Trick or Trout

Trick or treating was fun because Tati was finally really into it. She was so excited and still marveling at the concept that people gave her candy for absolutely no real reason other than she asked for it. And that doesn't work so well for her at home. After each house she would excitedly tell us what she got, "Mom, that lady gave me a KIT KAT!" "I just got a LOLLIPOP!" but it was louder and more crazy voiced. We knew she was starting to tire out when she stopped telling us what she got all together and finally announced that she was tired. Still, these fools made out like bandits. I decided that this year there would be no suckers though. Is it just my kids or do other kids suck those lollipops FOREVER? I feel like I can see cavities forming. So I just let them keep all the chewies and chocolates. It is still more than they can eat. Chloe told us some rumor of a "Candy Fairy" who takes all the extra candy and leaves a toy present. Chloe was incredulous too and upon further questioning, her friend convinced her by saying, "Well, it is real because the candy was gone and there was a stuffie there." We can barely keep up with the tooth fairy around here. Has anybody ever done something like that?

Gavin went up to a couple of houses but then he fell asleep and that was it.

Tati loved all the attention she kept getting as a squid. She is our attention seeker child for sure. BTW, I got that squid costume last year after Halloween for $5. I just couldn't resist it. I bought a 2T because Tati had been so small and I figured it would work well for the future boy I was planning on having. It fit her great this year although it was a bit high waters. She wore thermals and stretch pants underneath it.


After we got home we did a "Spooky Bath". I got the idea from one of my blogging buddies. You put glow sticks in the bath tub. Melanie, I could see you guys doing this too. Then make a bubble bath. Our bubbles died out pretty fast and I went a little light on them because I was just certain that Gavin would eat them all up. (Side note: My children's under parts get very irritated by things labeled "Bubble Bath"--even the Johnson and Johnson ones. Their doctor said they just have very sensitive parts.) Anyway, they loved the spooky bath. I tried to take several pictures but my smart camera is obviously way smarter than me. It kept beeping and telling me that it was too dark for a picture. Then you try and get 3 kids to be still in a bathtub and not move a glow stick. Yeah, it is impossible. I tried with a few different lighting options like the hall light, etc. but this was the best I could do. I actually really like it.



Our kids love bath time. They only ever get out because we force them too. They don't even care if the water is cold.

Costume Parade

I remember how fun it was to dress up for school in my costume when I was little. The kids are only allowed to wear their costumes for part of the day here. I get it but at the same time it makes it a bit crazy for the kids to put all their gear on alone. We've decided to have Chloe just come home for lunch, get dressed and then go back to school in her costume. It makes it so much easier. Anyway, after all the kids get dressed up, they go to the gym for a big costume parade. It happened to fall right at nap time so my crowd was a little touchy but overall they had a great time. Anytime Tati can hang out with the big kids, it makes her day. And Chloe is always so good at making her feel big and included. She sat next to Chloe with her class:

And even walked the stage with her. It was so cute. Tati was actually a little timid, which is so unlike her, but when it was all over, she was SO happy. Chloe was pretty stoked that Madam was dressed up like a pirate too although she divulged that she thought her own costume was much better.

There were claps and cheers throughout based on the age of the students and their various costumes but the person that got the most applause was the janitor, Mr. Manny. Chloe calls him the "guy who cleans up the school". It was so cute to me, and heart warming, how every kid just LOVED him. Chloe said he's really nice and funny and he always gives the kids a high five. The kids lined the catwalk with their hands up to get a slap from him. I'm sure Mr. Manny didn't aspire to be a school janitor but he sure has made a great and positive impact on these kids and I, for one, was really touched.

I didn't dress up just because I ran out of time. And Gavin didn't wear his parrot outfit but he did wear a pumpkin costume. This was his spare that I bought for $2 at Dollarama. It was pretty cute but he hated it too. Let's hope that he'll grow into dressing up.


And here's one of Chloe at her classroom party right after the parade. Guess that wig didn't last long.

You're a Halloweener

3 pirates+1 kraken+1 parrot=
Happy Halloween!

We had a fantastic Halloween. I love Halloween. This year we cut our costumes down to the wire for sure. I knew what I wanted Gavin to be but I still hadn't sewn it because I was working my butt off on the trick or treat bags.

Poor Gavin's still wasn't done (and isn't now either but it will be by next year). Anyway, I had heard that Winners (the Canadian version of Ross Dress 4 Less) was having their Halloween costumes on sale so I rushed over and found this devil costume. BTW, I think it is mean and wrong to dress cute, little babies up as devils. I also bought some costumes to have for dress up stuff. Gavin has a Batman and a Superman costume now for when he grows up.
Update: Here is Gavin's bag. (finished 11/19)

Anyway, we took this costume and converted it into the parrot costume. I'm pretty doggone proud of myself for thinking that I could convert it and for pulling it off. Gavin, on the other hand, HATED IT! He especially hated the hat.

We also had our first party ever at our house. It was tricky because our place is too small to really have too many people over like we wanted to. So I just invited the people that I go walking with to just try it out. It was a total success so now sky is the limit. Well, in all fairness, it was crazy crowded but it was fun. I can't wait to start having more parties. The girls thought they had died and gone to heaven having some of their friends over and party food with no limits. They weren't even cranky at all. Well, that is until everybody left and we started getting them ready for bed then the sweets and the late hour caught up with them HARD!

Anyway, here is a shot of our dry ice freaky punch. The dry ice was fun but kind of over-rated. Next time we're going to spend money on a weird state of matter, we might as well opt for liquid nitrogen.
We made these super fun eyeball cupcakes and I also made some bugar popcorn. (Caramel popcorn that I made green.) I'm not usually a food grossifier but it seems pretty fitting for Halloween.

I also got Greg to do something fun with a pumpkin. He used his drill. BTW, the idea on the internet said to use glow sticks and if you do, you need several of them. A candle works MUCH better.



We also attempted to do a Photo Booth. Yeah, that didn't work out too well but it was a good learning experience for next time. Here are some shots we took of our fam in the photo booth.


We also had a costume parade at Chloe's school. I'll put that on the next post.

Thirsty?

If you run into any mini dinos, (preferably non carniverous), who are thirsty, we have a great watering hole here and plenty of water. Come on over. Emphasis on the mini dino.

A Sneak Peak

In case you're wondering what Halloween is going to look like this year, here is a sneak peek at Tati, the

Kraken!

Teething

Teething is wet and slow and long and did I mention, wet? Thankfully, looks like the 2 top teeth have officially pierced the skin! Hurray, hurray! (Seriously, we didn't think we were going to make it. We are SO TIRED!)

Bring on the happy kid again! (Please.)

Mr. Crawly

Gavin is out of the timid crawling phase and is now a full blown trouble maker. He is so dangerous! The only one more dangerous is his big sister who likes to give him stuff that he can choke on (even though she knows she isn't supposed to). Hopefully all this crawling with have some good exercise effects on me. And it should have some great effects on the cleanliness of our floors.
But no matter how clean, I still don't want any licking of the toilet!


Here's a cute video of him in action: