Guess what we were for Halloween 2010

Can you guess?

She's not a princess (it's a Halloween miracle!).

She's not sparkly or glittery.

There are no wings, wands, tiaras, or plastic shoes involved.


Can you guess?

Whoa... what's up with the brown hair??

She's Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, complete with Toto and the requisite red sparkling shoes (okay so there was a little sparkle involved. But, if you were to ask her, she would be quick to tell you that in actuality, Dorothy's shoes in the original story were silver! That's my girl!). Click those heels together, Dorothy! There's no place like home. There's no place like home!

She got lots of oohs and ahs from people admiring her costume all night long. And though she didn't intend to, she totally freaked out her little brother.

Mommy, I don't like Clairey in that costume.

Why not, buddy?

Because it doesn't look like she's my sister anymore.

And the little man?

No masks, no fur, no Iron Man in sight (though it was a close call there!)

The fake head/microphone was the clincher on the costume choice for this guy.

Ka-chow! Hello Lightening McQueen Pit Crew Chief!

Bring on the candy!

The Race

I run.

Okay, let's rephrase that.


I jog. Slowly trot. Move somewhat faster than a walk.


I do this for exercise, mainly because it's fast, and it doesn't require a fitness club or Y membership. Generally I get up before Shawn leaves for work in the morning to get my run in, and I feel great knowing that I have exercised for the day.


I've been doing this now for over a year, and while I enjoy it (to some degree), I have never considered myself a "runner" and have really never had a desire to run in races. Although, I will say that somewhere in the back of my mind I think it would be really neat to run a half-marathon


Well, about 2 months ago, I finally convinced Shawn that he needed to start exercising. He's always been super skinny, and weight has never been an issue for him (blast him!), but he's just recently noticed some of his pants getting a little bit more snug. (HA!) So, he decided to start running.


Of course, not more than a few weeks into it, he tells me we need to run a race. It must be a man thing. To run was simply not enough. There needed to be a competition.


I agreed, the only stipulation being that he run with me.


And so . . . we raced.

Here we are about 2 minutes after I finished. Yes, I said I finished. Shawn's promise to stay with me lasted all of about 2 minutes.

Official 5K (3.1 miles) times:

Shawn - 25.17 minutes

Me - 28.47 minutes

Now that we have a race under our belts, I'm happy.

Shawn, on the other hand, has already scoped out 2 more races for us to run before Christmas.

I've created a monster.

The Fair Affair

Every October signals the arrival of the Dixie Classic Fair, and attending it has become a family tradition, dating back to those nearly forgotten days before children.

But, there's no denying that it's all about the kids these days.

All that was missing from the day was a helping of fried butter with a side of fried beer.

And, yes, we could have bought them both.

Stuff

We've taken a few "field trips" lately with the kids.

First, the now annual Tobaccoville Celebration. This fell on Ben's birthday last year, and he thought all the activities were planned for his big day. It wasn't on his birthday this year, but the kids still had lots of fun.

Can't beat it when it's free!

I actually considered buying a pig after seeing this one.

Seriously.

A sword and fire hat for brother . . .

and a butterfly for sister = good day!



Ben and I took another trip with our MOPS group to a local butterfly farm.

First they demonstrated the life cycle of the butterfly.

"in the cocoon"

Kylie the butterfly. She looks thrilled, doesn't she?


And then it was off to the butterfly house to feed the butterflies.

The white pads were soaked with sugar water to encourage the butterflies to land on us.

New ones breaking out of cocoons.

This one is getting ready to start his cocoon.

Just when Ben started to get tired, look what happened!

Love his face here.

Ben, go stand next to that butterfly so I can take your picture.

No, mommy, I don't want to.

Well, just go over there and show me your muscles.

Okay.

THE Birthday Party

Ben requested a "firetruck birthday party" this year, and he insisted that we have it at our house. Thinking that this would be a great way to save some money, I wholeheartedly agreed.

But then, I started seeing all these blog and facebook posts about moms going all-out for these theme birthday parties, and I started to get a little worried. Gone are the days of just inviting your friends over for cake and ice cream or having your birthday at McDonald's (my 6 year surprise birthday party at McDonald's totally rocked, man.)


But, I decided to give it a try anyway, and while I'm not at all creative when it comes to this kind of stuff, I am VERY good at stealing ideas from the Internet. :-)


So, here are some shots from Ben's firetruck fiesta!



Assistant fire marshal's. These two were BIG helpers during the party.







Lots of games set up in the backyard to keep little ones busy.

Decorate your own fire hat with foam stickers and markers! I found the fire hats at Michael's and the badge stickers came from the local fire house.

The Four-Year-Old Fireman!

Good friends!

Good fun in the backyard! The weather was perfect, thank the Lord. I don't know what we would have done if we had to be indoors.

The only structured game we played was called Rescue the Kitty. The bell would ring with a call that a poor kitty was stuck in a tree and needed to be rescued. Being the kind-hearted firefighters they are, the kids would put on their rescue gear . . .

Hop on the rescue truck . . .

and drive to the end of the road.

Then they would run to put out a "fire" with their super-powered "water hose."

Then, they would race to the tree . . . and rescue the poor stuck kitten.

and then bring him back to his owner.

The game was a HUGE hit. The kids loved it, and several asked to play it again.

After the game, we had lunch - "hot"dogs, Doritos (because they are shaped like flames), grapes and carrots (because we have to have some healthful food) and finally cupcakes!

After making the firetruck cake for his actual birth day, I decided cupcakes would be easier for the party.

The "big" kid's table.

The little kid's table.

All done, mom. Can I go play now?

Me and the birthday boy.


Guests got treat bags stuffed with crayons shaped like firetrucks and badges, a firetruck coloring sheet, bouncy ball AND . . .

These! Sugar cookies!

And, of course, there were presents!


All in all, this whole theme birthday at home was WAY more work than I thought it would be, but it was also much more enjoyable than following your kid around at the house of the cheesy mouse.

But, maybe the best part of all, was that we also had 2 very special guests at the party.

Papa Bill and SueAnne were able to be there.

And that made everyone's day special!