Halloween

It was a perfect weekend at our house! We had so much fun going to parties and trick or treating! Unfortunately attack of the musical costumes hit and we had a lot of changing clothes, but other than that, it was great! Joshua was a knight in shining armor and Savannah was the damsel in distress.....remember, Savannah wanted this costume because she liked the one I made??? Yeah, well, she didn't like it so much when it was actually made, so she rotated through costumes for our Halloween festivities! She wore that costume for actual trick or treating.
Here she is as a princess wearing my jr. prom royalty crown! I knew that thing would come in handy if I held onto it long enough! This is how she dressed for Trunk or Treat at church.

And finally, here she is as a witch (which is the costume that I had originally got for her to wear this halloween....). She wore this to the neighborhood fall festival.

Samuel was a very cool skeleton (which I did NOT make because Kmart was selling the costume for $10 and it was so worth my time NOT to make it and it came with gloves and a very cool hooded mask which were promptly lost before any trick or treating happened......)

I volunteered to make homemade rootbeer for the neighborhood party and the kids had SO much fun helping me make it! No one had ever even heard of doing this before and thought it was the coolest thing EVER! I got so many "I don't even like rootbeer, but I LOVE THIS!" comments that I stopped counting! It was definitely a hit at the party! If you have never made homemade rootbeer, here is your recipe for the day.....

Homemade Rootbeer

3/4 bottle Rootbeer extract

3 1/3 gallons water

7 cups sugar

3-4 lbs. dry ice

Mix extract, water and sugar in a 5 gallon drink cooler until dissolved. Add dry ice saving out a few pieces to add later when serving. Allow to bubble then rest about an hour before serving. DO NOT cover cooler until the bubbling is stopped! When you are ready to serve you can add a few more pieces of dry ice to the cooler for the bubbling, foggy effect!

Renaissance Faire

Joshua's school held a Renaissance Faire in conjunction with their unit of study in Social Studies and it just happened to fall before Halloween, so they were the only kids who got to dress up for their Halloween party this year. (Yes, it is very lame here and kids do not dress up at school for Halloween.....as a matter of fact, we don't even have Halloween parties; we call them Autumn festivals....) Anyway, each group had to make a booth at the Faire with something from Medieval times. Joshua's group made a Jousting Booth, so he and Chris tried it out the night before!

Joshua was so excited to wear his knight costume to school. Here he is with his teacher, Mrs. Scarpinato.

Chris and I got a big laugh out of the rules they had made for their booth.....it appeared to be very well thought out!

And here is the actual Extreme Jousting in action....it was the most popular booth, by the way!

Costume Party Fun

Chris and I were invited to our first costume party in AGES this weekend. I was so excited about it, but Chris needed to be convinced that dressing up would be fun..... I spent a week browsing second hand stores and the internet looking for ideas, but none of them seemed to be something that we would both agree on! Then I spent a whole day out with Joshua shopping for a Knight costume for his Renaissance Faire (which we could only find for $50) so we headed over to the fabric store and found a great pattern and material for $12. When we brought it home, Chris thought it was pretty cool and said he would wear that......so back to the fabric store I went!I ended up making a Knight in Shining Armor and a Damsel in Distress costume! I started sewing on Wednesday and finished them up Friday morning. I have this really bad habit of sewing till I am almost done (you know, just the point where you can see what the costume will look like) and then moving on to the next one. I think I am just anxious to see how they will look! So I was mostly finished with both of them by Thursday night and then spent Friday morning hemming both costumes. I LOVED how they turned out and everyone was so surprised that I had made them myself. I have to say, Halloween costumes are way more fun to make than regular clothes! Now this week I have to make the mini versions since I am making a knight for Joshua and a Damsel in Distress for Savannah.....so it's back to the sewing machine for me!

Looking for Leaves

After living on the east coast for 12+ years, I realized that I have never taken the time to ride up to the mountains to see the leaves. You see, I grew up in the desert and you always took a trip to the mountains to see the leaves change (preferably within the week of seeing the colors start to change or the leaves would all have fallen down!). When I moved to tree country, it seemed a little strange to drive somewhere to see the leaves because I had no less than 30 trees in my own yard! But we decided to try something new this year and headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway.....

We actually ended up being a little early for the changing of the leaves, so we may make the trip again in a few weeks.
We didn't see any bears.....but Samuel looked like a little bear cub climbing this tree! I snapped this new picture of Shelby to show off her black hair....she dyed it while I was at Time Out for Women this weekend....

Savannah and I climbed down into the rocks at the overlook. Yes, this is how she dresses to go hiking....you never know when you might need to look beautiful! Actually, this just started out as a Sunday drive, but when we got up in the mountains, we decided to walk up to the overlook........

Even with the slight changes in color, it was absolutely beautiful and we can't wait to go back! The kids really want to do a cookout in the mountains, so we will have to make a day of it!

Maybe summer's over for you.....

But we're still in the pool!!! Joshua and Samuel are swimming for the YMCA. They are loving it and doing great! Samuel is tearing up the pool and placing first in every event. If you are familiar with USA Swimming, Samuel has gone AAAA in every event! That is the highest level of competition! Joshua is beating his best times at every meet! It's great exercise for them and we love watching them compete!

And the hallways will now be a safer place.....

Joshua was thrilled to be selected to be on the safety patrol this year! Only one boy and one girl from each 5th grade class were chosen and it was all he talked about for days while we waited to hear who would be selected! He is now in charge of patrolling the school hallways in the mornings and reminding students to WALK and be safe! Way to go Josh! We always knew you would end up in public service!!!

Artists and Nail Polish

Lots of pictures are being drawn around my house lately by one little girl who is thrilled to be taking art classes at school!Naturally, most of the pictures involve princesses! (which happen to be her favorite thing at the moment)Or Mom (which happens to be her second favorite thing!)On Friday, Savannah had a playdate and I learned how much my "mothering skills" have lapsed...... Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to let her keep her nail polish and tell her that she had to do it with mom or dad around! She broke the rule and got it out with her little friend and then it got knocked on the carpet. Chris tried to get it out with nail polish remover, but that only made things worse. At least it was purple and matches the pink and purple decor in her room......because it will probably stay this way for a LONG time!

Girl Stuff: Dancing Princess and the Lazy Days Skirt

Savannah has started taking dance classes this year. She looks so cute! She is taking tap and ballet and absolutely LOVING every minute of it! Being the busy mommy that I am, I just now started putting all the dates on the calendar from the dance studio and realized that her rehearsal and recital are on two back to back SUNDAYS! So.....it looks like we will be looking for a new dance studio now. I wouldn't mind keeping her there, but I think as the recital gets closer, she would feel so sad that she wasn't going to be in it.I was wasting time online the other day and found the cutest little pattern for the lazy days skirt. It looked so simple that I had to try it! It has been a while since I have sewn anything and I was kind of excited for a new project! I decided to practice on a Halloween skirt and was able to make this one in just under an hour and the materials cost a total of $2.50.

There are some other cute versions of this skirt here and here. Since I have a girly girl who LOVES skirts, I think I will try out some other fun fabric combinations!

Publick Days Celebration

We took a day trip to the Citie of Henricus Publick Days Celebration this weekend. It was fun to step back in time and see how the early colonists lived. Here the kids are using shells to hollow out a log for a boat. The early colonists would set fires in the hole and then use shells to scrape away at it till the opening was as deep as they wanted!
As always, Joshua loved the military demonstrations. He was wishing he had brought his gun along so he could practice!
The cannon was a big hit and they fired it several times while we were there! The ground always shook no matter how far away from it you were!

Chris and Joshua spent more time asking questions and learning from the re-enactors. I was on the speed tour with Savannah and Samuel, but we still had a good time.

The Godspeed Replica

Joshua was the only one brave enough to get his picture with the Indian!

As always, Samuel finding mischief wherever it may be.....

Savannah loved visiting the midwife and learning about what they fed babies.....chewed up food was spit into this horn and then mixed with wine or ale......EW, GROSS!!!!

I would have to say that the best part of our trip was on the ride home when Chris and I realized how enjoyable the day had been. We had actually spent an entire day without stressing out or losing anyone! We were able to relax and enjoy! So to all of you with babies and toddlers, I can only say, your day will come! Have hope!!!

Back to School

School started Tuesday for us and it was a yucky rainy day! Unfortunately that didn't make for the best pictures this year! Shelby barely made it to her bus stop, so there was no time for pictures. I will have to get one of her later this week. Caleb started high school and will be attending the Governor's School for the Arts. He was very excited and loves it so far. He has the benefit of extremely small class sizes due to the size of the school. He has one class with 6 kids and one with 10 which is unheard of in this part of the country! Joshua is in 5th grade this year. It is hard for me to believe he is so grown up! He has turned into an incredibly smart and responsible young man and I am so proud of him!

Samuel started a new school this year and attends the gifted program with Joshua. He was a little disappointed in his first day because he "didn't learn anything new"! That will come, Samuel, that will come!

The boys get the luxury of a bus stop right next to our house, so he we are waiting in the rain for our first day. Have I mentioned how much I don't like rain??? I am a desert girl at heart and rainy days were few and far between!

Here's my little Savannah waiting at the bus stop for her first day of Kindergarten. She was SO excited! The bus ended up being overcrowded, so we are driving till they get it all worked out. I am sad that she is at a different school than her big brothers, but she took it all in stride. She made lots of new friends her first day of school. She came home and told me that she had made friends with all the little black girls and was so excited because she had never had a black friend! Now she wants me to learn how to do braids and beads in her hair! Too cute!

And this is the mess I found when I went in to tuck her in the first night......

Apparently she was deciding what to wear on her second day of school! It was hilarious! I think I am in trouble with this little DIVA!!!

So now I am on my own. It is a little strange to walk into my quiet house after getting all my children off to school. It is almost spooky! I am finding that I can clean things up and they stay clean for a few hours, but I am also finding that I actually miss the mess of little children playing. I can't believe I am here.....It has been almost 16 years that I have had little ones under foot and I don't really know what to do with myself without them.