All Saints Day

Luckily, Ben woke up the day after Halloween feeling better, which was good because it was All Saints Day and 1st grade was in charge of the all school mass to celebrate! They had to do a report on their name saint (or a saint of their choosing) and dress up as the saint for mass. We worked hard on his report and parts of his costume, so he didn't want to miss it!

Just in case you were curious, Saint Benjamin was a martyr who preached of Jesus in Persia during a time when it was not allowed. His feast day is March 31.  Unfortunately for my children, I do not sew, so I actually found a place online where you could order a saint costume - ha!  I got a pretty plain one so all 3 kids could wear it for their saints and then we made the embelishments to go with it.  Every picture we found of Saint Benjamin showed him wearing this big hat, so here is what Paul and Ben came up with - pretty good if you ask me!

Here is his class!

Here he is coming into the church singing "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In"

Unlike Abbey, he is not camera shy!

It was a very nice mass.  We all went and enjoyed watching Ben do his part.  He also got to bring up the gifts, which was unexpected but one of the kids who was supposed to do it wasn't there so he filled in.  He wasn't supposed to have a part because he had a part in the year end mass last year.  They try to make sure everyone gets to participate, which is good. 

Happy All Saints Day!

Halloween

Our Halloween started out quite spooky. Just after midnight on Halloween, Ben woke up with croup, which is always a scary experience. Paul took him to the ER and he was given the breathing treatment, which usually helps. After the treatment though, they could still hear it in his voice so they gave him a chest x ray and admitted him for overnight stay to keep an eye on him. Chest x ray came back normal and he got better. He saw our pediatrician in the morning, but it took forever to process being released from the hospital, so he didn't get home until around 1pm in the afternoon. So unfortunately for Ben, he missed the fun fair and class Halloween party at school. But, after an afternoon rest in his bed (he was just so tired), he perked up and was ready for Halloween.

So, while Paul was with Ben at the hospital all morning, I was running around with the girls getting them to their various Halloween events.  Abbey wore this costume to school for her party.  It was a sparkly dress up dress we got from her cousins and she wore it and declared herself a rock star!

It was Juliette's turn for the dance class party, so she chose to be Cinderella!

Here she is in the parade.

And her whole dance class dressed up - so cute!

Abbey being camera shy during her parade.  Then they sang us a bunch of Halloween songs.  It was very cute!

While all this was going on, Ben was getting his own Halloween treat at the hospital!  He decorated a pumpkin, won a 100 piece puzzle for his pumpkin decoration, and got a visit by the hospital German Shepherd, Jake, who climbed up on the bed with him for a cuddle.  Ben loves dogs, so I am sure this was quite a treat!  They even e mailed us a picture of him with Jake - he looks so tiny in this picture!  So at least his hospital stay was festive.  And he was happy to watch TV all morning!

 Well after a long afternoon rest in his bed, Ben came out ready to go trick or treating.  So, we got all dressed up.  Cinderella was ready to go!

Abbey chose Sleeping Beauty for the actual trick or treating and Ben stayed consistent with his ninja costume.

We decorated our "doom buggy" and were ready to go!

Our good friends the Wecks came over - this is our third annual trick or treating tradition now and it is always a lot of fun!  Here are all the kids!

Cuties!

Juliette got quite comfortable in the doom buggy and didn't actually do much trick or treating.  She looked like the queen the way she just sat up and rode so eloquently.  Every now and then Ben or Abbey would ask the person at a house for an extra piece of candy to bring to her.  We had a TON of candy at the end, so she wasn't lacking by not going up to the houses!  

Back at the house it was time for Paul's awesome chili (part of our tradition) and this year we made Witch's Brew for the kids to drink (green koolaid with dry ice)...it was a big hit!

It was a long day and the kids were exhausted, but everyone had fun!

Pre-Halloween Fun

In case you weren't aware, Halloween is now a month long celebration! Well, not quite, but there are so many Halloween festivities around town that it ends up feeling that way, which is very fun!  Paul took the kids to our city's Trunk or Treat where various local companies go and set up booths and pass out candy.  It's really fun and this was the second year we have gone.  Unfortunately, I could not go with this year as I snuck away to Cincinnati for the weekend to see baby Brendan (but more on that later).  Paul and the kids met up with our good friends, who went as The Incredibles!

Enjoying some treats!

You can see that Abbey went as a cheerleader again and Juliette went as Ariel, the Little Mermaid, for this event!

We had a very busy Halloween week.  Abbey's dance class had a Halloween party the day before Halloween and she went as Mereida (the princess from the movie Brave). 

Then while Paul took Abbey to dance class (lunch break from work), I went to school to help out with Juliette's class Halloween party!  She went as Snow White this time!

She wasn't the only Snow White, so she decided she needed to differentiate herself with some sunglasses she found in my purse!

Little Diva!

This was her class as they sang some Halloween songs to the parents - it was very cute!

 

High School Halloween Fair

Several of the high schools by us put on Halloween festivals, so we invited Caroline to come up and go to one with us. It was pretty amazing. Each classroom had a different Halloween activity staffed by high school kids. It was really great and we will definitley try to go again next year as it was a lot of fun!  Juliette decided to go as a turtle!  This was Ben's costume when he was 18 months.  I looked at the tag and it is size 12-18 months, but fits our 3 year old just fine!

Ben was a ninja (he did not change costumes this year) and Abbey was a cheerleader.

The first stop was boo-sical chairs!  Paul had to play with the girls to help them out.  Ben made it until almost the end!  But when they got out they got a piece of candy, so nobody was too upset at not finding a seat when the music stopped!

 

Here is the back of her costume - I just think the shell is so cute!

Caroline and Ben got face painting done!

Abbey got a princess crown on her hand!

Here's the whole crew (except Hunter, who wouldn't put on his costume)!

 

Pumpkin Patch

The day after Abbey's field trip, Juliette's class got to go pick out pumpkins! It wasn't exactly at a patch, but they brought a bunch of pumpkins to the field by the church and let the kids run around and pick one. But first, they sang some Halloween songs for us!

Then they picked their pumpkins.

Good one Juju!

Juliette with her class.

Then they got to play on the playground for a little bit.  What a fun activity for them!