Mommy's Birthday

Today was my b-day.  I am older than my husband, once again, for the next 8 months.  I see it as a positive.  The day started with a birthday breakfast at Burger King.  Then we headed downtown to the Veteran's Day parade . . . Hayden was in the parade.  Her K-kids group at school raised over $6500 for the Veteran's so they were asked to be in the parade.  Parents were asked to walk with the group as chaperones, so for my Birthday present from Hayden, I was to march in the parade.  However, due to the tremendous turnout of parent volunteers, we were all booted from the parade.  So, Hayden went with her group and we found a nice spot to watch the festivities.  We had to be there 1 hour early for Hayden, so needless to say the boys got restless fast.  Ben took them walking and Ally and I bonded.  Part of bonding included getting yelled at.  We had been given 3 little flags to wave and some candy.  I had put the flags down so I could assist Ally in opening the candy.  A man walked up behind me and demanded I pick up the flags from the ground.  Ok, buddy, I'll pick up the flags.  Wanna guess where those flags are right now?  Yep, in the floor of my van, trampled by 8 little feet.  They were safer on the ground!!  So the parade finally gets started and thank goodness Hayden's group is #4.  They pass us and we get her attention for a great photo.  Right behind her group is the A & M Band, including dance team and flag twirlers.  I noticed a certain 6 year old very attentive at this point.  Here is my interpretation of parade entry #5:  The dance team is wearing silver heels, nude tights, white bloomers and a white over one shoulder halter.  They walk with a shake that I'm pretty sure Ally will at some point add to her own walk.  The band itself is great, loud drums and peppy moves.  The flag twirlers are in the back, wearing pretty much the same getup as the dance team, except covered in sequins.  You need to have a good mental picture of this for later. 

 We make it through more of the parade to include a million corvettes and motorcycles.  We decide I need to head over to the ending area to get Hayden.  I call Ben to let him know that I think they are coming and he has decided to gather everybody up and head my way.  We all meet up in the gravel parking lot designated the "ending" zone for parade entries.  While we are waiting to get Hayden, Ally notices the A & M band.  "Mommy, Mommy, can I go tell those girls they did a good job?"  "Uh, yea, I guess" At this point Ben has spotted the car and is making a bee line. . . until he hears our conversation.  "What did she say?"  "She wants to tell the twirlers they did a good job"  Silence.  He is however making a face that I will show you if you ask.  "Ok, honey, we'll go this way and you and Hayden and the boys head to the car".  We walk over to the twirler girls and Ally runs over to them and gives them her complement.  They smile and say thank you.  Ok, let's head to the car.  Oh, no, we didn't tell the dance team how good they did.  So, to the front we go and Ally runs over and tells them.  They again say Thanks and smile.  When we get to the car, our curious 9 year old must now what Ally did.  I explain that she wanted to let the dancers and twirlers know they did a good job.  "Well, they didn't have much clothing on."  Really, I don't think Daddy and I noticed.   I think that was the fastest Ben has ever loaded the kids, the stroller and himself in the car.  

We went back home to recover and get Ally ready for gymnastics.  She left and I got to take a 30 minute nap while Hayden and Ben did homework.  I did notice the paddle was out when I woke up.  Yep, and that was only math.  Ally returned and we headed out for dinner at Red Robin burgers.  We had a good time, even if there were more kids than adults, and we returned home for bath time and bed time.

I had a great b-day but I must admit it ended abruptly with 4 cranky, snotty, coughing kids this morning!!  

Halloween

We made it through Halloween.  Hayden created her own costume(with Ben's help) and was a hobo.  She wore a pair of Ben's old blue jeans, an old white under shirt, rope belt, 2 different colored crocks and a toboggan.  She explained to me exactly how to draw on a beard and make "dirty" spots on her face.  She did a great job and looked really good.  Ally was Wonder Woman.  Her makeup was probably a little too heavy in blue, but she loved it.  She can pretty much make herself into whatever character she wants.  The boys were supposed to be "the man in the yellow hat" that takes care of Curious George.  They didn't care for the hats and really, the hats were too small for their big Goode heads.  Caleb wore his just long enough for a picture.  They carried 2 George's for a while and then I carried them and the hats.  We went up to church for a Trunk-r-Treat.  The girls got a lot of comments on their costumes and most people had no clue who the boys were but thought they were cute.  We left church with enough candy to feed the starving children in Africa, but because I can't stop when it comes to activities and the kids, we went to Mom's neighborhood for another Trunk-r-Treat.  By this time, the boys have each eaten 4 lollipops and the girls . . . who knows what was going on back there.  I'll figure it out tomorrow when I clean out the car and come across all the wrappers!!  We picked up Nina and went to her neighborhood church.  After coming close to being run over by a grouchy old man, we made our way through the trunks.  We let the kids try to blow up slide, but after one trip down we decided their were too many unruly kids on it and left.  We are home and the kids are asleep.  Time for me to check out the loot!!  Too bad for you Ben, the good stuff will be gone by tomorrow.  

Fun Run

As most of you know based on a phone call you received begging for pledges, the girls participated in a fun run at school.  As much as I dislike fundraising, this is a really good fundraiser.  The kids actually have to work for the money.  The run itself is really fun to watch and the kids have a great time.  They play music and have "themed" laps.  Hayden's run was at 8:30, when it was still a little chilly outside.  Most of the kids were breathing heavy, had pink cheeks and were holding their chests by the third lap.  She did great, running/walking/skipping/swimming/flying/etc.  31 laps.  The max was 35.  Ally ran at 9:30.  I must admit she gets one thing from me:  she is an adrenaline junky.  Any other time when you need her to move quickly, your lucky to get a fast walk.  But line her up at a race and she is off.  I don't think she stopped running the entire time.  (Except maybe to "play" at the water station).  There was even a Mom there that had a little girl in Ally's class that made note of Ally running the whole time.  It bothered her so bad that when her daughter walked around for the third time, the Mom gently explained it was a fun RUN, not fun WALK.  Hee Hee.  I'm so glad I don't ever act like that.  Ally completed 33 laps.  She was very proud of how much money she earned.  I had to break it to her that her teacher got all the money.  She took it well and told her teacher several times while I was there, how much money she had earned her.  She also wanted to know what she was going to buy for the class.  Ally's watching . . . don't ever think she isn't!  Here are the best shots of the day.

Carving Pumpkins

We finally carved the pumpkins.  The kids all drew their faces(or attempted to draw faces) and Ben cut them out.  He had them clean out the pumpkin guts.  It took the girls a while to get theirs clean and the boys didn't really enjoy the feel of the insides.  I think the girls now have an understanding of size of pumpkin to amount of guts ratio.  Ben's abilities were challenged this year, as Hayden has become more creative in her jack-o-lantern designing.  He was able to successfully carve each face without a mis-cut or a boo boo on his hands.  Quite a feat with my knives . . . just ask Pop Pop Ed.  They are in order of youngest to oldest.

Our family of pumpkins

We finally took some pictures of our "finds" from the pumpkin patch.  Ben's policy was, "if you can carry it, you can get it."  So $0.40 per pound and our total was $36.00.  I'm hoping the girls come into a dainty phase in life, where bigger is not always better in everything they do!!  The boys, well, I'm sure we are in for some interesting pumpkin finds in the future.  I'm just sorry poor Caleb can't find his "handle" on his pumpkin like the others have.  

Pickin' Punkins

We made it this year . . .  and it is only the 9th of October.  We knew we needed to be sure and get there this year because Hayden has not let us forget that we didn't get there last year.  We have been to Tate Farms for several years now to pick out pumpkins.  They have really expanded and added a lot of new stuff since our first trip.  You'll see what I mean when you pay your admission!!!  The kids did great.  No fighting, no lost children, no screaming parents, no bites from animals and no begging for junk to eat!!!  We were able to pet some animals, play on the "toys", take a wagon ride to get our pumpkins, jump in the corn bins and let the kids ride the corn train.  I think we got some really cute photos from our trip.  I just wish I could have recorded the laughter from Caleb holding the bunny, Joshua riding the roundabout bicycle thing, Hayden picking corn from her underwear and Ally doing just about everything.  

A fun night at the Goode home.

We needed to get a family picture for our Sunday school class, so instead of dragging the family to a photography studio, we created a studio in our living room.  A little stressful, but we got some pretty funny shots, and 1 good one.