Trick or Treat

Once Grandma, PawPaw, & Jon all got to the house it was time to load up the wagon with buckets and the baby dragon and head out to meet the neighbors!  I love finally living on a street like this again where we have wonderful neighbors and a great street for stuff like this!  Our old house neighborhood was like this when I was child, but has since changed with the times.  Many years ago it lost its personal touch and neighbors mostly just keep to themselves and there really aren't young kids around other than mine.  That said, Jon and I weren't exactly out meeting the neighbors or hosting neighborhood cookouts...

so maybe if we had it would have still had its old small town charm from the 80's.  :)

Kate and Gabe took turns pulling this adorable dragon down the street and up to each of the houses.

Trick or Treat!!!

Kate was very excited to visit one neighbor in particular, her school principal Mr. McClendon!

Kate & Gabe were loving all the candy tonight!

And Grant enjoyed looking through their buckets and being pulled around on a sometimes crazy wagon ride!

Happy 1st Halloween!!!

After circling our street we got in the car and drove over to my parents' neighborhood for Round 2.

We left Grant to nap with Grandma & PawPaw, hoped in the golf cart, and headed out for more Halloween fun!!  By the end of the night their buckets were filled to the top with treats!

This massive pile of candy is after they had already started pulling out what they didn't like to give to my dad and Jon.  They eventually gave some to my mom and me too.  :)

I didn't bring over pjs, but we found some clothes for the kids to change into and get comfy, then it was time for tummy time!!  Gabe yelled for me to "get the camera!"  Kate got a little jealous that I was making over how cute the boys were so she wanted in on some tummy time too!!

Happy Halloween

It's almost time to Trick or Treat!!!

The kids are ready to start collecting candy and meet all the neighbors,

but first they agreed to pose for a few pictures while we wait on Daddy, Grandma, & PawPaw to arrive.  :)

Princess Katelyn

Brave Knight Sir Gabe and the Lovable Little Dragon Grant

I bought this pumpkin costume for Grant several weeks ago, before deciding what all the kids were going to be for Halloween.  I tried to get the kids to pick something that would coordinate with it, but in the end they couldn't agree on anything but the Knight and Princess.  I still had to dress him as an adorable pumpkin for at least part of the day!!

Cutest Pumpkin in the Patch!!

Happy Apple Halloween

It's Halloween at Happy Apple!!

The kids were all so cute in their costumes as they began coming out of the school for their annual costume parade.  The picture below turned out blurry, but I loved seeing how excited Gabe was to see everyone as he marched down the sidewalk.

Let the parade begin...

Last year the weather wasn't so nice and we were dodging rain drops, but the weather today was perfect!!

Everyone was here to watch Gabe, including Grandma, PawPaw, and Grant.

After getting a few pieces of candy, the kids headed back to the school and lined up on stage to sing!

Look at those sweet little faces!!

Now let's eat!

A few of our Green Apple friends and Gabe.

Sam ~ Jack ~ Casyn ~ Ava ~ Gavin

And here he is with his lovely Green Apple teacher Mrs. Lentz!

We are so thankful for the amazing teachers at Happy Apple and for the wonderful foundation they help to lay with our children.  They love our babies almost as much as we do and they love what they do too!

Grant had a wonderful time today too...and can't wait until he is a Yellow Apple in less than two years!!

Breathing Treatments

A couple days ago I took Grant to the doctor because he has had a bad cough for a couple weeks that doesn't seem to be getting any better on its own and is now starting to wake him up in the middle of the night.  We got to the pediatrician's office where they discovered he is not only coughing, but also wheezing.  :(  Grant was hooked up to a breathing machine in the office and I had to hold him with the mask on for a torturous 5 minutes until it thankfully made him fall asleep for a more peaceful final 10 minutes of treatment.  As soon as that was over we were moved to another room where the real torture began.  Grant was woken up to a long tube being put into his nose and a machine that sounded like a big old truck suctioning him out.  he screamed and I had to hold him down while the nurse did this for 5+ minutes....it was torture for everyone!  :(  Once the doctor finally came in to see us, we were all traumatized and ready for this appointment to end.  The doctor diagnosed Grant with mild bronchitis and sent us home with out own breathing machine and several prescriptions.  Let's hope my little boy starts feeling better soon!!!

Grant didn't like the breathing treatments at home any more than he did in the office.

But, after a few times I discovered that I could get him to nap in his carseat

and hook him up to the machine for a much easier treatment!

Kate's Magical 7th Birthday Party (Part 2)

I would do just about anything for these three kiddos!  So, despite our lives moving in fast forward right now, life being extra busy, still adjusting to being a family of five moving into a new home, when Kate asked for a Harry Potter party, a Harry Potter party she will get!  :)  I will admit though that there were moments over the past couple of weeks when I thought about asking her to cancel the party and instead opt for a trip south to the Wizarding World at Universal Studios, but that would have been too easy!  :)  No, a magical party she will have, full of friends and memories that will last a lifetime...far longer than another trip to a theme park!  I am going to try and walk you through the party through pictures, but even these amazing pictures can't capture all the magical moments and memories we created today.  Kate, I love you more than words can ever say.  You are a crazy, fun, beautiful, intelligent blessing from above!  You light up our world like no one else could!!  Happy 7th Birthday!

One of the details I struggled with was parents or no parents....  After looking over the names of kids over and over and over we narrowed the list down to about 20!  Kate would have invited everyone she knows, but there is one minor detail she isn't quite yet able to understand....parties are expensive!!!  So with a slimmed down list at 20 kids, was I really going to be able to pull off no help from parents?!?  Kate wanted her party to resemble actually being at Hogwarts with classes and lots of structured activity...this is school, remember?!?  Well, parents can help or sometimes be a major hindrance.  From my experience teaching preschool, babysitting, being at parties, etc, I find that most of the time kids listen LESS when parents are around unless the parents are really proactive in the activities.  I knew the moms would want to hang out just as much as the kids, so that would mean a backyard resembling chaos....not school!  No offense to any of my friends!!!  :)  So, the only way to get all 20 kids to stick together and move from "class" to "class" instead of just wanting to run and play would be to kick the parents to the curb!  lol!  This turned out to be a great decision and the kids were all so amazing!!!  I don't know that I'm up for a slumber party with 20 kids yet, but they are all certainly welcome to come back and play anytime!!!  We are so fortunate to be surrounded by such an awesome group of friends!

Once all the kids arrived we headed first to "Diagon Alley" to get money from Gringott's Bank to purchase supplies.  Each of the kids were given a few gold coins, enough to buy their wand, cauldron, Potions handbook, and a magical creature.

Kate and I worked very hard creating each and every wand!

I told you I would do just about anything for my three kiddos.  Well, there is one other person who might would be willing to do far more than me...and that's my mom!  She loves these kids more than life itself I think and although not crazy about Harry Potter, she too came in costume and joined us in all the magical fun!

Once we had all of our supplies I told the kids we would be sorting them into their various houses.  There are four houses at Hogwarts and each is characterized by a different set of personality traits and character strengths.

Of course, Kate wanted to be in Gryffindor like Harry & Hermione, then we went down the list and sorted our friends equally into the houses.  Gabe was able to pick his house too, since he's the little brother of the birthday girl (and I wanted to avoid him getting upset during the party!)  At first he chose Slytherin, but later changed his mind and we decided he would be Hufflepuff.  Each of the kids were called up one by one to sit in the chair, wear the sorting hat, then open their envelope to discover their "house."

Our first class was "Care of Magical Creatures."  I planned on us making squid Cartesian divers, but found a cheaper replacement to the squid using medicine dropper tops.  When I first tried this before the party, it worked perfectly.  When we tested it again yesterday...not so easy!  We knew we were in for a challenge but there was no way to change the activity with only hours remaining before "showtime."  This was a very complicated start to the party, but we did get about half to work before deciding to keep the party going.  They could have all worked of course, just getting the perfect air/water/weight balance is kind of tricky and very time consuming! 

Next up:  Quidditch!!!

There was no way we were having a Harry Potter party without a game of Quidditch!  After passing out broomsticks and explaining the rules, the kids were ready to fly!

Quidditch is a mixture of many different sports, with the added bonus of flying on broomsticks!

While most of the kids were running around trying to score points by sending the Quaffle through their goal without being hit by a bludger, others were searching the field for the two hidden Golden Snitches.  kate and Gabe were NOT around when I hid these, but they were both determined to find them, and amazingly enough they did!  Gabe found the first snitch and I knew Kate would be a little upset...until moments later she found the second one ending the game!  After all points were calculated, the two teams were tied!

Hot from a lively game of Quidditch it was time to head back "into the castle" for Divination class.  The kids were each given a glass of ice.  When the Truth Serum (Sprite) was poured in, the liquid magically turned one of five colors to reveal something about their future.   

Now for the class I was most excited about:  Potions!!

Kate's amazing Kindergarten teacher from last year, Mrs. Christy Cobb, came and led this class for me...and was sooo perfect!!!  Kate and I were thrilled to have her here!  Also assisting her was her sweet daughter Abby.  Thank you both for coming today!!

The kids were all so fascinated by the cauldron full of dry ice!!!

Time to get started....let's look up our potions recipes!

The kids did so great mixing up several concoctions to create magical reactions!

I am pretty sure this class was a hit with everyone, but I know for sure it was with Kate & Gabe!!

I just love Kate's expression in the picture!

After drawing pictures of bad guys on their cup,

the "Acid" was applied and the kids were amazed as they watched their cups melt away into goo...

Almost all gone.....

And Rylee shows us all that remains of our styrofoam cup!

I underestimated how long it would take for this party so parents began to arrive...

and we still had lots left to do, including the cake!

"Make a Wish Kate!"

After cake we rushed outside for a "Horcrux Hunt" that sent the kids racing all around the yard following clues and looking for seven hidden objects.

The final clue led to the final Horcrux by the front door, and next to it was a bucket full of gold coins!!

the kids were able to spend their gold coins on party favors from Honeydukes Candy Shop and Zonkos Trick Shop.  The kids filled their cauldrons with lots of fun and yummy goodies and I hope went home happy and full of magical memories!!!

Thanks again to all of our wonderful Muggle Friends for joining us at Hogwarts today!!