Bell Ringing

I guess this must be the calm before the storm (holidays). Haven't blogged much lately. Not that we haven't been busy...just not much "picture" worthy stuff going on.

Good g's guy.



We made raviolis 3-ways last Friday night for dinner. We had cheese (ricotta and Parmesan), cheese with spinach, and pumpkin. I thought I had scarred my family for life after making butternut squash ravioli that were so bad even I couldn't choke them down, so I was a little nervous about how the pumpkin ones would turn out. We all liked them and M and I decided they were our favorites out of all of them (Steve had to work that night). We have lots of leftover filling in the freezer to make another night.





The h's are a little on the abstract side.



We wanted to do something service oriented that the kids could participate in this holiday season, so we shared a two-hour shift of bell ringing for the Salvation Army with friends of ours. The kids and I did the first hour, and my friend's family did the second hour. It was a great way to split it up because I think an hour was just the right amount of time for little kids. They enjoyed ringing the bell and talking to the people who came by.





Shift change--all the kiddos together.

Happy Halloween!

We carved pumpkins Friday night.



Digging out the guts.



Steve's parents participated in the festivities via Skype.



D wanted a sad face (although I think it looks like it's scared) and M wanted an owl. There were templates that came with our carving tools, but Steve free handed the drawings based on them.



Spooky!



Kids-in-a-box. I sold and donated ALL of my baby and maternity stuff on Saturday. I feel so rejuvenated! Looking at all those boxes every day was just weighing on me. They had been sitting upstairs in our living room because of the flooded basement. I guess one good thing coming from that ordeal is getting rid of things we really don't need to hang on to anymore. The only thing left was this rubbermaid bin.



We went to Steve's co-worker's Halloween party Saturday night with the kids. Here we are all dressed up and ready to go. Steve is a snow fence (he is blowing the wind), D is a leopard/baby jaguar, I am a ladybug, and M is a fireman.





All of the kids D and M's age at the party were boys. They all ran around and played together. D found this pair of handcuffs and thought it was so funny to "lock us up".





M was in heaven with some nerf ball guns.



Yeah! The big day--Halloween! The kids are all dressed up and ready to go to the Pumpkin Patch Halloween party our church puts on. D is wearing her mouse dance costume from last year and M is Elmo once again.



First stop: the petting zoo.





Elmo needed help reaching the bunny. It was so funny that every little kid that walked past M at the Pumpkin Patch party was like "Mommy! Daddy! There's Elmo!" Even the adults who walked by him couldn't help giving Elmo a shout out. One woman even went so far as to ask if she could tickle him (M said yes and gave a giggle). I guess everybody loves Elmo.



Face painting. D got a pumpkin...



...and M got a heart.



There was a mice infestation at the church. I guess a lot of parents had the same idea to "recycle" the dance costume. Why not when you pay so much for it and only wear it once!



Cake walk.





Trick or treating.



Game time.









The balloon pop. You pump up your balloon and try to make yours pop first. D won.





The kids hooked up with some of their friends in the glow room.





Cookie decorating time.





Doing crafts.



More friends.



These are some of D's classmates from school.





And can you believe we still didn't hit everything they had to do there? M was not happy about leaving without first going in the bouncy house, but we wanted to go to some neighbors' houses before it got too late.

Character Parade

D went to her first school-friend birthday party on Sunday at the St. Paul Jewish Community Center. They had a very action packed party, and got to go in the pool for part of the time. They also have log-rolling there, and D wanted to try it right away. She kept going back again and again. It looked like fun.





After we got home from the party, D cooked dinner. She had been asking to help me cook dinner, so I had her pick out a recipe from a kid's cookbook. She choose a pasta dish with homemade sauce and chicken. Yummy!



She also choose a jello dessert with orange slices. I don't think M had ever tried jello before and it had been ages since I'd had it myself. It was very delicious. We ate the whole thing! Thanks for cooking a tasty dinner, D!



M had a friend over for a playdate on Monday for some boy bonding time. They played games, ate a snack (the doughnut hole acorns), played on the playset, and played t-ball together. They had a blast together.



Two kiddos home from school on Thursday. They had raspy voices and coughs. They got to watch TV for a while. Usually M is upside down when he watches movies, but D had the interesting point of view this time.



On Friday, D's school held a character parade. The kids could bring a costume to school of a character from a book. You also had to bring the book and carry it as part of the parade. They walked outside around the whole entire school three times. Very cute! D was Baby Jaguar from the Diego books.







M dressed up as a fireman to watch the parade. But he wouldn't look at me.



Presenting the letter f.