Sunday, November 22, 2015

Halloween 2015

Halloween kind of snuck up on us this year.  I'm not a huge halloween fan anyways.  But I didn't even do any real costumes this time.  I have made Harper's from scratch every year since she was born, and I didn't make Paige's for her first one.  Terrible mom!  This year, my mom had just recently bought Harper a Denison Yellow Jacket cheerleader outfit.  It seemed like an easy costume, so we borrowed Reagan Haddock's bumblebee costume from when she was a baby and Paige went as the Denison Yellow Jacket mascot.  She loved being a cheerleader.  She learned a cheer from when Reagan went to cheer camp and she would shout it and do a jump afterwards.  She was so happy!  She kept telling me she was the cutest "cheerleader."  We also totally missed the pumpkin patch so she didn't even get her picture with any pumpkins.  Boo.  Thankfully we fit it all in on one weekend this year and it turned out to be super fun.  The Saturday of Halloween, we finally got to carve and paint the pumpkins I had bought two weeks earlier.  She wanted to do both, so Cody helped her carve them and she painted them.  She spent an hour just sitting quietly doing her pumpkins so I think she enjoyed them.








Halloween morning we were supposed to have our family pictures but they got cancelled due to rain. So instead, the Haddock's invited a group over to have dinner and trick or treat in their neighborhood.  It's the only really good neighborhood in most of Denison.  So we headed over after nap time and the girls all got to play for a bit.  The Spiegel's, Helm's, and Piazza's all came over as well.  We had dinner and headed out just as the sun was setting.  The kids were insane.  They ran up and down the streets, all over the houses, and back and forth.  They didn't even stop to catch their breath.  They had the best time.  Harper was crazy happy that she got to eat candy.  I honestly have no idea how many pieces she actually ate because I couldn't even keep track of her.  After we made our way around their neighborhood, we stopped at the Spiegel's for a bathroom break.  It ended up being our stop for the night.  We all just sat around and chatted and the kids played and handed out candy.  Since it was daylight savings the next day, we decided to stay out an hour later than normal and see if the girls would sleep later and thus regulate themselves quickly.  So at around 8:30 we headed home with a super tired baby and a crazy 4 year old.  












The next morning, Harper was still on a candy high from the night before.  She had slept with her treasure box full of candy next to her pillow.  She just kept smelling the candy and telling me, "Mama, smell!  Chocolate..."  Haha!  It was awesome.  We let her have some candy each day, but she cried because we wouldn't let her have some in the mornings for breakfast.




The next day, we went to the Georgetown Baptist Church Fall Festival.  It had been postponed due to rain the weekend before.  It was still raining this weekend but it quit just in time for us to go and have fun.  We met the Haddock's there but everyone else stayed home in the warmth.  It was still fun even though it was drizzling.  She did a ton of games and won candy.  She got her face painted.  She climbed the rock wall (about 2 feet and then quit).  She slid down the big bounce house slide.  She got to ride the pony cart.  And she got to ride the ship (roller coaster type).  She loved everything but wished that she had ridden the ship about 100 times.  It was a great night and a perfect end to Halloween.









A few days after Halloween, I made it back to the playroom and found a weird trail of slime.  I guess I hadn't been back there in a few days because we had been so busy.  Both pumpkins had a ton mold growing throughout them and one had shrunk in half.  They were disgusting!  Harper didn't seem to think so, because she was so sad that I threw them out.













Klusman Camping Trip


We had all been talking about going camping for a year now.  All our kids love it and we wanted to spend some time together.  So once we got our camper we picked a weekend.  And miraculously, everyone was free that weekend, including the boys.  So we picked Lake Whitney, which is in Hillsboro and pretty close to halfway between Dallas and Austin.  We headed down Saturday morning and got there about lunch time.  We got two campsites so that we would have enough room and we could make one campsite a "quiet zone" for the babies.  We all pretty much got there at the same time.  My dad was there first and had scoped out the best sites for us.  We pulled in and started setting up the camper and tents.  Harper, Grayson, and Reese took care of Paige and Ellie for us.  We brought enough toys for the littles to sit in and play with and not get bored.  After lunch, they played hide and seek, drew with sidewalk chalk, and of course, we played baseball.  We hung out all afternoon and it was the best.  We brought our TV and Cody got the A&M game.  We played Alabama and it was a brutal.  The boys got there around 2pm and just sat and relaxed.  It was such a fun afternoon.  It ended up getting hot, so while the littles napped, the bigs went down to the lake to wade in the water.  All three of them played so well together.  Reese and Harper didn't fight one time and they just ran around the campsites all afternoon.  Grayson roped Eric, Dane, and Pop into playing baseball with him all day.  He told Kristen later that it was his best day ever!






























After the game, Cody and Brian started grilling and the rest of us just hung out.  The Royals were in the World Series so all the boys watched the game.  Grayson was excited to try out his bow and arrow.  Sadly, soon after the local park ranger came by and totally busted us on all the rules we were breaking.  Alcohol in open containers.  Weapons (bow and arrow).  Dog off a leash (Eric's).  Dumb.  We managed to make it the rest of the weekend without more incidents but Grayson didn't get to play anymore and poor Duece was stuck on a leash all weekend.  The littles catnapped off and on.  Paige was pretty grumpy for the afternoon.  She was sitting with Cody and wanting her bottle when I walked up.  Just as she started crying, she whimpered out a sad and pathetic "Mama" and it was the cutest thing ever.  Her first word at 8 months.  She was kind of clingy that weekend.  She is in a stranger danger phase.  She went to Kristen pretty good, which she says is because we look so similar.  I liked that all weekend we all just switched kids back and forth.  When there are so many adults, it is so much easier.  That night, we had a great dinner and sat around and talked all night.  We made a bonfire for s'moresIt was a few days before Eric's birthday, so Kristen made him brownies and we sang Happy Birthday.  Dane taught Grayson how to roast marshmallows, which he then did for everyone once he realized he didn't actually like to eat the s'mores.  Harper and Reese on the other hand would have eaten enough for 10 people.  These two were crazy kids all weekend but they are two peas in a pod so it was fun.  We all sat around the bonfire for awhile and then headed to bed early.  



























Miraculously, the littles slept well that night.  All the girls slept in the camper (plus Cody).  Pop, Eric, and Dane slept in a tent, and Brian and Grayson slept in a tent.  The camper all woke up around 5.  Paige first but then she went back to sleep.  Reese next at 6, but she got the iPad.  Then Harper at 7, but she got in bed with us.  Finally around 8, we all got up and moving.  Cody started breakfast and we all hung out.  It was pretty cold that morning.  All the girls played around the camper and the littles got bottles.  After breakfast, the McCool's started packing up.  The kids went with the boys down to the lake again and we all had a hike across the beach and back to the camper.  It was beautiful out.  We came back and played some more bean bags and relaxed again.  I love when time just seems to not matter because there is nothing to do but enjoy the day.  We did have to finally pack up and we headed home just before lunch and naps.  The boys all headed home too and we all agreed to do it again next year.  It was the best weekend.  I've missed just hanging out with my family without a holiday or an agenda to keep our time.  It was the perfect Klusman Camping Trip.