Trick-or-Treat!

Happy Halloween!

Jason and I took all of the kids trick-or-treating throughout our little neighborhood tonight. Hallie loved following the big kids around and Ruby got a bucketful of candy. James wasn't a fan of the whole event ... he cried until he was able to eat a sucker ... but then he was thrilled. 

Hallie wanted to do everything Ruby did. So, when Ruby got dressed, Hallie got dressed. And when Ruby got face paint, Hallie had to have face paint too!

After we did our street, the twins went home with Jason and Ruby and I finished out the night with friends. Ruby won a "cute costume" award at one house and got a flashing necklace; one house was giving out goodie bags of candy; and another was doing full-size candy bars.

We had a great night with the kids.

 

Working for a living ...

Jason has been trying to get some projects done around the house before Clara makes her arrival. Things definitely take longer when three kids are involved - but I think it's also more fun that way! First, Jason had the girls fill the tires on the car and van. I'm not sure why Hallie needed a helmet for this task, but maybe she was just taking all safety precautions. 

Jason has also been working on taking out some of our small trees because we are having a fence installed this week! I am very excited for the fence because it means the kids can go out and play and James won't automatically be running down the driveway. 

Finally, Jason is building our garden box for next year. It's hard work, but he has a lot of supervisors to tell him when he's doing something wrong. 

Playing in the leaves

We have had such nice weather here lately and it has made going out to play a lot of fun. Jason used the leaf blower to make a big pile of leaves in the back yard and the kids had a blast! They were burying each other, throwing the leaves, kicking them and finding the "pretty" ones. Such a good time!

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins last weekend and it was definitely an interesting process. None of the children wanted to touch the pumpkin innards, so it was pretty much mom and dad doing the scooping and carving while the kids watched. Just as we got the first of the pumpkins scooped out, Ruby got a splinter in her heel and that halted the process for the day. So, it took us about three days to get three pumpkins carved. We will post pictures of the final products after Halloween, but there is one cat (for Hallie), one ghost (for James) and one Jack-o-Lantern (for Ruby).

Circus Time!

The Shriner Circus was in town this weekend! I planned on taking both Ruby and Hallie to see the clowns and circus acts, but the show was at 1 p.m.and Hallie desperately needed a nap. So, Ruby and I went to Knoxville and had so much fun! We got tickets from the Early Learning Center -- one of the people on the board is a Shriner, so he donated tickets to any family in the school who wanted them. 

Ruby was so excited to see the clowns, but she was very upset that there weren't any girl clowns. She got her face painted as a Tigress (a girl tiger), and was enthralled by the acrobats on the flying trapeze. She loved the baby elephant (and the four year old girl who was in the elephant act). But, she was not happy about the woman who walked on a horse's back ("that's not nice, mommy!).

I learned that Ruby does not like cotton candy! But, she loves popcorn. And she loves her new light up sword. It was a fun day for us!

Fall Festival at the Early Learning Center

On Friday, Ruby had her Fall Festival at the Early Learning Center. The kids came in costume and got to play lots of Fall/Halloween themed games. First they went on a pumpkin hunt, and they played pumpkin bowling, and throw the bone in the bucket. It was a really nice set up. Plus, the kids were able to run around on the playground for awhile because it was so nice out. 

Ruby and her friend Lea Ann are going to be tigresses (girl tigers) for Halloween this year. So, Christy and I made their costumes together. I think they turned out really cute!