Trunk-or-Treat!

Saturday night, Rylee and I were invited to go "trunk-or-treating" with one of her friends from VPK.  Everyone was encouraged to dress up so I pulled out my Renaissance bridesmaid's dress to go with Rylee's Rapunzel.  Not sure if I'm Mother Gothel or the Queen, but it was fun to wear my dress - it is really beautiful and the only bridesmaid's dress that I've ever "worn again!"  :)

 

I made the braid for Rylee's Rapunzel dress out of yarn and decorated it with flowery hair binders.  It turned out really cute and was light and easy to wear.  I just fastened it in with a hair binder. We bumped into a few other Rapunzel's that night, but she was the only one with the braid.  :)

Below is a pic of our friends aka the Von Trapp family from "The Sound of Music."  It was fun to hear people's comments when the recognized their costumes: "the hills are alive" and "do re me!" to name a few.

Rylee and her friend, Devri...

 

If you're unfamiliar, "trunk-or-treating" is becoming a fun alternative to traditional trick-or-treating.  People set up trick-or-treating stations in the trunk of their car.  Most of the car trunks were decorated or had a game element to getting the candy.  For instance, Rylee had to walk the plank (a balance beam over a blue tarp) at one and played that ladder toss game at another (the rung you got determined how many candy pieces you received). 

 

At our friend's trunk, they made these cool soap bubbles that you can play with out of dry ice and dish soap.  Here's a blurry cell phone pic of Rylee enjoying their squishy texture.

 

A great time was had by all!

 - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Halloween Kickoff

When I last left off, Jon had just left for his duck hunting trip which meant the kids and I had to take care of ourselves for 12 days. Easier said than done! It certainly makes me appreciative of all the things that Jon does to help out around here. Of course, his trip always coincides with some drama. This year it was broken car seats, a flat tire on the freeway with two hungry and tired kids, fevers and colds for both kids (Rylee missed two days of school). We also had some fun play dates and park dates so it wasn't all bad!

Since he's been home, Rylee and I have left him to single parent Jace four nights in a row. What can we say, we are busy girls! Rylee joined Awana Club (a bible study class on Wednesday nights) so we were gone that night. I snuck out for some girl time on Thursday night with my Book Club. Rylee and I attended our first Halloween party of the season on Friday night (finally getting to what this post is about) and then we girls were gone again for another Halloween party on Saturday night.

Here are some pics from Friday's party.  Rapunzel Rylee...

With mermaid friend, Shannon...

Party guests minus a couple...

Feeling inside the mystery box...

Bobbing for apples...

...and strawberries.

"I vant to bite your neck!"

 

Silly Jace

Like his sister, Jace loves to sing and dance. Last week after her dance class, she was showing us her moves and Jace was copying everything she did. It was adorable! Of course, when I tried to get some video, he stopped completely. I did manage to get some awkward photos the night of the party.

Jace's favorite thing to sing is actually Ariel's "aah aah aah, aah aah aah" from the Little Mermaid.  He constantly carries around Rylee's shell necklace (that plays this tune) while he "aahs" along.  Since his vocabulary is extremely limited, he mostly makes up his own jibber jabber to go along with whatever song the rest of us are singing.  That night we were dancing to Rylee and Papa's song, "I Like to Move It."  He really got into the "move it" part since he can say "moo."

Some goofy dance moves...

Rylee copying her "broth" for a change. 
(Rylee never calls him "bro" for short, it's always "broth.")

 

Jace also loves the crazy games he plays with his Daddy like "spider pig" (walking upside down on the ceiling) and "tick tock" hanging upside down and swinging like a pendulum.  This was just regular upside down fun.  :)

 

 

Camo Cuties

I was trying to get a cute sibling pic the night of the birthday party.  On top of the Thomas the Train tracks, why not?

Giggly Jace...

Smiley Rylee...

 

Happy Birthdays!

We celebrated two special birthdays last week. First up, Rio turned 11 on October 8th (there is a pic at the end of this post).  She got pampered with a hair trim, a couple of walks, some doggie treats, and a new dog toy the kids picked out for her.  It's hard to believe our "puppy dog" is 11 already!

Next up, Jon turned 37 on the 11th.  Rylee drew a nice picture of him (inside of his Duck Dynasty card) next to some balloons and a birthday cake. 
Rylee: "How old is Daddy going to be again?"
Me: "37."
Rylee: "I'll just draw three candles on his cake."
Me: "Good plan."

Opening his card...

 

 

 

Birthday hugs....

 

 

 

 

Since Jon's duck hunting trip is really his present, he only got two small things from me and the kids: Duck Dynasty band aids and DD playing cards.  In keeping with our theme, I also made him a camo cake.



 

 

The frosting wasn't that impressive, but the camo cake inside looked cool.  And the overall taste was marbled and delicious!  I will definitely make this again.  Rylee has already requested a pink camo cake at some point.

 

 

 

A little out of order, but here's Rio with her new toy that Rylee named "Howl" the Owl.  :)



 

Keys Camping

Jon took Rylee camping in the Keys a couple of weekends ago along with our friends, Jess and Jerry, and their two kiddos, Norah and Caleb.  Jace and I stayed home with Rio.   Yep, we missed out on all the hot, sandy, camping fun. Gee darn.  

Actually, I did feel a bit bad as we watched them excitedly load up the car.   Then Jon pointed out that there literally wasn't room for us (every available inch of car real estate had been packed) and I got over it.  The two red box movies I had waiting for me helped ease the blow too.  Jace, on the other hand, didn't know how to function for two days without his big sister.  He was actually a little fussy and whiny, and each time Rylee called to check in, he basically yelled at her through the phone.  I imagined he was saying, "Where are you and when are you coming home?!"  I always suspected he loved her more than me, he just finally made it official. 

Rylee had a wonderful time.  She got one on one time with Daddy.  She got to play with one of her besties, Norah.  She got to sleep in the new tent.  She basically had no complaints - for Rylee, that's impressive!  :)

These are probably out of order, but here are a few photos from the weekend.

 

An "Epic" scavenger hunt...

Coloring with Norah...
 

Snorkeling and swimming were kind of a bust. 
Rylee prefers a clean pool to the natural ocean.
 

 

The below pics are from Jess's cell phone.  She was so sweet to keep me posted throughout the weekend.  It made it much easier to be away from Rylee for two days.  I think I can count on one hand the number of nights that she and I have been apart, but I digress.

 

 

It's too bad the water didn't hold more appeal considering
each campsite is located directly on the beach.

 

Chillin'...

 

According to Jon, kayaking went over about as well

as snorkeling, but at least Rylee tried it.  She's braver than I am!

One funny story:  Jon took Rylee into the showers so they could both clean up.  He was trying to wash her hair, but her binder was all tangled up in her hair.  She was fussing and carrying on, "Daddy, stop you're hurting me."  He was trying hard untangle it.  "Rylee, just hold still a minute so I can do this."  Suddenly, it occurred to him that this conversation sounded really bad!  He gave up and cut the hair binder out when they got back to camp!  :)

Snorkeling

Jon was hoping that Rylee would go snorkeling with him on their camping trip in the Keys.  In preparation, they practiced her snorkeling skills in the pool.  She loved her new fins and how fast she could swim "like a mermaid."

She easily learned to kick to the bottom, swim across the bottom, and clear her snorkel.  This is more than I can do so I was impressed.

 

Unfortunately she hates weeds and fish so their actual snorkeling adventure didn't go quite as well.  Looks like she'll be sticking to pool snorkeling for the time being!  :)