Saturday, November 10, 2012

So October

This October was busy in a whole different way.  We made two trips to Iowa, each for five days, with only 10 days between.  One for the funeral of Jeff's Grandma Farm, she was 87 and suffered from Alzheimers.  He has very fond memories of her and definitely her cooking.  We visited Reiman Gardens in Ames one afternoon with the cousins.
October was baseball for Annika.  She enjoyed fall ball just as much as last spring and is still keeping up with those boys.  She takes after her Daddy and is an amazing catcher.  The travel league was looking at her, but politely asked them to back off, at least for a couple years.  (That is her on first.)

Her hair is FINALLY growing out.  It has taken us since last Christmas to get this long.  Part of the reason I always got so mad at the stylists that were doing the "trims/hacks" the past couple years.  This length is a good compromise, we both like it.  She wears that hat EVERYDAY.  :)

 I helped plan the Trick or Treat Tailgate at church again for the preschool.  Well, plan is a very loose term this year since a friend and I have done it now three years, or is it four.  Hmmm.  Anyway, another good turn out.  Our costumes were no sew this year (just no time this October, especially being gone and with homeschooling).  But they turned out really well.  Annika was Frankenstein.  She loved the mask.
 Phoebe was Frida Kahlo (one of my favorite female artists--a Mexican surrealist from the 1930's known for her unibrow, traditional costumes, pets, and self portraits).
 Tanner was a knight--Sir Mix It Up A lot, or Kiss Up.  On Halloween he morphed into a fruit ninja (the app game) as the knight pieces got uncomfortable.  It worked out great.
 See?  A good turnout, we usually have 150 people attend.  I am always in charge of the craft.  Which is actually hard for me to plan something easy enough for preschoolers, cheap, and simple for parents to do. :)

The annual jack o lantern fest was wonderful as usual.  They really do enjoy cleaning them out.  And roasting the seeds and then planning the faces.
Jeff is becoming a master carver.
Fangs, buckteeth, and Frankenstein.
Tanner has decided that he loves this truck.  It is a Chevy Silverado, to him.  And this kid is all about naming everything he plays with, so he always refers to it as Chevy Silverado.  That is what he wants when he is big enough.  I don't think Jeff even had to brainwash him to start saying that.
We had our own school party on Halloween day.  Our lunch consisted of mummy juice, goblin guts (peas), werewolf bones (pretzels and marshmallows and almond bark), alien skin (turkey), lizard eyes (grapes), vampire teeth (apples, peanut butter and more mallows) and pumpkin poo (cheetos).  They thought it was sooo funny and great.  I love easy stuff like this.
I had seen this Martha craft on Pinterest and a friend actually made it for a Boy Scout party and let us have the leftovers.  And then we played freeze dance and bingo, always favorites.  They wore their costumes all day.  We did a fun poetry project instead of school.  And then trick or treating ended the month on a high note.