Halloween 2013

After school, we came home for an early dinner before heading back out to trick or treat.  I hate trick or treating in the dark so we always get started pretty early.  Once again, both of the girls refused to wear the Doc McStuffins costumes they had picked out and instead chose princess dresses from the dress up box.  Parker, on the other hand, was thrilled about his Ninja Turtle costume!   

Eden learned to curtsy like a princess- so cute!

Our first stop of the night was Mrs. Becky's house.  Lily remembered exactly what she needed to do!

Then we met up with Addison, Aubrey, Ryan, and Aunt MerMer at Mr. Reed's church for their Trunk or Treat.  We've learned from experience that it is best to get there right when it starts to avoid the huge crowds.  We started inside with the games and then moved outside to trick or treat for some candy. 

After the Trunk or Treat, we went to Parker's favorite stop of the night... Mrs. Brightwell's house!  He loved getting to see where she lived and picking out some candy from her big bowl!

Finally, Parker insisted that we go to the Trunk or Treat at our own church, even if it was just for a few minutes.  Even though it was getting dark, we decided to stop by for a little bit.  The kids enjoyed the bounce houses and train rides before heading home for bed.   We had a very fun evening and got way too much candy! 

The next day, one of the local orthodontists was offering to give kids $1 for each pound of candy they brought him.  I let each kid pick about 20 pieces of candy to keep and then we took the rest of it and turned it in.  I was amazed when we earned $7 for all of our candy!  The kids were excited because I let them split the money and I was excited because it got all of that unneeded 7 lbs of candy out of our house!  It was definitely a win-win situation!

Thursday School Halloween Parties

Because Halloween fell on a Thursday this year, Eden and Lily had a fun day full of trick or treating and parties at Thursday School.  They got to wear their costumes and go trick or treating in the church office and then they had their class parties that afternoon. 

 

I had bought both of the girls Doc McStuffins costumes and they promised me they would wear them, but when they woke up on Halloween, Eden insisted on being Snow White and Lily told me she didn't want to wear her costume. 

I didn't get very many pictures of their parties but they were the normal play-a-game-eat-a-cookie-and-go-home type of parties.  Lily was mad for most of her party because I insisted that she at least put her costume on for the 15 minute party.  By the time we got home, they had both already consumed enough sugar to last a month and we still had our evening trick or treating to go!   Thank goodness Halloween only come once a year!

Eden's Community Helper Fair

Eden had her Community Helper Fair at Sunshine Preschool the day before Halloween.  After learning about different community helpers during the entire month of October, they had a community helper fair.  The students rotated to different stations and participated in an activity that helped them learn about different jobs in their community. 

 

Eden was thrilled that her partner for the fair was her sweet friend Grace.

Some of the jobs they learned about were postal worker,

musician,

veterinarian,

baker,

grocery store clerk,

and construction worker.

Eden's favorite station was the baker because she got to decorate a cookie.  She couldn't wait to get home and eat her masterpiece!

Lily's Big Girl Bed

This summer Lily started begging for a big girl bed.  Since she was fully potty trained (even at night) and could crawl in and out of her crib on her own, we decided she was ready for one.  We wanted to keep the rest of the furniture in her room but couldn't find anything to match the wood color so we settled on an iron bed that would match anything.  Unfortunately, that meant it was a special order that would take 6-8 weeks to deliver.  I'm pretty sure Lily asked us every.single.day. for 6-8 weeks if her bed was coming that day!  Finally, in mid-September, we got a call that it was ready!

Lily's last night in her crib!

We had to take down her crib the night before delivery so she had to sleep on the floor that night.

She was one happy little girl the day her big girl bed was delivered!  She has done great sleeping in her bed.  She does not get out of it at night without permission and calls me any time she needs to get up to go to the bathroom. 

About a week after the transition, she started begging for Eden to have a sleepover on the trundle in her room.  I finally agreed, which upset Parker because he wanted to be included in the sleepover too.  After some creative thinking, we used Lily's old crib mattress and let all three of them sleep in Lily's room.  I'm not sure how much they actually slept that night, but they sure did have fun! 

 

What a bittersweet time for me! It made me sad to know that no one in this house will ever sleep in a crib again but it was so fun to watch the excitement on Lily's face as she officially became a big girl!

Happy Birthday Cullen!

Today Parker got to help his friend Cullen celebrate his birthday with a tour of The Ballpark in Arlington.  Cullen, Parker and several of their other baseball teammates got to see the Rangers dugout, underground batting cages, announcer's box and press room where the players/coaches talk to the media after games.  He had a great time with his friends and I secretly wish I could have gone with him!  What a fun way to celebrate a birthday!  Happy Birthday Cullen!

Jace, Carter, Cullen, Ashton, Cole, Parker & Malachi

 

Sea World

The week after Lily's birthday we went on our first family of 5 vacation to Sea World in San Antonio.  We went to Colorado last summer with my entire family but we have never gone anywhere with just the 5 of us.  I'm not sure who was more excited about this trip- me or the kids!

 

We left as soon as Parker got out of school on Thursday.  The kids have never been in the car for long periods of time so we were worried how they would do on the 5 hour drive, but they did great!  We stopped in North Austin for dinner so that broke up the trip a little for them.   

"Raise your hand if you want to go to Sea World!"

One of the things that they were all three very excited about was staying in a hotel for the first time.  We've always stayed in condos on vacation so they have never spent the night in a hotel.  The girls insisted on taking the suitcases inside for us- so sweet!  After exploring the room and saying "oooh" and "aaah" and "this is amazing" about 273 times, they all three crashed.  Bedtime was much easier than I had hoped on the first night. 

 

Unfortunately for me, I tweaked my back in the car trying to pick up a doll that Lily had dropped and was in so much pain that I could not sleep.  I think I only slept for about 2 hours that night because I could not find a comfortable sleeping position.  The pain was so bad that we considered getting up and going home the next morning.  Luckily, after icing my back and taking lots of Advil, I was able to get the pain under control enough to walk around Sea World for a few hours. 

 

The kids, on the other hand, slept great and were all up bright and early the next morning.  They were excited and couldn't wait to get to Sea World. 

We had about 45 minutes before the first show so we let the kids enjoy some rides in the Sesame Street area.  Parker and Eden loved the little roller coaster and Lily loved the merry go round.

After we got off the merry go round, we were able to get a few pictures with Zoe.  Lily wanted nothing to do with Zoe but would at least let me hold her for a family pic.

Our first show was the sea lion show.  Parker and Eden insisted on sitting in the splash zone with Cory while Lily and I hung out a few rows back. 

Lily was not sure what to think about the show.  She spent most of the show covering her ears.  She finally relaxed and started enjoying the show towards the very end.

The best part of the show was when they picked Parker out of the crowd to come up and pet the sea lion.  He did a great job and was so excited that they had chosen him!

Next, we headed over to the Shamu show.  It has been many, many years since I've been to Sea World, but the orcas were just as amazing as I had remembered.  And we even got to see the new baby orca perform with his mother. 

After the show, we got to visit with one of the trainers.

Feeding the ducks was next on the agenda.

Parker and Eden were so excited to stand at the bottom of the log ride.  Fortunately, they stayed pretty dry.

One splurge that we made was signing up for the dolphin touch.  It was fairly inexpensive and was something I've always wanted to do.  Our dolphin's name was Nachas and the kids got to pet her and feed her.  Petting and feeding an 800 pound dolphin is something you don't get to do every day and I hope it's something they will never forget!

Because we went to Sea World the week before Halloween, they were having some special activities for the kids.  Throughout the park, they were able to trick or treat with all kinds of sea creatures.  At each station, the kids were given a bag of candy, which they loved!

After the dolphin touch, Parker started complaining of an upset stomach.  I attributed it to being tired and let him ride in the stroller for a little while.  Unfortunately, it wasn't fatigue but a nasty stomach bug!  The vomiting started right before the next show and didn't end until after bedtime.  Needless to say, we left the park immediately and headed back to the hotel.  What should have taken 20 minutes took almost an hour and a half due to rush hour traffic.  Parker threw up 5 more times in the car and then several more times once we finally made it back to our hotel.  It was definitely not how I had envisioned our trip to Sea World.

Parker felt much better the next morning so we kept our original plans of stopping in Austin on the way home to visit Nabeel and his family.  As always, we enjoyed hanging out with Nabeel and Julianne and the kids had a great time playing with their kids.  We went with them to their neighborhood fall festival where Eden got her face painted for the first time in her life.  She has always been too scared to have it done so I was proud of her for finally overcoming her fears.

The drive home from Austin was just as eventful as the rest of our trip.  We got into not one, but two very bad rainstorms/hailstorms where we couldn't even see the car in front of us.  Luckily the kids slept through most of it and never knew just how scared Cory and I were.

I don't think I have ever been more glad to be home in my life.  Other than the first few hours at Sea World, this trip seemed to be one disaster after another.  Despite the craziness, I think we all had a good time spending the weekend together and we definitely made some fun memories.  It may be awhile before I'm ready to try another family trip but when we do, I hope it will be a little less eventful!