~Halloween 2012~

I have a confession to make.  I was a total party pooper this year for Halloween.  My kids were so excited to decorate the house and pull out all the Halloween books but I just wasn't that into it this year.  For starters, it seemed like the month went on forever.  Then there was the fact that none of the kids wanted to join in on some theme.  Add on that I was tired, pregnant, and not likely to dress up since I could barely fit in my own clothes let alone a costume.  All together I just wasn't all the pumped but the kids still were. 

 I let everyone just pick whatever they wanted out of our dress up box and they thought it was awesome.  Most of our costumes I have bought at after holiday sale in the past for a few bucks a piece so I didn't have to spend any money at all this year.  We had two trunk or treats, Beggars Night, School parties and halloween birthday parties this year.  By the time Halloween actually rolled around I was done and ready to put away the costume box for a few weeks.  I didn't take hardly any pictures and the few I did weren't the best quality, but they will just have to do.

 Cordy, our french mustached ladybug.  

Don't ask.  Nick gave her a mustache, she loved it and that was that. 

 Elyssa, our Snow White.

She was also a southern belle for a number of events though I never got a picture.

Alec, our Optimus Prime Transformer.

He refused to wear the mask most of the time.

I must say for being a party pooper this year, I have great plansfor next year.  The kids and I have already started talking about being a Star Wars family. Cordy wants to be Chewy, Alec can be Luke Skywalker, Elyssa can be Princess Laya, and new baby can be Yoda!  Nick would make an excellent C3PO but will likely be Darth Vader.  Maybe I will be a storm trooper.  We shall see. :-)

~Pumpkin Carving 2012~

As is tradition in the Parkinson household, for FHE we made our way over to the Walmart parking lot to pick out three fantastic $3 pumpkins for carving.  A few days later we let our kids stay up way too late (on a school night even) to help us carve their pumpkins.  We had a blast! 

I think we listened to "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas 100 times that evening.  I wouldn't be surprised if the kids know almost every word to that song.  There was lots of laughing, lots of fun and lots of silliness.

We let the kids each pick out what they wanted carved and they usually help with poking holes on the template.  The mom and dad do most of the actual carving.  Cordy went with a very cute owl, Elyssa picked a simple butterfly, and Alec went for Darth Vader.  I was able to carve and clean up almost all of our mess in the time it took Nick and Alec to complete their time consuming masterpiece.

 The kids were all so excited with how they turned out and I must say we did a pretty good job.  I just count my lucky stars that the girls are still easy to please!  

~Day in Omaha~

We seem to frequently make our way over to Omaha, so our zoo pass gets lots of use.  Sometimes we stay in a hotel and make a whole weekend event out of it and sometimes we are just there for the day.  Either way we always make sure that everyone has the opportunity to have a good time.  Our ward had a temple trip scheduled so we took advantage of the free babysitting and went to the temple together.  Then we picked up the kids and headed over to the zoo.

Poor Cordy got carsick on the way to Omaha.  I feel for her!  I was carsick and morning sick myself.  I was glad we had packed pajamas for the kids so we had a clean shirt for her to wear.  By the time we got to the zoo she seemed just fine, and had a great time being silly with the rest of us.  It was a nice afternoon of snacks, playing, and small crowds.  Those are my favorite kind of days at the zoo.  

~Hardcore Soccer Lovers~

Nick got invited to go to a USA National soccer game with some friends and couldn't pass up the opportunity.  Since it was in the middle of the week worked through the morning, drove all afternoon down to Kansas city, and arrived just in time for all the crazy and festivities to begin.  From what I heard, it sounds like Soccer fans are diehard into their sport and it's quite the hoopla!  Nick had a great time with the kids, and on the plus side, USA beat Guatemala!  

USA! USA! USA!

~Alec's Day Off=Cordy's Day Made!~

Alec had the day off from school thanks to a teacher work day.  Cordy was in HEAVEN this morning, having her brother all to herself while Elyssa had preschool.  I walked in on this moment and couldn't help but run and grab the camera to take a picture.  These moments are priceless.

Of course as soon as Cordy noticed the camera she gave me a pose.

I love that these two are such good friends.  Alec is always so patient with her and she simply adores him right back.  

They are so lucky to have each other.  

~Hair Braiding Experiments~

One happy Saturday evening after baths we decided to turn on a show and try out some new braids.  Elyssa had seen this hairdo on a few girls at church and wanted to give it a try.  It took me a good while to get it done, but I thought it turned out nicely.  She liked it and appreciated that she didn't wake up with tangles in her hair the next morning.  

Never wanting to be left out, Cordy demanded I braid her hair too.  The top of her hair is sooo short still so it was definately an experiement.  One little braid still made her plenty happy, even if it didn't last through the night.  

Sweet silly sisters on a Saturday night. :-)

~Color Run~

Way back at the beginning of summer my dear friend Katie and I decided to sign up for The Color Run.  It's a 5K where you basically get doused with color.  Sounds kind of crazy right?  Well we thought it sounded like crazy fun!  I didn't really take into account my plans for being pregnant when I signed up.  Opps!  Thankfully it ended up falling around my 15 week mark and the nausea wasn't as bad and Katie was patient so it all worked out.   

Here we are BEFORE, nice and clean and totally freezing.

My amazing cheering squad.  I couldn't believe Nick wanted to bring them along in the freezing weather to cheer me on.  I must admit that if the roles had been reversed I probably would have just stayed home with the little ones and sent him off with a kiss. 

Waiting for the starting line go ahead at "the happiest 5K in the world"!  This run was so huge with thousands of people so hey had to let runners go in waves.  While waiting for our go ahead we actually watched the first runners come back in and cross the finish line.  

Finish line color explosion!

AFTER, with color in pretty much every place you can imagine.

Katie and I had so much fun!  She was so patient with me.  We ended up only running about half the race and then I had to walk for most of the rest.  Still I felt like a rockstar for even attempting this while pregnant.

I can't wait to try this again next year!