Happy Halloween!

We had such a fun Halloween night. I really think we have the best neighborhood to trick-or-treat in! Just about everybody owns a golf cart so all the families ride around in their carts and the kids jump off and run to the doors. Much safer than cars driving all through the neighborhood. Ryan, Lisa, Peyton, Mama, Papa, Lolly, Pops, Tim, Erin, Lexi, and Jase all came over for pizza and then jumped on the golf carts to get some candy. They all came back with a sugar rush and bedtimes were pushed a little later...but completely worth it!

This could possibly be the most fitting Halloween costume I have ever seen. Hudson is definitely a little monkey in our house and climbs on everything. He is also the cutest monkey I have ever seen!

Lexi, Peyton, Hadley, and Jase were ready to go! Because we lost Hadley's butterfly wings she came up with a very impromptu Halloween costume...a cowgirl princess. She had a cowgirl hat (which obviously stayed on for .5 seconds), cowboy boots, and a princess dress. Unfortunately, she had no desire to have her picture taken so these are the only pictures I have of her...

Off they go...
Hudson waving goodbye. He stayed back to give out candy with us...
...and wasn't very happy about it!

Peyton and Hadley back at the house and waiting for trick-or-treaters so they could give them some candy, of course, while eating some themselves!

Over this!

Poor guy is sick again. It's only the second time, but the first one took so long to diagnose that is seems like he has been sick a lot.

Hudson woke up with a fever on Tuesday. A little higher on Wednesday. And by Wednesday night it got up to 105.4! Hadley has maybe had a fever twice in her life so I panicked just a little. Then we read on the internet that it is not that uncommon for a toddler to have a fever just under 106 so we gave him some medicine and watched it slowly come down. We stayed on top of the ibuprofen and tylenol so it never got that high again but we continued to have fever for two more days. Strangest thing is that, like last time, he had NO other symptoms. No runny nose, no cough, no stomach issues. Unfortunately, the above picture was not typical. We don't have the kid that rests and is lethargic when he doesn't feel well. Instead, he was just extremely fussy! Wanted up, wanted down, cried because he was hungry but wouldn't eat. My mom was a complete lifesaver and rescued Hadley from the germy house to go spend the day with her on Thursday. They baked brownies, read lots of books, and played pretend. It was definitely some attention Hadley needed. Thank goodness we are over this virus, our happy baby is back, and we will have to just wait and see what another day at Mother's Day Out brings us on Monday. Odds are we will have a few more of these episodes before the winter is over!

Hadley's newest masterpiece

It would have only been prettier had it been on paper!

Our little "artist" has had a problem lately remembering to color on paper...so she says. Hadley has always been the easiest toddler. We didn't babyproof anything. I could give several examples but one in particular is that she has always had pens, markers, crayons readily available and never even attempted to color on anything. So it came as a shock that now, as a 4 year old who knows better, she has decided to color on her toys, our grout in our kitchen, and now my car leather! We have only had a couple incidences but this morning I had a long talk with her, in which she said she would never do it again, and 2 hours later got in the car to run an errand and then came home to discover she had found a pen in my car and preceded to color all over her legs and seat. She then said she "forgot" she was only supposed to color on paper. Thankfully, all the pen has washed off and she got another LONG "talk", followed by us removing all pens and markers out of her reach until she is old enough to remember where the paper is!

Sweet girl

Hadley has such a tender heart. She used to not warm up to people very easily but she is maturing into a very sweet, sensitive young girl. She doesn't like when we get on to Hudson and is quick to give him a hug and tell him it's ok. She always kisses him and tells him she loves him and whenever he gets hurt she is the first to make sure he is ok. Hadley gets her feelings hurt easily and I imagine she will be the peacemaker among her friends someday. Anyway, the other night I was rubbing her back on the couch and she said, "Mommy, when I grow up I want to be a dentist but when I am little I just want to make people laugh when they are sad."

Comments like this make me realize exactly how fast she is growing up!

Halloween Fun, and lots of kids under four!

Another bunko get-together but this time with all the families too! Blair hosted a halloween party for everybody complete with temporary tattoos, pumpkin painting, bounce houses, and more toys than I could ever imagine any kid having!

Here is Hudson wanting to get in the bounce house...and Gage telling him, "no sir, you too little."

A little pumpkin painting!



And even tattoos.
Blair lives on a few acres so the kids made their way to the front yard where they played chase and went next door to visit the horse and donkey.


LOVE this smile!




A pretty successful attempt at a group picture (after we had already lost a couple). I can't believe they all sat still for a few seconds.

Hudson was the first to escape!

 
Hudson loved being chased by Holland and Hadley!

We had a great time and the kids were half-asleep the whole way home. Next year we will have at least two more to add to the bunch, although we have made our final contribution to the chaos!

Hadley's first time rollerskating

Hadley went to her first rollerskating party. My one prayer as we drove to the party was that we would both make it out of there without a broken bone. Thankfully, prayers were answered but my stomach definitely hurt when I left from laughing so hard! Please imagine several 4, 5, and 6 year olds (most of whom have never skated) skating with their parents (most of whom have not skated in years). I laughed for a full 2 hours as kids and parents fell on top of each other and got up just to fall right back down. I am actually just happy that I haven't seen myself on a youtube video yet!

Here is Hadley feeling pretty confident. Little did she know we hadn't even made it on the rink yet and skating consisted of more than rolling across carpet.

Here she is mid-fall when I decided to put down the camera and try to keep her from falling again!

And here, no longer holding onto the wall and getting the hang of making it around the rink. I am so proud of her determination to learn to skate but I am also not sure she will ask to skate again anytime real soon.

Last soccer game and awards ceremony

Our first soccer season is over...and a success!!! Well, this definitely depends on your definition of success because we never won a single game (technically they don't keep score, but it was easy to know we got outscored every time).

1. Hadley actually got on the field. I thought there was a chance she wouldn't even step foot on the field even though she was so excited to play. But she got right out there and chased after the ball. She wasn't very aggressive, but she tried. SUCCESS

2. She had fun. She laughed, made new friends, and ran off energy. SUCCESS

3. No broken bones. SUCCESS

4. She wants to play again. SUCCESS

So we had our last soccer game and then our awards ceremony. Just a few more pictures to finish off the season:

Hadley had just gotten dressed and I had just finished getting Hudson dressed. He stood up and walked over to give Hadley a big hug. Then he even stayed there long enough for me to get up, get my phone, and even take a picture before he let go. Hadley said, "mommy, he just loves me so much!"

Hadley and Holland, destined to be best friends like their mommies!

Getting her award from Coach Craig:

So proud!!!
Team picture. They really did like each other...I must have just missed the smiling picture. Ha!

Here is Peyton getting her award. She played in the Kindergarten division and her team actually was good, winning most of their games.

Happy we got to end the season on a wonderful day and before the cold weather. Now we get to take a little break but look forward to playing again in the spring!

Parkhurst Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch with Ryan, Lisa, Peyton, Brian, Kristin, and Story. We all had a great time but Hadley, Peyton, and Story had us all beat. These girls screamed, squealed, and laughed for about 3 hours straight!

Happy to be at the "pumpkin patches"

This picture makes me laugh because we told Hudson to pet the goat. This is as close as he would get even though he reached his hand out as far as he could and pretended to pet him.

The three girls in line to ride the ponies:

Some serious conversation:

Such a natural:
She laughed the entire time:

Just as Hudson worked up a little nerve, Ryan set him on top of the goat. That may have not gone so well...




The girls played on these 3 hay bales for about 30 minutes. It may have been their favorite part of the pumpkin patch. We also learned none of them are allergic to hay...thankfully!

Hudson loved it too:





Next, we found a triangle of hammocks and the girls thought it was "awesome" that they could swing into each other. Lots of dirt all over their clothes and faces at this point. They even took turns pushing Hudson and I think he LOVED all the attention.

A few pictures of the girls on the tire swing.

And while the girls played on the swings, Hudson took many trips down the slide, bringing a smile to his face each and every time!

One last stop in the carriage before we left. They were all exhausted at this point!!!

Afterwards we decided to push their good moods a little longer and try out a new slider restaurant in Edmond. They have 20 flavors of ketchup and excellent burgers. The girls sat at their own table and had such a good time laughing and talking. I think they actually only ate about 3 bites because none of them would stop running their mouths! And the best thing about them being at their own table...we were also able to have an enjoyable dinner.