Halloween 2009

Not sure if it's me or not, but Halloween seems to carry less and less of a thrill for the kids.  For me growing up it was exciting because:

• I actually got candy, which was pretty rare
• I got my costume the beginning of the month and could play around in it
• I could actually wear it to school
• The school parties were actually called "Halloween parties" instead of "Harvest parties"
• It was warm enough to wear my costume outside on halloween
• The streets were FILLED with kids trick or treating, and I actually had to stand in line at most doors

Nowadays, the kids still get excited, but it's not quite the same.  Candy is readily available, costumes are "marketing" elements of movies, toys, games they see all the time, the whole school "harvest party" concept, and we only had 6 door bell rings all night.  So, the point of all this is that the costumes were a little "lite" on the creative part this year. 
Michael went as a "zombie scream" with chainsaw, Rachel and Megan were both black cats, and Mommy went as a cowgirl.

Family Halloween pictures

Time again for our family Halloween picture.  We tried to look more like zombies this year, instead of ghosts from last year, but we ended up looking like zombie ghosts, or at least I did (that's what the tilted head is supposed to be - zombie like).

Our actual family picture turned out nice also.

Michael turns 9!

October is always a fun month. Back to back birthdays with Rachel, then Michael, followed up by Halloween. It does get one behind with trying to keep upto date with posting pictures, etc.

Michaels birthday was on the 18th (Sunday) and we were going to have his party on the 17th, however that was a 3 day weekend in Minnesota, so of the 5 friends he invited, all but one was out of town, so we ended up moving it to the 24th. So the 17th turned out to be a fun family party where we went "laser bowling". This is quite a bit different than the bowling allies I went to as a youth - Video monitors playing music videos, the lights are off, lasers everywhere, mini line dance lessons going on in the lanes... The kids really enjoyed it.

The next week I (Daddy) took Michael and the boys to Grand Slam for laser tag, mini golf, fun zone, batting cages, bumper cars, and the "money sucking" arcade. Michael had lots of fun. Below is the laser tag picture (a little spiced up).

Batting helmuts look so cute on tiny heads...

Michael at home with us singing happy birthday to him.

Rachel turns 12!

Wow, Rachel's 12... That means she's 1 year away from being a teenager. She's now in young women. Her first 18 years with us are already 2/3rd's over. Boys better not even be on the horizon...
For her birthday she invited 12 of her friends over for some birthday Halloween themed games. Only 9 were able to come, but that was still about 5 too many. All but one had their own cell phone, and were showing off their ring tones, texting, etc. Plus something about girls being together makes them feel like they need to scream constantly. Next year 5 is the max. To show how scary it is I took a picture of the girls (and one boy) out in the back yard.

We also snapped some shots of all the hard work Mommy put into making the menu - Coffin sandwiches, Mummy toes (with nails removed), flattened ghosts, and spider cups.

First snow of the season

Oct 10th. Yes, that is OCT 10th! The view out our back window. Oh yea, it was also 15F with the windchill.

Michaels watermelon harvest

Around the end of the last school year Michael brought home a little watermelon seed in a cup as part of a school lesson. We watered it inside until it was warm enough to plant outside (since it lived that long). When Candice and Michael were outside picking the last vegetables, they noticed his watermelon plant had produced a watermelon (about the size of a silver dollar :) ). Here he is with his harvest.

Fall apple picking

Family apple picking is one of my favorite family traditions. It's great because it's only 10 minutes away, I love eating apples, and we always use it as a time for family pictures. The kids were all on the lookout for bees this year, since Michael was stung last year.

Here is the whole family with the baskets full.


The kiddos trying to look like they want to smile.


Mmmmm... Apples


Megan standing by the tractor that gives tractor rides.


Rachel pulling the apple cart out.


Michael and Joey seeing who had picked the biggest apple.


Mommy taking a picture of Daddy filming the kids. I got a video of her taking a picture of me also...


After apple orchard shots we always take some in the pumpkin patch. Here's Michael on the way to his soccer game.


Megan showing a little impatience with the whole thing.


Rachel (looking too old when we see pictures of her).