Halloween activities & Trick-or-Treating

First, the Thursday before Halloween, Gabe dressed up for Bell Preschool as a little Raider. He got so many oohs and ahhs that he became extremely shy.



The same day, Paloma dressed up for her Peapods time at the library, but I didn't see her that time.

On Friday, Gabriel had his Halloween party. I think. Or was it on Monday? I don't know. I didn't get to go. But he was Buzz Lightyear.

On Saturday, Carmen dressed up as Ariel (The Little Mermaid) for her costume piano recital (her first piano recital, by the way, attended by her grandparents and immediate family only since I couldn't get around to telling anyone else--her 1st grade teacher told me the following week that she wanted to go!). That night, David & I dressed up in our dorky 80s wear and Paloma wore a ladybug costume I had since Carmen was little just for fun (she had been wearing her Anne Geddes ladybug tshirt all day--the one I got her in Downtown Disney at the awesome Anne Geddes store).



On Sunday, we had our church fall festival. We heard there was a bounce house, so we asked the kids if they'd rather be Incredibles than Buzz & Ariel because those would be hard costumes for jumping. They chose to wear their Incredibles costumes from last year. David & I were going to be M&Ms like my car, but if the kids were going to be Incredibles, we figured we should be them again too. I was not about to wear those boots again! I was considering buying some tall black boots that I could walk in, but when it was almost time to go, I couldn't find my red tights and black shorts. Too bad, because last year we missed our church thing due to Carmen's rash & sickness, so we never went anywhere except our families' houses in our infamous family costumes. We still hear about our Christmas cards; it will be hard to live those down or follow them up this year!




On Tuesday, Carmen was supposed to dress as an Egyptian because they'd been studying that in school. Gigi got her a "I Dream of Jeannie" looking costume and that was close enough!

That evening, Carmen had her piano lesson at 6 (at our house) just as it got dark and the trick-or-treaters started coming by. I was trying to get everybody ready so we could leave immediately afterwards, but David got stuck at the airport, so it was challenging. Carmen dressed as Ariel again, Gabe dressed as Buzz, and Paloma dressed as Tinkerbell.

We call it trick-or-treating, but what we've always done, and still seem to get away with, is walking to the houses of our neighbors that we know, then driving to Debbie's house, then driving to Mom & Dad's house (where luckily this year we got to see Amy & Allison's families too) then by Jackie's house and finally Joe & Susan's house on our way home. (Last year we had to stop at Amy's then Allison's houses, too. But last year while we were at Mom's, the kids went trick-or-treating on their block--this year they just played with their cousins. "We have enough candy," Gabe explained.)

I only got one picture of all of the cousins together at Mom & Dad's house. But I got these adorable ones of the kids!

80s Halloween party at the Hubers' house

"Joel, get off the babysitter!" David remarked to the guy in a button-down shirt, his skivies, a pair of sunglasses, and socks. The guy didn't realize David was talking to him, quoting a line from Risky Business. I wish I had a picture. He even kinda looked like Tom Cruise!

I also wish I had a picture of the guy dressed as the Hulk.

But here's one of Katie & Shanti, one of Katie & Nancy, one of Dan & Elizabeth (a.k.a. Cyndi Lauper) and finally one of us in our newly-acquired 80s duds (no, I did not really wear that in the 80s or wear my bangs like that--but Amy was a pro, so she helped me on the way to the party when we dropped the kids off at Mom & Dad's).

It was great catching up with Dan & Tracie as well as Katie and Nancy (friends of Amy's in elementary school whose older brother/ step-brother I dated).

Yakety Yak! (or, Paloma's words at 13-14 months)

(Jackie helped me write them down beginning Oct. 1--we ran out of room on the sheet of paper on Oct. 26)

Dora
JoJo
Elmo
Ba (Simba)
ball
BOO! (she sometimes says this in a growly-sounding voice--she imitates tone, like a "scary" voice Carmen was using at one point)
Puppy dog
Quack Quack
meow
(she also makes a trumpeting elephant sound)
bye-bye
Mama
Dada
night night
uh oh
thank you
tickle (she tickles herself when naked and tries to tickle anyone whose midriff shows!)
light (turning it on and off)
up! (going up the stairs)
eyes (must stick her fingers in yours; the picture above illustrates!)
nose (grabs--watch out for fingernails!)
mouth
teeth (tries to touch your teeth)
Gabriel
(Carmen sounds exactly like Mama)
I love you
this, that (pointing)
bread
cracker
applesauce (we have to spell this word and its primary ingredient in her presence or the world will stand still until she gets some)
waffle (same behavior except she'll throw whatever else is on her tray when she sees waffles--though she is learning they aren't good frozen and therefore waits til she sees me eating one before she gets agitated)
nana (banana)
juice (though she's never had juice--she has only had milk & water--she calls any drink juice)
powder
diaper
Gigi
Gigi's house (clear as a bell when we drove into the driveway!)
Moma (Paloma)
Lala (Lauren)
star
no
sock
shoes
and at least 3 other words that were written in felt tip and washed out when the paper (on the kitchen cabinet) got wet :(
and oh yeah,
DONE! (whenever she doesn't like what we're doing to her)
and
ALL DONE! (just like this post!)

We know it's hot, Paloma, but sitting in the refrigerator is probably not the best way to cool off.

FEARLESS!

Paloma LOVES to slide! She pushes herself off at the top and won't wait to make sure someone is there to catch her, so she keeps Jackie busy!

We spent last Saturday, the most beautiful fall Saturday we've had this year, at the Texas State Fair. We first rode the farris wheel, then went to the bird show, then the kids rode the biggest slide I've ever seen, after which we saw the puppet show, then David & the kids checked out the car show while Paloma nursed and took a nap. We finished up the day in line for the swan paddle boats but when our turn came, we got a mallard instead! Paloma was still crashed in the stroller. We ate dinner at Ali Baba on the way home, so it was a great day from start to finish!

I don't have better pictures than this but our second bi-annual camping trip (is that right? bi-annual? we last went two years ago...) was, if nothing else, an adventure!

It was my birthday weekend, but that's not why we chose that date--we did that because HEB (read Carmen & I) had a four-day weekend and I thought that would give us more time to recover.

We camped out at Cedar Hill State Park near the bank of Joe Pool Lake. Our camping spot was lovely to look at, but sleeping on the incline was like Casa Magnetica for everyone!

8 adults and 8 kids aged 6 and under including 3 one-year olds, two of which who were a little TOO interested in the campfire! Carmen & Benjamin had a blast together and Mason & Sofia were pretty friendly by Saturday. Gabe was in the middle, as always.

Brian, Amy & Allison were good sports about the whole thing even though we had to twist their arms to get them to go.

Mom made awesome foil dinners for Friday night and also brought a pretty amazing breakfast of bacon, bisquits and scrambled eggs. Amy & Lety both brought the makings for S'mores. I didn't do much except instigate the plan and get the ball rolling for our reservation!