Trunk or treat 2024

 

I forgot to post this picture from the Trunk or Treat. The Parkes pumpkins in all their glory!

Halloween 2024: The Pumpkin Patch

 Me and the kids had fun at Halloween this year. We missed Mason, but he has to work til 9 on Wednesdays and til 10 on Thursdays, so it wasn't in the cards for him to come this year. But he offered a lot of emotional support while I made our costumes and wished us luck trick or treating. 

Abby decided she wanted to be a Jack-o-lantern for Halloween this year. Calliope didn't care what she was, so Abby decided that Calliope also wanted to be a jack-o-lantern. The costumes were easy to make, I just hot glued some black felt onto some solid orange shirts. My felt was just safety pinned on. We stuffed our shirts with walmart bags to make us look nice and round, but Abby HATED them and took all of hers out, and Calliope's kept falling out her leg holes, so I ended up with all of the bags by the end of the trunk or treat. We decided to leave the bags at home during Halloween night trick or treating. We went with the Salters, our yearly tradition. This year the Barlows came too. It was a lot of fun and we had SO MUCH CANDY in our house. Luckily the kids mostly forgot about it after about a week and a half.

Halloween bats. Mom cut out a bunch for us on her silhouette!

We brought some burritos the the Gregson's house and played on their trampoline while we waited for trick or treat time. These kids had a blast on here! Calliope kept tackling Abby and they'd laugh and laugh. It was a different story when Ross got on though haha.

Abby and Ross. They've been trick or treating every year together since they were 1!

Abby finished soccer!

 We put Abby in soccer at the start of September. They met 2 evenings a week, for an hour each time. She had been asking to play soccer for a while, so we decided to give it another try (she was on a soccer team at the sportsplex when she was 2). She got her first pair of cleats (which she calls "fleets") and we all thought that was very cool. She improved and got tougher over the course of the season and even got a goal in one of the first games! She interacted with the other kids and didn't cry every time we went. She wanted to come off the field a lot, but we would do a five second countdown and that helped get her back on quickly. Mason got to come every Tuesday, and I was grateful for that. Calliope kept us on our toes by constantly trying to run on everybody's fields, including Abby's much to both of their delight. I don't know that Abby loved soccer with her whole heart; we were all glad when it ended, but I saw some growth and that's a win in my book! I'm proud of her for trying new stuff, playing with other kids, and learning new things. She's so inspiring to me!

Abby says: It was fun. At soccer I ran and kicked with shin guards. I liked the shin guards. I liked playing soccer. My favorite part of soccer was doing the soccer practice and the soccer games. But not running and kicking. I just wanted to watch. I love salamanders. My coach was Coach Mo. She was not a boy. I liked her because she wore an orange coat. She was fun. I had so much fun with my teammates. I remember one was named Conrad. I brought the snack for my team one day at soccer. I brought lemonade and pretzels. I want to do tumbling some day. I want to do gymnastics next.

Soccer practice

Flying high after her first game

Having fun on the field