October was a blur

They say, "time flies when you're having fun." Well, I, for one, agree! I cannot believe how quickly October flew! What a whirlwind!

As you know, Lili had her birthday on October 8th. The day before her birthday, she got to take cupcakes to her preschool class. She chose yellow cake with chocolate frosting and candy corn pumpkins on top - all cooked in an ice cream cone, of course. It was fun to see her excitement and anticipation of sharing it with her friends at school.

On her special day, I had a friend watch Simon and took her to the much requested Rainforest Cafe. It was so fun! She loved every minute of it! Nate even joined us, shortly, to wish her a happy birthday and give her lots of loves. She and I continued with our lunch (she had "Python pasta"). They even brought her a complimentary ice cream sundae and sang to her!

That night, we celebrated as a family. We made her whatever she wanted for dinner (wagon wheel pasta, mangoes, and a fruit smoothie). Since she had cupcakes the day before, her "cake" was simple, but she LOVED it! It was made of stacked zebra cakes. We had it with ice cream. She, then, got to open presents from the family. She got books from us and miniature animals from Simon. Julia got her a Shrinky Dinks jewelry kit. She was pleased as punch! I still can't believe she's five!

{Remember: you can click on any collage to see it larger.}

October had the BEST weather! It actually felt like fall! We even lit the fire one night and had a family movie night. The kids all snuggled together next to the fire. Lili used some birthday money to buy a candy-making machine. She loves it!

I know I've been terrible about posting "preggo" shots of myself, but, I have taken one or two. This was me at about 27 weeks.

We don't do birthday parties every year, but since the girls were both turning ages that are kind of a big deal (8 & 5), we decided it was a good year to celebrate. Julia and Lili decided it would be fun to have their parties together! They had fun making plans.
They wanted:
*it to be at the park
*it to be "spooky"
*for people to come in costumes if they liked
*to have pinatas
Nate and I also planned some fun activities. We think it turned out fun and the girls deemed it a success!

Of course, they all chose to dress up. We had a witch, Cleopatra, and Spiderman.

Nate gathered the children and we split them into two groups. I started with the older group, at the "pumpkin-decorating station"...

...while Nate started with the younger kids at the "doughnut-eating station." Aw, man! Was that ever funny!
When they finished their doughnuts, they went immediately to the "mummy race." We split them into two teams and had them race relay-style as "mummies."
Then, we switched stations.
Then it was time for the pinatas! We started with the Jack-O-Lantern one, but it got knocked off its hook! So, we switched to the black cat. That thing must have been made out of reinforced steel with how long it took to bust it open! We even had Nate take a few whacks at it (after all the kids had each had at least four turns) and it still did not break. We ended up just ripping in to it.
Everyone ate snacks (fruit & "Pirate's Booty"). Then, sang "Happy birthday" to the girls, while Nate brought out the cupcakes (with orange and purple frosting- the girls thought those were the perfect colors for a Halloween-themed party. Nate frosted them and they decorated them with the sprinkles). It truly was a fun party. Everyone seemed to have lots of fun. I'm so glad!
October weekends have stayed busy with two soccer players. Nate even helped coach one of Lili's games when her coach was out of town.
Simon enjoyed being Spiderman almost all month (Nate joined in on the fun too). He and I chaperoned a youth dance at church the night before my birthday. We made a whole date night of it. He surprised me with dinner at an Indian restaurant we hadn't tried before. We love Indian food and had yet to find one close-by. Well, it was so yummy! Thank you Nate! We found out that the dance dress was costumes. So, we made a trip to Target. He bought and wore the Spiderman shirt under his regular clothes and went as Peter Parker. It was perfect. I wore a red cape and called myself red-riding-hood. I just had fun being with him!
As I mentioned above, I also had a birthday in October. It fell on Sunday this year and I had the nicest day! We still had to get up early for church, but, once we got home, I got to take a nap! So nice! I was awakened by my whole family. They brought in their adorable homemade gifts that I love! Julia made me "my favorite things" out of clay. A flower pot, full of flowers, wrapped with a snake, a cell phone (hahaha - that made me smile), and a shark. Lili made me a book of coupons. Simon drew me a picture. The girls also made "What I love about Mom" books. I just absolutely cherish stuff like that! They were so sweet!
Then, I had choir practice to go to, but when I returned home, dinner was waiting for me, complete with my family all seated and singing "Happy birthday." Nate grilled chicken and pineapple on "the Egg" and served it with broccoli, fruit salad, saffron rice, and salad. It was all delicious! I loved my "cake" so much! Nate and the children made chocolate-covered strawberries! Oh-so-good!
I even got cupcakes too! My sweet friend Christine made and delivered them. They were delicious! Coconut. Yum. I've told you about her before...she's gourmet!
Julia's book and clay creations...
Lili's coupon book and book about Mom...

I just had to include this picture of Simon with his gifts to me. I think he's going to be a swimmer, don't you? And a backstroker at that! He has the streamline position down so well, he's doing it in his sleep! :)


Julia was so lucky this year. Her birthday was a half-day of school. But, we still took cupcakes in for her friends. She wanted yellow cake with green frosting and fruit snacks on top. They were a hit. She and her friend Cassidy share the same birthday and are in the same class! Cassidy brought cookies. Their classmates had a great day, too!

After her short day at school, Julia got to open a couple presents at home (the soap factory from Lili in particular), then we promptly left for our October get-away to Galveston. There's nothing any of the birthday girls wanted more!

Once we arrived in Galveston, we continued with Julia's birthday celebration. We ate dinner (Nate made a brisket before we left - not that our vegetarian Julia ate that, but we all enjoyed it), sang to her, ate cake, and, of course, she opened more presents. It was so fun to get to celebrate with Aunt Pam and Uncle Mike! Julia loved the Roald Dahl collection and new Leven Thumps book she got! She got a neat little crab ornament from Pam and Mike that she loves!
I know I've said this before, but Galveston is...HEAVEN. The next morning, the kids hit the dock straight away and started catching creatures of all kinds with their nets (minnows, shrimp, crabs, and even a caterpillar)! They enjoyed fishing too! Both the girls caught (and released, of course) many fish. You should ask Nate how many he caught. {tee-hee-hee}
Howie loved lying in the sun. The weather was so nice! The kids (and Nate) even swam a bit. They said the water was cold, but they had fun anyway. One of the kids' favorite things? Wrestling with Uncle Mike. Did you see? Nate even fished with live shrimp! Did that help, Nate?

Dinner on the upper-deck of the dock was a delight. We dined on fine food and enjoyed each other's company, then the mosquitoes started dining on us, so we went in.
We took a 2.5 mile ride on the free ferry (for cars and walkers) over to Port Bolivar. It was so fun to see all the dolphins jumping! We got so wet on the way back when the ferry hit a wave and we were right in front! It was fun and the kids loved it! We all did!
Aunt Pam showed us how to catch a crab and "put it to sleep." Yeah, she's the crab whisperer.
The beach! Need I say more?

Lili had a Halloween "Fall Festival" at her school. They got to dress up and parade around the school in their costumes when they got there that morning, then they changed into regular clothes, had a normal-ish day, until the last hour or so. During that time, they had their party. I was one of the volunteers. It turned out cute. They decorated pumpkins, played "pin the wart on the witch," "pass the pumpkin," and "pumpkin, pumpkin, ghost," and enjoyed yummy treats of all kinds. Lili enjoyed it all!
Halloween festivities continued. We had our "trunk-or-treat" party at church the night before Halloween itself. The kids had already mastered their costumes by that point. I came up with one for myself. I was a soccer player, with a built-in ball - or a "Soccer Mom." I love Halloween and dressing up! It's still fun, even now! As you know, Nate was Spiderman, like Simon. He took the kids around to all the cars while I walked around talking and visiting with friends passed out candy.
Once the the trunk-or-treating part was over, everyone went inside for a chili/soup dinner, desserts and dancing to the tunes of the band "7-Car Pileup." It was so much fun! I loved that I got to be a part of the spontaneous, surprise "Thriller" dance too! It was a fun night!

Halloween fell on a Saturday this year. I loved that! We decorated pumpkins that day, had our "normal" Saturday routine of soccer games (well, actually only one, as Julia's was so late, they rescheduled it), cleaning and such, then got ready for trick-or-treating.

We went with our cute neighbors again this year. The kids raked it in! Let me tell you! Candy galore! We had a fantastic time!

We have such great friends! After trick-or-treating, we were invited to go to a friends house for food, and fun. They even had a fire pit set up for roasting marshmallows. The kids wore themselves out jumping on the trampoline and running around with their friends. So, it was a fun way to end the night. And, a good thing they got some of that sugar out of their systems! (Sorry, no good pictures from that part).

What a month! Now you can see why I'm so bad about blogging. There's just so much sometimes that I get overwhelmed! But, hey, that's a good thing! I hope you all had a great October too! It happens to be one of my most favorite months!