all hallow's eve

What a day... what a day!

The kids were wired before any sugar touched their lips, class parties were in full swing with wishful me bringing healthy treats, the annual school parade had amazing bright sunny skies but a wind that could almost knock you over. This year I did Alyssa's class party with a bingo game, a candy corn/ chopstick game and a spider web paper plate craft. It was wonderful to see the kids excitedly coming in to their classroom with my simple decorations (seriously simple - a Halloween tablecloth - yea, that was the decoration!) and oohing and aahing. The other surprise was the many, many, many thanks you's from the cuties either in words or hugs, all 21 of those cute 2nd graders said thank you! I love how easy it is to rock 2nd graders world. 

It was also the first year that I didn't get to visit Jaiden's class party but I was delighted for the school parade and catching this perfect 4th grader nonchalant and cool strut around the school...

 ... while this one who is supposed to be a dog bounced like a rabbit around the school!

 Just leaving our house to head to our neighbor's garage pre-Halloween pizza gathering... 

 ... again, can't she even sit still for one photo?

 I am not sure what the actual starting trick or treating etiquette time is but I wanted to try to capture at least one photo of the kids at the door... this was my best since light was fading quickly and I cranked the ISO...

... and this one is my favorite despite the very blurry kids but this is my neighbor's house and he is hilarious... he is also who got Dennis on the LED light kick and later Nasser had his lights doing a more lightening, Disneyland haunted house feel with creepy music too! You can see the red LEDs on the right side. Very cool! 

All in all it was a lot of fun and surprisingly, my kids were done after about 50 minutes of treating the neighborhood but they still managed to score 88 (Alyssa) and 96 (Jaiden) pieces of candy!

elf

I was using my leaf blower/ vacuum (which I seriously think is amazing and I love that my dad indulged me for my birthday last year - thanks Dad!) and I came around the side of the tree and couldn't miss this moment in which I found...

an elf door buried in the leaves!

compliments of Jaiden from art class last year, and I am quite certain I saw a little elf run inside to hide...

haunted weekend

This is Jaiden's 3rd year attending the Cub Scout's annual Haunted Weekend, however it was Alyssa's (and mine) first year. Dennis and Jaiden always have talked about it and all the fun things they do at the Boy Scout camp so this year, they showed us...

We started at the Lighthouse (should have taken a photo of that!) and did crafts - 

Jaiden coloring a wooden yoyo he made

Alyssa coloring the front of her backpack 

Then it was to the BB range and the Bow and Arrows ...

Alyssa and Daddy (that pumpkin face on her side is her backpack she colored)

This is Alyssa's first time, and Jaiden is sitting next to them on the left but it was hard to get a good photo.

After they shoot 5 bb's, they get to take off their target and replace with a new one for the next group to shoot at.

Ironically, this weekend was hardly busy because Dennis informed me that they had to wait for a long time to do more rounds of bb's but as luck would have it, we got to go again and again and again... here is Jaiden ... such a pro, he doesn't need help at all!

He even knew how to cock it or reload it? whatever it was I was impressed he didn't need any help!

Alyssa and Daddy again and again...

We had lunch there, carved pumpkins, we did do the bow and arrows but I had to go in with Jaiden not because he needed help though but be there as a supportive parent so no photos of that and the paint ball wrist rockets was so muddy from the melting snow, I couldn't get close enough to even get a good photograph... should have brought my rain boots to slosh in the mud with!

This is another favorite - the ship fort!

That is Dennis on the left with the green hat... the kids are somewhere in there... 

... and this particular photograph I loved. Dennis and Alyssa went to explore underneath and when I looked up there was Jaiden steering the ship, completely absorbed in his thoughts sailing the ship fort. 

The evening involved a costume parade, pumpkin carving contest and a scary Haunted house followed by a very scary Haunted House.

Alyssa and I retreated to the car for the Haunted House - she wanted no business with that - even walking back to the car in the dark listening to the spooky music blaring from beyond the mess hall freaked her out!

But Jaiden... this year Jaiden declared he would do the very scary Haunted House so he and two other friends from his den and all the dads headed down for the scary version and then follow up with the very scary version. Apparently the story goes, Tyler (one of the boys) said to Jaiden and Daniel "are you going to do the very scary one next?" 

Both boys said "NO!"

Then Tyler's Dad asked Tyler "shall we go then?"

And Tyler responded "NO WAY!"

All that dinner time talk about going this year and lucky for us adults we got to head home shortly after 8 pm! One of the towns we drive home through is a college town and apparently every year they have a Zombie Walk ... this year was no different except when we drove down College Street, Dennis stopped at traffic light and some zombies appeared, Alyssa rolled down her window and said "Hi Zombies!" Quite funny!

harvest hustle

What a day!

 We went to bed with winds blowing and woke to snow on the ground. I was a bit worried when I saw how wet it was and wondering how PTO was going to pull of our annual Harvest Hustle (aka jog a thon) and even more relieved when I discovered the kids would run around the school instead of on the very muddy and snowy track field!

Jaiden started at 10am. In this first photo, I am quite certain he did not know I was there. We had talked about pacing and running together but by morning, he made it clear he would do it on his own!

Lap 1... 

Lap ???

This is the backside of the school I was hoping for a cool backdrop with snow covered mountains but it didn't quite work - the mountains are there but the clouds were way too thick. The morning was super chilly but the sun came bursting out in time to keep the brisk chill edge away.

In the end, Jaiden ran 13 laps! 1 lap = 1/4 miles ... yes, 3.25 miles!!!

Then it was Alyssa's turn. Unfortunately, her grade ran in the afternoon, while it was warmer, the cloud coverage had increased and the wind had started to pick up. I volunteered to mark bibs during her grade's run because they were short handed. I loved watching all those cute 2nd graders come running or walking or skipping up excitedly saying "Hi Alyssa's mom!" But my favorite was watching this cutie come running to me...

 So happy!

Her last lap!

Alyssa ran 18 laps! But don't be fooled a lap for her grade = 1/8 mile - her total was 2.25 miles!

Go kids GO!

1, 2... tie my shoes...

Remember when I said "wait until you see those laces?" Well, I had to share a photo of the morning that he wore them to school. Daddy finished fixing them up during breakfast...

 and Voila! I wasn't kidding ... fancy, eh?

When Jaiden got home, Dennis asked if any of the kids noticed and Jaiden said 

"oh, YEAH! Everyone wants to know how to do that"

I wonder if Jaiden thought to say it takes a rocket scientist to tie shoes like that!

Now Alyssa wants a pair just like her brother, but Jaiden freaked and said that would be so UNCOOL!

hippo birdies two ewes

I had a hard time deciding which photo to use because well, Papi is definitely a special Papi!

He patiently builds cheap plastic models when he visits...

very cheap and frustrating plastic models with princess crowns and little girls who get easily distracted...

... and is a bit of a kid himself (okay definitely a big kid in a grown up body!)...

... and indulges us in fun (and funny) adventures...

... yep, we couldn't be any luckier, he's an awesome Papi!

We can't wait to spend Thanksgiving with Papi and Nana 

and find out what adventures are in store for us then!

Happy Birthday Papi!

fashionistA or fashionistO?

I believe that would be fashionisto! Jaiden has asked me for a couple of days if we could go to Kohl's and check out some Tommy Hawk skateboard shoes?! Little did I know they looked like this...

Serious fancy shoes and yes, that is a shiny metallic purple you see... wait until you see how Dennis laced them after Jaiden went to bed!

The shopping didn't end there either... we headed down to the boys department and there was serious attention given to his 4th grade appearance. A lot of bright colors and snazzy pants...

... if it hadn't been so dark when we left, I would have photographed that ear to ear smile he had carrying his shoes to the car! 

Who would have thought a 9 year old could be so particular about his "look"?! Definitely not me. Long gone are the days of cute Gymboree shirts saying 'skate all day' with a cute photo of a skateboard or 'leader of the pack' with a wolf howling. 

And ps... it's my super sweet sister's birthday who was quite surprised to discover she was how old??

Actually, she posed for this to capture a crazy reaction to watching bats fly out from under Congress bridge in Austin and entertaining my kids with this classic photo I texted them  this summer... Alyssa's response was "wow, she is really freaked out!"...

so yea, my sister pretty much rocks all of our world! 

Happy birthday Cyndi-lou-loo!