Halloween 2010

We had a Trunk-or-Treat bash at the church on Saturday night. The kids got to go trick-or-treating from trunk to trunk at all the cars in the parking lot.

There were some seriously cool looking trunks too - the decorations were awesome.

This year we had a medieval lady, a ghost pirate, a ninja, a zebra, and Tinkerbell.






We also had the cutest little Mario & Luigi cousins.



The great thing about our party on Saturday was that the kids got to hand out candy at home on Sunday, something they have never done before.

We tuned in to the Halloween edition of Extreme Home Makeover, popped a big bowl of popcorn, and took turns answering the doorbell every 1.2 minutes.

Clara kept sneaking over to the candy bowl by the door and quietly picking a treat, which she would then hide under the table.


She didn't ever ask for someone to open one of her treats. Probably because she thought that if she asked, we would notice what she was up to and take the treats away.


So she just spent the night alternating between lining them up on the floor, and then picking them up and hugging them. Every few minutes she's sneak back for another one.

Fall Treat Bags & Gogo's

Here are the teacher treat bags we made for Halloween this year for school teachers, piano teacher, visiting teachers, and a few other special people.


I packaged them up early because that way the candy is stapled inside and prevents them from being eaten before Halloween.

The candy in the jars was used to make up some other treat bags, as well as for some Halloween activities. I still have the two jars of candy corn on the counter as nobody likes to eat candy corn at our house. That's why it makes great Halloween decorations.

Here's a close up of the bag toppers, which I created in Word and printed onto cardstock. The bags are in the craft section of Dollarama. You get 50 bags for a dollar.


These are super easy and quick, but if you want to make them without a computer you can do that too:


The little creatures in the bags are called Gogo's or Gogo's Crazy Bones. They are all the rage right now and impossible to find in any stores, apparently. I bought the last couple of bags at Toys R Us one night, not knowing they were such a hot commodity. Maybe I should have sold them on Kijiji instead of giving them to the kids for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving weekend. We put the turkey in to bake on Saturday morning, then went to watch JD's hockey game. His team won!

(Waiting at the arena while JD was changing)

We were lucky to get to host Thanksgiving here at our house. Scott ordered a fresh turkey from a nearby turkey farm. Fresh turkeys are so delicious. If you've only had frozen turkey you haven't lived.




We enjoyed turkey dinner with Grandma, Nana, Papa, Jeff, Lindsey & kids, the Bridge family, and our old neighbour, Mila (old, as in she's no longer our neighbour, not saying anything about her age).







Sunday morning we woke up painfully early to drive to church three hours away to say goodbye to Scott's cousin who is leaving for a 2 year mission. Aunt Suzanne made up for the early morning by hosting a big turkey dinner at her home after church.

Our kids napped all the way home, so when we walked through the doors at 7:00 PM, they were full of energy and ready to have some fun. Luckily Monday was a holiday, so we didn't have to worry about early bedtimes.

Monday was a relaxing day at home with the family. We tried to go apple picking, our Thanksgiving weekend tradition. Unfortunately, the orchard we have been picking from lately had a very small crop due to hail earlier in the season. We managed to scrape together a bushel, but they were slim pickings.


We came straight home and made fresh apple pies. Fresh as in the apples went from on-the-tree to in-our-tummies in about three hours. I think this should be our new tradition.

Speaking of tradition, this year I made two huge pots of our Thanksgiving Turkey Soup. We love it so much, sometimes I think we have the turkey dinner just so we can make this soup the day after.

Clara Turns Two

Clara's 2nd birthday. We invited the family over for dinner & cake.


Samantha put up some Dora & Diego window stickers and we blew up the worm balloons Clara had picked out at the grocery store. These instantly became swords for the boys.


Clara loved her birthday crown from Nursery. She refused to take it off all day, even at bedtime.

Hiding with Landon under the table.

Clara asked for Boots & Dora on her cake. Samantha helped me make a Mars Bar Oreo Ice Cream Cake.

A Little Catching Up

I finally made some time to get our photos from the camera onto my laptop and realized the many things I haven't blogged about in the last several weeks.

So, bear with me while I tell you about Clara's birthday (in September).

And Cross Country (which ended weeks ago).

And maybe even the house we moved into (back in July).

I'll try to keep some current stuff in there as well.



(Is Thanksgiving still current?...)

How Nathan Gets Out of Doing Everything

This is the conversation Nathan and I had this morning.

Nathan came into my room hoping to watch some cartoons but stopped when he saw my unmade bed.

Nathan: Mom! You should really make your bed.

Me: Yes, I should. (pause) Nathan, you should really make your bed.

Nathan: No!

Me: Why not?

Nathan: Because my favourite thing to do is not make my bed.

Preschool for Nathan

Three friends and I started a home preschool group for our three year old children who will be starting Junior Kindergarten in another year from now.

Nathan is so excited and has been loving going to Preschool each week. We went shopping to get his workbook and he was so proud - he couldn't wait to show Nana and Grandma!


He also has his own backpack and a pencil case filled with his school supplies.

It has been a fun group and I am happy for Nathan to have his own activity to go to, as he often seems to be left out of everything that his older siblings do.

Ironically, Samantha & JD have been asking if we could please host one of our preschool days on a day when they will be home from school so that they can help out with the activities.


Nathan was thrilled to have his own "Back to School" photo on the front step, just like the big kids, on his first day of Preschool.

Breakfast at the Cottage

Tomorrow is Clara's last day to be one. Before I burst into inconsolable sobbing, here are some photos from our most recent trip to the cottage.

Breakfast starts out with some toast and jam.


Clara sees me with the camera and starts making funny faces.


She shows me how she can squish me with her thumb and finger.


Then she pretends to ignore me.


Such a ham.


Wait a second. She checks to make sure I'm still giving her my full attention.

I take her out of the high chair and move her onto the yellow kitchen chair.

She isn't happy about the jam, butter, and crumbs smeared all over her face. I wash her off.


Mmmm.... Clean. Much better.




Please don't turn two this weekend, Clara. My heart is breaking right now. I don't think I can take anymore of this growing up. It's killing me.

Back to School 2010

The kids went back to school last week. They were somewhat more nervous about starting this year as they are attending a new school due to our move over the summer.

But the first day went really well and they all came home happy, which was wonderful. JD said one a scale of 1 to 10 his first day was an 11!




This is my last year with Nathan home full time as he will be starting Junior Kindergarten a year from now. He was quite devastated that he wasn't going off to school on the bus with the big kids this year, as he absolutely hates to get left out of anything. But he's been a good sport, always walking them to the bus stop each morning with Scott and then coming home and asking me, for the sixteen hundredth time, when it is going to be his turn to go to school.