Frost Family Faces

I've decided that I love Halloween spread over a weekend instead of all on the same day. It's more relaxing, less rushed and we have lots of fun stuff to look forward too!
The Wednesday before Halloween, Ethan had his very first Halloween Parade! While it was more of a "practice Halloween" for the kids, I wasn't going to miss it! The whole point of it was for the kids to say "Trick-or treat" and then say "Thank-you" after they got the candy. Good practice for the actual holiday and good opportunity to learn some interaction skills some of these kids REALLY need. Ethan didn't have a problem. He was well versed on the whole trick-or-treat thing from last year, but he sure had fun getting the candy!


Here is Ethan, sitting with his class while the first class came in and got their candy...



I love the eager look on Ethan's face as he's watching the kids in front of him get the candy...

Ella watching big brother Ethan!

Then on Friday the really big fun began! Since my dad and my brother both teach, their respective schools have Halloween Parades for little kids. My dad's school had theirs in the morning. Ethan had school so I took Ella and met up with a couple of my sisters-in-law and their kids and we cruised the school for candy. This is the 3rd time I've done this parade with my kids, and usually there is a huge line up at the door waiting to get into the school. This year, it was just us and maybe a few other people. So weird.

Here's my little Ella and her Fairy Princess costume...(I made the tutu!)

Jan and her kids...


I Love Jaci's costume...she's a biker babe!


Here's my dad with Ella. She ran right to him, but the other kids hung back a little. They weren't sure who the guy in the weird get-up was.

This is the only picture I actually got of Emma and Mya together. They DID NOT like the man in the weird glasses.

Emma is Tinker bell!!

Ella found a random desk in Dad's classroom and sat down...ready to go I guess!

I love it when Chad dresses up! He always looks so cool...Mobster guy!

Chad and Ella!

Brandon and Trevor went Waaaay ahead of us with a couple of cute students and had to be found. We found them and here they are, posing with "nerd" grandpa.

Next stop was lunch at McDonalds. We let the kids just run and play for a couple of hours. Then we headed over to Dustin's school for their Halloween Parade....HUGE line there!

Side note...we had gone around about two halls getting candy when Ethan went around a corner a head of me and I lost sight of him. When I went around the corner, he wasn't there! Nor was he around the next corner! He got lost! I panicked. My two brothers went upstairs, and I walked the halls downstairs. After about 10 min of wandering the halls, I get a phone call that he'd been found...up by Dustin's classroom. How he figured out how to get there, I have no idea. When I got upstairs, I asked Dustin if Ethan was ok when he got to his classroom. Dustin said he was just getting candy and walking, and when Dustin asked him where his mom was he said "she's downstairs". NO FEAR!! Dustin made him stay there until Jason found him and Jason him brought him back downstairs. I didn't let him let go of my hand the rest of the parade.

Getting ready to go get more candy!!

Dustin is always really creative with his costumes too...He's an African? A Morracan? your guess is as good as mine, but he sure looks cool!

Ethan and Ella in Dustin's classroom. I was done after this, we stayed here until the school cleared. We didn't even finish the parade. Walking an extra couple of halls looking for Ethan did me in!


The whole crew!


Saturday we had a very full day planned. Right after breakfast, we started! First item...frosting the Halloween Cookies!

Ella would frost one, then lick off the frosting and start over...We gave her a bowl, and knife and let her go for it!

Ethan did a good job frosting and decorating the cookies...

Putting eyes on the pumpkin cookie



The finished products! Can you tell which cookie Ethan did?

After cookies, we got dressed and went to the store, then came home and carved pumpkins!

Ella is Ready to go!!

Ethan is ready to go too...GAHHHH!! watch out for daddy!

Ethan requested a "fireworks Pumpkin" so daddy made the eyes like fireworks and the nose like a firecracker.

Ella wouldn't touch the pumpkin once it was opened...YUCKY she kept saying...so we gave her a marker and she was content to draw on the newspapers.

The finished products!

After pumpkins, we had lunch then went swimming! The kids had a blast! I won't be swimming again until after the baby is born...my swimsuit was too tight!
After swimming, we came home and had pizza for dinner! I was going to get creative and make a pumpkin face out of pepperoni on the pizzas, but I ran out of time. The pizza was good though..

Then it was time for Trick-or-treating!!

Charles took the kids around this year, I stayed home and passed out the candy! Ella was very cranky because all she got was a 20 min. nap on the couch, but by the time she got back with a bag heavy with candy, she was very chipper. Charles dressed up as Indiana Jones!

Ethan's READY!!

And here go the trick-or-treaters!



Ella peaking in at the candles!


One more picture by the pumpkins, then off to bed! They both slept very well that night.
Halloween was lots of fun this year! Lots of memories were made and we had a blast!

It's been a long time since I've been to a Halloween Party, but my neighbors decided to throw one and Charles and I were invited. It was adult only, and costumes were mandatory. It was so much fun, I've decided to start one with my brothers and sisters-in-law as a yearly tradition! We didn't have time to do one this year, but next year...OH YEAH!!
We had chili and scones for dinner and for desert a candy-bar (no not like the chocolate candy bar, this was like a salad bar, but with candy!) a white chocolate fountain and tons of junk food!
I dressed up like a penguin, (I wish I could have found a mask, but I didn't find one until the next week!) and Charles was a weird golfer/Hermes. I told him to maybe choose one or the other next year, it was rather confusing ;) After dinner, we played a couple of games, then mostly just sat and chatted, which was just so relaxing not having to run after kids!
I stole the pictures of the other couples and Charles and me off of Lainee's blog...thanks Lainee!



The penguin and the weird golfer...

And here are the other couples that went...












Some fun games. A donut eating contest!



Now it's the girls' turn!


Enjoying my donut! Yummy stuff!

Thanks Lainee, Brittany and Tami for doing this! It was sooo much fun!!

Ella has been officially labeled a Monkey by most people who sit and watch her. This child has no fear. She will climb up the 12 foot tall playground ladder to get to the slide, instead of just simply walking up the stairs. She will swing from anything she can reach...the table, the counter, the door knobs, the fridge handle... and she will climb on and up anything she can find...the table (especially in nursery), the chairs and as these pictures and video show, my umbrella base.









Sorry it's sideways, I can't figure out if it can be turned...


She is also a hider...she climbed into this box all by herself and hid herself from me while I was cleaning out the garage...
And just for the record, I DO NOT like that she's a hider...because she's a very quiet hider and is small so she fits in a lot of places.

Look carefully, and you can see her hair...


Now the hands give it away...

and here she is!!

Charles loves fishing, and he passed that love on to Ethan. Well, Ethan really just likes to throw rocks in the water and play in the dirt, but he still has a lot of fun and Ethan will ask often if he can go fishing. We have a "Good Boy Chart" we created for Ethan to reward him for good behavior. He got his sticker for fishing. We decided to take a Saturday in October and go fishing. It had been raining all weekend, but the weather let up so we went up to Baker Reservoir. The kids had a ball! They loved throwing rocks in the water, and playing in the mud and getting as dirty as possible. The weather was great with a lot of really pretty clouds. We had a wonderful time, and actually caught something! It was a very large crawdad with only one claw. I caught it and it freaked me out when I pulled it out of the water. The crawdad immediately let go of the line and scuttled back to the deep. We all had a great time!
After fishing, we decided to get a movie and some pizza and have a picnic in the front room. We got a blanket and spread it out on the floor. We watched "Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue" which was SOOO cute! The kids had a lot of fun and it was very relaxing for Mommy and Daddy too!
Enjoy the pictures of our 'fishy adventures'!




Charles is getting the fishing pole ready. He's actually talking to his mom.


Ella having fun with the mud...notice her hand.


Ethan gathering rocks to throw in the water.

and getting more rocks to throw in the water. There was a lot of rocks to choose from.


Some of the beautiful clouds we saw up there



Now we actually get to fish with Daddy!

Passing on the technique!

Dirty hands!!




Look, Mommy got to fish a little too!

Today was Ethan's first primary program. I probably wouldn't post anything about it, except he did something really funny, funny enough that my face turned red!

He had been watching all the other kids get up and do their little lines. Because we have such a huge primary, the lines were split between kids, or said together. When it was his turn, he marched up to the microphone, not even waiting for the little boy that was saying his line with him, climbed up on the stool and before the teacher that was helping the kids read their lines could get to him and find her place, he grabbed the microphone and started "talking" in it for a good 5 seconds! I don't know what he said, I assume it was talking, but he had his mouth right on the microphone that I couldn't understand him! The teacher finally grabbed the mike away, told him what to say (still didn't understand because he had his mouth right on the mike again) got down, and walked back to his seat as pleased as can be. I was laughing so hard, and my face was burning up in a mixture of embarrassment and hilarity! It was so cute!

He did a great job singing and with sitting up there for so long with a bunch of other Sunbeams that all like to set each other off.

Great job Ethan! I love you!