Ready to hit the sidewalks

Anna and Maddi ready to hand out candy

My kiddos and neighbor kiddos, ready to Trick-or-Treat

Pretty Maddi

We had a ton of fun! I got to meet neighbors and the kids realized how many classmates they live near. I was especially happy with my new neighborhood when I was handed a glass of wine and told it was tradition and that I could just return the glass to the front porch later. I do believe I love my new neighborhood!

I had made a full crock pot/rice pot meal so that the kids could have so real food after all the sweets, but they never made it to eating. It’s made for an easy dinner night tonight!

I walked with the kids for an hour and then passed them off to their dad who did more than an hour more! The kiddos brought home HEAVY bags of candy. I allowed them 2 pieces and then tucked them away to be doled out over time.

Halloween was FUN! It was nice for us to really feel like a part of our new neighborhood and to see so many friendly faces. We are truly in a good place.

Doing the Dance of the Children~

Oh wait! Here’s one of Max carving his pumpkin last night

Gabi the Prom Queen in her custom designed dress. She’s feeling VERY special today!

Prom Queen and the Pirate. My lil cuties

Halloween party fun!

Some Halloween Goo Fun

Gabi, decorating a lil pumpkin at her class party.

I can’t wait to share the kids’ jack-o-lanterns and the evening’s antics. There wasn’t any “special” carving happening, but they did them mostly on their own, which always makes for a special design.

Happy Halloween!

Doing the Dance of the Dressed Up Children

The kids woke up early and were anxious to get on their costumes and get to school for the carnival. I ended up with 4 Sailor Scouts, Superman, a Mad Scientist and Mark Surge-A Lego Hero Factory Character and I was Minnie Mouse.

Everyone had a great and tiring time at the carnival and I want to say THANK YOU to our good friend, Maria for making the girls’ costumes! Over the years, she’s made so many costumes and dresses for my kids that she deserves a public round of applause!

My high schoolers collaborated with friends and they dressed the part of the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask, from Sailor Moon.

Everyone was so cute!

When I left the preschool carnival and took Luke-Xavier over to the big carnival at the main school, I started to look around for Gabi. I wondered if she’d be ok, wandering around and checking out all the booths. All the kindergartners were over there, but I was just nervous that she may not find what she wanted to do, or know to go get her drink and snack, etc. After I stood in line with Luke-Xavier for a few games, I finally saw Gabi. She was with Tristan (my 5th grader) and a couple of his friends. Tristan was holding her gloves and goodie bag for her and they were all making sure she had gotten her snack and that she was having fun at all the games. I was so impressed and proud! These 11 yr old boys were kindly helping a 6 yr old girl and when they saw me, they didn’t run over and ask me to please take her, because they’d been taking her and could they please just go around together now and not have her tagging along! It was one of those parenting moments where you know your kids are going to be ok. That somehow all the times you’ve gotten after them for being mean to each other or not helping each other have actually made an impression on how they think. Not once did Gabi come looking for me or did the boys walk away from her! Everyone had a great time.
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After we got back from the carnival and picking up the high schoolers, I asked if I could, please lie down for 1/2 an hour. About 10 minutes into my rest came *knock, knock, knock*. It was Gabi. Very calmly, she said, “Lex is playing with fire”. When I opened the bedroom door, I could smell that something was burning (or had been burnt). Sure enough, there was paper on the floor that was completely blackened and there was a scorch mark on the floor! I told Gabi that this was EXACTLY the right time to tattle!

I had a talk with Lex and this was his 4 year old thinking-”I caught the paper on fire and I tried to blow it out, but it kept coming. So I thought I needed water, but I couldn’t reach it and I knew I needed to yell out for an adult, but I thought I’d get in trouble”. I pointed out that he ended up in trouble anyway and that whenever there’s trouble or something scary that he needs to “yell out” for someone.

Scary!

Doing the Dance of the Children and Feeling Proud of Gabi and Tristan’s Decisions~

For the last 7 or so years, I’ve been gathering up the kiddos and taking them to Oma’s Pumpkin Patch on the Van Ommering Dairy Farm. We are particularly partial to this pumpkin patch because it was introduced to us by a neighbor who knows the Van Ommering family. Every year the kids look forward to the cotton seed slide, the baby animal petting area and the hay ride.

I love Fall and I love little traditions! You can bet there will be plenty of pictures to share!

Doing the Dance of the Children and Looking Forward to a Day of Fall Fun~

Yesterday the kiddos had their Halloween carnival at school. The school always does a nice job of putting on a little carnival for the kids. They get more excited about dressing up for that than they do for actually trick-or-treating. Honestly, I wish we could get them all done-up for the carnival, enjoy the day and then call it quits. But today, after soccer, after volleyball, after grocery shopping, after carving pumpkins and after getting dinner into the oven, we will put everyone’s costumes back on them and send them out into the neighborhood to trick-or-treat for candy that I will ultimately confiscate and have disappear. Then, tomorrow, we will throw away the pumpkins we spent time on today and start getting ready for Thanksgiving. I think I’m letting my true Halloween feelings show…oops!

But yesterday was lots of fun and I do love to see the kiddos all dressed up and having fun. After the carnival, we had a birthday party to go to, which made for really tired kiddos. But there was something in the air yesterday, because even though I was super busy and pretty darn tired, I felt really good. Sometimes the San Diego air has a magical quality to it that makes me feel so good. Yesterday was one of those days.

My older girls went to a friend’s Halloween party last night and I had all the little ones in bed, so the house was quiet. But I kept hearing a funny thumping noise. After a few times, I went to investigate. I REALLY wish I had taken a picture because what I found was Pumpkin Head dog. My dog had put her head into one of the trick-or-treating jack-o-lanterns to check out the contents and the handle latched over her ears. She was thumping into the wall, unable to see. My immediate reaction was to get it off her head and THEN I thought about the camera. Poor thing! But it sure was funny! So tonight I will be sure to put all the jack-o-lanterns out of dog’s reach!

Happy Halloween! I hope it’s a great day~

Lang Kiddos and a friend at Oma’s Pumpkin Patch

Clay and Luke-Xavier in the petting area

Max and Tristan petting a calf

The Lang Clan and a friend on the hay ride, ready to tour the dairy

Twins had been born just before our tour. They were still trying to stand when we went by. Very cool for the kids to see!

Tristan really enjoyed the cotton-seed slide! It’s one of the kids favorite parts of our annual trip!

A couple of cute pics of the kids enjoying their day!

Have a great day~

P.S. Thank you for all the wonderful “Welcome Home” messages and comments that have been left! They are greatly appreciated!

One of the older kids wanted to go trick or treating with friends instead of staying with us. Our policy has always been that anyone who wanted to come with us was welcome, but that our kids stayed together on Halloween. It makes sense because of the area we live in. When you’re in military housing (for the most part), it’s considered a safe area. Our housing is not on a base. It’s just in the middle of town and easily accessible by everyone, so LOTS of extra kids come into the housing for Halloween. LOTS! Well, this year I considered the request to go with a friend, because Clay is out to sea so we all went to a party at a friends’ house. BUT, I needed details. I was told they would be at a school campus for a “like a carnival”. Parents? “Oh yeah. I think so”. So, when I dropped her off, I decided to go in and confirm with the parents. What I was told and what was happening were two very different things. No school carnival, just trick or treating in the area around the school (FAR from the house I was dropping off at) and “no” the parent or parents would not be staying. I told my daughter that I was sorry but that she had to grab her things and come with me because that didn’t fit my criteria for going out with friends on Halloween. EMBARRASSMENT! ANGER! YELLING (once we were away from the other people). So, when we arrived at the party that we were going to, she stayed in the car……the whole time! She refused to attend and I simply let her stay in the car. Why argue?

Ok, what’s your take? I felt that it was vitally important that I hold my ground because I was uncomfortable with the situation of no parents and not knowing more than 2 of the other kids that she would be with. Halloween can be a dangerous night! AND I have several other children coming up behind this one, that would surely point out that So-and-So got to do such-and-such back in 2007!

On that note, I say………………………………………………………………

When I ripped October off of the calendar today and felt how thin the rest of the calendar is, I was in a mild state of shock! Did you realize that it’s New Year’s?! The minute Halloween hits, it’s all over! The stores are filling up with Christmas decor to make me nervous and antsy about all those lists that I really haven’t thought about yet. Sure, Tristan and Max wrote their wish lists to Santa a week or so ago, but those were for Santa! But now I have to worry about Christmas! Yikes!

Happy Halloween!
Good night~