Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!


These are the 2010 Zaugg Family Jack-o-Lanterns!

Witches Witches Witches

We have been trying to squeeze as much Halloweeny fun into the time that is left as we possibly can. (warning: picture overload ahead). Last week we went to the Pumpkin Walk in Syracuse with my sister in law Alison and her family. Here is Arden with her most favorite pumpkin:


In case you can't tell, that is a Michael Jackson pumpkin she is standing next to. Arden LOVED Captain EO at Disneyland, and kept asking to watch it. My sister actually got her hands on a bootlegged copy (don't tell!), and the kids love to watch it. Even Cora yells "EO! EO!" and dances around. Daxton does a hilarious impression of the scary queen in the movie ("SIWENCE! INFIDEWS! YOU FECT MY WORLD WIF YOU PRENENSE!") and Arden has perfected some of the dance moves. There is just NO predicting what these kids are going to latch onto and love.

Here is my handsome Dax in a sea of jack-o-lanterns (this is his "happy face"):

I kept asking Corbie which pumpkin she liked best, and she would just point to whatever three were closest and shriek "DIS ONE! DIS ONE! DIS ONE!"

Up until a few days ago, this October has been sunny, warm, and beautiful. Here are some of the colors that I got to see out my front window every day:

Love it.

Last Saturday we had our annual Zaugg family party at our house, which was the first chance for the kids to wear their costumes. Here is Arden (candy corn witch) and Dax (Sulley from Monsters, Inc.)

Corbie is Minnie Mouse:

We had pizza and treats, a candy treasure hunt, and lots of talking. But my favorite part of the party was the "Mummy Wrap" game, where all the kids wrapped up Grandma and Grandpa in TP until they looked like mummies:

What good sports, and the kids LOVED it. It was supposed to be a race, but in the end it was all about the craftsmanship for these little mummifiers.

Besides Arden, there were three other little witches at the party:

Yesterday was Arden's Preschool Halloween Party. Here is Arden with her awesome preschool teacher, who was also a witch (notice the horrifying white stuff on the grass. Scary!)

Arden's friend was a witch too. Her other best preschool friend was Harry Potter, and a wizard is as close to a witch as a little boy can get, right?

Before the party the kids sat on the steps and sang some Halloween songs for us. Dax had been happily eating the snow before the songs, but when I turned around I couldn't see him. He had sneakily made his way in with the preschool kids and sat down next to Arden. So all the moms got pictures of the preschool class, plus Daxton. Sorry everyone! He was so excited to be "in preschool," and ran after the kids when they went up to the classroom. I had to physically drag him out of there.

Last night was our neighborhood Halloween Party. It was really fun, and TONS of people showed up. The kids got to "trick or treat" around the classrooms, then they "listened" (and I use this term very loosely) to a Halloween story:

Then it was up to the gym for games, talking, entertainment and more TREATS! They had some delicious donuts and sugar cookies. Can you guess what color of frosting the cookies had?

I feel so sorry for whoever had to clean up after this little shindig. Root beer and frosting was everywhere!

It has been a really fun Halloween season so far, and the kids are really excited about the trick-or-treating on Saturday. I have been trying to get Corbie to say "Trick or Treat!" but she just smiles really big and yells "TEET!" She doesn't want to give anyone a choice, just give her the treat!

Those Tricky Treats

Here is a VERY small sample of some of the reasons why I LOVE Halloween:


Aren't my cupcake holders cute? These are the ONLY spiders I am happy to see. Though they don't look very happy to see ME, do they? It is probably because they all just witnessed what I did to one of their friends. And they are wondering which one of them is next...


Mmmmm, sugar cookies! The kids had fun helping with these, though more frosting and chocolate chips were eaten than made it onto the cookies.
Then Preston made these little caramel/chocolate beauties this afternoon. Heav-en-ly.

However, I gotta admit that my tummy isn't feeling the greatest after this latest weekend of gluttony. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten those last three cookies after dinner.

I guess this is the part of the day when I stop blogging and hit the treadmill. :-)

Pumpkin Patch 2010

Another year has gone by and it is time again to pick some perfect pumpkins at Pack's Farm Pumpkin Patch! We had a few to choose from....

I don't know why, but our annual trip to the pumpkin patch always seems to start me thinking about our past trips and how much the kids have changed.

Arden is now four and a half years old! Sometime in the last year she totally and completely gave up taking a naps, which was a total and completely bummer (for me). She is growing up a lot and is even starting to sound out words a little bit. She loves preschool and playing with her friends, and misses playing soccer now that the season is over. She is so beautiful and takes such good care of her little brother and sister.

Dax has grown A LOT from last year when he was 16 months old until now at almost 2 1/2! He is seriously huge. And as he has gotten bigger, he has gotten LOUDER. He is constantly running around and roaring like a dinosaur (or a lion, or a tiger, or a gator...pretty much anything that roars) and he loves to wrestle and tackle. But he is like a tootsie pop, and underneath his rough exterior he has a softer sweeter center too. He carried this little white pumpkin around like it was a baby all day, and even tried to take it with him into bed at naptime (he only dropped it a few dozen times).

He loves his sisters. Every SINGLE time Arden goes to preschool, as soon as she is out of sight, Daxton looks at me with the saddest little face and says, "Mom, I miss her. I miss her, Mom." Soo cute.

Cora turned 18 months old this week. My baby is 18 months old. Is she even a baby anymore?

What is the baby cutoff? 1 year old? 2 years old? I know that by the time Dax was 18 months old I thought of him as a big boy. That was probably because he did seem so big compared to 8-month-old Cora. But since she is the youngest I still think of Corbie as a baby, whether that is fair or not. I am going to keep thinking of her as a baby for as long as I possibly can, because I am just not ready to let this baby part of my life to be over yet. But it is slipping away from me so quickly.

Today was Corbie's first day of nursery, and she did amazingly well. She wasn't sad at all when Preston took her down and was happily playing with some toys when he left. After a little while, Dax had to get his diaper changed so they brought him up to me. Apparently Corbie was sad when he left and so they brought her up to me while I was changing Dax. But I took them both right back down to nursery together, and Cora stayed the rest of the time without crying at all.

I was relieved that Cora was doing so well in nursery, but as I sat there in RS, I couldn't help but feel sad that there was no one in my lap or crawling around by my feet. I missed it a lot more than I thought I would. :-(

When I went to go pick up the kids from nursery, I peeked through the window. Cora was quietly sitting on the quilt watching everyone sing "Once there was a Snowman" (well, everyone except Dax, who was running around crazy and roaring).

Here is one last shot of my beautiful kids at the pumpkin patch.
Is it just me, or as the days get shorter and the nights get cooler....does anyone else feel the need to gorge themselves with chocolate?

Halloweentime at Disneyland

Last week we took our first trip to Disneyland at Halloweentime!

Disneyland was all decked out in Halloween decorations. Everything on Main Street was all decorated in oranges and yellows, and there were pumpkins EVERYWHERE. Mickey and friends were all dressed up in their Halloween outfits too. Grandma and Grandpa Zaugg came with us, and we met up with Preston's sister and her family who live in Spokane. It was good to see everyone and we all had a great (if exhausting) time. I wasn't very good at taking pictures, but my brother in law, Clint took a ton of photos, so I am hoping to get a few good shots from him. In the meantime, here are a few pictures that I did manage to take.

Here is Arden on her most favorite ride, the teacups. They usually aren't my cup of tea (HA!), but I don't really mind them too much because I can turn the wheel the wrong way and make it so the cup I am in doesn't spin at all. :) Dax and Cora don't mind riding with me, but Arden and the bigger cousins thought I was the most boring teacupper EVER. I told them it was better than having me get sick all over them.

Arden was tall enough this year that she could go on some of the bigger rides. Before the trip so said she was so excited to go on all of the fast, fast roller coasters. We threw her on Space Mountain, which was tricked out for Halloween with scary flaming ghost-like things that chased you around through space. It is pitch black dark in there so I couldn't see her face during the ride at all, but as soon as it was over I asked her if she was okay, and she shook her head NO. She pretty much hated that ride. They take a picture of you while you are on the ride and then you can see them as you walk out. Arden's eyes were HUGE and the look on her face was pure, unadulterated terror. Poor little thing! She was still brave and went on Thunder Mountain (didn't like it), Splash Mountain (liked it all except for the big hill), and the Matterhorn (which for some reason she liked). Dax was tall enough for the Matterhorn and he liked it too. Brave kid. I didn't let Arden even attempt the Tower of Terror because I knew she would hate it and probably come out permanently afraid of elevators (LOVE that ride!)

Dax's favorite rides were the Jungle Cruise and the rockets. He also really liked the part on the train ride where there are "DINO-FORS!" Big Thunder Ranch was all decorated for Halloween, and even the petting zoo animals had Halloween neckerchiefs on. Here is a picture of Dax and a goat smiling at each other:

Weird, huh? Freaky little goat.

Dax's LEAST favorite ride was the Haunted Mansion, which was taken over by the Nightmare Before Christmas for Halloweentime. He HATED it. Oh well. Hopefully no permanent damage was done. Cora actually liked that ride, and pointed out all the pumpkins as we went along ("PUCKINS!")

We went without a nap for the first day or two, but Daxton still needed his and would fall asleep pretty much wherever. He fell asleep in the middle of watching Captain EO (Sidenote: I don't remember Michael Jackson's backup dancers having such incredibly cheesy hair. If you are ever at Disneyland, be sure to catch Captain EO if for no other reason than to see the amazing mullets). He slept a lot on the stroller, which he doesn't quite fit in anymore:

Dax wasn't the only one who was worn out. I think that we walked poor Grandpa and Grandma Zaugg into the ground. Here is a picture of them waiting for the Muppet 3D show to start:

I am pretty sure the Grandpa took a little nap right there on the floor. They were both great sports, and the kids loved playing with them.

Cora loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on TV, so she was excited to see Mickey, and kept yelling "Mouse! Mouse!" whenever she saw him. But when it was our turn to have our picture taken with Mickey himself, she wasn't quite sure what to think. She touched Mickey on the nose and looked at him funny. I suppose she was wondering why Mickey didn't talk to her?

Corbie also really liked the jungle cruise, and especially loved pointing out all of the animals. She of course loved the carousels, both the one at Disneyland and the one over on the California Adventure side:. Here she is riding on at otter (I was riding on a much taller fish with Dax when I took the picture).

She is so cute. We watched the Pixar parade one day, and she danced and waved all through it, it was hilarious! One of my favorite moments from the trip was riding on the Dumbo with Dax and Cora while everyone else rode the Matterhorn. They were both just so excited to be flying on that elephant, and had huge smiles on their little faces. It just made me so happy to see them having so much fun.

Arden, of course, always enjoys a ride on the carousel too:

We flew in on Wednesday morning and flew out on Saturday night, which was the perfect length for the trip. It was long enough that we were able to see everything we wanted to see and ride on all of the rides we had to ride on. But we were all pretty tired by the time we got home, and I know I was ECSTATIC to get home to my own bed (and to get the kids in their own beds all the way down the hall from me!)