the "real" halloween post

I call this the "real" Halloween post because the last post I wrote was more a prelude to the actual event.

You know...the whole, "dress-up-and-parade-around-begging-for-candy" event!

This year, since Halloween landed on a Sunday, we celebrated it on Saturday at our church Halloween Party.

Which I actually like better because:

1) I pretty much know everyone there, so you can trust the candy to be safe.

2) It's a confined area, so no need worry about traffic or even "empty houses."

and, 3) It's all indoors! And I don't have to walk around block after block after block...

As you can see....Kela is a Princess (how original!), while Anna wanted to be a Barbie Musketeer (notice she's missing her three cohorts...), and Jolee wanted to be a princess but I was somehow able to convince her to be a little China Doll instead!

(Yea! Success!) Anna's costume took the most effort (which was still VERY minimal).

The Princess dress was borrowed. I bought the hat and simply attached the giant feather. And then sewed a cute matching cape.

(that Velcros closed, since I don't do ties around the neck. I'm paranoid that way...)

They all had fun playing games...


...and getting candy...


...and playing more games...

...while EATING some candy along the way...

...and getting even more candy!

Of course, hanging out with Ninja cousins, too!

As if the candy they got wasn't enough...they got cupcakes, too!

And look!

Kela even took a turn at throwing the ol' pigskin around!
Of course, in the name of getting more candy!

Here's just some of the kiddos.

Whoa!

And here's the rest of them....plus some friends, too.

Then, during break down/clean up time...the kids entertained themselves with some bubbles and balloons!

Jolee...VERY proud of herself for blowing her very OWN bubbles!

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And then...on Sunday, we headed out to Aunty Airi's house to have a family get-together instead of staying at home.

Like I said, we celebrated the Halloween festivities on Saturday, so Sunday was a simple family affair.

Before heading out....just in case we have some unsuspecting Trick-or-Treaters...we left a bucket of candies and treats.
Little did I know how greedy our neighborhood kids were!

Some punk took the bucket, too!
(Not that I minded, per se....I mean, it was a cheapie bucket from McDonald's that we were planning to throw away anyway. But still...!)

So anyway, at Aunty Airi's house, after a YUMMY dinner, Aunty Elika busted out the sugar cookie mix and the kids got to roll out some Halloween cookies!

And then frost and decorate them!

Didn't we just do this?!

Obviously, the kids didn't mind the repeat activity.

I mean, who would argue with frosted sugar cookies, right?!

And, I just HAD to post a picture of this kid!

My nephew, Justus.


Hope you all had a Happy and Safe Halloween, too!

prepping for halloween...

Can it be October already?!

With Halloween just around the corner, it seems we are bombarded with reminders of candies, pumpkins and sweets, sweets, sweets!!

Not that that's a bad thing, of course.

At Anna and Jolee's preschool, the teacher gave each child their very own little pumpkin. A bit too small to carve, but not so small they couldn't mark up with a sharpie!
Jolee thought it was a nice ball that she kept throwing on the ground.
Go figure.

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Then...as if on cue, it was time for the girls' semi-annual trip to the dentist.

They all did great!
Anna's even smiling for the camera!
Jolee, however, shed a couple tiny tears...but didn't fuss or fight it.
Mommy was very proud.

And, NO CAVITIES!

(YET! We'll see after the 31st!)

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And then later that week (again at Anna and Jolee's preschool) the teacher prepared some Halloween-esque cookies for the kids to decorate.

Pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies with orange frosting and M&M's.

(and despite having my glucose tolerance test the next day...I did manage to sneak in a bite or two. Or three, but who's counting?)

Anna with her sticky, sticky fingers.

Jolee.

Very neatly standing each and every M&M on it's side.
Before proceeding to take them off the cookie and pop them into her mouth.

Leaving the cookie.

Anna.

Surprisingly very modest in her frosting.

I know.

I was totally shocked too.


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Then finally, we headed up to Kela's school for their annual pumpkin carving night. We brought our own pumpkin, carving kit, and borrowed a friends bucket (because we forgot to pre-clean ours beforehand...) and set out to make a unique jack-o-lantern.

Here they are digging out the seeds and muck.
Which is EXACTLY what it is inside.

MUCK.

Hence, no pictures of MY hand inside that thing.

Jolee, on the other hand, couldn't stop sticking her hands inside.

She loved using the scooper to scrape out the seeds.

I think this was the ONLY time Kela even touched the pumpkin.

After this, she was basically outside running around with her friends the entire time...

...While Daddy slaved away at the "ROSE" design they chose for the pumpkin.

Oh, I forgot.

They had cookies.

After eating some cookies is when Kela ran outside.

The finished Rose!

And to be fair, Anna wanted a CAT as well, so the other side of the pumpkin was this.

Not bad, huh?

Good Job, Daddy!

Now...BRING ON THE CANDY!

family pics 2010

Well, it's been WAY too long since we've taken family photos.

I'd say over 3 years!

So, even though I'm 7 months pregnant, and feeling HUGE...I decided it was high time to get some family pictures up on our bare walls.

Mitch's good friend, David Lau, took these pictures for us!

And despite the fact that Jolee refused to smile AT ALL, and we were nearly eaten alive by mosquitoes, and also the very obvious fact that I am as big as a HOUSE, I think the pictures came out great!

Here's just a few from the afternoon.

Kela - 6 years old.

Anna - 4 years old.





Jolee - 2 years old.

Notice the block in Jolee's hand?

It was the only way we could get her to stop lifting up her shirt!

Us girls.

The "bump"

Baby.

To make his debut sometime in January.

a winning season!

After 10 HOT weeks of games and practices...the Watermelon's finished their FINAL game of the season!

And WON!

And, with 3 losses, 3 ties, and 4 wins...the girls had a winning season!

(barely, but who's counting, really)

Here's a few shots of the action this afternoon.

We had an 11 o'clock game...so it was scorching hot!

Believe me, I have the sunburn on my back and a new slipper tan on my feet to prove it!

And, considering this was Kela's very first season playing soccer (not to mention the fact that she's the youngest AND smallest!), she did really well! She even got a couple kicks in here and there...


We didn't have huge expectations from her...only that she have fun, gain some confidence, and make some new friends.
With that in mind, I think we totally succeeded!
She's even looking forward to next season!
(Though that's right about the time that baby #4 makes his debut, so we'll have to see how THAT goes...especially with Anna joining AYSO as well!)

The girls right after the game.
They looked flushed from the heat...but happy because of their win!


Kela and Coach Okumura.


Her very first trophy.

Eating some yummy food after the game!

Jolee.

All she really ate were the teri hot dogs I made.

Kela with her teammate, Madison.

Playing with some silly string afterwards.
Really...isn't this what youth sports are about anyway?