Halloween Party!

Nolan has a new best friend. He likes to call him "My Piggy!" Its actually a game but the belt broke on the pig so now he just carries him around and even takes him to bed with him. Actually, Nolan takes a lot of strange toys to bed at night. Spencer did this too, and Easton still does every now and then. Whatever works....

Once a month the moms in my neighborhood all get together for dinner. This night it happened to be all the moms who just had boys that could make it out. We actually only have 6 girls out of 24 kids with 3 more boys moving in soon. Between the 5 of us that night we have 13 boys.

Easton found the perfect place to play one day while I worked on switching out seasonal clothes in the boys rooms. He kept himself busy playing in the bath tub for almost an hour.

Oh Easton, I love you but sometimes our battles drive me crazy! So for some situations I use the love and logic parenting style. You insists on wearing a t-shirt and shorts ALL the time! When we are in the house fine but when we need to go somewhere it's a hassle getting him to change. We had to walk down and pick Spencer up from the bus this day. Snow flakes were starting to fall and I made sure we went early. We weren't 1/2 way down the street and Easton was cold. He kept trying to walk next to me and put his hands in my pockets and I kept moving away (I know I'm a mean mom) by the time we got home he was cold and I reminded him that the next time I ask him to wear pants and a coat he should listen. So that night when we went to swimming he wore the coat into the car took it off and put it back on before walking into the Y. Yup that's our Easton...

We had friends over for lunch and to bake some cookies...

Grandpa John and Grandma Julie sent the boys a package full of things from their trip to Hawaii and Halloween goodies.

The boys played cards with Ryan in the basement...

Nolan's signature move....

I set off the smoke detector one day and ever since then the boys have been afraid of them.

In this picture Nolan is yelling at it to stop beeping

We are working on a reward system to go bowling based on what colors the boys are on at the end of the school day. They have to earn 10 check marks before we will go. They get a check for every time they are on blue or above. Easton has been doing great. This day he was on purple. His teacher said at his conference he's really trying to help friends in the classroom. Actually she told me a lot about how Easton is a leader in the class. He exceeds in the large motor skills but they are working more on his fine motor skills.

The boys and I made a Target run. Good thing I didn't need anything else or I wouldn't have room for Nolan.

I'm trying to get the boys to move away from the training tooth paste. The pony kind is their favorite. We've been sampling them all. So far the princesses are winning over Monsters, Turtles and Watermelon.

Easton told me he had to go get something in the basement. I think he was down there for a good 15 minutes before I went to check on him. He had snuck a package of glow sticks down there and was breaking them to make them light up. He knew he was busted and in trouble the moment he saw me. It goes to show you should always be concerned when Easton sneaks away.

We had our 2nd Annual Family Halloween party this weekend. We had roughly 27 kids with the average age of 5. The boys have been so excited about their friends coming and the games we were going to play. Thank you to all my friends, sister and especially my mom for helping make this party a big success! Everyone was willing to pitch in and help.

Halloween spooky snacks...

The best cupcakes...

We had different game stations set up with prizes for the kids to earn.

It was time for all the kids to start coming. They were all so excited to show off their Halloween costumes.

All the kids!

Game time...

Even a few of the adults dressed up.

Then it was time for lunch....

Best idea was to have all the kids eat in the garage. It made for an easy clean up.

The last game is everyone's favorite. The toilet paper mummy wrap. 

 Eventually the mummy wrap turns into one big toilet paper fight.

 Somewhere under this pile is our neighbor Justin. Their son is in the orange and he wasn't to sure about his dad getting covered up.

Happy Halloween from the Packer family.

Biggest Loser!

I love finding random pictures on our phones and iPad. 

You may recall when I posted a picture of Spencer after school one day I asked him what he did that day at school and he told me he cut his t-shirt. It seems Nolan overheard him and decided to do the same thing!

You can't really see him here but Spencer is waving to me in the WAY back by the back door. This is school age care. This is where we drop Spencer off in the mornings when I have to work. It's always hard looking back to see him sitting at the table by himself eating. Especially when he tells us he doesn't like it. I actually think he does like it because he's always playing hard when I drop off and even his teacher commented that she thought he looks like he's having fun. I think he just likes riding the bus better.

Spencer had off of school on Thursday and Friday for conferences. This meant I got to have all 3 boys home with me again. I was excited at first and then I quickly remembered why I was excited for Spencer to start school. It's tiring running after these 3 all day!

Easton refuses to believe it's getting cold outside.

We went to the library and the boys got their first library cards and we even checked out books.

Story time. The two kids sitting next to Nolan happen to be our neighbors.

We had our first parent teacher conference this week on Thursday. Spencer's teacher had all really good things to say about him. She told us that he helps encourage other kids when they say they can't do things. She said she trusts him to go to the "big kid's" bathroom down the hall because she knows he will follow rules and come right back. They did 2 performance tests on the kids at the beginning of the school year and he scored average on one and above their standard on another. I hope he continues to do great work and enjoy school. As a reward we got him a new book at the book fair.

Spencer informed us this weekend that at recess he likes to chase girls and they like to chase him!

His classroom is having a box top competion. I've been collecting for almost a year now. So I put the boys to work to cut them out nicely to glue on the papers. I hope his class wins the ice cream treat.

We also did some fun Halloween activites....

Ghost Cookies...

They made their own Halloween plates....

This kids have been obsessed with the iPad! 

It's moments like these when I think really...... 

All those little dark specs are halloween window clings. They thought it would be fun to throw them at the wall and ceiling. 

Nolan will no longer be getting gum. I found his in the fireplace. 

It was a big Hudson high school football game on Friday so Ryan took the boys. They were waiting for the team to come off the field at half time. The boys absolutely love this part!

Apparently Nolan stood in his signature move for about a minute straight!

The team coming back out of the locker room. You really can't see the boys, but they're next to #24

It's that time of year again for family pictures. I always love when this day is OVER! It's a lot of prep work and planning. Trying to get all 11 of us to just be looking in the same direction at the same time is a challenge. Here is a sneak peek...

We headed over to a family friends house for the Badger game. Hadley and Nolan played together. I kept seeing them hold hands.

 There is a reason why I stay upstairs and try not to listen to or go down in the basement where all the dad's and little boys are.

Spencer is arm wrestling with a friend of our family!

I prefer cuddling with this cute little girl!

Like most gatherings with the littles, we ended the night with a dance party. Nolan performing his move again.

Simon and Spencer dancing to Gangnam Style.

A few weeks ago my friends convinced me to do the Biggest Loser Run/Walk in EC. Since I was already going to be there I said sure. It was so cold that morning! I know when I ran the 1/2 marathon there was still snow on the ground but today felt colder. I had no expectations going into this race. I just wanted to finish and go warm up in the car.

My dad was nice enough to take us to the race and stood along to watch us go by.

I'm always so happy when it's over!

Today I had my best race so far! I feel very proud that I finished under 27 minutes at 26:58 (every sec counts!) I was 7th female for my age group and 140th over all out of about 3,000 run/walkers today. With that being said it's time for bed!

If your wondering why this post is a day late..... I was busy taking care of the boys while Ryan enjoyed going to the Packer game with his brother.