Pre-Christmas fun

Well, we had a pretty exciting Christmastime around here, probably like most households with little kids with wild Christmas blood in them. Or maybe it is wild Christmas sugar. WE were lucky and had my mom here for almost a month. Besides being a free babysitter/cleaner/chef and someone to talk to during the day, she spoiled the kids and introduced them to the art of making Christmas candies. Ava had a blast dipping pretzels, and then dipping her own fingers. And licking them. Yum. We also had a very very white Christmas, with lots of snow. See how Ally's head is also the head of the snowmen. My children are so clever.

After getting chilly in the snow, we needed to get cozy with some hot chocolate by the fire. Ava never made it out that day, but needed to be cozy nevertheless.

Luke was a shepherd in his preschool Christmas program. I wish I could post how he sang the very loudest (and I mean LOUDEST!!!) for the songs they sand to the old folks. I'm sure even the hardest of hearing among them could hear that day. I was laughing so hard I couldn;t video straight, but he was pretty cute.

We had a fun night with curly (my mom) at the mall while Josh was travelling. There were guys making balloon swords and puppies, we rode the escalator many times (the absolute highlight), got a butterscotch sucker at See's candy, patted the puppies at the pet store and got a pretzel while the kids tried out the rides that take quarters. they even got to put money in one this time (thanks grandma). Ava couldn;t quite make it onto Santa's lap, I should have a picture of me holding her at a safe distance while she sucked her two favorite fingers and rubbed her worn out bellybutton.

And Santa did make it to our house, I will post Christmas pictures later. This is progress for me to get these up, so just enjoy them for now.

the treats

And here is what all that hard work was all about. The haul-

Now we get to eat it all-right?

Making some important trades of the treats.

Ava shares the wealth

Now put the kids to bed so Josh and I can pick out our faves from the pile. Only one bit-O-Honey this year, I was sad.

trick or treating

Here we are getting ready to go out on Halloween. somehow my pictures got put in here backwards, so this one was supposed to be last, but here are me an Ava getting ready to go into the haunted house (which we determined ten minutes later, was a mistake-that cute smile was gone) So our neighbors do a really elaborate haunted house every year, which people come to from far and wide. Last year it was really fun. This year it was really scary. Ally and her friends and Luke and Ava all came out with tear stained faces.

Here is Ally, calming down.

And Luke with Pa-pa, still feeling scared. He would not go to any doors to trick or treat that were even remotely scary or had sounds. Even for candy.

Here we were right before the haunted house. I think all of the girls cried. At least the ones that went through.

and here are my little candy lovers ready to go and get some.

par-tay

This was the Halloween for parties. We were worn out before the trick-or-treating even started. but a good worn out. Here is Luke and his friend Ryan having pizza before heading out to hit the streets. (Luke is the Ninja. He started out as a ghost with a sheet over his head, but it got kindof in the way of him and getting to the candy.)

Okay, my friend went to so much work making holiday goodies for her daughters birthday party earlier that day, that I just had to include some of her hard work. Rice Krispy fingers, cheese fingers with red pepper nails, deviled egg ghosts, witch hats, and Oreo spiders. This is not even all, there wer hot dog worms, spider ice cubes, caramel apples, caramel popcorn, sugar cookies to decorate, and a pumkin cupcake cake. It took her two days to make and about twenty minutes to eat.

The kids had friends over the night before Halloween to hang out and have fun.

Here we are decorating sugar cookies at the birthday party. I don;t even think any of these kids are mine, sorry.

And Ally's class party. Ally is the third one from the left in a bat shirt and blue jeans.

two unrelated items on the same post

Well, this week I had an awesome find at the neighborhood garage sale, 3 scooters, one for $3, one for $2 and one for $.50. We had been wanting to get Luke one anyways, since both he and Ally are not proficient on the bikes, and kindof refuse to try. The were a big hit. It turns out the one for 50 cents handlebars won't come up and it does not turn very well, (you get what you pay for) but it is the perfect size for Ava. The kids have spent the last few days scooting all over the cul de sac. They of course had to show grandpa when he came this weekend. I think grandpa might have strained a few back muscles while taking Ava around. But she loved it, and it saved my back for a little while.

And of course Luke's buddies wanted to scoot when they came over on Monday. And so far no really bad crashes (knock on wood)

So Luke wants to be a ghost for Halloween. Today I have been trying to figure out how to make a ghost that will not frustrate the guy by falling off, or the eye holes moving. I will enlist the help of grandma this weekend. But Luke's friends wanted to help out, so they walked around making ghost sounds. They look pretty good, don;t they? Luke is the one on the far right. And here they are, the men (and ladies) behind the masks. Oh, by the way, we are pretty excited for Halloween around here.

the party

Well, because Josh was not here to tell me how to reset the flash on the birthday pictures, some of these are a little blurry, but Ally had a super fun party on Saturday, after a not super fun time of cleaning and baking. But she and her friends had a great time, and now I can rest easy that another birthday week (ours always seem to last that long) is over and was a success! The girls decorated their own trick-or treat boxes, then we headed upstairs, where they would trick-or-treat at each door, and behind each one was a game or craft, with treat.
Ally and Ava enjoying some tasty ghost cupcakes and ice cream.
Fuzzy again, but here is the group of girls.

And the big hit of the night-glow sticks from the dollar section at Target. I love you glow sticks.

Happy Birthday Ally

My baby girl turned 7 today (sob). the festivities started last week with the newest addition to grandma and pa-pa's growing petting zoo. This is Hannah Montana Wester, the dog, which because a memeber of the family once papa was foolish enough to bring over the neighbors pup that they were giving away, and ask the kids if they should keep it. Now ally feels like she has a dog (a lifelong ambition of hers) and it lives at grandma and papa's under their care. A gift for all of us. (My Ally is the brown-haired one in case some of you don;t know)
Speaking of hair, this is Ally;s new grownup haircut she got today for her birthday. It is an A cut she calls it. Here are a couple of more views of it, my friend Jaime did it, and it turned out darling. She looks so big. Ally spent the majority of today on the phone, thank you to all family and friends that thought of her and called her up, she recieved so many gifts and phonoe calls today, it made her feel so popular. These shots are only a week older than the one above with the pup. Doesn't she look grown up already?
Here's all the cute stuff in the back of the 'do.
Grandma Gail is so thoughtful and sweet, and took Ally shopping for a new outfit to wear to school on her birthday. I didn;t know how to turn this picture upright, but here she is head to toe in Hannah Montana wear-shoes, pants, shirt, sweatshirt, hat and purse. She even got new underoos, (not Hannah Montana however). She felt so special today at school. We went in to her class and sang to her and handed out gift bags.
And the fun never ends, Ally is having freinds over all day tomorrow, and a party with 11 of her firends on Saturday night (Hannah Montana themed-see a pattern here anywhere?) So My saturday will be spent with 12 girls doing crafts, dancing, dressing up and watching Hannah Montana Videos. I can't wait. Or maybe I can. Thanks again to all of you who remembered Ally and made her day so special. And steele and Trisha, please figure out soon how to freeze time, this can;t keep happening. Way too fast.