Octobering

Yep, I’m behind. What else is new? Here’s what we fit onto the lovely month of October. It was a fun one.

The Home Depot kids workshop they offer on the first Saturday of every month. A hit with my crafty kids.

Conference weekend is always a fun time to bake. And eat.

You can count on the kids to decorate when I don’t get around to it soon enough.

Grandma and Grandpa Robinson came to visit! Good times were had by all.  Hazel especially loved all the special attention. They played, danced, took the kids on outings, and gave us early Christmas presents. Thanks for coming!

We planned our second annual block party and we had a much better turnout than the first time. It was so fun meeting some neighbors and getting to know others better. I love this fall tradition and I hope to continue it for years to come.

Leaf angels

One of my best childhood friends, Jill, was in town for a conference and we met up for lunch. It was so great catching up after way too long. Made me feel young again for a second. Loved our few hours together Jilly!

I took these pics one morning when everybody had very loose teeth that refused to fall out.

Later that night, Alex's finally popped out! His first!

Ruby was very jealous and sad as everyone had lost a tooth except her.

But not for long! That was just the motivation she needed to pull her own hangy tooth out! There was so much rejoicing and dancing, and singing and hugging. Bennett was so happy for his brother and sister to join the club.She was freaked out about the blood.

And just when I thought the after-bedtime mayhem was ending, Bennett went ahead and lost his snaggletooth. Four down for him. KC was at a meeting that night, so I was on my own with all this and I was beat! They wrote letters to the tooth fairy and went to bed very excited kids.

They were dying to go to the dollar store to spend their tooth fairy money.

We did carve pumpkins this year, though I’m not sure I got pictures of the finished products. But we had these weird seed sprouts in all three. Gross and weird!

I was on the committee for the ward Fall Festival this year, and it was really fun working with some awesome ladies. The kids were so excited to put on their costumes for the festivities.

I had a Woody costume for Alex (Jessie was given to Ruby, and Buzz and Woody were borrowed from my sister) but he was determined to be a “camouflage soldier” when he saw these clothes in his drawers. Since I didn't actually buy any of the costumes, I didn’t really care, as long as he was happy. He was so into the part, and even asked for “bold” hair to complete the look. Funny kid.

Alex thinks since he’s in camo I can’t see him there.

Ruby said this is how cowgirls sit.

Yummy baby strawberry. I already want to eat her on a daily basis and this made the temptation even worse!

My friend made all these props. So much work and it was so adorable.

I planned a craft room specifically for my kids. They loved it, as expected.

Then we went to the local high school’s Sweet Street. The halls were decorated with Disney themes, and the kids got so much candy.

She wasn’t trick-or-treating, but the teenagers couldn’t resist giving her a few pieces. She liked eating them with the wrappers still on.

They already had so much candy and it wasn’t even Halloween yet, so we asked them if they wanted to sell it to us. Five cents a piece, and we had a huge bowl of candy to hand out to the trick-or-treaters. I got to keep the chocolate I bought for myself.

Since Halloween was on a Saturday, we enjoyed a leisurely morning doing puzzles and watching Disney shorts films on Netflix,

and a lovely afternoon at Castlewood Canyon State Park. This place is only 20 minutes away and  this was my first time there. I had no idea how cool it was. So beautiful. The weather was prefect. Such a fun way to get away from the chaos for a bit.

We picked up some pizzas on the way home, ate up, and then headed out for the main even. Notice Alex changed up his costume to last years Red Bird. We walked around with neighborhood friends, and after a little while, the kids decided they’d had enough. Nice.

How can kids consume so much candy without getting sick? I guess I was that way once, but I still don’t get it.

It was a fun month, and the kids have a way of making things even more fun and festive with their enthusiasm. We’ve moved onto Thanksgiving and Christmas now, but that’s for another post. Happy October a month late!