1st Halloween in our new city

This was our 1st Halloween since we've moved.It was a busy week and kindof hard that it fell on a Wednesday. It seemed the week should be over, but we were forced to get the kids to bed semi-on time. Daniel and I were exhausted and in bed my 9 p.m. What did we do to make it such a wonderfully, tiring day?
The day started off with the kids getting to wear their costumes to school. Emmaline was choosing between a fairy and a cheerleader. Her friend from her class helped her decide on a cheerleader. She looked adorable with her high ponytail and was practicing her jumps and cheers in the front yard before she left. I decided that Hayes would be Batman, basically because we had the costume and I didn't have to buy anything. He could have been a giraffe, but didn't seem to care at first. I'm glad he chose Batman because it was a little warm for the giraffe costume. He ended up LOVING his costume and didn't want to take it off. Luckily I got it off of him during naptime. His teacher said he chose to wear it all through the day unlike the rest of the kids, even his little mask! The mask he wore was a favor from Hoyt's superhero party..the original mask that came with it was plastic and broke..so we improvised! I thought he looked so cute and was happy he was comfortable in his costume! Georgia wanted to be a giraffe, at first, again..but I think she just gets nostalgic seeing her old costumes. Then she wanted to be Brave, but I didn't want to shell out $30 for a costume right now, so we compromised on her Tinkerbell costume! It fit her well and was in good condition. She was happy with it and comfortable. As soon as I dropped off G and HB at school I drove over to E's school to see her parade. I met her class in time right before they paraded (trick or treated) through each classroom. I am so glad I went. Almost every parent was there, mom and dad, and she was surprised to see me. She held my hand as we walked through the building. It was fun seeing her interact with her friends and be herself. I'm so happy she loves school so much! We eventually made it to her classroom where they had a party. She told me it was her best day ever..and it was only 10 a.m.! After I left there, I checked out a few new-to-me shops in town. They have some nice things and a boutique baby store! I love finding places that have unique gifts! Me and Daniel were able to meet for lunch at the Thai restaurant. It was delicious as usual!
I went early to pick up Hayes and Georgia and when I went it they were just getting ready to trick or treat at the school...so I got to surprise them as well and watch them go door to door with their friends. Hayes was so cute and would say, 'tain too' (thank you) each time he got something. He was so excited!!
Georgia was very into her friends and sticking with her class but she gave me a huge smile when she saw me.Again I was so glad I got there just in time to see them trick or treat at school.We hurried home at 1 for naps so Hayes would make it through the evening ok. We picked up E at 3 from school and made our way home to carve our pumpkin. Georgia was my helper, Emmaline just told me how I needed to do it and what I was doing wrong, while Hayes pointed and oohed at the guts of the pumpkin. We decided on a basic face. G was upset I didn't make a scary face at first and started to throw a fit (a regular thing we deal with around here daily). When I let her pull out the smile from the pumpkin she was much happier because it was so big! We had a quick dinner then went back to E's school for the Boo Fest. It was lots of fun, lots of bounce houses, rides, tattoos, popcorn and cotton candy. The kids also got to trunk or treat which they loved. It was a quick stop because we planned on meeting at a friend's house to trick or treat with them.
It was nice to hang out at the Brandt's because they live close to us in the country club. Daniel got to talk hunting with her husband and have a few drinks. We took the kids fairly early because we heard the neighborhood gets really crowded on Halloween. It sure did. Everyone there has golf carts, so they were everywhere. Hayes did great walking around and his blonde hair and costume got lots of compliments. Emmaline was so excited and ran up to every door. Georgia wanted to eat her candy instantly! Hayes used his pumpkin that he made at school to carry his loot and it kept spilling out in the street. He was double fisting before the night was over. He too wanted to eat the candy right away and didn't understand why he should wait!
It was a great evening! We got home about 8:30 and still had plenty of people wanting to trick or treat at our house. We didn't have any candy other than what the kids just got. Emmaline was apparently dying to hand candy out so I told her if she wanted to she could give some of her own. She did and was so proud of herself for doing it!
Soon after, we all headed upstairs and crashed! Another wonderful Halloween with my little family!! And a Happy Birthday to my cousin Dan and my good friend Leslie..What fun to be Halloween babies..Love ya'll!

Our life update

Here's a little snippet of our life right now:

Daniel: been traveling more than usual for work, busy being the DIY guy on our house renovation, painted and fixed up the laundry room!! Still won't play the name game with me. He won College Pick 'Em 2 weeks now, so he is in the money!! YEA!
Erica: 21 weeks pregnant (posting this I am almost 22 weeks)!! Feeling pretty good I must say, not too big but finally showing though most people who don't know already can't tell. I am getting heartburn on occasion..seems a bit early for that. Had my big u/s to tell gender..but we didn't find out. Things look good, baby measuring correctly. I am enjoying MOPS, being on steering team and staying busy with house and kids. Now if I could just get myself to work out a bit more...
Emmaline: started playing soccer and made a goal at her 1st practice..she is aggressive and loves it! Still loves school and is learning so much. She is also doing dance through her school, which is ok but I'm not too impressed with it, but she likes it! At the parent-teacher conference her teacher told me she has beautiful handwriting! She loves to draw and make pictures for people.
Georgia: is swimming wonderfully. Jumped off the diving board by herself and swam to the side with no problems. Wrote her name for me by herself for the 1st time. I realize she is 4, but she had no interest in writing or using pencils, crayons, markers until recently! She had 6 stitches in her forhead and was so brave. Not 4 days after she got those removed she busted open the back of her head at dinner (she was literally sitting in timeout and squirmed off the bench). It was recommended I take her to ED for staples, but that sounded traumatic, so I opted out and we are doctoring it ourselves. (Did I mention Daniel was still out of town at this point?) She is looking great so far!She loves to feed the dogs as her chore and never complains about it (hope that lasts a while!).
Hayes: sleeps in his big boy now and doing great with literally no problems. He asks to keep his door open now, but we decline and he gets over it usually with no crying.Hayes wanted to use the potty before bed, so we stuck him on it and he went. Got some M&Ms and went again! He went the next day as well, but hasn't used it since then. I haven't done a thing to promote it..I'm not really ready for that. I don't think he quite is, but glad he isn't scared of it anymore!His latest 'game' he plays with me is "Mom, I'm not gonna kiss anymore," and he makes a pouty face at me. I pretend cry and be sad and he says, "OK, one more kiss!" He loves this and it's super cute that he gets so into it!
Baby #4: Heart rate 144, almost a pound, really kicking and moving around, sitting lower on my belly. G still says it's a girl and is very defensive of her. E wants it to be a boy to even out the family. Still no names or real discussion on that. The ultrasound tech thought she saw something irregular with the bowel, while the dr. looked and said it was fine and saw nothing out of the ordinary. I'm hoping she just had a hard time seeing because she had me flipping onto each of my sides and getting into weird positions because of baby's position. I secretly was hoping she or the dr. would slip and tell me the sex. Didn't happen.
House: We have 3 weeks to be moved completely in and out of our rent house. I miss my movers who packed me..please come back and pack me..you have spoiled me for life! We have ordered cabinets, they won't be here for over a month..WTF is all I can say. I have started moving clothes, toys, closet items over..things I can do myself..I use our empty suitcases over and over again..working well and the kids can help me wheel them in and out of the house! We have painted some, cleaned a lot, destroyed even more. We will not have a kitchen in 3 weeks, as if you needed me to write that. Our appliances are nice and shiny and here for the using!! Thanks, Dad!! Our back yard is looking better and we have started to meet our neighbors. I'm excited to move in, but anxious about how it all goes down. And it's going to add on about 10 minute travel time to school. My guess is Christmas we will have most done in the house, besides other things we want to eventually change! We had bees! They are gone now..but that was another fun hiccup.
Dixie & Gauge: They are ok. Dixie is very old and it shows. She doesn't appear to be miserable, but I don't think she is loving life. Gauge is still his hyper self, though he had slowed down a lot since his surgery. I don't know if it's the neutering or something more. He still loves to fetch and Dixie still loves to fight with him over the ball, so that is good!
So that is pretty much an update on what is going on here. Did I miss something, someone? I feel like I am losing count these days.

Hunting & Fishing

Daniel surprised us by asking the girls to go hunting with him. He got on a lease with one of his bosses for dove hunting and decided he could take the girls, one day one of them and one the next. Hayes never got to go, but he did love checking out the birds and playing in the beer cooler.
I was really thankful he asked the girls to go, it gives them something different to do and it gives me a little break. I now know his secret to making them excited about hunting...it's not necessarily the birds flying, the camouflage wearing, not even Gauge retrieving the birds like a wild dog..no, it's the snacks and drinks that Daniel lets them pick out at the convenient store before they go! Now I know the truth!
I am really happy that they got to go and spend some Daddy time! Even if Georgia only lasted an hour and wanted to sit in the car and hold her ears! While my parents were in town for the birthday week, we took my dad out on a deep sea fishing day for his birthday. We left Monday morning, way too early.We took dramamine so we wouldn't get seasick. I am glad I took it, but then Daniel's friend from work offered us a patch also. I'm not sure why me and my dad thought that was a good idea, but we did..oh yeah..it was really rough going out and we didn't want to get sick. It ended up not being too rough but the medicine drugged us. By the end of the day we were both zombies. My dad said he can't remember dinner or the drive home! I remember everything just fell asleep randomly and was out of it.

My mom was so nice to keep the kids while we were gone the entire day. She got them up and took E to school, Sherry helped through breakfast, and played with them the rest of the day. They had a blast and I really appreciate her doing that so we could have a fun day fishing.

We drove out for a while on the boat and finally reached a spot behind a shrimp boat...no luck though, so we boated on. The day was flawless and the weather was a perfect temperature! We saw dolphins, which I now know mess up the fishing, but I was happy to see them! We finally caught some red snapper...a ton of them and limited pretty quickly. It was lots of fun and barely took any time between baiting and casting to catch another.
I'm so glad we were able to go and have a fun day on the sea! Noone got sick and we have lots of fish to eat! It reminded me so much of the days my dad would take us out on Wally's boat to fish and spend the day. Thanks Dad for going with us!! I hope you had fun despite the accidental slight drug overdose..at least the fish tacos were worth it!! Love you and happy 65th birthday!!