Halloween 2010

Both kids were excited about Trick or Treating this year. Prior to leaving the house we (Jonah) prepped Meredith on what to say at each house. 

“Ring the doorbell”

“Say Trick or Treat”

“Then say Thank You”

“Got it? Good. Let’s go get candy”

Off we went down our street to the first house.  Miss Piggy walked up to the neighbor’s door. Rang the doorbell and recited each line that Jonah had taught her. Perfect.

She walked back to her big red car and sat down. We walked to the next house. She handed Jonah her bag and said “Tandy” and pointed to the door. Batman took the bag, walked up to the door, rang the doorbell and recited the same lines. He then preceded to say “I am also trick or treating for my sister. May she have some candy?” From the big red car Meredith shouted “Tank Woo!”

She did not walk up to another house that night but managed to have a bag full of candy by the time we got home.

Poor Jonah.

Jonah’s Spooky Decorations

Pictures of Jonah’s Halloween Decorating skills….

The Halloween tree was made by one of my best friend’s Mom. Isn’t is so cute??

The rising ghost (purchased at Target) was a big hit at the party. Jonah picked out the glittered skeleton and put him in front of the tombstone. Jonah also put up the spooky blinking eyes in the shrubs.

Time is of the essence

Meet Debbie.

She is our Nanny.

She is great with the kids. She is flexible. She is patient. She is everything you hope and wish for when you look for someone to take care of your children when you are not there.

We are busy. Extremely busy. Our calendar stays full. And our family does not live close. Except Josh’s brother Jerod who lives down the street. But he is in his last year of college. He is also extremely busy.

We also occasionally like to go on date nights. You know to keep the spark alive.

We needed someone that could come over at the drop of a hat. Stay overnight if needed. Pick the kids up from school if we couldn’t. She also comes over some nights when we are here just to give us an extra set of hands around the house.

She has given us back time. Time to run errands. Time to have dinner with friends. Time to attend events. Time to enjoy every moment that we are with our children. Time to be better parents because we had time for ourselves.

We are glad we found Debbie.

You know it was a good party when….

your toy room looks like this the next morning.

Our Annual Halloween Bash

If you have had an event two years in a row is it officially an “annual event”? I’m not sure but I’m going with it because I have a feeling we will be having this party for many years to come.

I love Halloween. I love the decorations, the costumes, the candy, the fact that fall is in the air and it’s the kick-off to the holiday season.

Jonah was a big help in preparing for this year’s festivities. He helped decorate the house and make the food. Meredith, well, she helped by eating lots of candy.

I had a lot of help making this year’s party a success. Our awesome nanny Debbie helped with Meredith and helped prepare the food. My best friend Vicky came over early to help me finish decorating and make some of the dishes. My SIL Amy was also here to help me entertain the older kids, decorate and make food. And of course Josh who ran errands and helped decorate in the high places that the girls couldn’t reach. Ladies - what would we do without our guys around??

The three little pigs were together again. I had a house full of super heroes,  football players, witches, pirates, knights and storybook characters. They played the Mummy Wrap race (a huge hit), Strawed for Spiders, Tonged for Apples and even decorated their own pumpkins.

I think the party was a huge success. I really appreciated all the help from the parents too!

Fall Parade and Festival

We went to the Fall Parade and Festival at J and M’s school tonight. Jonah was the Dark Knight and Meredith was one of the “Three Little Pigs” with her friends Claire and River. As you can tell from the pictures below there was one little piggy that did not want to have her picture taken!

So many adorable costumes in the parade and lots of fun games for the kids. Meredith really enjoyed the Petting Zoo. I will have to keep that in mind as an idea for her 2nd birthday. Yes, I usually start planning their parties around six months prior to the big day. I guess that’s the Project Manager in me coming out!

End of Season Party for T-ball

We celebrated a winning season for The Cardinals tonight. The kids went bowling, ate pizza and received their trophies from Coach Joe and Coach Rob. Jonah did really well this season in T-ball. He can really hit the ball! He doesn’t get that excited about playing in the outfield but he loves hitting the ball.

{Playing around with Photoshop and giving the photos a 70’s feel}

The Schneider Haunted House

Jonah and I decorated a Spooky Haunted House tonight

Pinkalicious

Today was Breast Cancer Awareness day at J and M’s school. They supported the cause by wearing their pink shirts. They also had a pink fire truck and ambulance visit the school. Even the fireman and EMT’s were dressed in pink.

     

We got Booed

I had never heard of getting “Booed” until we moved to the burbs. It’s such a fun Halloween tradition that Jonah looks forward to every year.  This is how it works. Someone leaves you a Halloween treat or surprise on your door step but you don’t know who it’s from. Then you have 48 hours to “Boo” two more houses and/or friends. It’s kind of like a Halloween version of the classic chain letter.

{Jonah and Riley checking out the contents of our “Boo” surprise}

{Our “Boo” Surprises that we delivered}

Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to one of the local pumpkin patches this past weekend. We (okay I) thought it would be okay to take them during Meredith’s naptime. I’m not exactly sure what I was thinking. I think traveling last week for work to Wisconsin must have affected my cognitive thinking skills. Everything was okay until the end of the visit when we let the kids ride on the ponies. Meredith developed a rather quick attachment to her pony and starting screaming “MINE, MINE, MINE” when Josh took her off after her ride. We are talking Crocodile tears and screaming like a Monkey! At first everyone thought she was scared of the pony so they thought it was sweet, sad, cute, or whatever you want to call it. But when Josh told them it was because she didn’t want to “get off” the pony the expressions on their faces quickly changed from concerned to shocked. I could just hear the thoughts running through their little heads “What a spoiled child. I would never let my child act like that.” I know, I said the same thing before I had kids. Then reality hit that she is 18 months old. You cannot reason with an 18 month old! So, being the awesome parents we are, what did we do? Let her ride again of course, hoping that it would calm her down. Major FAIL! The second tantrum was even worse than the first. At that point we decided it was time to leave the pumpkin patch so that we didn’t ruin everyone else’s fun time. As we were walking out I asked Josh, “So, I guess now’s a bad time to ask if I can get one photo of Jonah and Meredith together with the pumpkins before we leave?” Looking at the pictures below I’m assuming you can guess his response.

Jonah on the other hand had a great time. He ran into his friend Mathew and they had a blast on the slide and in the petting zoo. He loved the hay maze and riding on the pony. He did not develop the same attachment to his pony as Meredith did to hers.

Cheese Head

I am spending this week in Wisconsin for work. I have been to six cities and stayed in four hotels. I have driven through  America’s Dairyland and seen more red barns than I can count on my fingers and toes. I have lost count the number of bowls of cheese soup that I have consumed this week. I think Wisconsin is a beautiful state. The people are extremely friendly. The weather is perfect and I was actually able to witness fall foliage, something we don’t see in Dallas. But traveling for work is not fun because I do not get to enjoy any of this with my family. I am ready to go home!

 

 

I stayed in the Cambria Suites in Green Bay right by the Packers Stadium and I must say I was impressed. The hotel chain was featured on Undercover Boss a couple of weeks ago. Very nice for a lower line hotel chain. Of course it was also brand new which made a huge difference. 

We ate at a Subway in rural Wisconsin that also sold baby chicks, tools and feed for your cows. Not something you see everyday. It was very interesting.

We ate at a restaurant one night called Kodiak Jacks. I had dinner with a bear, a buffalo, several deer, and many other “stuffed” creatures. I didn’t like the fact that they stared at me while I was eating. It was disturbing.

Take Two…

Season two of Soccer is in full swing with Team Lightening. We added a couple of new players, Trey and Sara and so far it’s been a great season! Jonah loves soccer and I hope that we can keep playing with his same group of friends.

You are so silly

The Cardinal’s Silly faces!