Halloween

Somehow I haven't posted about Halloween yet? So here we go!

A couple months before Halloween I called my sister, Kami, and our conversation went something like this. "Hey Kami, do you have any cool costumes that would fit my kids?" "Well..I have some flamenco dresses I made for my girls that would probably fit your girls. Just send them back because we still use them for dress-up." "AWESOME! Thank you!"

And..that's about how much thought I put into Halloween. Besides pulling out the costumes for Sterling and I that Kami ALSO made for us. Haha. Oh, and I saw a Zorro hat on Zulily when I was doing all my Christmas shopping and thought--that will look soooo awesome with the flamenco dancer dresses! So I got it for a whopping $8 and then as Halloween drew near, headed to Goodwill to find some black clothes for Will in long sleeves and long pants (he doesn't really own anything that warm looking haha). We were stumped on the belt until I saw a perfect scarf, and he was COMPLETELY won over to his costume when he got to wear a 'yord' (sword). Everyone was winning! And...that's about my level of enthusiasm for putting together Halloween costumes, haha.

More to the point---MY KIDS LOOKED FANTASTIC AND SOOO ADORABLE!

I was in charge of the ward trunk-or-treat, basically. In ward council (which I go to because our President doesn't have a vehicle) the newly appointed Relief Society was feeling overwhelmed and said there was too much on her plate (she's still over scouts as well) and said "Primary! You are in charge of the trunk-or-treat! You can use the other stake primaries!" so...because I am my mother's daughter, I said great! This ward-decorate. This ward-music. This ward-plates and cups, etc. And we'll do a potluck so nobody has to be in charge of food. Done and done. And honestly, besides the fact it rained and we had to move the trunk-or-treat inside so we didn't have a great time to take down tables for the dance, I think it went swimmingly. So glad that's over.

Our cute friends Brent and Janessa who come play board games at our house on Sunday/Saturday nights at least 2-3 times a month. Oh, and she teaches Ruthie dance now. We love them!

Our other board gamer friends! Jeff and Diana. Sterling pulled an all-nighter going gator hunting with Jeff a few weeks ago. It was intense. Their fake sunburn kills me.

As soon as the trunk-or-treat was over they immediately plopped down to dig in, haha!

Dance!

And then, because by the time REAL Halloween rolled around my kids still had a huge bag of candy, I pretended it had been Halloween, and we all went to bed early. Yay!

I also tried to get my kids to do a trading session. So they all dumped out their candy and looked around, clueless. I told them to just take the candy they don't like and trade it for a candy they do like that someone else doesn't. But no one would, haha! Ruth and Will just started handing Molly all the candy that wasn't their favorite and called it good. Haha. We'll have to work on that!

Will-3 1/2- Basketball

Will is 3 1/2. Which means he goes to Sunbeams in January (we've been going over the lists as a presidency) and I just can't get over it. Where did my chubby-cheeked baby go? So here's a little update on him. Will is tall and lanky, and very touchy/feely. He is constantly touching someone. The person beside him, the people around him, he runs around at the playground touching people I feel like. Haha! He made someone cry in nursery because he hugged them until they both fell over. It's a little much. But it can also be the most adorable thing in the entire world. And I love kissing those soft cheeks of his! 

On Saturday he had his last day of basketball, which was a little happy because it was 8am on Saturdays and now we can relax a little, but also sad because he loved 'baketsball' SOOOOO much! I just have to say how hilarious it is to watch 3 yr olds try to play basketball. I would not have the patience. But it is so, so funny. They have lots of exuberance but about zero control of their limbs.

I like how they all stretch with their knees bent.

Will is not very competitive. Or at least he isn't yet. He was easily as fast as the other kids. But as they ran laps he'd get annoyed that he wasn't in front so he'd just skip half the gym, or sit down, or come for a water break. Haha.

You have NO idea how THRILLED this boy was about his 'baketsball' shirt! He asked me every day if I've washed it so he can wear it again.

Ruth had her first week of dance the day before this, so she was showing me her plie.

Other than touching everyone, all of the time, he's pretty great. He loves Thomas the Train and he loves Spiderman. SOOOO much Spiderman. I was surprised I convinced him to be Zorro for Halloween at all, except he got a sword, and that sealed the deal. He told everyone he was "yorro" with a 'yord' (sword) and it was very confusing, haha. He plays incredibly well with Ruthie when she gets home from school. Today they walked to the park in our complex holding hands the entire time, played for two hours with only one little misunderstanding of 'who's in charge' (sharing is rough sometimes) and walked home holding hands again. It's like this golden moment that I just want to last forever! He also plays REALLY well with Molly, but Molly is not quite old enough to play imaginative games with him and her sharing skills are pretty much nil, so that can be a little touch and go. He colors REALLY well, usually all things blue. He LOVES blue. Light blue, dark blue, any blue. Everything is better if its blue. 

Every Wednesday we spend two hours at Sister Hadley's house while I teach her five girls piano lessons. He LOVES it. She lets him pick out all her little puzzle games. She has actual puzzles, but also lots of little brain activity games and he sits there ENTRANCED with them. That and her playdough. She's pretty much the best ever and they LOVE her house--but Will loves these games and it is so cute.

He's starting to be much better at helping clean up. As long as I tell Ruth she can only pick up so many items so that Will has time to catch up (she's a speed demon cleaner and Will likes to work methodically)...he does a really good job. He still likes to wear monochromatic clothes, but mostly he now just has favorites that he is constantly asking me if I've washed so he can wear them again. 

He really wants to be in school like Ruthie and so every morning when Ruth picks her 'sign-in' on a paper plate (whether the teacher greets them with a hug, a high five, a thumbs up, etc.) Will gets to do it too, because then he is much more willing to leave happily. Today we picked Ruthie up and Will asked her what she did that day (he must hear that a lot from  me) and Ruth started rattling off what they did as they walked to the van holding hands. It was the sweetest! And then Will said "And now I will tell you what we did while you were gone..." Ruth and Will also talk to each other for at least an hour every night after they've been put to bed. I keep thinking about moving back their bedtime, but whats the harm in chatting with your sibs for an hour quietly, right? It's so cute.

Will is very thoughtful, when we went to the library this morning he picked out books for himself and then some 'because I thought Rupe would like these mom" and he always picks me dandelions when we go for walks outside. 

He's a good helper in the kitchen (when I let him, I need to be so much better at that!) and even though we do a lot of time outs for not listening, I feel like even that is getting a lot better lately. He's been working a lot on saying sorry and getting much better at that as well. He's usually VERY willing to help Molly--it's really sad because she is SO independent and he is always falling over himself trying to help her and then he looks at me like "I was trying?" poor kid. 

He also wears his shoes on the wrong feet pretty much 100% of the time. He usually has some accessory like a cape, or a hat, or something tied around his waist. He loves the giraffes at the zoo. He likes to look for the turtles in the canal behind our house. He's just so much fun. And he still takes two hour naps and then wakes up and finds me to give me a big hug. It's the greatest. Love you Will!

And...a few more basketball photos because I forgot I took some a few weeks ago and never posted them.