Halloween 2011

Halloween this year for the Ladwig's was, again, a weekend of fun. We started things out on the Friday before Halloween with Ellen's school's trunk-or-treat. Excelsior planned a trunk-or-treat at the local Drive-In. We were able to be a part of her school community, get a bunch of candy, and watch KungFu Panda 2. It was a little cold outside, but after gathering the candy we snuggled in the van together, ate the yummy candy, and enjoyed a very funny movie.

The next night, Saturday night, we were invited to a friend's Halloween Bash. The kids had been looking forward to this since we received the invitation on our door and it did not disappoint. We all dressed up (and I am sorry to say that I didn't get any pictures because this was the only night that Landon and I put on a costume.) Landon went as a cheerleader, wearing some of my things from my Jr. High cheerleading days (Go Panthers!) and I went as a 50's house wife in a very fun green polka-dot dress. At the party we ate good food, had fun conversation and even got to carve a pumpkin. Thanks Murray's for inviting us!

On Monday, Halloween, our festivities started at 5:00 p.m. with our ward's trunk-or-treat. The three wards that go to our church building always do a trunk-or-treat together and it gets a lot of support from the neighborhood. Because of this you have to get there early and the candy you bring doesn't really last very long. We took four bags of candy and also made about 50 bags of Koolaid popcorn. All of that only lasted us about 15 minutes. Our kids had a fun time going from car to car to get their loot. Kat and I. She went as a pink leopard "Cat". We had to play off the name.

Levi dressed up as a clown. He wanted to be a very specific clown though. One of his favorite episodes of Backyardigans is called "Best clowns in Town." He wanted to be Austin the clown from this episode. Austin's clown was kind of a Marx's brother, with the suit and tie. I am proud to say that I made Levi's costume this year and I think it turned out pretty dang cute. (I am not really a seamstress, so this is truly a big deal.)

Trevor went as Woody from Toy Story (Thanks Aunt Gretchen for letting us borrow the costume.) and Ella went as Cosmic Girl, basically a Go-Go Dancer. The idea came from Just Dance 2. Her favorite song on the game is Cosmic Girl.

I have such cute kiddos and they were all very happy with their costumes.

As I mentioned in the previous post, Kat was really starting to give us smiles at this point. On our way home from the church she got very excited and decided to play with Mama.

After the trunk-or-treat we went home to eat a little dinner and regroup before going out Trick-or-treating. We only did a couple of streets in our neighborhood, but it was just about the right amount for our kids. Besides, they had already been to two trunk-or-treats previously, how much candy do three little kids need anyway? After we returned home it was still early enough that we decided to web-cam with Grandma and Papa Ladwig in Colorado Springs so that they could see the kids' costumes. (My parents had gotten to see them on Saturday night when they arrived for the kid's primary program on Sunday.) The kids loved getting to talk to Grandma and Papa and share their stories, as well as see themselves on the screen. I have to admit they are a little vain. There couldn't have been a better way to end Halloween then to share it with those we love that are far away.

Crafts & Fun

At the end of October I decided to take a break from the hum-drum of everyday life and have a little fun with my kids. Ella had a couple of days off for parent-teacher conferences (her lowest grade is a 92% by the way, and she is one grade level up for both math and reading) so we took advantage and did some crafts together.
First, we made a Halloween chain to tell us how many days left until Halloween. Trevor had been pestering me about wanting to go trick-or-treating so I thought that being able to rip a link off each day would stop him from the incessant whining about when it would be Halloween. I let the kids draw on the strips and we glued them together. They did get really excited to get to rip a link off.

This was Kat's participation in the project. Still in her PJ's talking to her friends on the bouncer.

For our next project we invited our neighbors over to paint pumpkins. Carving pumpkins is one of my favorite things to do, but it can get really tedious and long with kids. We have always liked to have at least one pumpkin decorated for each person in the family but that takes a really, really long time to do because the kids can't really do it themselves. So, this year I thought we would try painting pumpkins.

Grandma Ladwig brought us little gourd pumpkins from her garden and the Hall's brought over some pie pumpkins. Each kid got a bigger pumpkin and a little pumpkin to paint. This was the result of my kids' artistic vision.

I wish that I would have taken pictures of the kids actually painting but I was really busy supervising and doing a project of my own....

Kayleen and I made these. They are supposed to be pumpkins, although my big one looks more like a squash. They turned out totally cute and were a fun, fast project for the Mamas.

Our third crafty, although not so crafty, but fun activity was the annual Spooky Pop making. Spooky pops are a tradition that we got from the Dixon clan and have turned into one of our own as well. We have been invited to the Dixon family spooky pop making every year since Ella was born and have been able to attend most of them. This year we had to strike it out separately from Dixons because of the whole living in Utah now thing.

Because Spooky Pops are much more fun to do with a crowd we invited the neighbors over again to share in the fun.

We had a total of 9 kids participating in making the funny candy faces on the caramel suckers. While they were waiting for the caramel to be ready to put on their faces they entertained themselves with our new favorite Wii game, Just Dance 2. This has proven to be a favorite of all the neighborhood kids and whenever we get together they all request it.

Along with the Bybee's and Hall's we were lucky enough to have Papa and Grandma Kunz visiting us on their way to the Grand Canyon. Earlier that day the kids had their primary program that Grandma really wanted to be there for and I was sure glad she did. Since I have never made the spooky pops on my own before I was glad to have a more experienced caramel maker helping us out. She also was great help with Kat.

And again, the result of my children's artistic vision....this time in candy form.

After the Spooky pops were done and the friends went home we had a little bit of time to enjoy our Baby Kat together. She had just started smiling A LOT and I have to admit, I still can't get enough of it.

We had so much fun spending time together doing projects and celebrating the fall season. It was a continuation of some old traditions with a new twist. Things that just might have to be repeated again next year.

Playing at the Park

While Daddy was gone hunting we decided to take an evening to go play at the park before it got too cold. It was a good break for me from the house and the kids had a blast playing on the toys.

We walked over in the stroller and it was Kat's first time riding in it. She LOVED it! It was cold, but she didn't mind. She calmed right down and watched the trees blow around her. This is one girl that loves being outside.

Ellen spent a good 10 minutes walking Kat all around the park. She loved feeling so big and getting to push the stroller and Kat loved the movement and getting to see the world around her. I have cute girls!

Just a fun night out for Mama and the kids!

October Conference

To celebrate our first General Conference in Utah we decided to head in to Temple Square for the Sunday morning session. It was a perfect morning to do so, the temperature was just right. Grandma and Grandpa Kunz decided to come down for a visit and join us and they brought Morgan for a quick over-night stay. We loved getting to share in this experience with all of them.

Morgan....what a handsome boy he is!

We brought a bunch of cars, coloring books, and books to read to keep the kids entertained.

Grandma Kitty, Papa Kunz & Me (feeding baby Kat). Grandpa was great to take the kids for walks around temple square when the entertainment and treats we brought weren't enough.

Even with all of those fun toys we brought to keep everyone entertained the stroller ended up keeping all three boys entertained for most of the session.

The Sunday morning session included a talk about how Daddy's had a huge responsibility to take care of their daughters. Landon was bouncing Kat to sleep during this talk....

and my Daddy was snuggling Ellen. As I listened to them talk about the importance of a father in a daughters life and looked at these two amazing Daddy's in my life I couldn't help but be filled with extreme gratitude. The Lord has blessed me to have been raised by a loving father and to have married a man who could not love and care for his children more. What lucky girls we are to have these Daddy's in our lives.

Katie & Kat with the Salt Lake temple behind.

After the session we had a picnic lunch before sending Papa, Grandma, and Morgan off and us heading back to Tooele to get ready to have desserts with friends. It was a great way to celebrate hearing the words of our Prophet and to take advantage of where we live.

Date Night

In September Landon and I decided to start something new....Date Night...with the kids. I was reading the Ensign this summer and one of the months it was all about family. One of the articles I read talked about ways that families could spend more time together. One of the suggestions that was made was to have date night with the kids. This family did date night with their teenagers, but I thought it would be something fun to start now and then hopefully our kids would still love doing it when they get older.

Landon and I discussed it and we decided to start a weekly date night. Every Thursday night we swap turns taking one of the kids out for date night. So, for example, one week it will be an Ellen & Mommy date and then the next week it is a Trevor & Daddy date. (We are only doing it with the older three because we figured that Kat gets enough attention from us right now.) We have been able to have a turn with each of our kids, and I love it!!!

Our dates don't always consist of doing something big. In fact, they are not meant to be a big deal, they are just meant to be time with each other. We do things like going to the library or out to get dessert or playing at the park. With four kids we have to split our attention between all of them most of the time. It is really nice to be able to spend one on one time with my kids. They each have such different personalities and I love them each individually. Date night has allowed us to start to focus more on each one of them and explore those different personalities further.

I look forward to each Thursday night and so do my kids. They keep track of whose turn it is and plan for the three weeks what they want to do on their next date night. I have loved the new meaning we gave....Date night!