happy halloween!

Happy Halloween from our clan!

Some pictures from the ward party on Wednesday....

Laurel is Mike Wozowski from Monster's Inc. After pinteresting ideas for the costume, including a paper mache exercise ball and sewing from a pumpkin pattern, I caved when it was less than $20 at Babies R Us. It's just a 2T, so I feel like it barely fits her, but hey, that works.

Wesley was a "real live" traffic light. The lights work, they are tap lights from the dollar store. I spray painted them and got them adhered to the box with TWISTY TIES! Awesome! I HATE glue guns. I started with a glue gun but it just wasn't strong enough so I ripped them off and started over. PLUS with the twisty ties, I was able to change the green batteries in the middle of trick-or-treating tonight when we came home for a potty break.

The box was covered in felt. All in all, I was about $15 in, since the spray paint wasn't cheap. But I have a lot left over, so in total the costume didn't cost that much to make. $5 for lights and batteries then $2 for the yard of felt in the remnant section! He loves it. He just loves it.

This was Wesley's first costume appearance... and his "friend group" aka social therapy session...

And then his class at school. I was lucky I got to volunteer while Laurel was at preschool. Yay!

First they made "bats" with moonpies and chocolate wafers :-)  His teacher is a crayon!

And a group pic... serious and then funny faces....

And I brought home a bat kit for Laurel. I should have brought one home for myself!

We trick-or-treated in the RAIN. LIKE A LOT OF RAIN.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly, Laurel...

Trick or treat, Dad!!

While I'm at it, here are some more "fall" pics... Laurel went to the pumpkin patch with preschool.

And I decided to be adventurous and do a "craft" with fall leaves. We collected a bunch then let them dry out... they probably got too dry since they were somewhat brittle. Anyway, Wesley just likes Elmer's glue and he glued and glued and glued.

While Laurel really got into the paint :-)

Here's the finished product, mostly. I hang it near the fridge. We made it on a paper bag!

Happy Halloween, and happy fall! Bring on November, my birthday month. I also ventured and have a hubbard squash I need to figure out how to cook. That should be wild.

what else can we add in here

I want to brain dump my life. It would help me. Here are all my balls in the air:

• Health and fitness:  I try to exercise, count calories, be good. I'm in a volleyball tournament currently. I'd like to go to hot yoga. I make dinner for my family and grocery shop & plan. I clip coupons. Shane and I have talked about eliminating artificial dyes and processed stuff. Can I possibly do this? Did I mention I'm getting an MRI on my foot tomorrow? Ha.
• Book club: We meet every other month. I like to read. I want to read. Do I have time to read?
• Church, the necessities: I need to read my scriptures. I need to pray. I need to grow spiritually. I barely have time to breathe but I want to fit this in. I'm two sessions behind on the last General Conference; sheesh where am I going to find four hours to fit that in? When's the last time I went to the temple?   
• Church, the responsibilities: My calling in Church is in Stake Primary. We do activities. We do trainings. We go to Ward Conferences and Sacrament Meeting Programs. I do Cub Scouts. I have 2-4 meetings every month. Plus a bunch of other stuff. And then they tell me to read other things to feel inspired and I can hardly read the minimums. Plus I sub in Primary all. the. time. I didn't even mention Visiting Teaching; I have four ladies to check in on every month. 
• Church, the extracurriculars: I love family history and I want to do it. I need to update our emergency kits. I should be better about missionary work. 
• Co-op preschool: I do the newsletter. It's a huge job. We have two Wednesday night meetings a month. I volunteer in the classroom on Fridays. 
• Wesley: He currently has three after-school therapy sessions, one in-school therapy session, and another one being added. This is called "aggressive interventions" to curb some symptoms of undiagnosed autism or attention disorders. We do homework every day. I need to read with him. Plus in his downtime I need to help him do productive things; I feel guilty when he plays Angry Birds because I just want some peace and quiet.
• Mothering: Being a Mom is hard. See the aforementioned Angry Birds comment, and add in Frozen and lightning videos on YouTube. I am trying to be a better Mom using tricks I'm learning at co-op and in Wesley's therapy sessions. It's hard stuff. So hard. And then I hear about people (my age!!) on Facebook having their 7th child and I feel so guilty that I can barely handle my two. No, I will not be having any more children anytime soon. Sometimes they fight and sometimes I yell and sometimes I put myself in timeout and cry. I feel like it's worth it, I just wish I handled it better and was proud of the "work" I'm doing. I feel like something is wrong with me because my personality doesn't fit what I think a "good mom" should be. 
• Marriage: I have a husband. I like to talk to him sometimes. I've been thinking we should go on a date. So yeah. 
• Family Activities: Sometimes it's nice to go to an airplane show or plan an adventure on the weekend. I haven't done that in awhile but it's nice when it happens. It's a goal of mine. The Christmas train? Mt. Rainier? Trips to Grandma's? Yes, those would be nice. 
• House: I need to do my chores. Fall is happening and Shane will need my help raking leaves. I wanted this house so badly dangit and I need to take care of it. 
• Money: I hate money. I need to save money. I don't want to spend money. I'm worried about money. I really appreciate Mint.com but it's another thing I need to do every month to keep tabs on things. 
• SEFW: This is Job 1. I work 15+ hours a month from home and sometimes go downtown.
• ACE: This is Job 2. I added in Job 2 because it pays more than Job 1. Maybe I'll discontinue Job 1. But because of Money, I am keeping both. I have no idea how crazy this will be, as it just started -- yesterday. 
• Ugh: Maybe this should go under Health & Fitness but I need a root canal. I am SO MAD I CAN HARDLY STAND IT. Like I need three 2-hour dentist visits between now and the end of the year. 
• My Dad Died: This sucks and I think about it a lot. Sometimes I want to do nothing.
• Facebook: Why oh why am I addicted to this stupid site? 
• This Blog: This is probably my most kept record at the moment. Journaling in general has gone by the wayside. 
• Hobbies: Hobbies? How dare I even say it? I want to sew sandwich baggies for Wesley's lunch. I want to make birthday cards to mail people. I want to paint my toenails sometime. Halloween is coming up for crying out loud and I'm cooking up a killer costume for Wesley. Laurel's I caved and bought for $20. 
• Friends: Sometimes I just want to go karaoke with my friends. Or celebrate someone's birthday with Thai food. Heck MY birthday is coming up. I suppose my present to myself will be a root canal. 

Sigh. That was therapeutic. Thank you for listening.