BOO to you!

the changes that happen to Halloween as the kids grow older....


we were invited to a party with some of the kids' friends. all of us had some tired kids the next morning. {and we were tired too!}




they put out some very cool decorations.

i had a lot of fun taking photos of them!



this is a plastic skeleton hanging from one of the lamps above their kitchen island. i did some photoshop changes to make it even spookier. however i was still impressed with the original. bonus!



costumes are always fun. Kiara chose early that she wanted to be a ladybug. how lucky for her that we found one at Old Navy back in September. Aidan didn't know what to be. he still fit into his Optimus Prime costume from last year. so the decision was made.

until the night before his school Halloween party.

then he told me he wanted to be a Storm Trooper from Star Wars.

for real?! not sure what was behind his reasoning on that one. hopefully he will have learned to make his decision earlier next year to avoid his disappointment!

the next day Kiara and i went to school to watch the costume parade. 2 of the boys in his class are his friends and they all sit in the same desk grouping. as it turns out they were both Storm Troopers. ah ha! when he came home he was pleased that he was the ONLY one in his class dressed as Optimus Prime. he even kept a tally of all the transformer costumes he saw at school that day. it all worked out in the end.



i found this costume for Kristian. a Nordic Viking. rather appropriate don't you think?!

when Kiara saw it waiting for him, she suddenly changed her mind about her costume.

fortunately this was much less traumatic of a change!

one of her favourite movies is How To Train Your Dragon.



she knew we had a 'dragon' costume in the basement with their dress-up clothes. {it is actually a dinosaur, but close enough}

she decided that she would now be Daddy's pet dragon.

i was impressed. unfortunately, i did not get a good picture of the 2 of them together.



the night of the party i painted Kiara's face to be 'dragon-like'. as i was finishing with her i realized that there was a page devoted to pirate make-up. my neighbours were also attending the party, so i quickly called to see if they wanted some 'tattoos' as well. after Aidan watched his buddies get face painted, he decided he wanted in on it. one idea was to paint the insides of a robot....so that is the idea i went with. not the best photo of it. but Aidan loved it!!



so, no picture of just me. i cropped this out of the group photo we took!

i found the scrubs for $8 at Value Village and became a Plastic Surgeon. Kiara donated her Doctor's Kit playset.

Kristian helped carve their pumpkins this year. i quite enjoyed that!

the kids came home with so many treats that their arms were sore from carrying the bags. very cute.

last year was the H1N1 scare and it really changed halloween. we definitely had more kids to our door this year. some of the cutest costumes i've ever seen. we also had an interesting virus in our home last year. for Aidan it hit him at the end of the trick-or-treating. poor boy could care less about the candy he collected. this year was great because we were also more healthy. today was a day off school for Aidan and that is simply a bonus for this mother!

i mentioned the "switch witch" to the kids today. they are presently uncertain about giving up their candy for a toy. the plan is to visit the toy store and use their birthday money. perhaps seeing the toy choices may change their minds a bit. i'm hopeful.

and now on to winter and Christmas.....

some photo fun

could we have fit more into the past few months? yes. and no!

what a crazy busy fall. then we all caught the cold going around town. bonus. thankfully we are all pretty much healthy now. but it meant that two out of four of us needed antibiotics in the end.

Kristian missed an entire week of work. as the week went on and he was not getting any better i got more worried. partly due to not liking it when he is sick and feeling bad for him. partly due to my plans for the weekend. i planned to leave town with some girlfriends. i know how tough it is to be a parent and be sick at the same time. i didn't want to leave him home with the kids and be sick. thankfully he was feeling better by Friday and even better by Saturday. perhaps it was a blessing because they had a more restful weekend staying home. he was back to work on Monday and it is great to see him feeling more like himself.

here are some photos he took of me using his iPhone4. not bad considering it is taken by a phone!



a little grainy. but still impressive.

he took this of me when i was having trouble with my camera. it wouldn't focus. ugh! i was sweating!! then i realized that i had accidentally switched from 'auto' to 'manual'. amazing what a little switch can do.



a perfect afternoon for a camera.



i have an interesting stance with a camera up to my eyeball. same pose in many of these photos.



this was not taken by a phone. i just poked my lens out the car window and snapped as we sped along the curvy road. i got a few that were fun! this is why i love digital. i would be much less daring if i had to pay for the developing of the 'wonder what this will do?" photos.


i took one photo while i was away on my weekend. it was a ladies retreat with about 800 women. they did have a professional photographer as part of the event. i admit i was distracted at times when i was checking out her equipment and seeing if i could figure out what shots she was trying to get. funny! my photo was of a purse i was thinking of buying for Kiara...a cute little pink flowery thing. i had thought about messaging it home to see what she thought, then changed my mind and decided to surprise her instead. she LOVED it. when we were not shopping, we were being inspired.

the keynote speaker was Carol Kent. she is a professional speaker and also book author. her personal story was unique and incredible. it is hard for me to express in my own words her story. there just is no coles' notes version happening from me! but it did leave me with a stronger desire to enjoy each day with joy. more gratitude for the blessings in my life.


we woke up to a foggy morning. the kids are beyond excited that Halloween is around the corner. AWANA had 'crazy-hair-night' last night, so that helped with their excitement. Aidan's costume this year is a store bought version. i have a feeling that he may have a desire to be more creative next year. i do personally prefer the home-made costumes....but i lack the skill to create them well.





i just learned about this one last night. wow! talk about the cool kid.

happy halloween

halloween day was a MEMORABLE day!

i didn't get a chance to sleep in. Kiara woke me up at 7am when she had a bad dream. those kinds of a start to the day are never good. we had decided the night before that we needed to make a good effort to getting our H1N1 flu shots. the clinics opend at 9am. after Kiara woke me up, i figured i may as well get dressed and get out the door. by the time i drove through the Starbucks drive through and bought my venti non-fat latte and oatmeal, it was 7:30. and the line up was longer than i could have guessed. fortunately there were several nice people nearby to wait with. honestly, it is amazing how much you learn about a stranger in those kinds of situations.

an hour later, the line-up had doubled. it completely disrupted service at the local gas station. almost everyone had picked up a coffee. Tim Hortons, Second Cup and Starbucks cups overflowed the garbage cans. i guess the pandemic and local immunization clinic has been profitable for some businesses. by the time we reached the doors at 9:30 the local bank set up some tables for donated coffee from Starbucks.

the scene inside the clinic is one i doubtfully will forget. it seriously seemed so outdated from the kind of environment we have grown accustomed to. a lineup that snaked around one corner of the room. a view of every single immunization station. adults who hate needles, laying down as they recover from their shot. children screaming in terror and crying after the poke.

by 11am i had called my husband to come with the kids and join me in the final line. altogether they had to wait for 45 minutes. the kids were stressed by the environment and also filled with some nervous anticipation. that last 45 minutes felt the longest!

but we managed to be healthy on the same day and get the shot over with. i was very proud of my kids and their bravery. after the shot was over, our nurse gave them some licorice and that brought their smiles back. as promised we stopped in at the bakery below for another well deserved treat.

by mid-afternoon all of our arms were tender and we felt tired. Kiara announced that she was not going to be getting another needle. she knows that there are plans to go back in three weeks for a booster shot. i may need to promise a pony for that one!

then we had to make it through the rituals of Halloween night! for the kids the last 2 hours before trick-or-treating felt like days!





Kristian made a special meal for the kids.

the three of them joined up with another neighbor and they treated around the neighborhood together for about an hour.

i stayed home, wore my witchs' hat and passed out candies. there are some really cute little kids in this community that had the best costumes. it was a pretty relaxed hour for me. i even managed to clean up the kitchen and sweep the floor in between trick-or-treaters! the irony of wearing a witch hat and using a broom on halloween night gave me a private laugh during that time. some things you just can't plan!





in all the rushing before they left to go treating, i forgot to take photos with some daylight. so here is the post-walking photo. Aidan told me later that they saw lots of Transformers and Princesses out that night. Star Wars was a popular costume plan.

they did have their lighter winter coats squished under their costumes. and mittens kept their hands from forming icicles. fortunately they are quite lean, so after all the stuffing they actually looked like average weight children!

by the time photos were done, they were anxious to take off their costumes. they both had glitter in their hair, so we hustled them off to warm baths. it probably felt good after been out in the chilly evening. then the evening drama really began. Kiara started coughing and Aidan was loudly complaining of his stomach hurting. i had mentioned earlier that both myself and Kiara had a strange flu with fever, chills and nausea. i guess it was now his turn. except we also now had the H1N1 vaccine to complicate things! for sanity, we treated Aidan's grumbles with gravol and ibuprofen. daddy hung out in his room while he listened to the tales of winnie the pooh, and eventually he fell asleep. he slept very well, probably the drugs and drama of the day contributing to that. Kiara kept coughing and also ran another fever. these days, those symptoms tend to spark fear in mothers. she got some decongestant and Tylenol. however, she woke me up nearly every 2 hours. once was for asking me to cover up her teddy bear.

this morning, both kids woke up rather happy and hungry. however we've had ups and downs with their health. Aidan definitely has the flu that took me down. Kiara, it is hard to know. she is pretty content and just keeping a low profile. the TV has been working as a great distraction. normally they average 30 minutes a day, so this is quite out of the ordinary. i know they are not feeling well because neither of them has any interest in looking through their treasures of candy from last night.

i'm dealing with it all rather well. i am glad the initial immunization is done. i know they won't be fully immunized until they get their booster in 21 days. however they will soon have 87% immunity and their bodies are already at work making antibodies. it's hard to know what Kiara has, but she seems to be doing well at fighting it. looks like we'll have another quiet day at home tomorrow. after this weekend, i think we all deserve a relaxing day!

last winter we seriously had 4 months of illness. we did have a few days' break in between.....but it went on forever! none of us are wanting to repeat that. so far, we are not off to a great start.

other things are keeping us smiling and encouraged. we'll keep our focus on that.

halloween celebrations

well, it has been one of those weeks.

we started out strong and healthy. i had plans. flu vaccines to be gotten poked with. parties to prepare for. groceries to buy.

i am now wishing i had taken all of us for the vaccine on Monday. while everyone was healthy!

Tuesday started out great, then took a sudden turn for the worst when i got a mild flu. it was scary because i wasn't sure if it was H1N1 or not. i recovered in only a couple days and never experienced any of the cold symptoms, so i hope it is safe to assume it was not. Thursday, it was Kiara's turn. she has handled it better than i did. three days straight of videos and laying on the couch. fun. the flu shot was delayed.



fortunately, or not, she was healthy and happy when i took her to school that morning. it was her first school party. she has been wearing her costume ever since. they got a huge load of candy treats and goodies. right after we got home, she started with a fever. the crazy part was that she had no appetite...not even for her yummy treats. poor girl.


i was concerned that Aidan would follow the same pattern. i suppose he could still have his turn tomorrow. that won't go over so well. this was the look on his face this morning. yup, he was quite excited. today was his party at school. the walk to the bus never went so quickly! he too has been wearing his costume ever since he got home.

the cutest part was listening to his non-stop story once he got off the bus! part of it included how they had a party, but they had to eat the healthy treats first. then they got to eat all their junk food. haha. he also commented how two of his friends managed to eat ALL of their junk food, but he just couldn't do it. that's our boy! i told him he didn't have as sweet of a tooth as his friends. he responded, "i do too have a sweet tooth!!". hilarious. i love his stories.




i felt more like myself Thursday, even though Kiara was not. but it didn't stop her from helping carve the annual pumpkins. they are both old enough to understand the process. this year Aidan described it in steps. i am guessing that is something they are discussing at school these days, or he just likes to order his life.


as Aidan would say, "step 3 draw the face". last year we picked up a carving kit from a liquidation store for super cheap. we were thrilled to use it! Kiara and i used the stencils, but Aidan prefered his own drawing. i don't let my kids use knives. just one of those rules us moms seem to have.... but the kit had some little knives that seemed harmless and possibly useless. after i cut out Aidan's face i allowed him to "fix it up" with the knives from the kit. i was greatly surprised when i realized that he cut several more holes and even enlarged other ones. ON HIS OWN. without any blood or other injury.


this is his pumpkin. he is only 5 years old. isn't this amazing?!

soooo i had to give these knives a try. they worked amazing.


Kiara chose the cat stencil. considering this was a complicated design and i worked quickly (before the kids were bored!) it was much simpler to cut with the little knives. good practice.




this was the design i chose.

yup, we're not expert carvers here. one year i took my apple corer and just poked holes all over the pumpkin. i also like to strip part of the skin off and let part of the light shine through. the kids love these cute and funny faces, so we'll go with that.

well we're praying everyone will stay healthy long enough for us to get the flu vaccine and recover this weekend. i am so thankful that i know God is protecting us, but it is still tough to not have control over this. the kids and i are healthy, but Kristian has asthma. this virus isn't being too kind or particular in whom it chooses. our goal is ultimately protect our home from giving Kristian the virus from us. i had hoped the line-ups would be more diminished by now. i am so glad that every year is not like this.

hopefully i'll have some costume photos to share tomorrow!

boo to you!

enjoying the "cuteness" as long as we can.

my little dinosaur {for the 2nd year in a row!}

and my pink little piglet!

the lion on the far left is a friend of ours.

here is my dinosaur in the pumpkin patch. not realizing that his turning over pumpkins was winning him a prize!
piglet just following what dino was doing.


last weekend our local zoo organized an event for halloween called "Boo at the Zoo". i was impressed. you started out in the parking lot where they had police, fire truck, ambulance and even a large transit bus for them to explore.

my darling piglet LOVED the back seat of the police cruiser. sigh.

interestingly enough that is the same side she sits on in our car. i'm wondering if she thought she would get to go for a ride. it is odd that she didn't seize the oppportunity to crawl over the seats. we can only hope that this will be her only kind of opportunity to sit in this spot! LOL!!

dinosaur was reluctant to get into the car at first. but you can see that he later got comfortable and enjoyed himself!

they did get to see spiders & snakes and touch a turtle. as always they loved the monkeys. Lucy the elephant was supposed to smash pumpkins, but she chose to eat all but the last one instead.

there were many opporunties for photos. but this mommy was exhausted by the time we entered the front gate! i did take a few photos inside the zoo....but they were so few and far between. something about keeping track of a dinosaur who had energy to explore and wanted to wander ahead, and a tired little piglet who was missing a nap. not a good combination for an outing like that.



Aidan is now telling people that he was a dinosaur for Halloween and scared people. don't you love it when there world is so small?!

how was your Halloween? any other events you would recommend?

little goblins

i forgot how much fun fall and thanksgiving can be for kids! Aidan has really gotten into making crafts during this past year. Kiara wants to do whatever Aidan is doing {usually!}. add the combination of me working and Aidan also at school....lots of ideas are flying around!


which reminds me....i should take photos of their bats and ghosts flying around our house at present!


we saw this "haunted house" at Micheals back at the end of August. it looked fun and also easy to do. perfect for us.

Aidan loves to put anything together. he also loves to follow directions that come with packages.

he only needed a bit of help.

Kiara has no use for instructions yet. as you can see, her ideas are better anyway....

this was a pleasant activity. until the two of them pulled one of the walls apart! c'est la vie!!!

it now proudly sits beside our fish bowl. Nemo II and Sharky get to look at it all day. lucky fish!