Halloween 2018

Happy Halloween! If you can't guess my children are dressed as a blood ghost and a butterfly queen.

In 2016, Boy Howdy was a ghost and Chewkie was a minion. 

In 2017, Boy Howdy was a blood bat and Chewkie was a butterfly. 

This year, Chewkie wanted to be a seagull but I convinced her she should use her princess dress that I bought her years ago but has always been much too big. We tried finding her butterfly wings to complete her ensemble but no love. She didn't seem to care. She even let me put a little bit of makeup on her.

Boy Howdy, like every year, had a whole list of potential costume ideas but settled on a traditional black bat. However, just before I went to buy stuff to make up his costume, he changed his mind and decided on being a blood ghost. Just like last year I offered to alter his costume to better serve his vision, and just like last year he he liked it just as it was. Oh how I love the simplicity of his costumes. I mean, don't get me wrong, Chewkie can not be considered high maintenance by any stretch, but I'm pretty sure that the award for easiest costume three years in a row goes to Boy Howdy.

But for the first time at Halloween we went with other neighborhood children. The kids were in heaven. They got to trick or treat with friends, they got to stay out well past their bedtime and they got a ridiculous amount of candy. 

My favorite part of the evening was three-quarters of the way through, and some of the kids started losing steam. We came to a group of houses with two flights of stairs just to the front door. They were decorated to the hilt and blaring the Ghostbuster's theme song. While we were waiting for the rest of our group, Boy Howdy decided to sit down on the driveway and take a little rest. Chewkie, however, started jamming to the music. It was the perfect tale of two children. After walking several miles late into the night, Chewkie was still going strong and rocking like it was 1999. Boy Howdy soon recovered and finished the night strong, but dancing was definitely out of the question. 

The kids decided that going out with friends was by far more fun than going out just the three of us. I guess we have a new tradition.

Happy Halloween!!!

Pumpkin Carving 2018

We picked our pumpkins a week and a half before we carved them and the wait was complete and utter torture for Boy Howdy. We tried explaining that if we carved them too early they would go bad, and I think he understood in concept, but it didn't make waiting any easier for this Halloween loving boy. 

He was so excited to carve he wanted to start the moment he got home from school. I was so proud of him. This was the first year that he more or less did the carving from beginning to end. Other than cutting the initial hole, he excavated, designed and carved all by himself.

 Chewkie was much more interested in playing with friends so she got a later start. She still did the excavating by herself and she designed the face, but she was much more lackadaisical about the execution of it all. Pops to the rescue.

My pumpkin and Matthew's pumpkin. I love how warty mine is. Matthew's is Minecraft inspired. 

Boy Howdy's pumpkin and Chewkie's pumpkins. I love that out of all of our pumpkins, Chewkie had the most sinister one. 

Happy almost Halloween!

Last Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

I had my last field trip to the pumpkin patch with this little kindergartner and her little BFF O. At least they were my charges for the morning. They got off the bus so excited for the day until they saw all the fun playground-esque excitement that they (I mean Cheeks - actually I'm going to start calling her Chewkie if it's all the same to you) weren't getting to do. Oh Chewkie. 

She was not excited for the ride on the tractor trailer to learn about what fruits and vegetables are grown at the farm.

Nor was she all that thrilled about seeing the sheep and goats or learning about the life cycle of a pumpkin.

The pig and duck races may have been slightly entertaining, because who wouldn't be interested in watching pigs run and ducks waddle around a course. Actually the ducks were pretty funny, but mostly due to their utter lassez-faire attitude about the whole event. One duck even jumped the fence while the others milled about not realizing that small children were cheering for them. The pigs on the other hand were definitely in it to win it.

And she may have been moderately interested in finding the perfect pumpkin. But the unpictured slide area with high slides and low slides and a gigantic mound of tires was definitely her favorite place and she sad to leave.

Especially since it meant having to take a picture in front of a silly frog hay bale (I have ones of her smiling but I like this one the best)

But even though her trip to the pumpkin patch didn't allow her to roam free and take in whatever sights her little heart desired when she desired them, and even though she didn't get ice cream on the ride home (because she was riding back to the school for an assembly instead), she still indulged me with one last picture with little BFF O. Thanks for being my sweet kindergartner baby Chewkie.

Family Pumpkin Patch 2018

Look at that cute family of mine. Oh how I love them. We went to the pumpkin patch on a bright and sunny Saturday afternoon along with the rest of Salem, and yet the kids didn't seem to mind. We did the corn maze (complete with loose corn found on the ground), picture poses, feeding farm animals, and picking out the perfect pumpkins. Perfect weather for the perfect pumpkins. Wonderful day.

Grandma’s Treat

From my very sweet mother-in-law:

My grandchildren came to visit!  As I eagerly looked forward to the date, October 6^th, I planned and stockpiled all kinds of activities and treats for Boy Howdy's and Cheeks' arrival.  I wanted them to have a GREAT time, not be frightened or homesick, and return them to Matthew and Sara in one piece!  Here’s how it went…

Boy Howdy and Cheeks made the “exchange” at the airport like champs!  No crying, and seemingly no misgivings heading off into the unknown with a grandmother and aunt that they only see about once a year!  They both chattered away all the way to Laie.  We pulled into Foodland on the way into town so that they could pick out their own box of cereal and treats.  They both had money burning in their pocket, so we began the process of choosing how to spend it.  We looked at all the toys the grocery store had to offer, and I was able to get them to wait until our trip to the Polynesian Cultural Center gift shop to see further choices.
 
Once home, we gave them the two-minute tour of the place (since it’s so small!), and they both wanted to hold and play with our kitten right away, but Callie Cat wasn’t having any of it.  I explained how skittish she is and how they would have to win her over by moving slowly and quietly as they approached her.  Boy Howdy was the first to win her over, and was he ever pleased with himself! 
 

 It was so fun watching Boy Howdy and Cheeks play with their Dad’s toys.  They especially loved the McDonald’s playset.  Over the next days, they cooked all kinds of tasty treats for Kirstin and me.

They wanted to head right to the beach after seeing their beach toys waiting for them, but it was raining.  They weren’t able to get in the water until Monday.

Our first meals of all “kid food” (Lunchables, macaroni, Dino-buddies, and yes there was SOME nutrition—apple slices) was a smashing success, and bedtime was a breeze.  I didn’t push it with a shower this first night.  I LOVED the bedtime process—reading books is my all time favorite activity with them!  

  As the first session of General Conference begins at 6:00 am, I didn’t require that one.  I could have, though—they were both up and ready for adventure at 5:00 am!  We were doing breakfast, though, so we sat down for the second session.  They were both great little General Conference attendees!    

It really cracked me up when Boy Howdy started to laugh at Elder Renlund’s talk when he said, “But God is not interested in His children just becoming trained and obedient “pets” who will not chew on His slippers in the celestial living room.”  Boy Howdy said that was really funny.  He really WAS listening!  He also picked up on the announcement of the 12 new Temples.  They definitely wanted to make sure I continued the family tradition of treats during songs, so of course we did!                                                     

                                      
  Sunday night was the first shower.  I was nervous because I knew this was something Cheeks was afraid of.  She seemed to trust me when I explained that we wouldn’t get the water in her eyes.  I showed her how we have a shower hose, and she loved it!  She squirted it, was delighted with this new way of showering, and was just fine!   I didn’t push it with washing her hair until the next night.  She was a little resistant in taking off her shower bonnet, but she could feel the sand in her hair, so she knew she needed to do it.  I held the hose at her height, and that seemed less frightening to her and soon was happily dashing in and out of the spray.  Is this picture cute or what!
       Monday dawned bright and sunshiney, and again the kids were awake at 5:00 am!  (Lucky for me, that’s what time I usually get up!)  They couldn’t wait to get to the beach!  After breakfast, we were off to Hukilau Beach.  

Talk about excited!  We found our spot on the beach, and Boy Howdy was off to the water.  He had no fear!  The waves were a little big for little people, but he didn’t care.  Kirstin and I each glued ourselves to one child—her to Boy Howdy, and me to Cheeks.  While Kirstin had to hold Boy Howdy back, Cheeks was a little more reluctant to get in.  

The first big wave that knocked Boy Howdy over didn’t even phase him—he got up, wiped the water out of his face, and grinned.  He turned right around and yelled to the ocean to “bring it on!”  He took quite a few tumbles that scared the grandma, but not the grandson!  Cheeks finally got tumbled and when she discovered it wasn’t that bad, she was all for going deeper too.  (Don’t worry, Sara!  We never let them go deeper than waist high!)

 We had a lot of fun building fortresses too.  I showed them how their Dad did it when he was little.        

Cheeks was thrilled when I found her a little crab.  She built him a wonderful home in her bucket and was a little reluctant to let him return to the wild when it was time to go home.  Upon promise of more crabs to come, she did.

                                                       
As little tummies began to be ready for lunch, we headed home to clean up, eat, and head to the Polynesian Cultural Center to look at more possibilities for spending their money.  They found the very treats they wanted after canvassing the entire store MANY times!  

Boy Howdy was so careful in calculating how far he could stretch his money to make more purchases.  Already an astute businessman!  Cheeks fell in love immediately, and made her choice instantly.   Boy Howdy bought a hatch-able dinosaur egg, and we had the fun of waiting for two days as it sat in a cup of water waiting to hatch.  It was pretty exciting when it finally did!  

When Boy Howdy first walked into my little home, he noticed right off that there were no Halloween decorations anywhere!  I told him I was waiting for him to get here and help me.  They both were excited to climb up the ladder into the attic and help me find fun decorations to put out.  

And of course we needed to add new ones!  We had a Halloween art project each day.  I think the ones involving candy were probably the most favorite—especially the haunted gingerbread house.  Making Halloween cupcakes was a lot of fun too.

Another fun thing was Boy Howdy's tooth!  It was wiggly when he got here, and he kept working at it.  Finally, with Boy Howdy’s consent, Grandpa helped him get it the rest of the way out.  He was thrilled and eagerly awaited the Tooth Fairy who did manage to find him even though he wasn’t in his own bed!  
 

In between trips to the beach, Boy Howdy and Cheeks also had a lot of fun playing in the little blow-up pool in the backyard.   
 

 
 
   
The playground behind my building was a fun outlet of energy too!  We had some great games of Hide and Seek, and Boy Howdy showed an aptitude for parkour!  Little spider monkey as he zipped up and down the big rock in the middle of the field.

What a wonderful treat it was for Eric, Kirstin and I get to know our grandchildren/niece and nephew better and just play with them every day all day! It was great fun when Matthew and Sara joined us too! We sure are blessed with a GREAT family!