Halloween Costumes

I admit it. I drive my husband crazy sometimes. I get these ideas in my mind and I tend to get a little bit carried away.

About 2 months ago I asked Parker what he wanted to be for Halloween. He insisted that he be an "army guy." It makes perfect sense, especially since he has really been into anything army as of late....tanks, guns, grenades, death, why people kill other people, is anyone going to kill him, is anyone going to kill me, did someone kill Grandma....I guess it is all a little confusing to a 4 year old.

Anyway....I was trying to come up with some kind of "family" costume that could go around the "army guy" since Parker was the only one who wouldn't budge on his costume decision. Yep....we were going to be "one of those" families for Halloween this year. I figure there are only SO many years the kids will think its ok that their parents costumes go along with theirs.

After thinking about it for awhile I came to the conclusion that we were going to be the characters from Toy Story. I called Nate to tell him that for Halloween he was going to be WOODY!!!! After a long silence I finally heard........(drawn out sigh).........If you really want me to do it then I will but you know I reeeeeeaaaaaallly don't want to." Now if that isn't love, I don't know what is!

I think secretly he worries that my great ideas are going to cost him an arm and a leg...like that would EVER happen. :)

So....here are the Starnes Family Halloween costumes for 2009....prices included to humor my spouse:

Parker the army man: fatigues borrowed from friend, hard hat $1.00 from dollar store, face paint $1.00. Total cost=$2.00

Landon: cutest Buzz Lightyear ever. Outfit borrowed from friend. Total Cost=FREE!

Dallin: ZURG that bad guy from Toy Story 2. Costume borrowed as well. Total Cost=FREE (On Halloween night he opted to be an army man like his brother since the Zurg costume was so hard to move in!...we had that one already good thing!)

Nathan: A very handsome Woody. Costume includes white shirt $3.99 at thrift store, yellow die for the shirt $2.99, fabric paint and brushes to paint the stripes on shirt $3.00, hat from Goodwill $1.99, spray paint for the hat $.99, yarn for the stitching on the hat $.99, vest $2.00 in cow print fabric, red bandanna: free...already had it, fake gun: $1.00, boots: borrowed. Total Cost: $15.96.
Staci as Jessie: frumpy shirt that was too big from Goodwill $2.99, straw type hat from Michael's $2.99, red spray paint for hat $.99, white yarn for stitching on hat $.99, cow print for chaps $2.00, iron on sheets $2.00, paint and brushes for the shirt $3.00, boots from DI $5.99, red hair spray $3.99 (would NOT do that again!) Total cost: $24.94

Yeah....I did spend a LOT of time painting our costumes and I even had to dig out the old sewing machine to make Nate's vest and my chaps but I think everything came together.

Total amount spent on all costumes: $42.92. That is less than $9 bucks a person! Pretty good if you ask me!
Regardless of the amount of money spent we made some pretty priceless memories. Thanks my dear...you are a good sport and I love you for putting up with me!

Halloween week!

I know I tend to blog about things no one should really care about other than me.....but this is the ONLY journal that I keep and I wanted to make sure I recorded the fun things we have been doing. Sometimes I think I should just make my whole entire blog private.... just for ME and my family alone. I love having a place to write down what we are doing and I never want to come across as "look how amazing I am" or "check out how adorable my kids are" Has anyone else ever felt that way? I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do about that........

ANYWAY.......

We've pretty much been celebrating Halloween all week long! Monday and Wednesday I taught preschool. I was so happy to teach the week leading up to Halloween. We learned about pumpkins/jack o lanterns and had a candy corn day. These little kids are so stinkin cute. We made jack-o-lantern windsocks and Halloween frames and played Halloween Bingo.
Unfortunately Boise experienced some 50 mile an hour wind the day we made our windsocks so most of them were either destroyed or blew away. :(
Wednesday evening was our YW Halloween Party. We played a couple of games and we filled 2 big "Boo Baskets" to give to some older ladies in the ward. The girls brought all sorts of fun things for the baskets. We had pumpkins, gourds, apples, canned peaches, candies, Halloween decorations and more. My favorite part of the night was when the girls went to the front doors of these ladies and handed the goodies over. One lady made the girls sing a song...it was so sweet. Makes me tear up thinking about it. I love these girls. This is the hardest yet most rewarding calling I have ever had. They are amazing and I am so grateful for the time I get to spend with them.

I saw this idea online and HAD to do it. Since Halloween is so SWEETS crazed I decided to make a veggie tray. It is kind of hard to see but the little jack o lantern is puking up ranch dressing. Too funny! It has been a very BUSY week.....and its not even Halloween yet!!! Halloween costumes to come soon.......

2009 Fall Family photos!!!

I've always wanted family pics done at the train depot. Eight and a half years ago we had our wedding reception there so it has some sentimental meaning to us.

It was raining like crazy while we were doing the shoot so I was a little worried (mostly about the CURLY hair) but I am absolutely THRILLED with how they turned out. Missy is so incredible with a camera. She did such a fablulous job.

Now comes the REALLY HARD part....choosing the ones we want!!! Tell me which one you like the best...PLEASE! I need HELP!

Another season comes to a close

We had another great Kickin Kids soccer season! We had 77 kids involved this fall. Parker ended up having to move up to Dallin's league. Parks was frustrated at first because he wasn't scoring 8+ goals like he was when he played the other 4 year olds. It was good for him though. It also made watching games a lot easier because Dallin's team played Parker's team a couple of times.
I love that there are so many families who are SICK of paying for all of the overpriced sports leagues around here. Seriously, these kids just want to have FUN, get a SNACK every week, and get a TROPHY and PICTURE at the end of the season! It just doesn't make sense to pay $120 for each kid....especially when the parents end up coaching and reffing in the regular leagues anyway.

I'm sure we'll get to a point where the boys will have to play mainstream soccer but for now nothing beats rolling out of bed and walking across the street to play a little soccer on Saturday mornings!

More Parkerisms

Parks has kept me laughing today. He has so many questions about EVERYTHING. Where things come from and how things work.

Here are a few of the latest:

1. "Hey Mom.....why do people steal stuff? Is it because they really want to have a party but they don't have any party stuff so they can't have one?"

2. "Mom...I see a MOM over there smoking! She is not making a good choice. Maybe you could tell her to come to my preschool and you can teach her about smoke....Or maybe that lady could come and teach us about volcanos....since she smokes AND volcanos smoke!"

3. "Hey Mom....who makes the wind? Is it Jesus or the weather man?"

4. (To the cashier at Target) "I'm Parker and this is my brother Landon. He had his tonsils out and now all he does is CRY all the time. It makes me so tired."

5. (In front of the cashier at Target.) "Mom...thank you so much for hanging my bunny." The cashier looks at me with this confused expression. I have no clue as to what he is referring to.

By the time we get to the car I finally realize that he means SEWING...not HANGING. Hopefully the Target lady won't think I am some kind of crazy animal abuser. :)

We love our Parker guy. He is always keeping us on our toes and continues to make us laugh!

Twilight Par-tay

I have the most amazing and fun friends. Last week a couple of them threw a fabulous Twilight party. We are all getting geared up for New Moon coming out in November!

We played some wild and crazy games and ate some yummy food. My cheeks hurt from laughing so much. I love these girls! We know how to have a good time when we get together. :)

Lost tooth #1

With Landon finally feeling a bit better I wanted to play a little catch up with the blog.

Last week Mr. Dallin lost his very first tooth! He was thrilled to say the least. A few funny things happened when this "monumental" event took place.

-First off, the tooth was never even loose. Dallin said he just pushed on it a little and it just popped out!

-Parker started crying like crazy because he was so JEALOUS about the tooth. He ran downstairs and hid for a good 20 minutes...crying into his pillow. We have some serious sibling rivalry going on in this house.

-We went to the park after Parker calmed down and while we were there we ran into Dallin's friend named Cooper. Dallin told Cooper about how he had just lost a tooth. Within 15 minutes.....Cooper lost HIS very first tooth too! Once again....Parker was ticked.

-When we got home, Dallin wanted to look at his tooth again. I went over to where I had last set it and it had vanished. Did Parker take it? Who knows. He denies it completely. We ended up having to write a letter to the tooth fairy and tell her that it had mysteriously disappeared.

Dallin was thrilled to find a dollar under his pillow in the morning! (I'm pretty sure I got a quarter back in the day....sounds like the tooth fairy has made inflation adjustments!)

Once upon a surgery......

There was once a very cute little boy named Landon who couldn't breathe at night. His parents wanted to make him all better so they took him to the hospital to have his tonsils and adenoids removed.

He had no idea why he was going to the hospital. He thought the playrooms, the toys, and the tvs on the wall were FUN!

He especially loved having mom and dad to himself all day long. After patiently waiting for a good 4 hours, the Doctors came in and gave him some medicine that made him feel VERY silly. He said things like: "I want to Daaaaaaance Daddy." and "Shake your bum bum baby."

Then that little boy was wheeled away and he doesn't remember much about that..... His mommy felt sick to her stomach and had a migraine headache.

A couple of hours later he woke up and he didn't know where he was and what all these tubes and wires were that were coming from his body. He tried to rip them all out and became absolutely unconsolable. He was screaming, biting and hitting everyone around him. His mommy threw up and almost passed out. She doesn't handle stress well. It was horrible.

A while later, Landon started to feel a little bit better so he ate some food.He had a rough night at the hospital but he was able to get a few hours of sleep.

In the morning the Doctor told him he could go home. This made him VERY happy!

He was thrilled to ride out to the car in a sweet wagon....AND his mommy got him some sweet new Buzz Lightyear PJs! O yeah!
On the way home Landon told his Mommy that he wanted a hamburger. She said "You bet!"
When they got home, Landon's mommy set all of his food out and she ran upstairs for a minute. When she came back down.....this is what she saw:

One very exhausted little man. So.....Landon and his Mommy took a looooong nap together.

The end.

Fall Fun

I am definitely a summer girl at heart but there are a few things about fall that I do love. Aside from Halloween costumes, cute fall jackets and pumpkin cake I do love heading to the farms to enjoy the festivities.
Last weekend we went to Linder Farms with Grandma and Grandpa Rock. We had fun running around the corn maze, petting the animals and enjoying the doughnuts! We even ventured over to the "family friendly" haunted corn maze. The sun was still out and it was still pretty scary! Dallin and Parker kept saying, "They're not real....right mom?" Today for Parker's preschool we went over to another farm...one I had never been to before over in Meridian. It had all sorts of fun things for the kids to do. The "Blob" was a huge bouncy bubble type thing. The kids loved it!

Here are all of our preschoolers singing some songs....too cute!

Gotta love the picking pumpkins part.....except for he tiny little pokey things on the stems....not a fan.

It's hard to believe it is really October already!