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I am grateful that I get to volunteer in Henry's first grade class for an hour every Friday morning.  I am also grateful that last Friday I got to help his class make their own Thanksgiving Tree's. Phase 1 was decoupaging their pots and Phase 2 will happen sometime this week to finish it all off. These are smaller versions of the Thanksgiving Tree we did last year.

We have so very much to be thankful for.

I am grateful for a sleeping baby who has been taking an extra long nap during the day. We are all coming off being sick for about the last week. Thank goodness we are on the mend (going to bedat 8 p.m. last night totally helped!)

I am grateful for a neighbor who graciously lent us 3 eggs last Sunday.  Chris, who was halfway through making baked mac-n-cheese, and I who was midway through a batch of cookies for a friend, realized at the exact same moment we were out of eggs.
Disaster averted! Thank you, Kate!

I am grateful this day that we got the smallest bit of rain so that Kate could finally puddle jump in her rainboots.

This year we had Alice in Wonderland, an Angry Bird and  a  cheeky monkey. The children had bath's right before we went out- hence the wet hair. I started Charlie's costume today and it's a miracle (that came in the form of my MIL) that it was actually done by the time we went trick-or-treating. The children all seemed happy with their costumes this year which makes me so happy.  3 years ago Henry was a pumpkin for Halloween and his Angry Bird costume this year was made from the same pattern (althought I had to alter it as the pattern sizing only goes up to a 3/4T) but it worked out and he was happy so that's all that matters. It was a jam-packed day. I was able to assemble the goodie bags for Henry's class again this year (very similar to what we did last year) and got to go in and read a story & do a little craft in his class today. We made it out just in time to do a little trick-or-treating which was fun for about 10 minutes. We briefly lost Charlie, Kate pooped out after about 3 houses and Henry was mortified that every house we treated might have a dog. Oy.
But we found lots of old friends along the way and Kate got her second wind just as we were winding down. My Mother-in-law was here all weekend and such a giant help. I would have never been able to finish any of the costumes without her (thank you, thank you!)

Tomorrow is November already???

I've decided that I can never live more than 20 minutes from a Trader Joe's. It just wouldn't be right. I have access to 3 that are all within about a 2 mile radius. Have you seen their Halloween Joe Joe's? So stinking cute with the orange filling and the pumpkin faces. On the outside of the box, there is a picture of a pumpkin faced cookie with bat wings coming out of the side which gave me an idea… A Halloween 'party favor' idea, if you will (oh you will!) Little individually wrapped Joe Joe's with bat wings glued to the cellophane. I thought this would be so cute in the Halloween goodie bags I'm assembling for Henry's class but his teacher said no food or candy. So we got that going on. Maybe for the neighbors or our bestest friends. I made a document with 3 bat silhouettes but I coudn't figure out how to upload it to ye olde blog.  If you want to make your own (never fear they can always be made with oreo's if you can't get your paws on the real deal) and want the bat template, email me and I'll send it to you. #2 reson I'm loving Trader Joes is the recent Pumpkin Tree I picked up. You kidding me? A Pumpkin Tree??? So fantastic on so many levels. Up close, they kind of look like tomato's but they are actually pretty firm. I'd never seen such a thing. I'm officially in awe.

I'm going back to sewing costumes.

I'm nervous they won't be done in time and Charlie will have to wear his Buzz Lightyear pajama's.

I guess that wouldn't be the end of the world.

We took the children to the farm last week. We try to get up there every Spring/Summer for strawberry picking and then again every October for hayrides and pumpkin picking.  It's usually so blasted hot up in the valley this time of year, which leaves it feeling like anything but Fall, but the temperatures dropped and the weather was cool and beautiful the day we were there.
I can't believe that we are nearing the end of October already. As soon as October hits, it always feels like November and December rush by. It's  the time of year when I want things to slow down so I can savor every moment of Fall (even though LA is simply the last place where it ever actually feels like Fall- give me some chilly temps and changing leaves already!) Being able to get out of the city into wide open spaces with fresh air does me a lot of good, and the children, too. Lot's of space to run around in. We need more of that. My sweet Kate, I love her so much. I love them all. All 3 are just polar opposites yet they get along so well and are so kind and loving to each other. We have a lot to do this week to get ready for Halloween. Henry's costume is the only one that is made, but with another Grandma coming into town this week (yeah!) I'm feeling confident all will be ready on time 🙂
My Mom was here last week to help out while Chris was out of the country. It was such a huge help. I need a personal assistant. Seriously. Someone who can help reduce the amount of times I have to get 3 children in & out of the car. Someone who can stay with Charlie while he's sleeping so I don't have to wake him up from his nap to pick up Henry from school.  Or someone who can stay with the children while I run to the bank or the store… she did all of that and I'm so grateful!
You want the job, Mom?

p.s. I cannot guarantee Charlie will sit on your lap for longer than 2 seconds though…

Henry's tooth finally came out… I think it's been about 2 weeks now. He let Chris give it a final tug to get it out. Mr. Tooth Fairy (in this case) had to make a late night run for some cash and thought the tooth fairy should not only bring a few dollars, but a kit kat as well. So there you have it. A clever little note, a few bucks and a kit kat. Henry is very sentimental and the tooth fairy had a sneaking suspicion that he might just want to keep that tooth afterall. So, she wrapped it up in a little bag and left it with a note.  The Tooth Fairy also left several traces of Fairy dust throughout our place- which was very exciting for all to discover!

Chris has been gone in Jamaica for about a week now and has my Mac so I should be back to regular blogging any day now 🙂