October, Halloween and Fall FUN!

Here we are.... October! Jonah finished up flag football this month. It was so fun to watch him because he has improved so much. He scored several touchdowns this season and did awesome on defense, passing, and blocking. I was a proud mama :)

Andy started a new job in October, and it was nice to have full-time work rather than the part-time odd jobs he had been doing since we moved back.
 

I went to Las Vegas with my mom for Rachel's birthday. I took Baron and Magnus with me, and here is the 1 picture I took the entire trip:

We shopped, ate out, read books, and relaxed. We went up to St. George for the weekend because my brother ran in the St. George marathon and we went to cheer him on. While we were there, we did more swimming, shopping, and playing. It was a fun trip. Except for 1 part. See below:

 Rachel has a pool and the day we were leaving to go up to St. George, the kids were playing in the backyard by the pool. I was out there with them, but I was a little ways away and I wasn't paying very close attention. Plus I was holding Rachel's new baby, so I was distracted (Naughty me. Naughty naughty.) They had been throwing rocks in, so there was some splashing going on. Baron started babbling about something and couldn't quite get the words out, and then finally yelled, "Mom! Magnus is under the water!" I jumped up and didn't know what to do. I was holding the baby and didn't know where to put him (Rachel's entire patio is cement) I finally set him down carefully on the cement and ran over to the pool. Magnus had sunk down pretty deep and I almost jumped in, but I got down on my belly and reached my arm in and I could barely grab the back of his shirt because he had sunk down so low. I pulled him out, and he was conscious, so he started crying right away. I wasn't sure how long he was under, but I think it was less than a minute. Anyway, he seemed okay, so I didn't think much else about it. Until that evening when he kept coughing and coughing and coughing. My mom was worried he had gotten water into his lungs which can cause pneumonia. I called my brother (who is a PA) and he told me to take him to the ER. So, I did. Better safe than sorry. They did a chest x-ray and decided he was okay, so we were able to go home. I am SO thankful my baby M is still with us. I know that it could have completely gone the other way, but I am grateful it didn't.

I took all 5 kids to the dentist in October. No cavities! Yay.... our record holds strong.

Laylah, Jonah and Daphne are in the school choir. They had their first performance in October at an assembly. It was fun to watch them sing their little hearts out.

 

 

We went to Gardner Village over UEA. Never again... it was insane there, I could hardly push my stroller through the masses of people. We did the witch scavenger hunt and the kids liked it. They got a free cookie at the Village Bakery. It wasn't worth it. I used to love Gardner Village, back when nobody really knew about it. Now it's always too busy.

 

 

I gave Magnus a haircut after growing his hair out for months. He looks so much older.

 

 

October was also full of fun Halloween activities. There is a Haunted Trail at Murray Park in October. The kids' choir got to perform there one night and they got free tickets for the trail. I thought it might be just a short little, funny/spooky trail walk, but I was wrong. It was actually really creepy and all of the kids were terrified. I had never taken them to a spook alley or anything and they were freaked out. Baron was practically in tears and we had to keep reminding them that it wasn't real. At the end they got hot chocolate and donuts, so I guess that made up for it. It was a fun night together though.

 

Andy and I also went to a neighborhood Halloween party for adults. It was SO much fun. We dressed up as nerds. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures, but one of my friends did. If I ever get them from her, I'll put them on here. Anyway, we played some hilarious games, ate yummy food, and enjoyed the scary ambiance. It was a great night.

 

We also had a fabulous celebration at my mom's annual Halloween Party. We have missed this the last couple years, so the kids were especially excited for it. We had potato bar and soup for dinner and then we played Halloween games.

 

We had a pumpkin rolling contest, girls against the boys

 

We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores

 

My brother Nate was playing with the kids on the trampoline and I couldn't believe how high he was able to get Jonah!

 

We had a spider blowing contest

 

The kids played Don't Let Grandma Catch Your Ghost

 

They decorated supcakes and made them look like eyeballs

 

We finished out the night watching Garfield's Halloween. This is a family favorite and we have watched it since I was a little girl.

 

Thank you mom and dad for the fun Halloween Party!

 

We finally got around to carving pumpkins  the night before Halloween.



 

I think they tunred out super cute

 

Halloween was a busy day. The kids had a choir performance before the Halloween parade at school, and they sang all of their cute, fun songs.

 

Then came the parade. Laylah was a pioneer.

 

Jonah was a nerd

 

Daphne was Dorothy

 

After the parade, I went to help in Laylah's classroom with their Halloween party. I was in charge of the activity, and we did a Halloween relay, and then played musical chairs with spooky Halloween music. I love being a room mother, but it is stressful sometimes. I'm glad it turned out well and that the kids had fun.

 

Bear was Frankenstein

 

He had preschool on Halloween and they went to a pumpkin patch and then came back and did a little parade of their own for the parents. They marched to Halloween music, and it was so cute.

 

After that we headed over to Andy's work where they had a little party and then let the kids trick or treat around the office. I couldn't believe how much candy they got there.

That night the kids split up with different friends and went trick or treating. They all got loads and loads of candy. It was sick and I ended up throwing half of it away. I weighed it before I did that though and all of their candy together was 27 pounds. Gross.

 

Anyway, October was a great month. Fun holiday activities, and lots going on, as usual!