This is Halloween, This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween

Say it once, say it twice
Take a chance and roll the dice
Ride with the moon in the dead of night
Everybody scream, everybody scream
In our town of Halloween

If I had a dollar for every time we listened to that song this month, I'd easily have $100!  But I actually love that song too, so I'm not mad about it!

I don't remember Halloween being one of my favorites when I was growing up.  I never really cared much for dressing up, and I think I was pretty young when I decided I was over trick or treating.  My kids on the other hand?  LOVE IT!  They love everything about Halloween and because of their excitement, it's become one of my favorite days of the year!

I know there are a lot of Christians out there who are completely against the holiday and don't participate... but for me, Halloween is what you make it!  For Eden, Ila, and James, it's simply a fun day where you get to dress up and get free candy!

This year I had a...

Texans cheerleader!

And...

Cinderella!

And...

Sheriff Woody, the rootinest, tootinest, cowboy in the wild, wild west!

All together they were...

freaking adorable!

Also, today was freaking cold!  Cold, cold, cold, with a piercing north wind that made it pretty much miserable to be outside!  Those poor babies were freezing when I made them go outside to take pictures!  But I wanted cute pictures dangit, because I'm a mean mom like that!  

Back it up... I just wanted to say that I put James in his costume at about 9:00 this morning!  I was so excited about his; I couldn't wait!  I dressed him up, and then I put him in front of the mirror, and he saw himself and shouted, "I WOODY!!!"  He and I went to WalMart (to find a shirt and leggings for Eden to wear under her costume because of the coldness), and every once in a while, he would blurt out to somebody we passed on an aisle, "I Woody!".

Anyways, so after the girls got home from school this afternoon, and after they got ready, and after I made them stand out in the cold for pictures, we went over to Pops and Granny's house.  Now I do remember when I was young, that every year before my mom took me and Marshall trick or treating, we always went to Pops and Granny's house first - to show them our costumes and to get candy.  So it's really special to take my own kids to the exact same house to do the exact same thing every year.  Marshall was actually there when we pulled up, doing the same thing that I was - showing off his kids to them.  We didn't plan it or even talk about it, but it turned out that Harrison was dressed up as Buzz!  So I tried really hard to get a picture of Buzz and Woody together, but it was pretty difficult!

With each passing year, I cherish the moments that we are able to still do this type of thing with my grandparents more and more.

Then we stopped by my dad and Susie's house.  They always have the cutest setup for the kids when we arrive on Halloween!

And then finally to the church!  This is our 3rd year to spend Halloween at our church, and man, our church knocks it out of the park!  And they seem to improve it each year!  There's Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, games and prizes set up on the lawn, hot dogs and frito pie and chips and soooo many desserts and even more games and prizes in the Sunday school building!  So the girls put on their warm coats, and the kids went to work - playing and eating and collecting as much candy as possible!

 Eden and her cousin, Rylen

 All the people who were working the games were in costumes.  This lady is dressed for Christmas.  I'm not sure if she's actually dressed for Christmas or if "woman dressed up for Christmas" is her costume.

We got home wayyyy past our bedtimes tonight, so I told them to run and put on pajamas as fast as they could.  Then I set Alexa for ten minutes and told them they could eat as much candy as they wanted in ten minutes and the rest would be saved for later!

It was a super fun Halloween, and now tomorrow, we can start planning Thanksgiving!

James Goes to Big Boy School!

Today, I subbed at the girls' school, in Ila's building, for one of the four year old classes.

When they called to ask earlier this week if I could sub, I said yes, if I could bring James with me.  When the girls were younger, before they went to school, whenever I would sub, they were allowed to come and stay in the two year old class for the day.  So I asked if James could do the same thing.

Now even though I'm the one who asked if James could come with me, I was pretty nervous about him being there.  He's pretty unpredictable.  Would he scream?  Bite another child?  (He bites us!)  Run around and refuse to sit in his chair?  Throw a tantrum?  (A daily occurrence around here.)  But I really wanted to see how he would act in a school setting, around other children!

Ila was THRILLED when I told her the news.  She was partly excited because I would be at her school, but she was over the moon that JAMES would be at her school.

(In the days leading up to today, she told me exactly what I would need to do for the four year old class.  She explained to me how snack time worked, what the names of the kids in my class would be, what letter they are currently learning, etc.  So very typical of Ila, love that child!)

Now normally, in the mornings, Ila is hard to wake up.  She's the one who doesn't want to get up, and I literally have to pick her up and put her on the ground to get her out of bed in the mornings.  Not today.  When I walked into her room to get her up this morning, she was already half-dressed and in the BEST MOOD.  And do you know what she said?

"I bet Mrs. Carlin is SO excited about today!"

Mrs. Carlin is the two year old teacher, aka James's teacher for the day.  That absolutely MELTED me!  To know that Ila loves her brother so much that she just KNEW the teacher was as excited as she was about him being there!

And James did great!  He didn't bite any other children!  He sat in his chair!  He painted a picture!  He LOVED IT!  Occasionally I saw him as we were walking down the hall to different activities, and when he would spot me, he would shout "Mama!" and run to me!  I would pick him up and hug him, but then tell him that he needed to go back and be with his friends, and he would happily run back to his class!  It was the cutest, sweetest thing!

It was a fun day, seeing Ila at school, James getting to go to school... A great day!

As soon as we got home, without me saying a word, Ila took the paper that James painted and thumb-tacked it to the bulletin board where I display Eden and Ila's schoolwork.  So precious!

I snapped a quick picture as we were walking into the building.  

It is COLD today!  He's wearing his Astros jersey under his jacket.  GO 'STROS!

It's Pumpkin Time!

It's still HOT, HOT, HOT here in Texas, but the sun is shining differently, the mornings are a tad crisper, and the nights come earlier.  We have a countdown to Ila's birthday on her bedroom door (five more days), the fair is around the corner, and the grocery store has pumpkins everywhere you turn.  (As we walk through the store each week, James screams, "MORE PUMPKINS!  MORE PUMPKINS!" the entire time.)  Our mantle is decorated with flickering orange and purple lights, and we listen to the Halloween station on Pandora every time we are in the car.  Eden and Ila's Halloween costumes are in (still don't have one for James), and I'm anxiously awaiting the first cool front so I can make a big pot of soup!  It may literally be 96 degrees outside right now, but the spirit of fall is in the air!

This morning I took the kids to the St. Mary's Pumpkin Patch.

This is James's third visit to the pumpkin patch, but it's the first year he's old enough for face painting (although he insisted his dinosaur be on his hand) and pumpkin painting.

 Here's to sweaters, chili, and cozy, movie nights!  Let's do this, fall!