Oh man. I love the fall. Who doesn't? Falling leaves, holidays, pumpkins, yummy smells, and cool weather. The only problem is that we haven't experienced the last thing on that list yet. Ugh! Our area has experienced record highs this month. I grew up in Idaho where October is windy and chilly. By Halloween, you'd freeze without a coat. Nope, not here. Here you are sweating in a Halloween costume. I know the cold will come but it sure is taking it's time. I'm sure we'll hit record lows this winter and I'll be complaining in March about it. Vicious cycle it is.
Even though the temperature was close to 90 degrees the day Clark flew back from Europe, we just so happened to be close to one of the only corn mazes in the metroplex when we picked him up. So we headed over there and the kids were excited. The pumpkins were beautiful, kettle corn was delicious, and we enjoyed just walking around for a bit. The corn maze was funny to me because I've never been in one that was bright green and had corn growing on it still! Regardless, we let the kids lead the way and enjoyed seeing them panic a little bit. Luckily we all made it out alive although one of the pictures shows how each fork in the road made for some hard decisions. At one dead end I had the kids shrug their shoulders like they were saying, "where do we go?" but the shrug went horribly wrong and it looked like they were doing some version of 'the robot' dance move. After doing our fair share of sweating, we bought some small pumpkins and headed home. Our first fall memory was in the books.
I happened across a book at the library this month called 'Spookley the Square Pumpkin.' It was a really cute story about a little square pumpkin that was obviously different and nobody liked him. Then during a bad storm he ends up saving all the round pumpkins because he was able to withstand the wind without rolling. Anyway, a CD came with the book so we learned a few songs about Spookley. The small pumpkins we bought at the corn maze were even given the name of Spookley by Zachary and Leah. In fact, we almost didn't make it out of there because Zachary couldn't find one that was square enough. Needless to say, Spookley has become well-loved at our house and we've been singing the catchy songs every day, all day. One night I was checking Fandango to see what movies were in theaters and surprisingly I saw Spookley on there. After researching and finding one show time in the upcoming week, I was SO excited to go see this little 45 minute movie! I mean, how random! It was being shown at a special theater called 'Studio Movie Grill' where you can order full meals during movies. The movie cost $2 each and we were the ONLY ones there. This whole Spookley thing was just really coming together for us! We enjoyed the movie and knew all the songs. We even ordered some popcorn and pizza. It was a good time all around. The next weekend we went again so Dad could enjoy the experience also. Gotta love that Spookley!
One small, yet notable, fall event happened prior to our first backyard campout. The kids were jumping on the tramp while Clark and I got the tent set up. Once that was finished, Clark joined the kids for a rousing game of 'crack the egg.' Then Clark decided to jump really hard onto his back. All the sudden there was ripping, cracking, and flying springs!! One of which went right past my head! Unfortunately our little tramp finally gave up the ghost. A small rip that had gradually been getting bigger couldn't hold all the weight. Combined with the rusty frame equaled a recipe for disaster. We're lucky Clark didn't break his neck or something. We put everything next to the garbage can that night and it was gone the next morning. Sad day.
Contrary to what our kids believe, Clark and I actually have a life outside of their lives and constant needs. I mean, you can't blame any self-absorbed four-year-old....they are wired to be that way. As a result, it was especially comical when we were preparing to host a murder mystery dinner the weekend before Halloween. We were busy cleaning, moving furniture, and decorating. The kids were totally stressed, Zachary was in tears at one point, because they couldn't bear the thought that they were being 'left out.' They wanted to know where they were sitting and what they'd be eating. :) Luckily we had had a very active day so they were wiped out by 6pm. We put them to bed and the whole thing was forgotten by the next day. They didn't even know anyone came over.
We had a GREAT time though! This is our third murder mystery dinner and I think we're finally getting the hang of it. Everyone arrived in character, with food in hand, and once we laid out the ground rules, started our fake fire, and served up our first course, it was time to start the investigation. We had a Mardi Gras theme so all the food had a little southern twist including our virgin Hurricane drink. It was all delicious! After three hours, three courses, and lots of questioning, everyone made their guess....
and we were ALL wrong! No one guessed correctly! Characters (suspects) included the family maid and chef...
the princess daughter and her hick fiance...
the gothic neighbor and family lawyer...
and the trampy wife and local jazz musician.
The night before our mystery dinner, the kids and I headed downtown to meet Clark at his office. It was the annual Halloween trick or treat party. The triplets love all the big buildings, the elevator, and all the candy. One cubicle after another is more and more candy. Usually we hit about four floors so the elevator rides start to make me dizzy. Seriously, my head feels like it's spinning after about three elevator rides. I'm getting old!
Anyway, Clark was in charge of the party so we came for the end of it. I brought dinner for the kids and Clark found us a conference room to use while he cleaned up the office. The kids were so patient and ate a decent dinner before candy access was allowed. We watched a little Halloween show, drew on the white board, changed into pajamas, and by that time it was 7pm so we hit the road.
Their costumes this year bear a striking resemblance to the costumes from last year. Oh well, they like what they like.
I really out did myself this year for all the crafts I've come up with for the kids. I mean, almost every day they are cutting, gluing and working hard. Some projects have been hung up and others have gone in their 'special' bin. The 'special' bin is under their bed where they put papers that are really important to them (at the time). After a little while I clean out half of the bin and they are none the wiser. :) I avoid a lot of drama that way and we take pictures of the important stuff anyway. Our Halloween collection this October included a ghosts, spiders, skeleton bats, skeletons, candy corn, peek-a-boo ghosts, jack-o-laterns, sticker pages, spiderwebs, pumpkin sticks, and more. The triplets have mastered the word BOO! and can identify/spell it easily. Zachary has really grown fond of exclamation points which he writes on everything now. He's all about excitement and emphasis that's for sure!
The day before Halloween, we happened to be learning about 'H' at our friend's house for school. We all decided to turn it into a
Halloween costume party which was super fun. Pin the Hat on the Witch, sticker monsters, paper bag haunted houses, 'There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat' book, Harry Says game, spooky snacks, costume parade and contest with certificates, pizza, and cookie decorating. Whew! So fun. That night Leah randomly chose to be an angel as opposed to a fairy witch. She just really wanted to wear those wings!
Of course the most exciting event of the month, the event which our count down chains brought us to, was Halloween. The funny thing is that I didn't even take pictures. We went to Michael and Marisol's neighborhood and the trio filled their pumpkins about halfway. We thought that was plenty. That night Zachary also decided his new super hero name was Chocolate Man. Maybe a costume for next year? :) This year we talked a lot about the 'trick-or-treat' phrase. We bought a lot of fun dollar store trick toys and had fun with those. But I explained that if they didn't want a trick at someone's doorstep, they should just ask for a treat! Right? Makes complete logical sense. So Caleb was really into saying, "TREAT PLEASE!" as we went from door to door. Loud and proud. He didn't want any trickery.
This month was a fun one and I'm not sure how I'm going to make pilgrims and turkeys look quite as exciting as skeletons, spiders, mummies, witches, ghosts, ghouls, monsters, etc... Looks like I'll need to get creative!
I'll end with a couple gems from Zachary. His hair was pretty long at the beginning of last month so when he put his bike helmet on, his hairs would get caught in the little pads on the inside. He's usually really particular about how he takes his helmet out and never lets me do it because of the hair getting pulled. Well on one particular day after a bike ride he just broke down in tears. A lot of his hair was stuck and he couldn't get it off without pain. I tried to convince him to let me do it with no luck. After reading my '10 Days to a Less Defiant Child' book I have learned to choose my battles and just let things happen how they happen. Before that book, I would've exerted my power/authority over Zachary, forcing him to allow me to remove the helmet, which would've hurt, and he would've had a meltdown and been really angry at me. But now I know better. I told him he was welcome to keep the helmet on but he would have to sleep in it. He seemed happy with that option and quickly hurried inside to go play. An hour later I called everyone for dinner and this is how Zachary looked while he ate...
His bib was just wrapped around his shoulders because obviously it wasn't going over the helmet. He was as happy as could be with no worries about his hair. 30 minutes after dinner he brought me the helmet. So apparently it had come off during one of his and Caleb's wrestling matches. Part of me knew it would but I was also gearing up for him climbing into bed with that thing on. Choose the IMPORTANT battles right??
Oh man, he cracks us up. The Sunday before Halloween was the Primary program in our ward. The kids were apathetic that morning and acted like they didn't even care. Leah had gone through her stage fright episodes during the previous two practices. She would mysteriously come down with a cough just seconds before her speaking part. It was so incredibly cute but I could tell how nervous she was. The next run through there were suckers on the line so she found the courage and kept her cough at bay. During the actual program all the kids did fabulously so we were very proud. After the program I took the boys for a bathroom break and as I was helping Zachary get his shirt tucked back in afterward, I noticed that he had more than one pair of underwear on. Not two.....or three.......but FOUR pairs of underwear!! I started dying laughing and he didn't know what was happening. I asked him why he was wearing four pairs of underwear and he said, "I don't know, I just put them all on. They're Spiderman!"
Oh my gosh. It really was just so funny. For the first time in a while his pants were actually staying on! Maybe we should start doing that regularly. I'm thinking maybe he needed a little extra super power for the Primary program which is why he quadrupled his Spiderman apparel. Who knows!
