So this year we had FIVE homemade costumes… I don’t think we have ever had so many to make! Ken and I each had some part in an aspect of each costume. Be it crochet or sewing. I think they turned out rather well and all were done the day BEFORE Halloween!!!

We did a costume try on on Friday in the backyard with out amazing leaves. I was so pleased to see that everything fit well and that the kids were all happy with their costumes.

We have a tiny witch…

Rapunzel…

A triceratops…

An ice wizard…

And a fire wizard…

Ken even made the staffs from the limbs of trees Baba cut down last month.

The hats were all made from the witch’s pattern on crochetspot.com. I have a toddler version up for sale on my Etsy store if anyone is interested HERE.

I used another crochetspot.com pattern for Trinity’s flowers. We sewed those to a fabric headband and then tied ribbons to the back which were braided into her hair.

Ken was 100% in charge of the cloaks! Didn’t he do a great job?

For our resident dinosaur I found a great pattern for a Triceratops hat thanks to Ida Rott HERE. And then Ken made the tail and the gloves with claws. (his overalls outfit thing and Trinity’s dress were lucky Goodwill finds as was Echo’s broom)

I, myself even gave dressing up a go and went as a gamer girl… Ken had to have a photograph… the shirt said Do Not Disturb I am Playing Video Games… I think he just wanted a visual record of the fact I was actually wearing jeans and socks. Men.

We did our yearly traditional trick or treat with the Novaks and then hang out after. This year we came early and had pizza. The kids had a blast and we came home with WAY TOO MUCH candy!

Jacob and Echo

We did not do a full on Halloween unit this year… what with the printer being mean and refusing to allow the ink to last (we think there may be a leak… devastating for a homeschool family…) and the busy busy life we have had I simply did not have the time. However, we did do some great print outs from Activity Village HERE, and read some amazing books… oh and watched a couple films! So I will share that info below!

Free hot chocolate!

Movies:

• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• The Haunted History of Halloween (The History Channel) I have also included a link that has information all about Halloween thanks to the History Channel HERE

Books:

• Halloween by Natalie M. Rosinsky HERE
• Halloween by Mari C. Schuh HERE
• Halloween and the Day of the Dead Traditions Around the World by Joan Axelrod-Contrada HERE
• The Story of Halloween by Carol Greene HERE
• John Pig’s Halloween by Jan L. Waldron HERE
• Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson HERE
• Trick or Treat, It’s Halloween by Linda Lowery and Richard Keep HERE
• H is for Haunted House by Tanya Lee Stone HERE
• Skeleton Shake by Liz Conrad HERE
• Halloween Is… by Gail Gibbons HERE

Gavin chose to do a quick fact list on Mummies so he used to following two books for that:

• Ancient Egyptian People by Sarah McNeill HERE
• Mummies & Their Mysteries by Charlotte Wilcox HERE

Echo and Zombie Alex

Kids with their Halloween treats from Gammie and their popsicle stick and yarn spider webs

Pizza!

October 10-13

Our final day before welcoming home Nana and Baba was a bit uneventful. We had a house to clean… kids to sort out… laundry to do… and hot chocolate to drink! What a treat for our family and we have a HUGE tub of the powder mix (Swiss Miss). Mini marshmallows on  top… of course!

We ended our evening with a random chocolate chip cookie recipe that Ken did most of with some kid help. We made sure to leave enough for the returning grandparents to munch on that evening of course! They got home later that evening after the junior league was well asleep… tanned, well rested and with a boatload of pictures!

On the Friday after there were presents to see… amazing puzzle boxes for all.

And time with Nana and Baba.

With fall firmly in our sights we set the kids to work raking leaves… there are A LOT in this area. People really love their trees. It is one of the things Ken missed the most in Alberta… the green. While not as much as South Carolina where my dad now lives, Minnesota has a lovely verdant quality to it and then fall is a riot of colour and leaves!

The house is full again… and I think we are well pleased.

Time to check the garden

And then on Saturday it got a little more full with the addition of cousins!

And homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner… one of Nana’s specialties.

We ended our weekend with Sunday school… can’t miss a week can we? The kids are all loving it, though as of yet we are just sending Ken and the 4 school age and leaving Echo and myself here at home. I figure closer to Christmas we will go onto church but right now we are STILL fighting potty training… and all that fun stuff.

Before we said good bye to the cousins (who had school on Monday of course) there was time to pull out the crafting bucket (Gabbi’s new favourite activity).

Tea party

And played outside in the playset, which looks AMAZING in the leaves!

Yup our welcome back went VERY well!

One more week and yours truly is 32! I am actually excited about getting another year older. For some reason 30’s feels like a great place to be right now. I am not sure how much we have planned or can afford to plan but I have a friend coming over Friday and hopefully the basement will be organized. The kids have decided they want to make me something… which will be VERY interesting. I have found a box of random craft supplies that I am letting them dig through and go at it.

Craft time with the table where we want it

We set up Echo’s high chair finally yesterday. Actually, it is one of two that we originally bought for the twins! The other is at my mom’s house for use there. She is the 5th child to use the chair and it still is basically as good as new! She is such a tiny thing in it, but so happy to have her tray and be up so high and able to see what everyone is doing. With how accomplished she is now with crawling forward any place you can put her where she will be HAPPY and CONTAINED for a period of time, however brief is a God send.

Up high in her high chair

We are coming to the end of the stuff upstairs… Trinity’s room is tricky – she just has SO MUCH STUFF! I found the box of IKEA brand tea dishes and put those away in the closet with her kitchen set which meant a major rearrange. As it is her bed is in pieces since we pilfered pieces for Echo’s crib. So there is ANOTHER baggy with some screws etc. that we need to hunt down for her bed. Of course it meant it was TEA PARTY TIME today!

Tea Party!

I have found SOME of the containers of maternity clothes I have used over the pregnancies… the goal is to find ALL of it and then sort to size and then… Kijiji. I figure it is worth a try though some of my pieces are way too old to be included, I do have some really nice items… a pretty dress shirt I wore maybe 2 times for choir occasions, and a comfortable sweater I got from Old Navy…

One of the bonuses of moving – you find items  you forgot about or lost. Tonight we are enjoying an item I had packed early on so as not to lose it – Grenada Hot Chocolate courtesy of Esther. It is quite the process. You drop one of the balls into water and bring it to a boil, boil for 5 min, strain and add the milk and sugar (AFTER I measured out the milk for our pudding AND for our special drink TOMORROW night… Monday we need to buy more for sure!). We even had some mini marshmallows that are on their way to hard but perfect for hot chocolate.

Yay!

Total yum

It is Father’s Day tomorrow and the plan is a simple one – Ken sleeps in, gets pancakes, plays with the kids, relaxes and of course plays computer games in the evening. No beer, but nothing is perfect. I think he is looking forward to it!

Daddy and baby

I am so excited, today I unearthed and shelved the bulk of my Manga collection! It is fun to get out the things I love again. Makes it home.

Books!!!

So hard to believe we have been here 2 weeks, but at the same time it feels like home and like we could happily be here for some time. I am really hopeful that this week we will get out and see something special in our new city!

7 of 9 From Star Trek Voyager... today's best (according to Ken and myself) of the images shared by Chris and Chris from Comic-Con. I am totally committed to going next year... with a SET budget!