Happy Halloween!

The kids had a great time at the ward trunk-or-treat last night, once I convinced Luke that it was okay to wear his fireman coat and hat. I couldn't get the boots on him for the life of me.

Originally, Lydia was going to be a skunk (see last picture--it was way too big for Luke last year!) and Luke was going to be a peanut. But man, he went running and screaming any time he saw me come near him with the peanut costume. And I somehow managed to lose the skunk costume from last year. So we went to Goodwill and improvised. I'm sure I'll probably find the skunk costume this week :)

With a little help from the dollar store and some glitter paint, we made sure nobody mistook Lydia for just a princess or a fairy....she was "Fairy Princess Lydia," and don't you forget it!

Can it really be that these are the same kids? One year sure makes a big difference!

Hope you all had a very happy Halloween!

Why I Now Do My Shopping at Fred Meyers....

...because they have a Play Land, where my kids can play while I shop without them. The first picture was taken when we got to Lowes, otherwise known as the "tractor store" in our house. Everyone, including Mom, was happy and loving the outing.

Fast forward 10 minutes, after Luke ran away from me 15 times, climbed the huge metal stair thingy with the employees only sign on it while I was trying to find the right screws, and then got buckled in the cart due to aforementioned behaviors. If my memory serves me right, Lydia was crying because I told her she couldn't have any snacks since she had refused to eat more than 3 bites of breakfast. (May I add, I did warn her before we left that she wouldn't be able to have snacks at the store unless she ate more of her breakfast. But did she? Of course not.) Thank you Fred Meyer for making it possible for me to get groceries without this fiasco.

Luke's Getting Ready for Halloween...

I guess he's trying to tell me that I need to make the house look more festive. He took the liberty of decorating himself by eating an orange marker. Yes, you read right. He ATE the marker. He's still spitting out chunks of the spongy tip.

This is what I get for trying to be productive and make lasagna ahead of time so that I'd actually have dinner ready when everyone was hungry.

(Note said lasagna in the background. It better be good!)

I should write the Crayola people and thank them for making non-toxic products, so that people with weird kids like me don't have to worry when their child eats various coloring utensils.

UPDATE from Dad: Can I just take this moment to say how proud I am of my boy? Like father like son. (Nice find on the picture, mom.)

If you ever feel like.....

"my tummy is going up into my throat and squishing together"

or

"my tummy is trying to go up as high as the sky,"

beware.

You're probably going to throw up.

Ask Lydia. She knows.