Happy Halloween!!!

Have fun tonight and be safe!

Preschool Harvest Days

Jasmine had her preschool Harvest Days last week.

 I LOVE this class picture. Oh the joys of being a toddler teacher!!!

 They went in a bounce house and had harvest related activities:

 Dirt and sand make me so nervous around Jasmine's hair. I can't relax and allow her to enjoy her tactile stimulation because I am sweating over how long it took to do her hair and how hard it will be to get dirt out of her roots in the expected event that dirt will go flying in all directions any minute now.

 But we survived, and Jasmine's Ms. Priss attitude didn't damper the entire event. ;)

This Video Depicts Our Life!!!

Had to share this!!!


http://www.jillianlauren.com/blog/

Carving a Pumpkin

We carved our jack o lantern this weekend. We sat around and all drew out on paper what we wanted his face to be like. K had never carved a pumpkin before so I wanted him to have the full experience.

Everyone took turns with the cleaning and cutting. I realized this year, that my kids are old enough to totally do their own...so I think next year I will invest in some carving kits and four pumpkins instead of one. It will be fun to see what everyone is able to do on their own.

This project reminded me once again of all the little things my oldest has missed in life that I just took for granted growing up. I am so 

grateful to have these continued seasonal experiences with him.

Storybook Ranch

The board for Child Protective Services invited foster families to a BBQ lunch at an authentic wild western town.

 We went with K's brother T's family too, and feasted on the most delicious BBQ in the Opry House.

The boys gobbled up the meat.

The kids all entered a song contest and being the stage mom that I have a tendency to be...I encouraged Vivianna to sing a song in Spanish. It paid off when she won a $25 giftcard!!

 Then we toured the town with authentic buildings.

After awhile there was a wild west shoot-out.

 The sheriff of the town took down some "near-do-wells". The boys could not have been more excited for that.

 It inspired them to practice their shooting skills too:

Here is all the loot Vivi managed to get with her giftcard:

This has been a fun filled Fall so far. Much more to come this week...

Halloween Party

Last night we hosted a bunch of our friends, mostly from church for a Halloween party...over 15 adults and 25 children.

K is too old for costumes... but I did let him have this three dollar Jason mask, cause my kids have no clue who that is so it wasn't scary for them at all. We don't do scary or grotesque costumes.

 

Our house was all decorated with lights and spider webs.

I make no apologies for celebrating Halloween as a Christian...it is one of my favorite American traditions for kids.

 

We do choose to keep it clean though...no witches or devils, no evil, no death with skulls or bones or blood .

I made punch with orange sherbet and ginger ale. It was a big hit.

 

All of our friends brought a snack to share. 

There was more food than people!!

 

Check out the adorable spider webs our pastor's family brought.

Everyone loved these and gobbled up the whole platter of them.

 

These two brothers came as sushi and a sushi chef.

Next year I will get prizes for best costumes, cause this was greatness.

 

A sweet lioness.

Even Oscar got in on the costume action as a banana split:

 

The kids all brought flashlights and enjoyed running around the backyard.

When it was totally dark, we hid candy all around and they went on a flashlight hunt.

This provided hours of entertainment for all.

Inside we played Charlie Brown's, The Great Pumpkin over and over. It was great for some of the younger kids to get a break from the action.

A set of our church friends told me that she and her husband were not allowed to celebrate Halloween growing up. I asked her if she felt she missed out and she said she did, so they knew they would allow their child to participate. I loved having so many of our Christian friends at our Halloween party. We will spend time with them at our church outreach fall festival today at an apartment complex and will trick or treat with many of them next Wed. It is a blessing to have friends who are also family.

The memories all of our children will have growing up together and our shared celebrations is priceless to me.

Happy Halloween, Ya'll. :)