Day 251: Halloweenie 2016

It's Halloween!! The holiday that officially launches us into the "holiday season". And who doesn't love Halloween? (other than killjoys. I'm talking to you, lights turned off and doors locked.)

It was a BUSY Halloween for us. We started off with the boys' school parade. They don't allow the students to wear costumes to school, but instead, all students in all grades make their own costumes in class using paper bags. It can be their favorite characters, or themes, or whatever creative idea they might think up. Then the classes parade the black top in front of parents and staff class by class. Each class is judged and awards given to the top 3 costumes. Camden won an award for the kindergarten class for his Peter Pan paper bag! (of course he got help from adults). Calen made a super cool Minecraft "ghast" costume on his own (but wasn't awarded). It's really fun watching all the classes and what the kids created. 

Paper bag parade! Calen's class - he's the one in white

Calen's "ghast" (Minecraft) and Camden's Peter Pan 

Immediately following the parade, I went in to Camden's classroom for their class party. And here's a little math for you: 25 five year olds + 14 pounds of cupcakes = Really cute but barely controlled MADNESS. 

Class party! 

Me and the baby boy. We were making silly faces and he faked me out last second.

Zombie teeth with kinder buddy Jack

It was only 1:30 when the party was over but I checked both kids out of school and we went home early. Because it's Halloween and each class was doing nothing more than watching a movie anyways. The kids and neighbor boys threw on their actual costumes and took over the garage in a sugar-induced chaotic shitshow. Which is the best kind, you know. 

Neighbor boys! May the force be with you.

It started raining right at the appointed trick or treating time, but that didn't stop them. The boys went out with Daddy (dressed as Chewbacca) and their little buddy and his dad (also dressed as Chewbacca). Two moms and I hung out at my porch under a canopy to stay dry and hand out 3 families' worth of candy. This neighborhood really is the best ever for trick or treating. 

Ready to trick or treat with Chewbacca and BB8 (I mean Daddy and Sonic)

The Moms hangout

By 7 we were done and the kids picked out 20 pieces each out of their stash and "sold" the rest to me and Brad, in exchange for a pack of Pokemon cards that they'l receive tomorrow. (The extra candy will be given to all of Brad's students at work). 

Awesome day. It's been a great October, but I'm ready to move on to November because that means Disney in a week!!

Day 250: Jack of All Trades

It's family fun day and we pulled out all the stops and stayed at home and never left. 

Once we were done screaming at the Seahawks game (seriously though...that was hair pulling), we put on Brave (because we are T-minus 9 days to Disney!) and put together a big foam haunted house. Because nothing says cooling down after a raging football game like Disney movies and CRAFTS!

Of course it's the day before Halloween and that means pumpkin carving extravaganza in our house. This year we did things a little different. Instead of using those tracing sheets or some printout on Pinterest, we gave the kids permanent markers (which is like, an across the board "NEVER" on the list of what to ever give a kid) and said "draw what you want on your pumpkin" and we'll carve it out when they're done.

Calen was the first to pull down the Nightmare Before Christmas DVD case and used it as a reference to freehand draw Jack Skellington on his pumpkin. Cam is of course a monkey-see-monkey-do kid, so he did his own freehand drawing of Jack too. 

Cam's rendition of Jack Skellington. So cute. 

While Brad carved out their super adorable little drawings with his drommel tool, I used the last big pumpkin and made Jack Sparrow (because we needed another "Jack"). Or at least his first mate. 

While mom and dad carve, the boys had a little zombie-killing intermission. Because obviously.

These turned out better than I had hoped. It's so cute seeing their artwork lit up and they actually turned into super rad jack o lanterns. 

Masterpieces! From left: Camden's Jack Skellington, Mom's Jack Sparrow, Calen's Jack Skellington.

Zombies with their Jacks. 

Good job, gentlemen. 

Day 249: Monster Mash

It's Halloween weekend and we decided to throw a little party for the kids today. 

By "party" I mean "add 3 extra kids to our already insane house and throw in some candy and Halloween-themed crafts while the adults drink beer and eat junk food created on Pinterest."

It really was fun though. I made my mom's almost-famous taco dip (with some added spooky tortilla tombstones) and poached weiners, and some spooky snacks to go with it. 

Super spooky spread!

I'm immature and giggled as I "killed" the hot dogs

Our annual "candy corn" pizza

Taco Dip cemetery. I've officially outdone myself.

The kids basically hung out doing simple Halloween sticker crafts and playing with playdoh and decorating Halloween cookies while watching Paranorman and Hocus Pocus. All in costume of course, and all but one of the 5 boys were dressed in Star Wars attire. Because Star Wars. 

The only picture I actually managed to get of the kids (while decorating cookies). Kael (stormtrooper), Camden (Kylo Ren), Calen (Poe Dameron), Kollin (Darth Vader), and Calvin (ninja)

We attempted a game of "guess what disgusting thing is in the pumpkin (ramen noodles for brains, grapes in water for eyeballs and candy corn for vampire teeth), but the kids are too young to get it and just pulled it all out and tried to eat the grapes and corn. Which is hysterical and we just said "whatever". Then I started a sticky eyeball fight and I realized that this whole production could have included NOTHING but sticky eyeballs and these boys would have still thought it was the best party ever.

There's your life hack for a kids' Halloween party folks. Two words: Sticky.Eyeballs.

Boys are SO easy to entertain. Especially at Halloween.

Day 248: Painting Pumpkins

It was another yucky day today (seriously you guys, did the rainy season show up 3 months early??) so we scrambled to find something to do inside tonight. 

Today was easy. We brought the picnic table inside, threw on some old baseball jerseys that we don't care about anymore, and painted our smaller pumpkins while watching Nightmare Before Christmas. And when they ran out of pumpkins, they painted paper. 

We finally found a use for all those old jerseys we've acquired over several seasons of baseball

Calen's "zombie vampire" and jack o'lantern on the left, Camden's 3 eyed monster and Jack Skellington on the right. 

Cam's drawing of "Jack Skellington holding a white pumpkin in the pumpkin patch"

I'll miss these easy to entertain days when they're older. 

Day 247: In A Galaxy Far Far Away

After much begging, pleading, and bribing, Calen has officially vetoed the super FANTASTIC Captain Hook costume. 

And because he chose Poe Dameron (Star Wars Force Awakens) and that's Camden's favorite movie, Cam has almost vetoed Peter Pan in lieu of Kylo Ren, to go with his brother. 

When did gets have to grow up and get opinions and shit?

Luckily, we already had costume-style Poe and Kylo jackets from the Disney store. I somehow managed to find a pair of burnt orange pants from Gymboree for Calen and a $5 pair of black sweats for Cam. Add in the appropriate weapons and a dollar-bin Kylo Ren mask, and they were done. 

To make it that much cooler, I somehow stumbled upon a BB8 costume dog sweater for Sonic. So she will be trick or treating with the boys too. 

Have you ever tried to take a family picture with a puppy?? Like trying to get it to SIT and STAY. Who thought that was a great idea?

Camden still loves his Peter Pan costume and intends on keeping it for dress up. He still hasn't decided which costume he's wearing for Halloween. 

Anyways, after that mini photo shoot we came in and watched Quackbusters and made some little paper bats out of TP tubes, black construction paper and googly eyes. 

We have not been good about doing something Halloweeny every day this month. The reality is kids are busy and parents are busier and who the hell has time to plan all that shit anyways. 

Day 246: The Things You Say (Disney Edition)

We are basically watching nothing but Disney movies on our free time since we are T-minus 13 days to Disney World!!

Tonight we watched the Little Mermaid, which the kids surprisingly enjoy (except for that last kiss at the end, then they both writhe on the floor and pretend to barf). During the first scene with Ursula, Cam jumps up to stand on the couch and points. 

"Hey! That's the octopus!"

Me: "Yeah, her name is Ursula."

Cam: "Yeah. She's a girl. But then when she gets big and turns into a giant she turns into a boy."

Me: "What? She's a girl!"

Cam: "Yeah, but when she gets big she gets a really deep boy voice and that means she turns into a boy. A big man boy."

You'll never look at Ursula the same again.

Day 245: Afternoons With Stormtroopers

Cam hasn't been feeling well with a head cold the last couple days, and that combined with a suddenly week of rain has foiled any outside activities, so we've been laying low a lot, watching a plethora of Disney movies and playing with toys that are abandoned on sunny days in lieu of Nerf guns at the playground. 

Camden LOVES Star Wars. I mean both boys love Star Wars, but Cam LOVES it. He knows all the movies, the characters, their stories, the types of vehicles. The only toys he really plays with other than Legos are Star Wars action figures. And he plays with them like crazy. 

This afternoon after school, Cam brought down this Playskool AT-AT, which is big and chunky and strangely adorable in a cutesy Imperial Forces About To Kill You sort of way. 

He had a whole dialogue going on at the kitchen table, about the storm troopers and who's the leader and what they're trying to accomplish and how one fell out and got stepped on. And then he knocked the AT-AT over and said "And now it's Rey's house!" (Which, if you're the last person on earth that hasn't seen The Force Awakens yet, Rey (main character) lives inside a destroyed AT-AT). 

One tiny tidbit in one of a million Star Wars movies and Cam remembered and recreated it. 

Coolest nerd ever. 

Day 244: The Peanut Gallery

When you're trying to eat a slice of pizza while watching The Addams Family and you have this feeling you're being watched. 

I see you, fat dogs.

We were incredibly boring today. It was rainy today so after school I declared it "movie day" and the kids watched Monsters University upstairs while I made dinner, then we watched Tangled as a family together afterwards. And that's it. Seriously. 

Maybe we will be more exciting tomorrow. 

Maybe. 

Day 243: The Tball Festival

Playoffs are in full swing for all of the divisions in the boys' baseball league, except for tball. 

Because how do you actually do playoffs with a division that doesn't keep score?

To not leave the littles out of the extra-season fun, the league coordinated a big Tball festival, with contests and games and lots of food. Because that's all that five year olds care about anyways, games and food. 

We got there a good two hours early to help set up tables and chairs and whatnot. All four peewee teams showed up and had a big lunch and then went out with their teams to compete in four little baseball-related games, and then a huge division-wide cat and mouse game involving all teams. 

Camden was shockingly good and didn't even throw a fit when he didn't win at any of the contests. He was thrilled to have his little team medal and a balloon from the festival and that was that. 

Five year olds are so easy to impress. 

And with that, fall ball is officially over and we go into our one break a year from sports, until February when practices start up again. 

Cam in blue trying to throw a baseball into a tiny hole. Out of five tries he got one!

Day 242: How To Lose Gracefully: Taught By 8 Year Olds

We had a tough fall ball season. 

Out of I think 15 games, Calen's Rivercats won 1. ONE. And tied one which can be taken as a win. So two. 

The beauty of fall ball is that there's only four teams, and all teams enter into playoffs regardless of record. They play double elimination, and tonight was our game 2 MUST win playoff game. 

But they lost. Again. 

It's tough to show up to every game and knowing that you're basically going to lose every time. But these boys showed up every night ready to play, and worked their little butts off. Because they love to play the game. 

And that's all that matters isn't it?

2016 Fall Ball Rivercats. From bottom left: Matthew, Devon, Caden, Michael, Lucas. Top Left: Calen, Phinn, Brandon, Kenny

After the Rivercats were (unsurprisingly) eliminated tonight, we went out to Mary's Pizza Shack with his teammates Matthew (who he's played fall ball with two consecutive seasons now) and Caden and their families to celebrate the season. Not to celebrate losing every day, but to celebrate learning work ethic, sportsmanship, and how to lose gracefully. And that's the whole point of putting kids in athletics, anyways. 

They didn't hang their heads because they lost. They were absolutely insane with laughter, making jokes and acting crazy to the point that we had to cut off sugar intakes, and just having a great time. To hell with the season. They just came to play the game and that's all that matters to them. 

Maybe we adults should take a lesson from these 7 and 8 year olds. 

Celebrating baseball with Caden and Matthew, pizza style. 

Absolute sugar-rush madness. Who cares if they were eliminated

I'm proud of these boys. They work hard and have serious heart, and that's all we can ask of them. 

Until spring, baseball. We can't wait to come back. 

Day 241: Get Lost

Since there's only ten days left until Halloween (Whaaaat?!) we knew time of was of the essence to squeeze in one more trip to the pumpkin patch (Actually, two, since Camden has a class field trip to one next Friday). So, we declared tonight Family Fun Night and did our second annual "Night at the pumpkin patch" at the Santa Rosa Pumpkin Patch. 

This is the same place we went to earlier this month in the daytime when it was pouring down rain. And while we had a blast then, we knew we needed to come back again to experience it at night. 

So tonight we went after dinner. After a tromp through the pumpkin patch at dusk, we shot some pumpkins out of a cannon into the sides of cars and played on a huge jumpy pillow thing and swam in a corn pit. Then once it was finally super dark we went to our main event: the 8 acre corn maze! While there are a few flood lights to sort of kind of not really light the way at parts of it, the majority of the maze is pitch black, so we stomped through halfway blind with only a flashlight and a pack of glow sticks to guide us (and keep us from losing children). 

Last year, we were trapped in this maze for well over an hour. But tonight we let the kids lead, and shockingly we were only lost for maybe 20 minutes before the kids got us out. 

Impressive. 

Since we finished off the maze faster than usual we went through all the other farm activities a second and third time, which is always twice as fun in the dark. 

Favorite fall tradition ever. 

"Mom this one was EATEN!!"

Day 240: Playing Hooky

Brad was in San Francisco all day well into the night. And unfortunately, because we are a one-car family, that left me without transportation to Camden's last tball game of the season. 

To which none of us were that disappointed, because we all needed a night in doing nothing after a busy week. 

So, we played hooky (I mean kind of, it's not like we could actually get there unless we walked like 15 miles) and stayed home and watched Disney movies all night. We started off with Cinderella (to which the boys outwardly suffered through but secretly they were laughing at a lot of it) and then took an intermission to eat dinner and make rice krispie pumpkins. 

These are easy. Because I'm about easy. 

You start by making rice krispie treats the good ol' fashion way with butter and marshmallows and cereal and all that. Add some orange food coloring (or if you're an idiot like me and forgot to check to see if we had orange, add some yellow and red. Welcome back to Kindergarten folks!). 

Once the krispie treats cool down a little, squish them into the closest thing to a ball you can find. It's basically impossible to squish it in your hands without it gluing to your skin like Krazy Glue, so just barely poke and prod it like it's a living rabid animal until it kind of resembles a ball. 

Add some green food gel and a Rollo on top, and you have a pumpkin! Bonus points if you use edible eyeballs, which we did. Because everything Halloween related in our house seems to include eyeballs. 

Also, Cam lost a tooth tonight and looks like an adorable hockey player

After our treat intermission we ate a (one!) pumpkin and dealt with an almost immediate sugar rush on steroids, because they apparently laced those edible eyeballs with methamphetamine or something. Jesus. 

And once they finally calmed down we watched Dumbo and then I tossed the kids into bed so they can dream about pink elephants. 

Seriously, that's one of the weirdest segments in a Disney movie. 

I mean really. What's going on here. 

Tonight really was a good alternative to a tball game.  

Day 239: Walking The Plank

I had a board meeting tonight for the boys' baseball league, so I basically threw a craft at Brad to do with the boys and was gone for most of the evening. Michael's has these awesome foam Halloween structures that go 50% off once in a while so I snagged a couple way earlier this month. Tonight they chose to do the haunted pirate ship while watching the Nightmare Before Christmas. Brad built the ship and the boys put all the stickers on and actually did a really great job of it. 

Good job, guys. 

Sonic and I watching the boys start the pirate ship. She's always upside down. I think she's a bat.

Finis!