Here are some pictures of our Halloween fun! We started off at the Wagner's house, and had a great time!! Becky and Jake have tons of "spooky" stuff the kids love! The mummy and the Halloween village are 2 of the big hits!! Then we headed over to the Barone's house, where the trick or treating commenced, and then ended at just 6:45 (it started at 6:00.) It's safe to say that our kids are still a little on the young side, for the whole door to door thing! Carter had a BLAST trying to keep up with his older buddies Jack and Carlo. And while Daddy tried to keep up with Olivia's shoes that kept falling off, Cooper was climbing out of her stroller. Next year, 2 chaperones for 4 kiddos (I was back "helping" Martina hand out candy, it turns out Jason needed WAY more help!!!)

It was a great night, and everyone was asleep by 8!!!

Pumpkin Carving!

So we did our first pumpkin carving after school today!! The kids were excited, FOR ABOUT 6 minutes. And then I was left, to finish carving 3 pumpkins without my audience! The wouldn't even touch the insides of the pumpkin, and were complaining about how the pumpkins stink, like a skunk. I am not sure they even know what a skunk smells like!

Anyhow, they had fun looking at the pumpkins when I was done, and they are excited to see them on the front porch for Halloween!!!





Here are the kids in their Halloween outfits that they wore to school today!!! Well, and the little one still in her jammies!

Tonight's movie!

It's such a cute movie, all 3 of the big kids actually sat still to watch!!! I recommend it if you haven't seen it yet!!! :)

Party!!!

We had a party this weekend for our good friends Cara and Aaron and their new little one, Christian! It was SO much fun hanging out with everyone, enjoying some GREAT food (that I DID NOT prepare) and catching up with people we don't get to see too often!

Baby Christian (as he is called by everyone here) is adorable and his parents are so fun! Carter corrected his sisters when they said it was a birthday party, Carter said, "No, it's not his birthday, he's only ZERO!!!" Yes, Christian is only 4 months old, and cute as a button, so a proper welcome was in order!!!!!

The value of money!

So we are trying to teach the kids that you have to SAVE for things that you want, instead of merely asking us for things. We both know they are a little young for this, but it's really a concept that they need to understand. So, instead of just buying them a swing set this spring, we are making them think they are saving for one! They call it their "Park" jar. We have a spot already made in our yard and every time we talk about the "park" they talk about how they are saving all their money for it! It's pretty cute, they all wanted to dump their piggie banks into the jar, they helped Jason clean out his car, all to fill this giant jar with change!!

Pumpkin Patch 2008!

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch for our friend Aubrey's 8th birthday! The funny thing was that is was about 85 degrees (which is oddly hot if you're not from the Midwest!) and the kids were sweltering! We saw the animals, took a hayride, had cake and ice cream and even did the corn maze! It was a blast, and Cooper even loved it! Then our friends the Kutckas came over for some pizza! The kids were in heaven!!!

Kara's Last Day!!!

Friday was our "Nanny" Kara's last day! She has been with us since April of 2006, and we will miss her very much. It really was the most sad for the twins, they don't remember what it was like before Kara became part of our family. They were 15 months old when she started with us, and they are probably the closest to her. Carter of course loves her too, but the twins and Kara have a special bond. Kara is a GREAT person, and has really become like family to us all, and her leaving puts quite the hole in our lives! But, all things come to an end, and it was time for her to move on. She's like Mary Poppins, she just left when she knew things around here were quieting down (ok, it really hasn't settled down, but remember, she started when there were 3 under 2!!!)

So, our new "helper" is Betsy, and she is a friend of Karas, so it works out really well. She isn't going to be working as much as Kara did, but she will be here to fill in the gaps so I can get my chores done, and do my running around!!! She's really great and the kids love her!!!!

We had a great celebration at Chuckie Cheese, the kids went NUTS!!!! They had not been there before, and Jason and I got a big laugh watching Annabelle, it was like she was on SPEED!!!!

Here are some pics!

Cooper's BFF!!!

Cooper has a new best friend, ELMO!!! She must say "Mo Mo" at least 1,000 times a day. She hit pay dirt when I opened an old box of Elmo's that were Carters that we had put away. There were at least 8 in the box, each doing something different! Now, Cooper doesn't watch tv, she just sort of does a drive by of whatever the big kids are watching, but shows no interest on her own. Well, I had Sesame street on and she stopped DEAD in her tracks when she saw Elmo! It was almost like she saw the "real" Elmo and just couldn't take her eyes off of the TV.

We have tons of Elmo DVDs that were Carters, so I see a lot of Elmo's World this winter for little Cooper!!!!!!


Here she is enjoying her breakfast, with her current Elmo doll favorite (that I paid 25 cents for at a garage sale!!!)

Goose Poop!!!

There were no fewer than 35 geese standing in our driveway when we came home yesterday. It was pretty funny to hear the kids scream "GOOSE POOP, GOOSE POOP!" The driveway, in fact, was COVERED in poop. I mean to the point that you couldn't walk down the driveway without stepping in it.

So, Jason and Carter hosed down the driveway to get all the poop off! Then, all of them chased the remaining geese out of our yard by banging a metal tub and screaming. It was MAJOR excitement around here. I mean, I am all for nature and the great outdoors, but not when it's taking a big POOP in your driveway!!!!

Friday's activities!

Fridays are always fun in our house, it's the last day of a long school week (Carter is nearly at his end by Fridays, 8-1:30 5 days a week is a lot for him!!!) So, we try and plan something fun so that they have something to look forward to after working so hard all week. So, Movie Night was created! We have popcorn and lemonade (which is a treat around here) and watch a movie together. Well, most of us watch, Cooper has a tendency to wander around with her popcorn making a huge mess, but, we let her do it and clean it right up! The girls usually watch about 45 minutes and then nod off. Carter watches the whole thing and then is off to bed. Last nights feature was "Milo and Otis", and if you haven't seen it, I recommend it, FOR KIDS!!! Jason and I about fell asleep ourselves, but it was all for the kiddos! Dudley Moore narrates the thing, and let me tell ya, it's like a sedative. Anyway, they loved it (minus any parts with a bear) and enjoyed the whole evening. Earlier in the day, the twins made cupcakes with our new nanny, Betsy! Kara is leaving us next Friday (and we are really sad), but Betsy has stepped right in and the kids love her! So we are lucky to have found someone, but the 2 1/2 years we've had Kara here has been great, she's part of the family now!!!!

We've started a new "family" style dinner time here! So the twins love to help set the table and get the forks and napkins out each evening for dinner. Annabelle disappeared into the basement and came up with the full chef garb on, it was too cute! Olivia and Annabelle both set the table each night, and love to help. Carter, well, he could care less!!!!! Let's just say that he better enjoy chores outdoors in the future, I see a lot of lawn mowing, and shoveling snow in his future!!!!