Halloween

This year Connor started talking about his Halloween costume in July.  He was quite insistent that he was going to go as Mario, and that Elise should be Princess Peach.  Elise disagreed at first, saying she wanted to be a kitty (same as last year), but it wasn't a hard sell to convince her to wear a princess dress and crown.  

   

Evan's lobster costume is a hand-me-down from Elise, and still our favorite.

That's Connor's "Mario pose".  Think breaking bricks.

 Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, the church party was pretty much the main event.  They decided to invite the neighborhood as well as ward members for a trunk-or-treat, potluck, and spook alley near the bishop's house on Saturday night.  It turned out great, but it was a little overwhelming to keep track of my kids in such a huge, crowded space.  
     

Yeah, it was quite the event.

I think this was the costume parade.  Mario looks pretty scary, huh?

Connor doesn't share my crowd-induced anxiety.  Elise kinda does.

Poor Elise and Evan had colds, Ryan was getting over strep throat, and I was convinced I was coming down with it (turns out I wasn't), so we skipped the potluck part of the party in an effort to be considerate.  The candy haul for the evening compared well to regular trick-or-treating, so the kids were content.

       

County Fair

I felt brave this year and took all three kids to the county fair by myself.  Connor's class had a (kind of) field trip on October 1st, so we all got in early with the other school groups, and had free admission!  I say it was kind of a field trip because, although we were registered as a school group, it was really all the families showing up when they felt like it and doing their own thing.  We got there just as all the big school groups were leaving, but before any other kids were out of school, so the kids' areas were pretty quiet.  We mostly just saw Connor's classmates and a handful of other homeschooling families, it was cool.  We saw (of course) all manner of farm animals, did the petting zoo, and I got to milk a goat!  It's a lot more complicated than it would seem (sorry, I wasn't coordinated enough to milk, hold Evan, and get a picture at the same time.)

     

Connor thought these piglets were the cutest things on earth.

I always leave fairs determined to be a vegetarian.  I wish I would stick with it longer, though.

The ever-present bossy goat enjoyed assaulting my kids.

   

The kids begged me to let them ride these ponies, and after explaining to them that this would be our only big purchase that afternoon, I paid the six dollars each for a couple walks around this circle.  They loved it, of course.

    

  

We saw a cool bee exhibit, looked at some robotic dinosaurs, and took a free train ride around the fairgrounds.  Then we saw it.  Or, rather, I did.  It cost only a dollar more than the pony ride, so I broke my vow and spent more money.

    

The "train" ride was not exciting, but it involved sitting down, so I was sold.

Yeah, I've seen those "When Animals Attack" clips, but I figured we couldn't pass this up!

Proceeds went to fund an elephant rescue shelter.

It was a fun field trip, despite the rain, but those fairgrounds are just too big.  When we finally decided to leave after about four hours, I had a pioneer handcart moment where I wasn't sure if I could get everybody and the stroller all the way back to the car alive.

   

We have had several new families move into our Ward in the past couple months.  One of them has a little boy Connor's age named Hayden who Connor just loves to play with.  Here they are being knights.  Notice what Elise found to be her sword and shield.  I love her in these pictures.

    

   

Lastly, Evan has a new trick!  Yay Evan!  He's also finally sleeping most of the night since he learned to roll onto his tummy.  I guess he never could get comfortable on his back, and that's why he needed help every hour or two.  Hopefully that's why.  I'm enjoying having a bit more sanity!