All Hallows Eve

For Halloween, I tried to be one of those Moms!  I made homemade muffins and stuck eyeball candies on them.  I definitely got a thumbs up from my kids. :)

Then we quickly got ready for school, which was a Spirit day-it was wacky tacky day! (Abby had to participate)

 After we dropped the big kids off at school, we borrowed our friend Clara and headed to IHOP for our free Monster pancakes!  YUM!

 And after school, we ran to Jamba Juice for our free smoothies!  (It's all about FREE!)

 Then we set our pumpkins out for the night! It was a rainy day, so we never did light them up.  We had a bunch of friends & neighbors over to BBQ hot dogs and eat appetizers before going out to Trick and Treat.  We ended up eating in our garage...not very hospitable but fun none the less.

 My children's costume choices:

Queen Elsa (AKA Violet)

Minnie Mouse AKA: Abby

 a Pumpkin AKA: Eliza (My very patient Eliza has been asking for weeks for me to make her a pumpkin costume.  I kept blaming construction but on Halloween at around 4 PM, I could see how sad she was.  So, we whipped up her costume...and she was the best pumpkin EVER!)

 Percy Jackson AKA: Xander

 My little munchkins before Trick or Treating

 My little Munchkins and their loot...they just kept going and going and going...

 And within 2 minutes of getting in her bed...she crashed.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! 

For the after math of over candied out, my kids made this:

Jack-o-Lanterns 2014

The girls and I had lots of fun carving...

while Xander carved away at Scouts...

Aunt Kayley was super busy while we were away in Coronado and she may have made a few dreams come true:

We had several days of errand running Elsa's.  My favorite part was that Abby made sure to tell everyone it was QUEEN Elsa, not Princess Elsa.  :) 

Our Remodel!

In September we started our remodel project!  We went from this: 

(that's form the stair landing-our front door, etc)

And now we have an extra 200 sq feet!  It's amazing how much it adds to our home.  No more vaulted ceilings...now the kids have a loft to watch TV and keep their toys in--away from where I'm trying to talk to someone or where I'm walking.  It is truly fantastic.  More projects to come with the new year...

Spontaneous!

 We woke up to a BEAUTIFUL rain storm which Xander and I ran out to do a service project with the city and then came home to this gorgeous sky!

 After a quick lunch break, I took the kids to see their cousins Leona and Dia play in their local soccer games.  While at the soccer game, one of their teammates offered my SIL 10 tickets to Disney on Ice! So we raced home, grabbed some nicer clothes and food and some more cousins and arrived at Disney on Ice!  SO MUCH FUN!

 And we ended our adventure with Frosty's and French Fries!  It was so super fun!  So glad nothing was on the calendar!

Trunk or Treat

The church had a Chili & Soup Cook-off and Trunk or Treat!  

Here is the only picture I got of Eliza:

 This is the only picture I got of Xander (who won the award for best soup! He made his famous Pea Soup!)

 Violet came downstairs dressed for the activity.  I asked what she was--she was a fighting princess!

 Abby's favorite buddy, Amelia...great minds think alike?!

Fun and Candy was had by all!

And yes, Xander and Eliza disappeared for the night...

HELP!

Boy did I feel guilty!  I had told Ben I would have dinner ready for him so that he could get to his 6PM meeting.  Well, I got looking at some clothes online and WHOOPS! Ben walked in and it was 5 PM!  I felt so bad.  But boy oh boy did my kids help save me!  Eliza made her first batch of biscuits, Xander sauteed the Asperagus and Violet and I were on the Creamed Chicken to pour over the biscuits.   It was AMAZING!  Dinner was on the table, Ben got to eat and got to his meeting.  It was one of those moments that I felt like we slam dunked the night as a TEAM!  Everyone was happy, we worked well together.  Check: Happy Mommy Moment!