This Is Halloween

Hi again. I'm back and it's only been 3 weeks this time around! I need to get Halloween updated on my blog because next week is Thanksgiving and then, obviously Christmas is right around the corner (43 days to be exact!). I am going to have SO much to blog about coming up that it will feel especially overwhelming if I have to add Halloween in there as well. SO. Here we are. I titled this blog post for a specific reason. Those 3 words "This Is Halloween" is a song on The Nightmare Before Christmas and Shawn and I were Jack and Sally from that movie.  It's a fun Halloween movie that involves Christmas.  Sally is Frankenstein's daughter, but she is a Doll. And Jack is a Skeleton and they love each other. So that's what Shawn and I went as. It was super fun to do Sally's make up and have fun with her costume.  I was the only one in our family that had a detailed costume this year though, because Piper's cheer Showcase was also on Halloween, and it didn't end until 4pm.  SO STRESSFUL!  Trick-or-treaters start coming at 5:30ish, and my makeup took me an hour.  So for everyone else I just threw their costumes on, snapped some pics and we were out the door to go trick-or-treating by 6! It was a fun night! We have the coolest neighborhood ever and it's like an "event" to trick-or-treat in our 'hood. (Truly, people drive in from all over the area to go trick-or-treating where we live.). The houses go all out for Halloween here. It's a LOT of fun. The streets are packed.  You can't drive down them. There are hundreds of people everywhere. It's intense! But fun at the same time!

Anyway, Lucy was too cool to be anything cute this year.  She didn't want anything that looked like it took any effort. How lame is that?! She just wanted an inflatable costume.  She was basically "riding" a rubber duck.  

Sully was Darth Vader.  He went back and forth between DV and Spider Man all month and last minute decided on Darth Vader.  And then we found his little friend who we met up with was a Storm Trooper so they actually made a cute pair all night!

Piper was Princess Jasmine.  The best part about Piper's costume was that it was mine in the 3rd grade.  When I was her age I wanted to be the Genie (from "I Dream of Genie") but my Mom (who made ALL of our costumes no matter what) couldn't find pink fabric in the store.  They only had teal.  So I decided that I would be the Sister in "I dream of Genie," who wore light blue. Anyway, I loved that costume and my Mom saved it for me growing up.  This year Piper wore it and she might not have known how much it meant to me and Ninny, but it meant a LOT. How fun that I wore it at 8 years old, and then nearly 3 decades later my own daughter wore it at 8 years old as well! It's a costume I will never throw out. It has a special meaning behind it. Thank you Ninny!

Shawn and my Pumpkins. I stuck with a normal carve this year. Shawn did Lionel Richie, just because. I laughed SO hard! 

Sully carved his whole pumpkin all by himself! During it he said "I'm a LEGIT carver!" hahaha!

But back to Showcase.  It is what a Dance Recital is in the cheer world.  They perform for hundreds of people and she did awesome! I was asked to come in early to help the squad put gems on their faces, so I got a couple cute pictures "behind the scenes." Piper really loves cheer, so I need to keep subbing so we can afford it! (Not to be a Debbie- Downer, but the current inflation situation is hurting us BAD.  It's getting really stressful in our household!)

The weekend AFTER Halloween our school had a movie night on the Turf at the High School.  We got to watch Little Giants on the Jumbotron and it was SO MUCH FUN!!! Seriously- so much fun.  My friend Leanne and I were assigned to tell people not to bring food on the field, and she is from England so she was very authoritative and no one got mad at her for it, because her accent is so fun! Haha! She is awesome. 

Sully had his LAST Soccer game of the season and they won! He has gotten SO good. His coach said that out of everyone, Sully has improved the most since last year.  Last year he hated it at first. He cried almost every game. He hated going to practice. He just ran and blindly kicked the ball. This season started off that way, and then all of a sudden Soccer just seemed to "click" for him.  He understood what keeping your eye on the ball meant.  He understood how to try to steal it from his opponents and keep it in bounds.  He learned how to aim and kick.  He got GOOD. Truly. Some of our friends watched him play a couple of games and they all said "Sully has talent out there!" It has been SO MUCH FUN to watch! I wish he'd play football next year, but he has no desire. And I'm OK with that for now. Maybe another year of just soccer and we'll see what happens after that! Piper has ONE more cheer game tomorrow. The 3rd grade boys went to the play-offs and kept winning! Tomorrow is their Championship game and then CHEER. IS. OVER!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh you have NO idea how taxing cheer is. It takes over EVERYTHING! I can not wait for it to end every season. I know, that sounds mean, but my goodness.... it is full time starting in July and I am so done! Plus it's expensive. Ugh. I'm ready for it to be finished.... until registration in the Spring, ha!

We also had Spirit Week.  There was Career Day (Sully wants to be a Ninja, Piper wants to be a vet and Lucy wants to be a Starbucks Barista.... I have no clue why but that's what she chose and I made her costume the night before!), "Twin Day," Hat Day, Tie- Dye Day, and School Spirit Day.  Piper and Sully also had "Super Spartan Games" where they had all sorts of events to compete in. Lucy had a "dig for fossils" day and I got to go participate in that with her. When I say I've never been busier, I truly mean, I've NEVER been busier! That's why I can't keep blogging! I have something EVERY SINGLE DAY. 

Piper has ONE more cheer game tomorrow. The 3rd grade boys went to the play-offs and kept winning! Tomorrow is their Championship game and then CHEER. IS. OVER!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh you have NO idea how taxing cheer is. It takes over EVERYTHING! I can not wait for it to end every season. I know, that sounds mean, but my goodness.... it is full time starting in July and I am so done! Plus it's expensive. Ugh. I'm ready for it to be finished.... until registration in the Spring, ha!

Last but not least, Shawn took Sully hunting. I know. Girls can hunt too. But my girls don’t want to. So THIS. This moment, this day. His first hunt… THIS has been what Shawn’s been waiting for since the moment we found out I was having a boy. Makes me happy for them! Sully was so well behaved too! He is a busy little guy but he sat as quietly as his little boy self could. He helped Shawn make Deer calls and was so proud of himself! Shawn knew they wouldn't catch anything that day. But the experience was priceless to him. He taught Sully how to walk quietly, how to stay RIGHT BEHIND Shawn, how to make a good call, how to look for deer tracks, etc. He said it was one of the best nights of his life- being out there with his son, teaching him the things HIS dad taught HIM years ago. I just love that so much!

Now we are pretty much caught up. This week consists of 3 Thanksgiving events at the kid's school (1 per child) and TONS of appointments and errands! I feel so overwhelmed looking at my calendar but then we have a whole week off after that. Yay!