Do you not know what causes that?

Thankful

Every year we make handprint turkeys. This year the kids had lots of fun with adding googly eyes. Sometime I'll add what they were grateful for - it's quite a list.

Not Being the Mother I Want to Be

Argh, some days are hard.  This has been a killer of a year and just when I thought I was surfacing, I feel like I've been smashed down again.  This isn't a pity party, at least not for me, but man, I'm so not the mom I want to be.

Do you know how many times I've had to go to time out this week alone?  Owen told me I could come out this afternoon because I had apologized quickly and seemed like I meant it, when I explained I was sorry to have yelled at her that I was really just mad in general and it wasn't her fault.  She loves me any way.

I've been trying really hard, thinking that if I worked hard at doing the physical things that the good mother (in my mind) did, the other stuff would follow.  *sigh*  Not as much as I would have hoped.

We've made more Halloween treats than you can shake a stick at, even spent the weekend making more turkeys than Halloween stuff.  (Did you know that there are turkeys with like 5-6 eyes?)  I've personally helped kill multiple trees with all the painting and crafting going on over here.  We even had the googly eyes and fluff balls out.  The popsicle sticks came out for awhile, but we didn't wind up needing them after the paper mache projects...  (See what I'm saying???)

Lilah and I have been working on stress reduction.  She thinks I'm helping her, and I'm seeing it as a nice way to really get my priorities straight.  Last night we did belly breathing and thought of five places we could use it - we even made signs to hang up so we'd remember to use it.  I need to find that sign and put it up somewhere I'll see it, maybe a tattoo...

I only get so many chances to get this thing right.  I really want to be a good mother to these wild and crazy, but lovable kids.  I can still do that even if I can't cook well...

Self Defense

Noa is pretty popular these days. But sometimes there is just too much love. Owen really wanted to hold Noa but Lilah had her. So Owen wrote a note to Lilah. Please note that she drew pictures of Noa with Lilah, note that Noa is kicking Lilah in the face.  There is also a picture of Noa smiling with Owen.  Noa will bite you if she's not happy.

They really love me!

I love finding these little notes all around. It's a nice reminder that they like me occasionally.

Halloween 2009

We had a lot of fun last night. The girls enjoyed the themed costumes as did the folks at the nursing home. Then we stopped to see Eve and Doug. Back to our neighborhood.

Isaac walked with us and took some pics. Benjamin and Hilary opted to stay home. Then I did homework.

Treat Bags and Batty Boo Sucker Holders

I made a ton of fun stuff today.  Though some is for tomorrow...  Shhh.

So we have the Treat bags.  A simple but effective idea I relearned from Highlowaha.  These were for teachers of Isaac, Owen, Clara, Ada, Noa, and Lilah.  Benjamin is giving them to teachers and students since it's a total of 11 people.

Then we pulled out my favorite thing to make every year.  Simple, cute and the kids can help!  These are simply rubber stamps on a white 3 x 5 card.  We place the stamp in the corner and the kids cut off the excess.  Simple edging and accenting with regular markers for highlights.  I did the hole punching because I could only find a ridiculous punch.  Then insert the suckers!

More Ghoulish Treats

These are ghoul guts. Ada and I turned the Alfredo sauce purple. We also had candy hands in the lunches.

Monster Pizza

Last night we made the monster pizzas from a recipe I found online.  I modified the original recipe to fit my needs. 

I even made one that looks like Kevin:

Candy Ghost Fingers

Trying to bring a bit of joy into our lives so tonight we're having candy ghost fingers and monster pizza for dinner.

Not ANOTHER Silver Minivan...

You'll know when this family is coming around the corner or down the street in our stylin' polka dot van...