Halloween 2012

This is how you do Halloween on a budget...

You volunteer to help decorate for your church Halloween party. While you are there you mention to a friend who likes to party that you don't have costumes for yourself or your husband. He mentions all the costumes he has and you take up his offer to borrow his Sherlock Holmes costume for your husband.

Then you go in your closet and find what you have that would work as "Holmes". You find this awesome coat you just bought at a 2nd hand store and realize that a hat you just found will work perfectly.

Then you wear your costumes proudly and embarrass your kids by making them take pictures of you posing outside of the church.

The girls costumes cost me a package of white duct tape. I drew bones and cut them out. I'm not gonna lie, that got a little obnoxious because it made my scissors all sticky but it was still totally worth it.

And Camden's costume was a hand me down/gift from cousin Sam and Uncle Tia.

I was pretty excited how we managed to pull off the cheapest Halloween ever!

We had such a fun night hanging out with our fun friends...

Me and Cherise

Rich and Spidey C

Me and Kristen

Eden and Erin playing my favorite game

I was in charge of this game and I was so happy that there were lots of good sports

Trunk or Treat did not disappoint...

Me and Jerrica

Here is C with Mary one of his Sunbeam teachers

I was so impressed with this costume! So cute and creative...

Camden and Vaughan...Vaughan was our costume supplier, he is so awesome!

Jerrica and Julian

Maya and her friend Faith

HaLLoWeeN NiGhT

My Goulish Girlies

I love my Halloween kiddos!

About a week before Halloween I was out trying to find a new running route and ended up finding a great neighborhood near our house to go trick or treating.

We were only out for about 45 minutes and the kids got LOADED! The neighborhood is kind of tucked away and there is only one way into it and out of it. There were a lot of kids in the neighborhood but more older couples so they were happy to dump a ton of candy into the kids buckets.

The girls got lots of compliments on their costumes and that made me happy :)

The costumes were cheap. The weather was awesome. We were out for less than an hour. And the kids got their buckets full. It was hands down the best Halloween ever!

The Praying Mantis and Other Kid Stuff

My girls are so freaked out by bugs it is ridiculous. One night Aric and I found a praying mantis right outside our apartment complex, so we couldn't help ourselves and we trapped it to show the kids in the morning.

We told them to close their eyes and when they opened them we held out the container. 

This was their reaction...

 After a few funny minutes we let it go but it wouldn't leave our deck.

Camden thought it was the coolest thing he has ever seen...

David and Goliath

For a Family Night lesson the kids, on their own, decided to surprise Aric and I with their version of "David and Goliath"...

After School Activities

We tried to get out of the apartment as much as possible after school. Camden couldn't wait until the girls got home from school so we could go find something to do. We found a little beach/park nearby in Braintree and the kids had fun playing in the sand and water. Camden, of course, made a friend who gave him some beach toys to take home.

When we couldn't go outside the kids looked forward to their TV time.. Their favorite thing to watch...The Cosby Show

Maya and Eden's Cafe

The girls also got into the spirit of the Food Network, but thankfully they weren't as destructive in the kitchen as Camden. This is one of the restaurants they set up for us...

Since we had only packed the necessities there was very slim pickin's when it came to decor and place settings. They got creative and they did a great job with what we had...

Snow

Snow is not my thing, NOT at all....but my kids love it! 

Camden needed some snow boots and my sister just happened to have a pair just his size. The only problem is that they are purple! The fashionista in me was over powered by the frugal-ista in me. 

My sister told Camden that they were "Viking Boots" (as in Minnesota Vikings). Camden loved the name and it stuck so he calls them his "biking boots".

Here are some pictures of my lovelies enjoying the white stuff I loathe.

The girl's and their first snowman of the season...

Two of my nieces came to play one day...Gisele.

Olivia

As much as I don't like being in the snow, I love watching the kids play in it.

 As quickly as it came, it went...my girls were so sad we weren't going to have a white Christmas but it looks like we may get one after all.

Summer Haircuts

This one's for GK (Grandma Kathy). I think she would love to see the kiddos with their new do's...

Maya before...

 

Maya after.

Eden before...

Eden after.

Camden before...

Camden after.

 

Is it just me or do you see the resemblance...

Aric shaved C's head without telling me. I couldn't believe how different he looked...I have a bald baby! I have my very own "Lil Bill".

So Far Behind...

I have so much to blog and, as usual, so little time.  I have a lot to say about Eden leaving first grade. I'm not okay with it. I have a lot to say about Maya going into fifth grade...I'm TOTALLY not okay with that!  I will post more about that stuff later.

So here is what's been going on...

The deck is almost done. It looks so amazing, now I have been trying to get the rest of my yard looking decent.

 

I lost my camera. I have had it for five years and it disappeared. I think it got stolen out of my car one night. So I got a very fancy pants new one. I had it for a day and new that it wasn't for me. There is a neat story behind that story that I might share with you someday. Instead I took it back and got the updated version of my old cannon. LOVE IT!

I've been working on my kitchen. I made new curtains and tonight I will begin painting the island. Tomorrow the red walls and next week the cabinets...ya hoo! I will post pictures when I'm done with it all.

The weather has totally sucked. I'm sorry but that is the only word I can think of that adequately describes it. It's only been the past three days that it's actually felt like summer! Yay for 7o degrees!

The only show I make time to watch is So You Think You Can Dance. It brings me so much joy! I still have issues with the format this season but every time I see Neal I get over it.

Maya broke her foot. Thankfully it was a very minor break. She had to stay off of it for a week. She got crutches because her parents are too cheap to buy the boot and she got to be pushed around the school in a wheel chair.

The girls had their dance recital. It was when my camera went missing so I had to borrow one. It was a point and shoot that I wasn't familiar with so my pictures weren't so great.

This is Eden in her "Africa" costume. It was, by far, my favorite costume to make and I didn't get a decent photo of it!

I made these costumes too. I totally channeled my inner Dixie Chick and Pat Benatar.

Me and Kerry the fearless room moms! I always get stuck with the "difficult" group. One of the girls in Maya's class is oppositional defiant...I could not keep track of her to save my life. After three hours I was so exhausted!

My friend Kerry took some good pictures with her fancy camera, so when she shares them with me, I will share them with you.

We had our annual community garage sale which we totally rocked, thank goodness because it paid for our Ikea shopping spree.

We are loving our season tickets to our hometown arena football team...GO SHOCK! #1 BABY!

I had another incident with my OAM neighbor (the cat fight guy). This time it was the dog barking like crazy, in my ear, while I was weeding. Aric sprayed the dog with the hose...a light spray...and it got the OAM all hot and bothered. We are getting privacy bushes planted ASAP!

Another one of my dearest friends (Stacey) moved. I made her a photo book with some highlights of our almost seven year friendship.

 

I'm sad.

Camden got hand, foot and mouth disease. It was yucky. And now the girls are totally paranoid about getting "the disease."

We celebrated Aric because he is such an awesome dad.

We got him lots of presents.

 

He celebrated himself by making some YUMMY ribs. He knows better than to put me in charge of such a special meal.

 

Let's see what else is there...oh yeah...I hurt myself running my marathon so I haven't been able to run. I'm so frustrated there is really nothing else to say about it. Tomorrow I will roller blade nine miles next to my buddies while they run....LAME!

The girls had dentist appointments and got haircuts. Maya may need braces or a retainer...here come the orthodontist bills!

...Eden is loosing teeth like crazy...

...and C is making me crazy!

And that's about it.