happy halloween

what a fun halloween we had this year. i was super worried that we were going to have to miss it because i would be too sick to take them but i felt much better today. no fever. besides how could i miss it? the kids were so excited that they were saying "yay, it's halloween" when they woke up this morning. miles had to work so it was just me and the kids.

they all got dressed up and i took them to orange county. mason was indiana jones, dahlia was a princess, and connor was tigger from winnie the pooh. i didn't make any of their costumes this year. there has just been too much going on. we went to the friends church fair with christina and zena. there we met up with jen, ray, bodhi, and kira. zena was a gypsy, bodhi was a pirate, and baby kira was winnie the pooh. they had so much fun. we got the kids wrist bands this year to ride the rides. last year they were too little for most of them. they enjoyed the obstacle courses and playing all the games for candy prizes.

connor is too young for most of the activities and as usual my kids wanted to leave the fair and go to the church playground. i was happy to take them to the playground. we were the only people there and the kids seemed to have more fun on the playset. it was much easier for me to watch them.

after the fair we went to our friend angela's house for trick-or-treating. we walked all around her neighborhood. they got so much candy. it was really crazy. then we went back to angela's house for some homemade apple crumble and cookies. sugar sugar sugar. it was a long day but i am so happy that i took them out. they had a great day.

now that everyone is asleep it is time for miles and i to watch the walking dead. happy halloween.

the kid party

on sunday we took our children to a halloween party for kids. my friend kristi had a really fun halloween party at her house.

she had a huge jump house with a slide that all the kids loved. they were so funny tumbling down the slide every minute. she also had a little station where kids could decorate a small pumpkin with sharpie markers. mason and connor loved this. connor was very into coloring his pumpkin and made sure the whole pumpkin was covered with little squiggles. there was also a table set up where the kids could decorate plain sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles. there were cat and pumpkin shapes. it was very cute. all the kids got to take home little goodie bags filled with glow bracelets and toys.

poor dahlia was super tired when we got there and slept on daddy's lap for a little while. she did eventually wake up and get to enjoy the bounce house. we only stayed for a couple of hours because i started feeling really sick. luckily miles was with me to drive us home. it took an hour to get home and by then i had a really bad fever. i was up all night with the flu. yuck. i am feeling much better today but am very worried the kids are going to get sick.

the grown up party

miles and i went to a halloween party on saturday night for grown ups. can you believe it? a party without kids! christina was super nice and watched all three of our kids for us. i was kind of dreading dressing up and going because i waited until the last moment to find a costume and had to borrow one from my sister. i went as a witch. i have never been a witch before so it was a good costume. despite my lack of planning i had a great time at the party. i think i forgot how much fun it is to hang out with adults. it was so nice to have a conversation and not be interrupted to change a diaper or sooth a crying child.

the party was at our friend gary and stephanie's house. stephanie always does such a great job decorating and setting the mood for a party. she had lots of yummy hors d'oeuvres. everyone had really amazing costumes. if i get to go next year i am definitely planning my costume in advance.

we stayed until 12:30 which is late for us now. i would have loved to stay later but i was feeling guilty leaving my kids for so long. we all stayed the night at christina's house.

connor is two

connor is two years old today. he is such a cutie pie. i love him so much. i can't believe how fast these two years have gone by. he still seems little so that makes me happy. he is 24 pounds and 33 inches tall. that puts him at 10% for weight and 25% for height.

he doesn't talk very much. i would say he only knows about 20 words. he has put two words together so that is good. our pediatrician said he should know around 50 words. i am not worried. he is learning more every day.

he is super sweet. i find it facinating how his interests are different from masons. mason was all about trains when he was two. connor is really into dinosaurs and dogs. he loves to line up all the toy dinosaurs in a row. his favorite book is dinosaur roar. so cute. he carries that book everywhere. it is getting pretty thrashed. he loves to play with dahlia. they will play with their baby dolls together. they are so cute. he has a baby doll that is his. he also loves to dance with her. they play music from this baby toy rocking horse and dance for me. he is super thoughtful always sharing his food and helping me clean up. what a doll. happy birthday baby. mommy loves you.

the pumpkin patch

jen and i drove to orange county today and took the kids to a pumpkin patch. it was one of those large pumpkin patch places that have bounce houses and a few other rides for the kids to play on. i have never gone to one before mostly because they are really expensive. we bought our tickets for this one through plum district and got a great deal. the kids could go on five rides and pick a pumpkin for $12.00. it was a really good price. i love these groupon type deals.

the place was pretty empty and the kids had a blast going on the different inflatable obstacle courses and riding the tractors. after they were done with the rides they got to pick out a pumpkin. it was so cute to see them inspect each one. mason was trying to find the square pumpkin like in the book "spookly the square pumpkin" we have been reading at night. in the end he had to settle for a round pumpkin. he is so excited to carve it.

lego star wars party

we had mason and connor's birthday party yesterday. it was so much fun. mason of course chose a lego star wars theme. i thought this was a great idea for a party. he is crazy about legos and star wars so it is the perfect combo.

this was the first year that we got a bounce house for the kids. i was a bit apprehensive about the whole process but it was super easy. we ordered ours from jump for fun. they didn't have a star wars bounce house so i got the plain one and i loved it because the front and sides were plain nets and you could see in without peeking through little windows. it made it easier to keep an eye on what was going on inside.

i didn't get too crazy with the decorations for this party. i made paper light covers with lego star wars pictures to cover these battery powered lights. i also made stickers of all the lego star wars characters and ships to put on bags filled with pop corn. we had star wars lego space ships on the tables but mason kept grabbing them and playing with them. miles also made a funny sign that said "use the forks" by the utensils.

we served sandwiches and salads, fruit and veggie trays, chips and dip. simple but yummy. i used a star wars sandwich cutter for the kids sandwiches. for dessert i ordered these organic whole grain cakes from whole foods. i was very disappointed because one was supposed to be white and the other chocolate but they messed up and made them both white. it was ok. they gave them to us for 50% off. that was nice. i would not order them again though. they were just ok. we also had some amazing star wars sugar cookies that my sister jen made. yum yum.

the kids all got to take home an inflatable light saber that lights up when you squeeze it. they also got a lego kit to build a space ship that mason designed. we bought pieces to make the ships from the loose lego bins at the lego store. miles then went online and created directions on how to build it at the lego website. we put all the kits together with a sign that said thanks for coming. the whole process was very fun and mason loved handing out one of his creations.

froggy party

we went to the cutest party ever today. it was for a friend's son nicky. he is turning three. they had a froggy theme that was just adorable. the decorations were very well done with froggy masks and party hats. they had this incredible cake that looked like a frog pond. tons of cupcakes in cute little polka dot wrappers. really sweet.

there was a bounce house for the kids which was fun. they grilled chicken and had lots of yummy food. it was so nice because it was all very laid back and relaxing. it felt like a summer barbeque instead of a kid party. there was a huge pile of fall leaves that had been raked into the center of the grass. the kids had a blast playing in the leaves. dahlia thought this was the most fun ever. it was actually very beautiful that big pile of leaves.

i really wish we could have stayed until the very end. we were having so much fun but tomorrow is mason and connor's party so we had to go after the cake was served. it's ok. it was after seven and the kids were super tired. they all got to take home a polka dot box with a frog night light inside that changes colors. such a nice party favor.

time to bowl

we went to doug's niece's birthday party this weekend. she is turning three. they had the party at the tiny retro bowling alley again. it was fun but it went by so fast. mason said he didn't get enough time to bowl. it does always feel like we are rushing. the kids were so cute bowling. they loved it. even connor tried to bowl.

they also had little crafts for the kids to do. dahlia had fun making a necklace with jingle bells and straws. all the kids got a big goody bag filled with toys to take home and a notebook with markers. so nice. it was a really fun party.

the little gym

we started gymnastic lessons this month at the little gym. mason, dahlia, and bodhi are all taking a class. connor is too young. jen and i signed them up for four lessons through groupon. it was crazy cheap. we are thinking we will continue lessons for the whole season when the trial lessons are over. i just have to see if we can fit it in our budget.

the kids love their classes. mason is in a different class from bodhi and dahlia. they are broken up according to age. they are one hour long and mason's is after dahlia's so i end up staying there for over two hours waiting for the classes to finish. it is a bit exhausting. the hard part is entertaining connor for that long. an impossible task.

it is really cute though. the parents get to watch the classes through a glass window so we are not in the gym with them. they do lots of fun stuff like floor exercises, walking on a balance beam, doing somersaults on a large blown up air mattress, and flips on the bars. they are having a blast.

after class is over jen, bodhi, and kira come to our house for dinner. the kids get to play together and then they all take a bath and get ready for bed. it is fun to have people over during the week. a nice break from homework.

precious

i was being bad today and was shopping online when i should have been putting the kids to sleep. i had a coupon that was going to expire and was being indecisive. to stall for a little more time i put on a max and ruby show for the kids and went back to my computer. when i returned twenty minutes later i found connor snuggled up with his baby doll fast asleep on the couch. oh my gosh. he is just so crazy cute. if only bed time was this easy every night.

today

today we painted pictures outside in our pajamas. today we decided to unpack the halloween decorations and haunted our house. today we ate breakfast for dinner. today was a good day.

pretend city

we had such a great day today. i took the kids to pretend city in irvine. jen met us there with bodhi and kira. i also picked up zena so she could come with us.

pretend city is this really cute kids museum that looks like a little town. it is completely interactive. the town has a grocery store, small farm, theater, house, fire station, police station, construction site, beach, fishing center, cafe, library, post office, doctor's office, dentist office, and art studio. it is really cool. the kids can dress up in uniforms for the different jobs and pretend to work. dahlia and bodhi loved playing in the cafe cooking, connor had a ball dancing on the theater stage and trying to catch fish in the little pond. mason also loved the pond and had a great time building things at the construction site. they were so cute dressing up at every center.

each child gets a time card when they come in. they can earn a stamp at each center where they have worked. when the card is filled they turn it in at the atm and get some pretend money. you can also earn pretend money working on the farm. you can spend your pretend money at the grocery store. so cute. i think this was zena's favorite part. the kids ended up bringing home a bunch of pretend money. i guess we will be having our own pretend grocery store at home.

there is so much to do there. we stayed for over two hours and the kids were sad to leave. i would definitely go back if i could get another coupon. it is a little expensive without one.

cookies with granny

granny slept over last night so we had the whole day to hang out with her. dahlia really wanted to make cookies. i thought this was a great idea. i pulled out all our fun new cookie cutters. we have been wanting to try them out for a while. dahlia was particularly fond of the glass slipper and the star fish. mason of course loved the train and the lobster. he was all about the big cookies.

we had a great time frosting all the cookies. poor connor slept through this part. that was fine with me because he is a little too young to really decorate cookies. he would just end up eating all the frosting. come to think of it mason and dahlia did their fair share of eating the frosting as well. we loved decorating the cookies and were so excited when we could finally eat one. yummy! thanks granny for spending such a fun day with us.

six

mason turned six years old today. that is just crazy. i can't believe my little baby boy is now six. we had a really busy day. i was up very late (or should i say very early since i never made it back to bed) making sugar cookies to bring to mason's class. they were star wars themed and shaped like the millennium falcon, vader's tie fighter, the x-wing fighter, and the death star. i got the cookie cutters from williams-sonoma. i thought they turned out pretty good.

it poured rain all day today. i usually love the rain but i had to run out with connor and dahlia to buy juice boxes and napkins and then deliver everything to mason's school for a little class birthday celebration. the rain made things a little difficult. why did i wait until the last moment to do this???

the class party was so cute. everyone sang happy birthday to mason and then they enjoyed their treats. mason of course chose andrew to sit next to him. they are still best friends. mason is really a sweet kid. he is such a loyal friend.

the first thing mason wanted to do when he got home was open his birthday present. it was a star wars lego set of course. he spent the rest of the day playing legos and hanging out with granny who had come to visit today. when miles got home we all had fish tacos for dinner. we later sang happy birthday and had homemade chocolate cake. it was a great day. happy birthday mason. mommy loves you very much.

party time

it's that time again. party time. three birthdays in two months. this year we are giving ourselves a break and having a combo party for mason and connor. mason chose the theme. lego starwars. miles was nice enough to create the invitations and we emailed them last night. yikes. now i have to get to work and plan a party. let the chaos begin.