morning at breakfast Bridget said, "I miss Halloween."  Dude.