Dirty Faces

Do your kids ever look like this? Having multiples I try very hard to prevent my kids from ever having fun that could end in a mess for me to clean up, but every once in a while my husband convinces me to let it go.....ok I am not that bad, this may have even been my idea. These are pictures of them actually getting spaghetti with sauce instead of the normal plain spiral noodles as well as the after effect of playing in the sandbox while it is raining (in our pajamas I might add..atleast then I only have to change them once).

Bill's Sesame Street Pumpkins

Bill speaking: I have to admit that every Halloween one of my favorite things to do is carve pumpkins. Every year I try to beat last year's showing.

This year I wanted to do something that the boys would recognize so I decided to do Sesame Street. You can tell which ones I started with and which ones I finished with. The pumpkins that are supposed to be Ernie and Grover could be anyone, really. Those two, along with Bert, are only recognizable because they're sitting in a group of Sesame Street Pumpkins. But I'm pretty proud of my Oscar, Big Bird, Count Dracula, and Elmo. After I got the hang of it with the first three I grabbed some of the boys books and carved a little more convincing likenesses of the other characters.

The real story behind the pumpkin carving is the injuries I sustained while carving. Hollowing out 7 pumpkins by yourself tends to give you cramps for a few days. I also stabbed myself (twice) with the carving knife (no safety tipped knives for this carving professional), and ended up shoving pumpkin under my thumbnail about 1/4 inch. I also burned myself multiple times on multiple nights lighting the pumpkin's candles. You wouldn't think that those kinds of injuries would be possible carving pumpkins, but somehow I found a way.

Lastly, the reason that I am even writing this post is because Sarah doesn't like carving pumpkins or anything related thereto. I'm surprised I was even able to convince her to let me buy 7 pumpkins. She didn't really help me carry them from the field to the Pumpkin Train, from the Pumpkin Train to the car, from the car to the house, or from the house to the table to be carved. I hollowed out the pumpkins by myself, cleaned up the mess, carved the pumpkins, set them out in the front yard, took all of the pictures, and took them in at night. Did I mention that all Sarah was doing was taking care of the kids? Pretty weak excuse to get out of carving pumpkins if you ask me. Oh, and she also is reminding me that she cleaned the house while I was carving. Still, pretty weak excuse. I wonder what it will be next year. I'm sure she'll come up with something equally lame.

Haunted House Creation

My wonderful visiting teacher Connie gave us a haunted house kit. As you can tell, we had lots of fun putting it together. I think the boys ate more candy than they actually put on the house.

Indianapolis Zoo Boo

The boys and I try to go to the zoo once a week and we have a great time. The few weekends before Halloween they do special family evenings. Bill got to come with us and the boys were able to ride the train for the first time. We also got to go trick or treating as we looked at the safari animals. It was a fun filled evening.

The Pumpkin Train

Bill's mom Linda told me about the Indianapolis Transportation Museum that does a yearly train ride to a local pumkin patch so Bill and I decided that we should do it. Of course Grandma and Grandpa were required to come with us for some extra hands. The boys absolutely loved it. We rode the train for about 25 mins to an FFA pumkin patch were the boys got to go to a petting zoo of farm animals, sit on tractors, go through a hay maze and pick their very own pumkins. They still talk about it a month later asking if we can go back to the pumkin train. Here are some pictures of our adventures.

Halloween

This year for Halloween the boys were 3 little monkeys jumping on the bed. Bill had the honor of being a very fun bed and I was the doctor. Since it may be the last year I get to pick out costumes, at least we all got to participate.

Our ward did not have a Halloween party until Nov. 7th this year so we went to Crawfordsville to Bill's parents' ward party trunk or treating and then went trick or treating around town. The boys did well learning how to get the hang of it with the nice ward members before heading off to do it in the "real world". Crawfordsville was amazing. We walked up and down about 4 blocks of the main street with hundreds of kids and parents joining us. I felt like we were in a tv show. I had never seen trick or treating like this. The boys got quite the selection and Bill and I are enjoying the fruits of our labors. Actually the boys ask every morning if they can have candy for breakfast. They seem to have picked that up from their mother I guess.

All in all we have had a super Halloween. It started about 3 weeks before going to an amazing party at a friends, went to Boo Zoo at the Indy Zoo were the boys went trick or treating, went to Crawfordsville with 2 opportunities to trick or treat, as well as trunk or treating at our ward party the following weekend. I don't think the boys will ever have a Halloween like that again.

3 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed