Hello from the other side of costumes and candy and celebrations. Who's ready for a sugar detox?
On Friday we went to the kids' elementary school for the Halloween Dance and haunted stage, which always gets me spooked. I only do the non-spooky walk through, where they leave on the lights and nobody jumps out or yells, but still...scary enough. Brendan feels the same way as me, while Declan and Xander live for the frights. We went as Bluey's family, dance mode activated of course.
It was funny, the families of little kids knew who we were and loved it, and the families with older kids thought we were from Blue's Clues. Lucky us, we have enough children to span the length of both of those shows, which just goes to prove that having kids keeps you relevant :)
On Saturday, I had the bright idea of putting an 8x10 rug under our bed. What I thought would be a quick lift-and-unroll situation turned into hours of Phil and the big guys dismantling the bed, removing each kids' memory boxes and cleaning them, cleaning underneath the bed (so much dust!), laying down the carpet and reassembling the bed on top. Then we realized the door wouldn't open over the carpet, and they had to repeat the whole process to slide the rug over a couple feet. Then we realized the closet door wouldn't open over the carpet, so we took that door off and we are going to put in accordion doors or a closet curtain, any suggestions? Give Colleen an idea, and the men will work all day. I remember hearing my dad mutter while ticking off his honey-do list "Your mother could keep an army busy!" Guess that's inherited on the maternal side. Thanks men!
I did spend my time cooking food for their bellies, so we're even-ish.
Chicken and Wild Rice Soup - portioned into lunches for the week. Thanks Suzanne for the recipe!)
Deliciously moist pumpkin muffins, much better than the last recipe I used.
On Sunday, Andrew had senior night for his soccer team. They called each senior out onto the field and said something nice about them, and then took a photo of them with their family.
The coach said that Andrew has been a model player during his four years on Varsity, does everything right on and off the field and has made sacrifices that have been instrumental to the team's success. We love our defensive player #11!
All of the seniors and their families posed for a photo, there were ten seniors this year which will leave a big gap on this team for next year. Get ready Eamon!
Then for the icing on the cake, they won the game!
And then we had actual cake and icing after a huge team/family dinner.
Next up is the playoffs!
We went trick-or-treating last night, of course and Brendan's prayer for no rain worked! Here's the youngest three as an Alien Abduction, Hawaiian Punch and Batman "with really big underwear on the outside?" I don't get it either Brendan.
Phil and I took the Declan and Brendan around our neighborhood while Andrew, Eamon, Maggie and Xander went with cousins. My team was home by 7 pm with enough candy to feed a small village and the other team came home after I was asleep with enough candy to feed a whole city.
Watching Declan walk cracked me up, what a great costume.
This looks safe ;)
Today is All Saints Day so we had one last costume to pull together for Declan, dressed as St. Stephen the 1st martyr who was stoned to death, and Brendan, dressed as St. George the dragon slayer:
They will have a Trunk or Treat after Mass at school, so we will have even more candy coming home this afternoon. That detox may just have to wait a little longer ;)
I do not know who Bluey is and I babysit small people, but the costumes are super cute. The alien one is super funny. We have a similar costume that's retired. All the boys wore it. It was a knight riding on a horse - the fake legs on the side of the horse create a visual trick that is a hoot. That recipe looks so tasty. I was excited about it, until I saw the flour. I suppose I could make it with GF flour but I usually avoid GF food that isn't naturally GF if you know what I mean. Such great praise for Andrew. Congrats to him on his high school soccer career. That is quite an opening for Eamon.
ReplyDeleteDo you let your babysitting crew watch tv? If so, you should google an episode of Bluey - it's actually pretty non-annoying and funny for a kid show! As far as the chicken and wild rice soup...I would just skip the flour and add more rice to thicken the soup! I used 1.5 cups rice and it was very thick that I don't think I would have needed the roux at all.
DeleteERNIE!! Bluey is so fun, I love it. You need to watch an episode. I could so see your family playing some of their imagination games.
DeleteYou are right, having kids keep you relevant! My parents had 7 in 12 years so it was a really good span and kept my parents current and up to date!
ReplyDeleteIn the bedroom, did you consider a sliding barn door for the closet? I want one myself!
And Declan's costume. WOW! I loved it! At first, I thought someone was holding him, like maybe big sister or big brother. But than, you videoed him walking and I realized it was all him! All of you looked great in your costumes, but Declan definitely won the day! LOL!
Oooooh a sliding barn door! Must look into that!
DeleteThe photo is fun. I like silliness, so well done. As for your closet door situation, I've seen people put saloon doors on their closets instead of a traditional door. It allows for air flow, hides most of the mess from view, & would fit over any rug.
ReplyDeleteOoooh saloon doors would be so fun! I think that because our closet is small, I might get annoyed at having the doors in my way when I walk into the closet. Something to think about though!
DeleteI love all the costumes! And isn't senior night bittersweet? I love the picture of all you guys on the field together!
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