HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The kids had a great Halloween! They were so into it this year. It was so fun to watch them and enjoy it with them. We spent about two hours out in our driveway carving pumpkins today. Avery did hers all on her own. She is my independent girl. I helped Nolan do his pumpkin face, and while I was doing Austin's grand pirate ship, Nolan continued to stab his pumpkin with whatever carver he could get his hands on. When he was done doing that, he went into asking me every 5 seconds when he was going to get to do a pirate ship. Austin helped with the pirate ship as much as he could and it turned out awesome. He had to show all of the neighbors. He is such a social bug.

So we usually go out in the beginning of November and I let the kids pick out their costumes. So at the beginning of October Nolan sees this Darth Vador costume at Toys R Us and he begs and begs for it until we finally do our costume trip. We could not find a Vador costume that fit him, so we bought one that was way too big. I did my best to alter it. I must say, I'm pretty proud. A couple of days ago, it did start coming apart, but my quick fix was successful. I thought it was funny that he chose Vador because he is my most mischievous child at times.

Austin picked out a Star Wars bounty hunter costume that cost me $40. It was a little big, but not too bad. I was able to alter it a little, but it was still a little baggy. Unsatisfied, he decides to wear Spider man. It was pretty cool though, because him and Avery were both super heroes.

Avery wanted to be a few different things, but when we got to the store, Wonder Woman is what she picked. It was awesome that she picked that because during school last week they had a super hero dress-up day for Red Ribbon week, so Avery and Austin got to go as super heroes. So cool!

I was proud of Austin this year. He got over his fear of the pumpkin guts and touched it a little bit!

Avery loves the pumpkin guts, and bugs, and frogs. Like mother, like daughter.

The first thing the kids wanted to do this morning was art. They sat there for such a long time painting and drawing. Even Nolan got into it. I'm glad that they like that kind of stuff. It was such a beautiful day today. I'm glad we got to spend a lot of time outside too!

Yesterday, I finally pulled Avery's tooth out. Before that, we went to Audrea's baby shower and my mom and all of her sisters were telling stories about teeth and what happened when they were little. Avery wanted that tooth out so bad. When we got back to mom's she kept wiggling it and trying to get it out. Finally I got tired of the drama and pulled it out. She cried. She said that it scared her a little bit. The fear of the unknown....and the blood. She finally got over it though and tells everybody. My kids aren't afraid to share.

After Avery had her tooth out and we were taking pictures, Nolan so wanted his picture taken.

Before the pull.

The kids have been playing so well together. Last night Austin wanted to sleep in Nolan's bed with him. At first they started out with their heads at seperate ends of the bed. When I went in there, this is what I found. Avery, I'm sure was socializing and probably fell asleep in the middle of a sentence. I swear, these kids talk all of the time.

New

We are all finally settling into our new routines this year. I knew it was going to be a challenge and still is, but we are smack dab in the middle of busy and still treading water. At times I just want to curl up in my bed and refuse to get up, but that will never happen I know until Nolan is out of the house.

Garrett is in the middle of football season. They just lost to L.P. last night (first time in 8 years) and it has been a rough day for him getting over football drama.

Austin and Avery are loving kindergarten and their teacher Mr. K. He has been really good for them. They come home every week with new songs and things that they have learned. We get invited to lots of parties with other students. It is cool to make new friends and meet new people. School has definately added more busy-ness, more excitement, more trials, and more memories to our family.

Avery has turned into our little writer. Rarely do I see her now without and pencil, crayon, magnedoodle, or other writing utensil in her hand. She writes stories, colors and draws all of the time.

Austin is still our little sports nut. He loves soccer. He has a great coach and a great team this season. He was so disappointed today when his game was cancelled because of rain. Austin is enjoying school, but is not taking up writing like Avery. He is very social I hear and is in the middle of whatever is the most interesting at the time. Austin came home this week with a card in his backpack from a girl in his class. It was an apology card that said that she was sorry for hitting Austin at school. She hit him in the face because Austin was trying to get her to follow directions in class. Poor kid. We have been drilling him since he was 2 or 3 about how important it is to listen and follow directions. I guess it has sunk in a little. Another one of Austin's favorite things to do is ride his bike. Right when we get home, he gets out of the car, puts on his helmet, and jumps on his bike. All boy.

Nolan is enjoying flying solo at Sharon's. They tell me he is a different person when his siblings are not around. I believe it. Without them, there is no reason to fight for attention. Nolan has been my buddy this fall. Him and I have the most time in the car together and spend our time hauling the twins around to soccer, school, parties, and field trips. He is as tired of it as I am. He is feeling a little cheated because he has had nothing of his own to do since August. He has been begging to get back to gymnastics, practice soccer with Austin and other things. We finally got him signed up for a one day basketball camp he could do with his brother and he has been so excited about it. They get to go tomorrow.

Me, I am a tired, over worked, over irritated, under rested wife, mother, teacher, housekeeper, cook, taxi driver, amoung other things I can't put into words. It has been a very hard fall for me. My house is never even close to clean, I haven't gotten a break in who knows when. Why anyone would want to be within yards of me is beyond my understanding. I am trying my best to have patience and have a good attitude, but I just can not wait for football and soccer season to be over. Then maybe I can feel a little bit closer to normal. Maybe.

So since we have been so busy and me so happy, I haven't gotten a lot of pics lately, but here are a few highlights of the fall season.

Grami, Grandpa, Dennis, Briley, the kids and Garrett and I made it to the Gridley Fair this year. We all had a great time. We rode the ponies, rode the nasty rides, ate good food, and loved playing on the tractors. woohoo

The boy at the bottom of the picture (above) is just some random kid whose parents were not polite enough to get him out of the way. I hate that.

Shasta had a pumpkin decorating contest at school. The kids were so excited about entering the contest. There was money for the first, second and third place winners and over 100 entries. All three of the kids had a blast decorating their pumpkins and they wanted so bad to win. When we got there and put their pumpkins out to be judged I felt so bad because there were some awesome pumpkins that you could tell were all done by adults (anyone could enter). It is amazing what a meezly $50 will do to people. Anyways I felt so bad because there was only a few pumpkins that you could tell were decorated by actual students at the school with very little help. It didn't seem to bother the kids that bad and Avery said that her friend voted for her. I am just so proud of my kids for getting involved and putting their hearts into everything they do.

(Above) So we went to the pumpkin patch with the kindergarten class. The kids got to ride in a school bus. They had a blast. Avery was so proud of her pumpkin that she took pictures of it and herself. Here is one of her self portraits.

(Below) Avery realized last weekend that she had a loose tooth and we found new teeth growing in. She spend two or three days wiggling her tooth and talking about wiggling her tooth. It was so funny. She still hasn't lost it yet, but she has stopped making a big deal out of it for now. Thank goodness. Austin found some new teeth growing in too. He teeth aren't real loose yet. Pictures of Austin's teeth to come.

(BElow) I can't believe how much my boys care about what they wear. This is Nolan's third or fourth Star Wars shirt. He loves Star Wars. He is going to be Darth Vador for Halloween. Go figure. Austin carefully picks out his clothes for school every day. One of his new shirt is a button up plaid and he loves to wear that and a pair of jeans and his fire belt. He so wants to be a cowboy. I still haven't gotten him a pair of cowbow boots that he has been begging for forever. Another mother from Austin's class actually told me that she thinks Austin dresses so cute. I hope they always care about what they wear. I love it when they look cute. I know that they have better fashion sense than I do anyway.