We had such a busy Halloween weekend! James' preschool had a Halloween/costume party. James wanted to be a mummy and wanted his face painted. At first, he loved it.

See those goats behind Jacob? He couldn't stay away from them. Even when they were butting heads and fighting, he was trying to play with them. We're lucky he didn't leave the party brain damaged.

The preschoolers made a pinata and it was James' favorite part of the party.

Matthew's class also had a party, that was luckily right after James'. Parents and siblings were also invited.

Jacob found this rocking chair and thought he was in heaven. Or king of the class. He could have sat in the chair the whole party and been happy.

Friday night our ward had a trunk-or-treat, but I don't have any pictures from that night. Tim was a hot pocket. James was still a mummy but did NOT want his face painted.

Saturday night we went to Greenway's trunk-or-treat. James was dressed up as a mummy in the beginning but changed his mind just before the trick-or-treating started.

Getting a picture of these three boys lately is ridiculously hard. Especially since Jacob has started walking. Quite independent and too much to do.

We decided to let the boys go out Sunday. They loved it and we met lots of new people in our neighborhood. Oh, and James decided to be Spiderman, sans mask.

I love the story the next four pictures tell.

I only wish I had one of the tackle. Nobody was hurt.

Matthew showing me his awesome ninja moves. Mr. Miyagi would be so proud.

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween! We had a fun one and hope you did, too.

James took a late nap and was a little upset about getting his picture taken. Here we have Indiana Jones, Jack Skellington, and Captain Blood.

Matthew had awesome whip skills. Look how close the end of that whip came! He got everyone a few times.

Here's my best sleeper that has recently turned into my worst.

Breakin' into their loot.

Tootsie Rolls are my favorite Halloween candy. I have nice boys and they shared with me.

Halloween Fun Part 2

We had a very fun Halloween this year.  We went up to Tim's parents' house to go trick-or-treating.  And had a great time.

This year I decided to make the boys' costumes.  I have only ever made 1 apron and a few blankets.  So I think I was a little overly confident.  I finished Matthew's in time, but...

...James had to go without his dragon hood and finished hems on his sleeves and legs.  Oh well, he's young and I had green paint.  So it worked.

I just thought it was so cute to see them standing together at each door, waiting for their next treat.  James would instantly put his treat into his mouth, wrapper and all.

Halloween Fun Part 1

Matthew had a Halloween party for preschool yesterday.  His teacher went all out for this party. She had a fishing booth, donuts on strings, face painting, hay rides, bowling, pumpkin painting, and so much more.  The kids had a ball.

Up first was a fun little program full of cute Halloween songs.

They got little prizes at each booth.  Matthew's favorite was the glow-in-the-dark vampire fangs.  He wore them for almost the whole day.  Even when we went to Target.

My little multi-tasker, eating while cleaning.  He must watch me a lot more than I thought...

Then for reasons unknown to me, he threw himself on the ground and threw a little tantrum.

The kids made a pinata and then got to reap the rewards.

Matthew's loot. He's very particular about candy and it shows.  He had 1/3 the amount as everyone else.  Only the best for my boy.

Matthew with his best bud, Cooper.  They have such a great time together.

Trick or Treat! Smell my feet! Give me something good to eat! If you don't, I don't care! I'll pull down your underwear!

No, I won't really pull down your underwear. I would actually prefer that you keep it on. And I wasn't one of those pesky kids that even said that whole line, I was pretty shy and could barely get "Trick or Treat" out in those days.

This morning as I'm putting up this post, I feel like such a loser mom. Below are literally the only pictures I took from last night. And Matthew was cute, like, a million more times.

Just before I snapped this photo I said, "Matthew, look up at mom so I can take your picture." Matthew loudly sighed and replied, "I'm Spider-Man, not Matthew." Oh.

Here is Matthew and a bunch of his second* cousins. He loves them. We even pretend like they come to our house. Sometimes I have to put imaginary Becca in time-out for hitting James. And then I have to put Matthew in time-out for hitting Becca. We need friends. I promise I won't put you in time-out.
Hope you all had a fun Halloween!

*I actually had to look up online to see how Matthew is related to these kids. I knew they were cousins, but how close of cousins? So I found a website and they are second cousins. Yes, I am a nerd, I've known it for almost my whole life. And now you know, and hopefully you will still be my friend because Matthew and I need friends, remember?

It's Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!

We had an early Halloween party at Martha and Ted's house tonight.

We were told to come dressed up and we had a ghoulish meal.

My family dressed up from Spider-Man. As you can see, Matthew is Spidey (and I honestly think that when he puts the costume on, he believes he is Spider-Man), Tim is Peter Parker (he's way more good looking than ol' Tobey), James is J. Jonah Jameson (the boss at the newspaper), and I am Betty Brant, the secretary (in the comic book, she and Peter Parker had a thing. Scandalous!). We had lots of fun dressing up.

Kristen is a deranged bride and Donavon is Melaleuca Man.
Amy is Sleepy Girl and Colin is a preppy Frat boy.
Ted is a newspaper printer and Martha and her tiny pooch are "Best in Show."
Here is a close up of J. Jonah Jameson. We colored in his eyebrows and drew on a mustache. Unfortunately, he slobbers a lot and has a runny nose, so the mustache was slowly fading away. They don't show that in the movies.

Old MacDonald had a farm...

Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch at Schnepf's Farm. It was so much fun. We went with our friends Tyler and Kristen and their two kids, Cooper and Ella. First we went on the giant bumble bee ride. And I think if that was the only thing we did, the kids would have been fine. It was the one thing that they all talked about over and over. In this picture, if you look really close, you can see Tim and James in another bee.
Matthew and Cooper loved the airplane rides. They went on it a few times. I think they really thought they were flying the plane.
Tim and Tyler raced in the road rally. Tim won!
Then the whole fam got to go on the carts. I kept forgetting to help Tim pedal. I was too busy making sure our kids wouldn't fall out or that Tim wouldn't get us too close to the low branches.
They also had pig races at the farm. It was so funny. This isn't a great picture, but you get the idea.
Matthew was handpicked as a Junior Pig Leader. He was paid in plastic cow (he thinks it's a pig, which would make more sense, if you think about it).
Matthew loves riding horses.

Here are the handsome boys in the petting zoo.

You can't really see in this picture, but just moments before, Matthew clocked Tim just below his eyebrow with his club. It was gushing blood. Poor Tim. I wasn't any help to Tim at all. I just laughed at him. And he still loves me. Amazing.

Matthew and Cooper had a lot of fun together. Look at all those dust particles in the air. We are sure feeling all the dust inhalation today.

Here's the cute Blood family. Look at all that dust. We were covered in it.

Here is the one casualty from the pumpkin patch. Matthew's checking it out like it was the first time he had seen it. It really disturbed him.

I might be a little biased, but I think those are the cutest boys ever.

And by the end of the night, the kids were done. They didn't want to walk anymore, so they all piled into the stroller and minutes later were sound asleep in their cars.

We had so much fun. When you live in Arizona, you have to do activities that remind you it's Fall, like going to the pumpkin patch. Even then it can be hard, especially when it's 95 out.