Halloween in a Nut Shell

The Halloween season has been busy.

I had to laugh when I told David that the actual Halloween night was on Wednesday and his reply was "it is not over yet?".

I think it is best to tell the story through pictures.

Time to Decorate!

First stop was the Pollitt Halloween Party:

Wip playing with his friend Spider Man 

Duncan, are you cute or what?

This costume won. Period.

Next up was the Annual Speiden Halloween Party:

D LOVED the Capri Sun

Work it Wip!

Buds

As Kayne says...I'm a Motha Bleepin MONSTER!

Hey Mom...still working on this.

Just a swingin'

Move Moms'...get out da way!

The Gang

We had to cancel Boo at the Zoo (thanks Sandy), but we still got together with our friends for pizza, beer, and crazy kids.

Eating pizza with our clothes on

Duncan decided it was not cool to wear a shirt

Everyone else followed

This pretty much captures the night

Thank goodness sweet Anna and William were there!

The weather also just did not work in our favor to visit the pumpkin patch with our friend Ajay, but we did make it to the Annual Pumpkin Carving Party at the Easley Farm:

David is thrilled

Eating/dropping chips

Good times

The Robertson Gals

You can't catch me!

Grrrrr!  Pumpkin Carving

Next up was the party at LCC and it was WILD.  We met up with the Lone Ranger and Tonto. Kids everywhere, haunted house, and good food.

But the night did not end there...we headed over to the Brewer Halloween Party. It did not disappoint with some of the most creative costumes I have seen in a while...

Coach & Tami Taylor

Couple of my favorite people

Pretty good

Trying to play the part

This might make a good tv show...The Adventures of the Lone Ranger and Coach Taylor

Startin' to get wild

Yep...almost there

This was one of about 50 pictures just like it on my phone...tipsy?

Night night

Then, it was actually Halloween. 

Wip was terrified so Preston went to pick up his candy

They were so excited to hand out candy

Smell my feet

Glow stick ready

Whoa whoa whoa

This was the best picture I could get of the kids

Wait a minute...that is our house!

And the Almond Joy was gooooone.....

It was a good night

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Dinner Boot Camp

Tonight at dinner I realized that I have failed.  Part of my new year resolution was to try and have a family dinner at least once a week.  That does not seem difficult, but it also does not happen.  Maybe because we are all going different directions, maybe it is because I just know it will be a disaster, or maybe I just am too lazy to try and get everything ready by 6:00 pm.

In any event, the resolution has not happened and I don't think we have sat down together for one meal except for the occasional McDonald's run.

I decided this morning on the treadmill that I am going into "dinner boot camp" mode.  This does not mean that I am going to be unrealistic and think we will sit down for a meal (even one time a week), but I am going to try hard to give my sons the tools that they would need to not only eat their vegetables/try something new, but also have conversations during meals.

Here is the "bootcamp" plan:

Step 1:  Once the meal is served make them say some sort of thanks for serving them food (I know that I am their parent and it is my job, but that does not mean that they should not be thankful, right?)

Step 2: Make them finish a vegetable I know that they will eat (even if that means bribing) .  I am not saying I am going to make them finish their kale the first time I serve it, but I know for a fact that Wip will eat his peas. I need to force it. I am tired of throwing away uneaten peas.  There is no reason that I should not make him finish the darn peas (even if that means giving him a Ranger cookie)

Step 3:  If the meal is "new" make them try at minimum of three bites.  I am awful about just "letting it go" and not making them eat if they don't like something.  Three bites does not seem like something that I will have to cut off my arm to get them to do, right?

Step 4: Talk about their day.  Each person during a meal time (including Duncan, ha ha ha) has to say something that they liked or did not like about the day.

Ok, so there it is, I put it out there...now lets see how it goes:)

This is a boy who finished all of his peas tonight

This is a boy who did not

Flip Book

While playing at the park today with friends I witnessed a super sweet moment with Wip, Preston, and Duncan...playing in the leaves.  I wanted to capture the moment so (duh) I pulled out my phone. When I tried to get them together for a quick pic, it turned into a game (mo, similar to the emotions game).  I would tell them to say "horse!" and they would act like a horse, say "dog!" and they would act like a dog, say...ok, ok, you get the picture.  It was cracking me up and they were loving it.  It turned into a flip book style photo shoot on my phone.