PARTY...Halloween Style!!

Every year we get very excited for Halloween and all the parties...especially our Ward Halloween Party!! Since this is our last Halloween in this ward, we had a lot of fun dressing up the kids and getting ready for the...Halloween treat contest. This is what I came up with this year... My doughnut hole Halloween tree. Some of the doughnut holes have candy coating and sprinkles and others look like jack-o-lanterns!! This thing took me around four hours to make...and NO I didn't win. But I had a lot of fun doing it. Thanks for your help Christina :)
Jane wanted to dress up as Cinderella for Halloween this year. She made the most beautiful Cinderella ever :)
Due to Jane's choice, Beckham had no choice but to be Gus Gus, Cinderella's pet mouse:) He looks more like a wicked monkey from The Wizard of Oz...but he is DARLING nontheless!!
Here's one of the kids together!
At our ward Halloween party Jane stayed beside her good friend, Ava, nearly the whole time:)
Christina and darling little Mae came too! Crafty Christina made her tutu and I though she looked sooo adorable:)
Mae and Beckham hung out a lot- best friends and cousins :)
The very next day at Jane's school, she had a Halloween party to attend! I got to go and help out during her little party. I had so much fun...even though I can't believe I am already helping out with school parties...I feel so old. Her little class was so darling!
Jane got to play funny Halloween games with her calssmates. And eat the delicious cookies I brought from Shirley's bakery...love it!
They got to explore the inside of a pumpkin too! After the party, Jane was in a Halloween concert with her classmates. Many parents came to watch. Oooh it was so darling. Ryan even came from work to see Jane perform. She did great :) A little "deer the headlights" at times...but still my fabulous Jane! Sorry I don't have any great pictures of it :)

Halloween is the BEST and we are looking forward to more of it :)

Pumpkinland!!!

SICK...this past week and a half my two poor kids have been desperately sick. Vomiting, pooping, caughing, sneezing, running noses...the whole bit. It was awful. However, they are finally on the mend and I have time to remember the good times we had right before our week of sickness...

I LOVE fall and Halloween and try to soak up every last bit of it I can. A few weeks ago we went to Pumpkinland with the kids. They loved it! Here is Jane with her typical, goofy smile preparing for the corn maze lined with funny Halloween jokes..adorable.
Here's Ryan and the kids in the gourd hut... it was very cool!
This was our failed attempt at taking a fun picture...the kids weren't cooperating.
Beckham loved being chased by mama in the corn maze :)
Though painfully slow, Jane walked the whole maze by herself.
Just a cool picture with the sun lowering while we were still lost in the maze.
After the maze, Jane got to feed the many goats some cabbage. This had to be one of her favorite things to do.
Of course, we had to take our traditional picture inside the giant pumpkin :)
What a fun fun place Pumpkinland is! We had a blast picking out our pumpkins, too!
Here's Jane and Beckham at home a few days later...sick as dogs... We decorated Jane's pumpkin though to break up the very monotonous and long days. Her's is a scary Frankenstein!!
Beckham got a tiny pumpkin too :) Ugh, please ignore the ugly, giant foot destroying the picture...
Well, some more fabulous, fun memories made and some not so fabulous ones as well. But, life moves on and I can't wait for more Halloween fun!

The Worst Feeling Ever...

Several scary experiences with my kids have unfortunately proved to me that I am no good in stressful situations...I could never be a super hero...I simply lose it altogether and end up being completely useless. Here is a sad example:

I manage property and the office is attached to my home. During the morning hours, which are notoriously slow, I leave the door open and go about my business. A few days ago, I was doing my hair while the office was open. Beckham was playing next to me and Jane had grabbed her second juice box for the morning. I told her she couldn't have it and to go put in on the counter. Seeming unusually obedient, she walked towards the kitchen as if she was going to actually put it away... I am finally making progress with this listening thing, I thought proudly.

I had gotten preoccupied with my hair and realized that I hadn't heard or seen Jane in awhile. I went to go check on her, expecting her to be easily found as usual. Well, she wasn't. Relatively calmly, I checked every room in the house as well as the kitchen, pantry and laundry room. She didn't show. Slightly more panicked, I checked all the closets and even went outside to see if she had somehow escaped our locked tight house. Still no sign of her. Completely losing it, I run around the house again, yelling Jane's name in a panic.

Now, in these situations my mind tends to land on the most horrible scenario and in this case I was sure that Jane had gone into the office to play when unbeknown to me someone had come in the unlocked office door and taken Jane. It took no time at all for me to be completely freaking out, tearing up and screaming Jane's name around the house and even outside. (My poor neighbors again thinking I am crazy).

I was about to call 911 when Jane wandered out of my closet where she had been hiding behind the door sipping the forbidden juice box. She was crying, obviously because she heard me screaming like a helpless idiot for her. I hugged her so tight and didn't want to ever let her go. That was just about the worst feeling ever...

Ryan and I have since then installed a door chime which goes off, quite loudly anytime someone enters the office... Annoying, but great at the same time!!