A Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween.  I love planning the costumes down to the last detail, making them, dressing my kids up, and watching them run from door to door collecting candy yelling thank you over their shoulders as they run down the driveway. I love pumpkins, and leaves crunching under my feet as we walk around our neighborhood on a cool October evening.  I love watching Sidney cuddle up to her daddy when we walk by the scary decorated houses, seeing all the little kids dressed as cute little dragons and monkeys and cartoon characters, and I even loved the teenager across the street dressed as some kind of grim reaper playing electric guitar on his roof.  So you can bet this is the one occasion a year I make sure to get some proper photos of my kids.  I always have grand plans to do some cute themed pictures for all the other holidays, but it usually doesn't happen.

 

First up is Batman.

 

I have way more of Cinderella.  She was a lot more excited about the pictures than Batman was.  Don't be too surprised she's not wearing pink.  She insisted her tutu underneath be pink.

Josh as Robin in his traditional t-shirt costume.  And I'm the Fairy Godmother.  Some people didn't get it at first. 



Jayden Turns 7

 

At the end of the day on Jayden's birthday he kept saying that it was the best birthday ever!  I love kid birthdays.  They are so excited about everything, and he was just as happy as could be.  On Saturday he invited two of his friends to play laser tag and arcades.  It was Jayden's first time and he absolutely loved it.  He can't stop talking about going again.  Afterwards, we came home for cake.  He wanted Angry Birds.

On his birthday Sidney and I had lunch with him at school.  His teacher gave him a birthday crown to wear all day, and he didn't take it off until hours after he got home.  He wanted to pass out cookies to his class too.  After lunch Sidney and I painted the rock in front of his school.  He really, really wanted us to do it, and I figured why not?  It just added to the fun of his day, and seeing his excitement over it made it worth it.

  He mostly wanted a remote control helicopter, which I think Josh was just as excited about. 

For dinner he really wanted to go to IHOP of all places.  I don't know why, we never go there.  That must be why, but he was excited about the idea of pancakes for dinner.  He ordered a chocolate pancake with a face on it and thought that it was the best thing he's ever eaten.  It was a great day!

 



Sidneyisms

We were driving past a store and saw two little girls wearing tutus walking in.  Josh said to Sidney, "Look at those little girls, aren't they cute?"  Then we noticed one of them was wearing the exact same tutu that Sidney wears to dance class every week.  When Sidney realized this, she got the maddest face ever and folded her arms tight over her chest.  We parked the car and I couldn't get her out of her seat for a minute because she wouldn't move her arms.  When I finally did, and she was walking into the store she folded her arms tight to her chest again and stomped across the parking lot.  She is ridiculous.  She's 110% girl, and we are going to be in trouble with her someday. 

Fall Hike

Yesterday we spent the day hiking in gorgeous Transylvania County, NC.  We couldn't have asked for better fall weather.  The color was really beautiful.  There are 250 waterfalls in that county, and we had been wanting for a long time to go find some.  Then I read that we could go see some where they filmed The Hunger Games, so we joined the crowd and sought them out.  First we saw Triple Falls.  It was huge.  There are three huge waterfalls that cascade down.  The kids had a blast climbing all over the place and jumping all over the rocks.  They had the best time and Jayden kept thanking us over and over for taking him.  He said he wasn't that excited about going to see waterfalls because he didn't think it sounded like that much fun, but then he had the best time ever and can't wait to go again.

Here you can see the top two falls.  If I wasn't pregnant, we would have climbed to the base of the third one.

 Here are all three. Obviously it's way more impressive in person.

 You know Jayden is having a good time when he asks to get his picture taken, which he did multiple times.

 Josh took both kids way up to the top.

Next was Hooker Falls. A lot smaller, but still gorgeous.  We couldn't get the kids to stop leaping all over the rocks.

 This picnic table had a turn table on it that Josh spun them around on.  Too much fun!

White Belt

Jayden started taking karate last month.  He was so excited to get started, and it has been really fun to see him learning so much.  He had his first belt test this past week.  I left the camera sitting on the table though.  I am losing my mind, I keep forgetting it everywhere important.  He loved karate at first, but they have to spar every week, and he doesn't like it at all.  He looks to me like he's holding his own pretty well, especially since he is one of the smallest kids and the newest student, but he gets so tired and ends up sore afterward.  It will take time, but we're not letting him quit for awhile until he knows for sure he doesn't want to continue.  Other than the sparring he really loves it.  Throughout class he looks over at me when he's having the most fun with a big grin on his face.  I figured once he earned his first belt he would be more encouraged and excited about it, and the look on his face when he got to put it on was priceless.  He was so excited, and I think it has given him a little more confidence. 

 

Right before his test.

Doing his form. 

Bowing after getting done. 

Putting on his belt. 

 

Showing off at home.  He reminds me so much of my brother, who has a black belt.  I think that's why I have always envisioned Jayden doing well in karate.  He was so excited he earned his belt that he slept in his uniform, belt and all that night.