Halloween and My Birthday!

It was a fun Halloween/Birthday this year.  However, Christian and Bella both came down with a stomach bug that had them vomiting all afternoon, so we laid low and mostly just had fun at home.  Luckily it seems to be a 24 hour thing because other than some diarrhea for Bella, everyone feels much better today.

Our Halloween started a week ago, really.  We went to the zoo during their Zoo-Boo time so there was lots of fun stuff to see and do.  My kids loved the hay bale maze the most.

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Then we had the Spooktacular at Lifetime Fitness (the gym I go to).   Benjamin loved the rock climbing best and Bella happily stood in line for 30 minutes to get a seashell painted on her cheek (to go along with her Ariel costume).  My favorite was the outdoor Zumba class taught by two instructors dressed up as Wonder Woman.  It was really fun to do the class with Bella and all the other parents and kids.  Benjamin refused and sat in the car which I parked nearby. "I'm not going to dance in front of all those people!"  We didn't let him spoil our fun, though.

That same day we had our ward's trunk-or-treat.  Christian was too tired that afternoon to go car to car, so he sat with me in the back of our cluttered and sadly undecorated van and passed out candy.  He was just happy hanging out and eating a leftover waffle.

A few days later he had his own party with a few of his cute toddler pals.  There's another boy in the group too, but he wasn't feeling the Halloween spirit that day and was refusing to put on his costume for the picture.

Luckily Bella's sickness didn't make itself manifest until after preschool, so she was able to attend her preschool Halloween party yesterday.  She has that passive smile that she puts on for pictures that I find so amusing.  While the whole class of preschoolers fidgeted and messed around and looked different in every shot, she sat there with that exact same look on her face, completely still the entire time.

I was a witch this year and the kids loved my hat.  Here's Christian putting a spell on me.

Luckily the kids recovered just enough to trick-or-treat to a few houses.  Bella and Christian went home with  Kelly after 3 or 4 and then Benjamin and I went to the richer neighborhood and made out like bandits at the big houses until way past dark.  We had a blast together.  So fun to have a trick-or-treating pal again!   Although he had to constantly explain what he was (white ninja).  It wouldn't have been my choice of costume by any means, but he picked it out 2 months ago and has been dead set on it ever since.  He loved it!  That's all that matters to me.  (I liked it better than Bella's choice)  :) Flowy aqua-marine dress just doesn't say Ariel the Mermaid to me, but Bella will likely be some kind of princess for many Halloweens to come and I've just made my peace with it.  She sure looks beautiful, though, Little Miss Passive Smile.

Tomorrow Kelly and I go out for Indian food to really celebrate my birthday.  I'm excited!!  Hopefully all the stomach yuckiness is completely gone by then.

The kids love to take pictures of themselves and will often pose and then scream, "Come take our picture!!" or they'll pose each other and take the picture themselves.  Here's a couple cute ones I found on my camera this week.