October 25 - Party Like a Girl Scout

Our 3rd annual Halloween party was Friday night and once again, we had a blast. Everyone brought a dish to share and we served it all in the food body  (I forgot to get a photo, sorry). Everyone enjoyed delicious food (pizza, wings, chips and queso, fruit, spooky punch) and desserts. The girls also played some games. There was a huge bowl of dumdums (lolly pops) on the table and the girls had to guess how many there were. The winner won pumpkin candles for their mother and Hannah was the winner! (she guessed 256, there were 279). The girls also decorated cans into "mummies" and paired up to wrap each other into toilet paper mummies. We also planned on playing Halloween bingo but we ran out of time. Another great night with our troop! 

sisters

We finally had a break in the crazy hot weather over the weekend and decided to take advantage of the cool temperatures (and when I say "cool" I mean low 80s LOL) by taking the kids to Zoo Boo. Luke refused to dress up, but Julia threw on her ninja costume and had fun trick or treating around the zoo. They also had fun decorating mini-pumpkins, riding the carousal (Luke insisted on riding the Otter, which happens to be the theme of his class) and seeing the animals. Almost all of the animal areas had pumpkins (plastic or real) and the kids got a kick out of that (look mom, there is a pumpkin next to the monkey). Amazingly, at just 6 weeks old, this was Jillian's second trip to the zoo! She came in an adorable black and orange outfit..proceeded to have poopy explosion and was changed into some jammies. All in all, it was a great weekend!!

Party like a Girl Scout

Zoo Fun

October 19 - Picture Perfect

School pictures came in last week and they came out FABULOUS!! 

October 17 - My Favorite Little Man is SIX!

birthday crew

My favorite little boy in the entire world is now 6. SIX! Happy birthday Luke! We had a fun last few days so let's jump in. Last Wednesday was 'North Pointe' night at a local restaurant (they donate 10% of the proceeds to our school) and I took all three kids. It was my first time taking all of them out for a meal and it went great. Jillian slept through most of the meal and 

Thursday was a big day. Luke had his first ever kindergarten field trip at the Houston Zoo. I wasn't an official chaperone, but I drove their with Jillian and we met up with his group for a few hours. He was walking around with 2 other little boys and they had a fun time.

zoo fun

That night, we had our first GS meeting of the month and the girls earned their 'senses' badge. They were divided into teams and made milkshakes. Each team was given 2 recipes with specific ingredients and they were allowed to make one of the recipes or come up with their own. Three out of the four teams created their own recipes, and they were very..liberal with their use of chocolate syrup. The 4th group followed one of the provided recipes and made pumpkin pie milkshakes. After all the groups were done, they sat at the tables and the moms served them samples of each. They had to describe what they looked like, smelled like, what they thought they would taste like and then sample them. They had to say what ingredients they thought were used and guess the team who made them.

Luke, Carmine & Rhys

Interestingly, on the first taste test, the group that made them didn't think it was theirs! And another group, who didn't make them, thought they had. Haha! The girls had a blast and everyone had fun sampling. 

Friday was Luke's official 6th birthday!! I went to his classroom after lunch-his classmates sang to him and they all had cupcakes. They were very tasty. Later on in the day, I had to go back to school for Julia's parent/teacher conference. She's doing great but is 'very chatty and gets distracted easily.' 

Milkshake wars

Friday evening, JD was mowing the yard and came down with the flu (he's still sick). We let the kids pick where they want to go to dinner to celebrate with our family, so this year it was just me and the kids at Luke's favorite sushi restaurant. Afterwards, we went to Sonic for milkshakes, then came home to open presents. Friday was a very fun yet hectic day, so I apologize to all the family members that called-and we missed the calls. 

Saturday was party day! That morning we got up and I was hoping JD would miraculously be better..no luck. Luckily, Luke wanted a Darth Vader cake from HEB this year so all we had to do was pick it up. If I had had to bake it, I wouldn't have had time. The kids and I cleaned the house and one of my friends came over to help me set up tables, chairs and balloons.

He loved his Darth Vader cake

At 1pm, the party started and we had a lot of kids here. Half of Luke's class came, as well as a few friends from Montessori and the neighborhood. It was extremely hot (over 90) and the kids were melting in the bounce house. They ended up spending half the party inside playing (don't worry, JD was quarantined to the bedroom). 

Saturday evening, we went to Tammy's house for her annual Oktoberfest celebration. We've missed it the last few years because it's always the same day as Luke's party, but the times worked out. We ate some delicious German food and the kids had fun bouncing on the trampoline and running around the yard. 

Happy birthday Luke!

First time out to dinner with all three kids #nailedit

Best big brother ever

Julia made this card for Luke- best big sister ever!

I'm the best baby ever-I slept 6 hours straight the last 3 nights in a row!

October 13 - Little Vampires

Last weekend, the kids (all three of them) and I went to a Fire Prevention Festival in town. I wasn't sure what to expect (it was a free event) but we had a really good time. They had a petting zoo, bounce houses, firetrucks and the kids got to meet firemen and learn about fire safety. We went with our neighbors, Evelynn and her dad (it's been awhile since we all hung out) and the kids were happy to see each other.

Later in the day, the kids and I went to the Halloween store to get costumes. At one point they both tried on vampire costumes and it was seriously the cutest thing I've ever seen. Luke chose the vampire costume but Julia decided to go as...wait for it....a ninja yet again (she claims this costume is a 'scary ninja'..I'm not sure about that but she's excited about the outfit). They are both excited about their costumes and have multiple events to wear them to (school dance, GS Halloween party, actual Halloween). 

Vampire Luke

Fire Prevention Festival

Morning snuggles

October 11 - Dog Patrol

Dog Patrol, open for business

There is a house around the corner from us that has a tree swing. A lot of kids in the neighborhood swing on it (the owners are cool with it). Julia was swinging a few weeks ago and came back announcing that she had made a new friend, Jacob. "Mom, I made a new friend! His name is Jacob. He's in 4th grade and his birthday is in October." I love her enthusiasm! Since that afternoon, Julia and Jacob (and Jack when he is home) have become fast BFF's. Jacob is at our house daily and I think he must look out his window for our car, because sometimes we'll be out running errands and within 1min of being back at the house, there will be a knock at the door. I know now that "oh, it's probably Jacob."

Jacob is the 3rd of 4 boys (ages 15, 12, 10 and 2). He has a trampoline in the backyard and the kids (including Luke) love to play there. They also ride bikes around the cul-de-sac in front of our house and have a lot of running races. 

Last Friday, the kids (Julia, Jacob and Luke) decided to start their own business called "Dog Patrol." They made fliers, passed them out and then set up shop in front of our house. They didn't have any customers the first day, but they tried again on Sunday and earned a couple dollars walking a neighbors dog and combing another. I also paid them a couple dollars to give Amelia a bath (they attempted to bathe Karma but she wasn't having it hehe). 

Speaking of the dogs, we are back to morning walks and they are loving it. Karma gained six pounds while I was pregnant and she needs to shed those off.

She had her 7th birthday yesterday and is officially a "senior dog." We need her to an in-shape senior dog! Uncle Bryan sent the dogs bones filled with..I think peanut butter.. for Karma's birthday and this will be their last treat for awhile. We are back on operation "get Karma in shape." Right now we are walking about 1 mile every morning. As the weather cools down, we'll expand and walk further and further. And when Jillian gets in a better routine at night, we'll start up night walks again.  

Happy Birthday Karma Brown Bear!!

Jillian does her best impersonation of Dr. Evil from Austin Powers

A hint of a smile

October 5 - Big J and Little J

Big J and Little J

The kids did not have school on Friday (professional in-service teacher day) so we went to Jumping World with our friends and neighbors, Hannah and Ethan, and then lunch afterwards. That night, Julia and Hannah went to the Kellogg Tour of Champions at the Toyota Center in downtown Houston, where they got to see the Olympic gymnasts. Simone! Nastia! Madison! They said the show was incredible and had a fabulous time. 

Julia had four soccer games over the weekend and luckily two of them were close by the house. Jillian, Luke and I were able to attend and watch her play one of the games. She has really improved over the last month and I was impressed with her foot skills. 

Now that it's October, it's time to get ready for Halloween. Luke was so excited he helped JD bring the two big Halloween bins down and decorated almost the entire house by himself. Go Luke!

Fun with friends (Luke did not want to be in the photo)

Tour of Champions

Mommy and Jillian 

Big J and Little J

October 3 - Star Wars Obsessed

I cannot believe my little man is almost 6 years old. SIX?! Where has the time gone? He's currently obsessed with all things Star Wars and was super excited when JD surprised him with some new jammie's this past week. Fun fact-Luke loves footie pajamas and wears them year round...yes, even during the crazy hot summer. Santa gave him some ninja turtle footie pj's for Christmas and Luke wears them all the time. 

We are in the process of planning his birthday party and it will be on the 15th. Can you guess the theme? What's that-did you say 'Star Wars?' You are right! He wants to order a cake from the grocery store instead of having me bake it, so we will go this week to pick one out. 

Invitations are going out to his classmates at school tomorrow. We're having a bounce house and kids will have light snacks and cake. Luke is very excited!! He's also excited that he can bring in cupcakes for his actual birthday at school (last year his school changed their birthday policy and did not allow any sweet treats).

Otherwise, things are going well here. The birth announcements arrived a few days ago and they are adorable. The envelopes have been stuffed and almost all of them have been addressed. I just need to add the stamps and get them into the mail, so be prepared for some cuteness!