Easter 2009 & g5 Weekend Update

We had a nice Easter weekend. We did the usual. Hid Easter eggs, colored Easter eggs, had a huge caloric meal and went to church.

Friday, since our helper Jamie was here with her kiddos, we decided to dye eggs and do a preliminary egg hunt. We gave Jamie's kids some goodies. It was a fun day, but we all missed Javi. Javi was visiting with his dad who was in town from the CHP academy.

My mom came in to town on Saturday and since we were sharing Javi this holiday weekend, we decided to do our Easter on Saturday. We did the big meal, ham au gratin potatoes and stuffing! Then I made a dutch apple pie for dessert, yum! We did the egg hunt and the Easter bunny came with the baskets. Loads of sugar for my little bunnies ;0)

Sunday, we met our friends the Pomiak family at church. Kaylee didn't quite make it through the mass, but did surprisingly well considering that we were there about 30 minutes before mass started and then made it through 45 minutes of the service. T hen we came home and had leftovers and watched a movie together. I had a mountain of dishes from the day before to catch up on and I tried to clean up a bit, since I have been down for the count with pneumonia most of the week. I crashed out around 7pm. I was feeling pretty run down from the busy weekend. I don't think my body was quite ready to get back to a regular routine, because I woke up this morning feeling sick all over again.

So, back to the doc for me, I think. I am guessing that it's viral pneumonia and that's why the antibiotics didn't work too well.

Here's all the pics from the weekend....



Hope you had a fab Easter weekend!!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Hope you all had a nice Valentines Day! We are on our way to fabulous Las Vegas! See you on Wednesday in Blogland ;)

G5 Extended Weekend Report

Hope you all had a great weekend!! How about that inauguration too? I wasn't able to catch it because we were in therapy, but I am sure I'll catch the highlights on the news.

So much to share about the weekend with it being such a long one. Friday night, we tried to go to Nickel City, a local arcade, but it was over run with teenagers by the time we made it there. Ethan had pooped out and feel asleep on the way and Kaylee was being, well Kaylee. We said we would try to do it on Saturday instead. Friday night after the kids went down, I went out for a bit to celebrate my friend passing his series 7 test.  I was the DD.  It was fun, ran in to another old friend from HS. 

Saturday was a lazy day, we played video games and hung out, went to exchange our cable box, finally!!  We had been with out cable for nearly a month because I didn't know that they were open on Saturdays and I never made time to do it during the week. We were going to go to Nickel City, but Javi has been so OCD about roller coasters and height requirements that we decided to forego Nickel City and pick out a new game, Thrillville, for the Wii. We did all our research online first to find the perfect "roller coaster" game for Javi. We also got Ethan a new GBA game called Sonic Adventure 3. Javi now has a new incentive system to stop "stimming" (flapping & clapping).  So he (his pic) will have to move up the roller coaster train to be able to play for 20 minutes.  Each car is worth 20min with out stimming.

Sunday we went to the beach for a bit.  It was a gorgeous day out.  We took out neighbor Audrey with us.  Here's some pics.  Of course we were home in time to watch some football ;)

Kids were tuckered out early from our day at the beach and went to bed early.  I was able to pop over to see a movie at my girlfriend Natalie's house.  We watched "Love, Actually".  It was really good.  I had been wanting to see it for a long time.  Mark had been working a lot this weekend, so I was on my own for evening entertainment.

Monday we had our usual therapy session for Kaylee, a play date at the park with Javi's friend, Rory.  Then we headed down to daddy's old stomping ground, Ocean Beach.  It was so beautiful down there!  I got some great pics of the kids with the sepia setting on my camera.  I had never taken pics with the sepia setting, so I thought I would give it a go.

Tuesday, we had our usual Physical Therapy session, to which Kaylee did absolutely fab in!  It is working much better for her to go back to work with Bonnie on her own.  Ethan and I sat in the waiting room (Javi went to dad's).  I checked blogs, he played and then we read a book together.  It was a team effort!  He is doing really well with the site words.  Then we had a play date with my HS friend and 3 of her 4 kids at the park.  Busy vacation weekend!!

Congrats if you made it to the end of this holiday weekend post!!  Hope you all had a great weekend too!!!

It ain't over yet...

Hope everyone had a happy Monday and MLK day!! For me, the long weekend isn't quite over yet ;) My kids are out for one more day because of the school district's professional growth. Nice that they made it a four day weekend for the kids. I will have our usual G5 weekend report a couple days late, since we have two extra days of weekend!! Think I'm ready for the weekend to be over. I'm tired from all these activities.

Got some great pics of the kids this weekend! We went to the beach two days in a row, since San Diego is experiencing a heat wave at the moment. It feels like summer. Temps have been near 80. Think I'm ready to curl up by the fire again and have a little more winter. Summer is nice, but best in the summer months, not it the middle of January!

Have a great day and we'll see you again in blogland by Wednesday morning!

Happy 2009!!

Here are some pics from our New Years Eve gathering. We had a lot of fun. Javi was a party animal!!! He stayed up until 1:30AM!! We karaoked at the tail end of the evening. Unfortunately, I didn't start snapping pics until after midnight. I'm usually pretty good about that too. Guess I should have appointed someone to be the camera person. I was busy playing hostess, cooking, talking, making sure everyone was comfortable, so we missed taking pics of half our guests that left early. I started out more dressed, but changed in to sweats about 11:30. Wanted to be comfy to ring in the new year. Unfortunately, Mark missed out on the countdown. He wasn't feeling too well. Guess those two martinis were too much to handle after a one year sabbatical from drinking.

There was a progressive party going on in the neighborhood, so we did rove a bit (Mark and I took turns). Javi ended up going to every party ;) I'm telling you, I'm going to have to watch that kid! He stuck near the girls most of the night. Thanks again to Audrey, our neighbor for helping out with the kiddos.

Hope you all had a happy and safe New Years Eve! Have a great weekend and here's to another year of friendship and love.

Countdown to the New Year!

Been a busy week so far with the countdown to the new year. We have been preparing and getting the house all spiffed up and ready to receive guests for new years eve, plus, I just like to start the year off clean. I just usually wait until after all the holidays are over, but with the party I was a little premature ;) We have been purging cabinets, refrigerators, closets, garage, toy boxes. Pretty much, most of the house (except my master closet, which I did last month). Even did a little furniture rearranging! Yep, you know me!!

Jamie our helper has been a GODSEND!! She is truly a gem. She is both my hands (not just my right hand woman). She helps me with my OCD too ;) Although, don't know if it's helpful to be my accomplice *wink*. We have done so much over the last few days. The house looks truly amazing!! She actually helped me do yard work today! Way above and beyond the call of duty! I did manage to even steal away, sans children, this morning to go to drop off donations at Goodwill and go to Costco with my friend and neighbor. That was nice! Thank goodness she comes tomorrow too, I will be like a chicken with my head cut off, I'm sure. I am always a psycho the day of a party. I have most of my prep work completed. Just saving those last minute things, vacuuming, wiping down the bathroom, etc. Oh, how I love to entertain guests! I don't know why, because it is so labor intensive, but I love to have people over and cook, talk over a cocktail, have everything look pretty. Silly, I know!

Ok, I am going nuts with the smell of that cake baking. Yep, decided to make a simple cake, nothing fancy because of time constraints. Also can't wait to test out my new bread maker tonight after I frost the cake! Thanks mom!

Hope you all have a fantastic NEW YEAR!!! See you in blogland next year!!!

Christmas 2008 Pictures

We had a great Christmas and here's our proof:



Kaylee Motoring around with her new walker. Hopefully she'll be walking in no time with some practice ;)

Clean up, Clean up, everybody clean up...

Out with the old and in with the new.  It's that time of year.  We are going to start our sort to make room for our new toys.  It's a good habit to get in to.  I don't want the kids to be pack rats like me and Grandpa Jim *wink* (I know you read this Grandpa).  The old toys don't get thrown away, they go to a good home, to someone that really needs them.  That is what I tell the kids when this time rolls around.  We purge every Christmas and Birthday (July).  I usually start it the week before, of toys that I know they no longer play with and they finish with the ones that are a tougher decision.  We have been doing this for the last few years, so the kids really don't know what it's like to keep stuff they don't use, so it's easy for them to let go.

Other than that, it's a day to start cleaning up the house and getting ready for the new year.  You may think I am a neat freak (ok, I am a little) but, I am really not a psycho or anything.  Our home looks quite lived in.  Too lived in for my tastes!! But I never wanted to be that mom that makes her kids put the toys away when they are in the middle of playing with them because I can't handle disorder.  It just makes me a little nuts when the whole house turns in to a playroom.  My kids and husband are NOTHING like me.  They don't care when things are messy.  It doesn't seem to phase them.  Ethan is a little bothered, but he can still make a pretty big mess.  He just doesn't like other people to ;) Sounds like mommy!! LOL  You should see my kitchen when I cook.  I am a really messy chef.  Appropriately enough, Mark tucked some Clorox wipes in my stocking this year.

I am hoping to have the house all purged and clutter free by our NYE party.  We decided to have people here.  We haven't had a party here since Ethan's birthday last year, so I thought it would be fun.  I like the fact that we won't have to leave the house.  We are going to have kids here too.  We'll be playing Wii karaoke, American Idol 2, that we just received for Christmas and grubbing out to some yummies.  It should be a nice relaxing time.  I LOVE to entertain, so it's fun for me.  I love cooking and having people enjoy my dishes.  Making a Mexican themed spread of appy's.  

Ok, better get to gettin' this house isn't going to clean itself!  Although I wish there was a self clean option ;) I'll post some Christmas pics later!  I'm also dying to use my new breadmaker, but I have to finish the kitchen before I bust it out.

G5 Weekend Report

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  We are winding down on days left until Christmas.  Hope everyone has their shopping finished!  I got the last of our "wrapped presents" on Friday.  I headed up to Toys R' Us and got Ethan and Kaylee's last presents.  I have some gift cards to pick up, but that I will do tomorrow.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute, eh?

My mom came up Friday night and we headed out to Costco to do some shopping for our tamale making party on Saturday.  I did all the meat prep and cooked the meat for the next day. I also made the chili sauce and salsa.

The next morning, it was on! We went to McD's to pick up some breakfast and coffee and we got started. We wrapped and cooked for most of the day.  We enjoyed our Mexican feast of chips and salsa, taquitos, beans and rice while we wrapped.  Boy, it is a huge undertaking to make tamales.  We made a lot.  We also made several different kinds.  We have spicy beef, mild beef, spicy beef and cheese, mild beef and cheese, and all the same varieties of pork.  I also have another 5lbs of masa left to make sweet ones (cinnamon raisin).  I was going to finish it up tomorrow.  It takes so long to make everything that you have to make a lot or it's just not worth it.  It's the same prep no matter what.  We were so stuffed from the other food, we didn't even try the tamales until the next day.

Saturday night, I ended up going to my first live stand up comedy show.  Mark and I were supposed to go together, which was mostly the reason my mom came up, but he was still not feeling well enough by Saturday night.  We were going out to celebrate the birthday of a good friend of mine, so I didn't want to ditch out.  Also, when you have a two week stretch of the kids without a break, it's good to get out and have a laugh ;)  Had a good time, but don't know if I would do the whole comedy show thing again.  It was pretty pricey, considering they weren't big names or anything.  They were pretty funny and I did have a good laugh.  I got to visit with some old friends and even managed to learn a few words in Japanese!  All and all, good fun.  Wished Mark could have come :(

Sunday, I took the kids to a puppet show in Balboa Park.  We did get to see some really cute dogs dressed up in Christmas outfits.  I don't know if they had some event going on, but everywhere we turned there was a dog all dressed up.  They were really cute.  The kids had a really good time at the puppet show too.  We sang and clapped (clapping is Javi's fav thing to do *stimming*).  It was a Christmas program, so it definitely got us in to the spirit.

Sunday night, I took the kids to have dinner at my friend Carrie's.  We made some carne asada from my fav Mexican market, where I purchase most of my supplies from.  Most people in there don't speak english, so I get to bust out some of my espanol whenever I go there.  Mostly, I just say "Necesito arrachera preparada, cuatro libras, por favor" (I need marinated flank steak, 4 lbs please.) or "cuanto cuesta?" (how much does it cost?).  My Spanish is pretty rusty these days because I don't need to use it that often.  I can still understand it pretty well, but my conversational Spanish is pretty awful now.   

Had a fun, but very busy weekend.  Looking forward to relaxing a little now that Christmas is winding down.

...and then there were SIX!!!

Santa's hour glass is slowly winding down!  Hope you are getting close to finishing your shopping.  I finished my shopping for the kids today.  Hooray!!  Now just need to pick up some gift cards and we are set!  Yesterday we read the Night Before Christmas and the Christmas Mouse for our 12 days activity.

Tonight we are working on the prep for our tamale party tomorrow.  We loosely celebrate some Mexican holiday traditions, like Tamales for Christmas and Menudo for New Years, which is by the way, a hang over cure!  Tamales are typically made by the family and eaten on February 2nd, which marks the end of the holiday season, but for some reason, in California, it's become a tradition to have them around Christmas.

For those of you that do not know, a Tamale is a meat, cheese, fruit or veggies all enclosed in "masa" which is a corn meal dough and then wrapped up in a corn husk and steamed.  It's eaten by unwrapping it from the corn husk and eating the cooked "masa" and whatever is incased inside.  Yummy!

To lift your holiday spirits here's a musical interlude from the boys and also became part of our 12 days activity, which was watching Christmas movies ;)

Ethan's Preschool Christmas Party

Kaylee and I went to Ethan's Christmas Cookie Party.  We had a really good time.  I loved watching the kids sing.  Too cute!!

I also published some still photos to Flickr.

...and then there were EIGHT!

Today was not the most exciting 12 days activity.  We wrote out Christmas cards to our teachers and wrapped their presents.  It had to be done, so I thought why not try to spice it up and make it an activity!  I actually wanted Ethan to stamp some of the cards, but as it turns out, no stamp pad!  So, he helped a little with the presents for all the teachers and therapists while Javi wrote his cards out.  Ethan got tired and bored with this activity very quickly, so we never got to his cards.

We have 15 presents for teachers, aides, and therapists.  We actually don't even give them to every one either.  I only give them to people we know well and the kids see regularly.  I would be giving out 25-30 presents if we did one for everyone they work with.  Not that we don't appreciate what they do, it just would get really pricey to do one for everyone.  They are little Christmas boxes filled with assorted yummy chocolates.  They look pretty cute.

We presented Jamie, our friend and helper, with her present today.  I gave her a "bonus", a gift for her, and one small gift for each of her two kids.  She cried and said it was "too much".   I only wish I could have done more.  She actually told me it was the first present she has received in years.  I couldn't believe my ears!!  She has been going through kind of a rough time lately, so I wanted to do something special for her, since she is always so good to us.  She has offered on more than one occasion to just watch our kids with out payment.  She even came when I was sick and tried to leave with out me signing her time card.  She is such an awesome person.  I wanted her to know how loved and appreciated she is.  We really are fortunate to have found someone that is so great with me and great with our kids.  It felt good to do something nice for her.  She really is more than a "nanny" to us.  She is a good friend.  That is what the spirit of Christmas is all about.  It wasn't about the gifts, or bonus, it was about sharing that bond of friendship and appreciation for each other.  The exchange of thoughtfulness.  It didn't matter who gave what.  That is what gift giving is all about.  We can sometimes get wrapped up in the reciprocating monetary values.  "So and so bought me a $10 item, so I have to buy him a $10 item.".  It really takes the fun out of giving a gift.  A gift as defined by the dictionary:

A gift or present is the transfer of something, without the need for compensation that is involved in trade. A gift is a voluntary act which does not require anything in return. Even though it involves possibly a social expectation of reciprocity, or a return in the form of prestige or power, a gift is meant to be free. 

So while we are out shopping and wrapping and getting caught up in the Christmas hoopla, remember the true meaning of a gift this Christmas.  

To me the greatest gift one can have are friends and family like you...Thanks for following the G5 family blog.  We love you!!! 

10 days to go!!

We baked some cookies for today's 12 days activity.  We made Gingerbread, GFCF Sugar Cookies (click for link to that recipe, in my opinion, they could have used some Xanthan Gum and I put about 1/4cup more sugar)  and these yummies, that were Mark's fav, Toffee Oatmeal Chocolate Chip!  Sounds weird, but they were delish!  I found the recipe in Cooking Light in their 12 Christmas cookie recipes section of this month's mag.  I altered it, of course.  Me being me!!  I hate to follow recipes, they are merely a suggestion to me ;)  So here's what I changed:

I used butter flavored Crisco instead of margarine and I added an extra tsp, Almond Extract instead of Vanilla, Added refined baker's sugar about 1/4 c  and just a handful more golden brown sugar (the recipe wasn't sweet enough for my tastes) and semi-sweet chocolate chips.  

Ok, so they probably aren't very light any more, but what the heck, it's Christmas!!  

Here are the pics.  Our friend Audrey came over to bake with us.  She brought an apron for Ethan, so we all had them on.  Ethan was asleep for most of the baking, but we did get a few pics while he was awake and he of course got to be the official taste tester!

G5 Weekend Report

Ok, so I know I missed last weekend's report, but I'm trying to make it a regular habit. Mama Skates sets a good example ;)

Ethan and Kaylee's sickies are still lingering, so we didn't do much with the kiddos.  Ethan is battling it the most and is still home sick with me.  Let's see...

Friday, we did our 12 days, even though I know it was really 13 days 'til Christmas, I wanted to make sure Javi got to participate before going to Dad's for the weekend.  We "elfed" the kids with Elf Yourself.com as you can see from the previous post.  We had left over pizza and watched movies until we passed out.  We also finished up our holiday cards and mailed them out.  So, look for them in the mail this week!

Saturday, Kaylee and I headed out  to the mall. It was a mad house, just as I thought it would be.  Thank goodness I had a yummy Starbucks coffee to enjoy while battling the crowd.  We went on a three hour shopping sprint.  We did get a lot of stuff, but we have to return some of it sometime this week.  I purchased a Apple Airport Base Station 802.11 N for Mark, but he decided we should wait on such a big purchase with Christmas and Ethan's birthday coming up.  We donated at the Epilepsy Foundation's stand at the mall and got a shopping bag, gingerbread house and two cookies to decorate.  Dr. Neuro's admin was working the stand, so we finally got to meet her in person.  We actually have an appointment tomorrow.  Saturday night was ladies night for Mommy. I made some yummy spinach balls and took a bottle of wine over to my friend Carrie's.  We had a lot of fun.

Sunday I picked up some McD's breakfast for the whole family and some much needed McCafe's coffee.  We enjoyed our 'hashfries' as Ethan  calls them.  Yummy!  The best part of the breakfast, besides the coffee.  Then it was a mad dash to the supermarket to pick up some ingredients for the cake I made for the neighborhood holiday party.  A gift from Tiffany's which I thought would also be holiday neutral ;0)  

Sunday night, I walked over to the neighbor's house with cake and a bottle of wine in hand (Mark decided he would prefer to stay home).  It was a great turn out.  It was probably the best turn out ever as far as the holiday neighborhood parties go.  They had a lot of delicious food including a full ham dinner.  Yum!  I hadn't really eaten a whole lot that day just to prepare for it.  I ended up just having a little nibble of each thing. There was some goat cheese pizza with sun dried tomatoes and really delish artichoke jalapeno dip, just to name a couple of my favs.  Everyone was afraid to cut in to my cake.  They said it was too pretty to eat, which of course it was no big deal.  Nothing in comparison to a Sharon original ;)  I knew I could count on my neighbor, Jon, who always boasts about my cakes, to hack in to it.  I made a cake for his daughter's bday a couple years ago and I always take cake to all the hood parties.  He ended up having two slices!  It was half gone by the time I left.  Thanks I'm sure to Sharon's wonderful BC frosting recipe.  Mmmmm....I love that frosting and I hate frosting!!  What I can't figure out though is how you get the butter cream cakes so darn smooth!!  I will have to pick the expert's brain about that ;)

This AM I wasn't feeling to hot, due I'm sure to the three glasses of wine I had at the party.  I am becoming a little bit of a wino this holiday season.  I really enjoy wine.  They had such a huge selection last night, that I felt like I was at a tasting, which is why I ended up having a few glasses.  

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

It's a Princess...just like Mommy

Ethan: Look mommy!! (playing Super Mario Galaxy, while Mommy was checking email)

Mom: Yeah baby, what's up?

Ethan: It's a Princess, just like you!

God, I love that kid! He's my boy!  

On this weekend's agenda:

Friday, we are celebrating the 1st day of the twelve days of Christmas.  We will be doing a different activity every day.  Today, I think we will be doing Elf Yourself.  I know the kids will get a big kick out of it.  I will also be sending out our holiday cards today, so look for them in the mail sometime next week.

Saturday, I will be heading out to do some more Christmas shopping and hanging out with the kiddos.  Of course another 12 days activity in the evening, then after kids go down, wooo hoo, it's ladies nite!!  I am going over to Carrie's house for some girls fun.  We are going to have some app's and a little vino.

Sunday night is our neighborhood Christmas party, so we will be stopping by, or I will.  Still haven't really gotten a definitive answer from Mark on whether he wants to come ;0)

Cracking up to be a busy weekend.  It's the holidays!

Getting in the holiday spirit

My friend posted this to Facebook and I got such a kick out of it, I thought I would post it. It especially reminds me of you Danielle, since you are the only one of us that can really say you had Christmas in Africa!

This will song will definitely get you in the holiday spirit and put a smile on your face.

Christmas, in full swing

It's been a busy week.  I have been out shopping for Christmas every day this week.  I was trying to wrap as it came in, but I got about one thing wrapped and shoved the rest in the closet.  I know I will be spending my typical evenings of blogging, tweeting and facebooking, wrapping presents like a little elf.

I am 100% done with Mark's shopping. 90% done with Javi's, 60% done with Ethan's and 40% done with Kaylee's.  I will be happy to get 'er done by early next week.

We have our tree up, but we are waiting to trim it.  We wanted to wait, so we could do it all together this weekend.  The rest of the house is decorated.  I finished that on Monday.  I have been waiting to put up the exterior lights.  I have actually been debating putting them up at all.  With the energy crisis going on, I think I will probably just put them up before Christmas and turn them on on Christmas Eve, Christmas day and New Years.  I thought it would be a much more eco friendly approach.  We have exterior decor, but why waste perfectly good energy and money making the house look pretty for passers by?  I think we can muster holiday spirit with out the lights being on 24/7.  We have yet to switch to solar powered LED's, but hope to invest in them one of these years.  Then we can enjoy them eco style!!

Don't forget to BYOB this holiday season!!  That is to say, bring your own bag.  If you don't have your own, be sure to recycle the one's you do bring home.  I made the mistake of forgetting mine last night, so I had them put everything I purchased in one bag, which makes it much easier to carry anyway!  Remember, Santa carries a sack that he uses every year ;)

Well, Ms. Grace, as I've been called for most of my life, has once again injured herself.  I broke my toe while working out yesterday.  Yes, it was only my second work out, since I committed to trying to get healthier by making more time to work out.  Don't worry, I won't let it discourage me.  I'll be getting right back in to my routine as soon as this toe heals.  I am certainly not going to let it slow me down!!

Thanksgiving Pics

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  It wasn't what we expected it to be, but it was still nice.  We had planned on going to my grandparent's house in Los Angeles, but Javi took sick on Wednesday night, so we didn't want to take any germs to my elderly grandparents.

I threw together a last minute feast and it was de-lish!  Complete with GFCF stuff for Javi that actually came out really good.  The pie didn't taste quite the same, but it was ok.  I was too stuffed to eat dessert, but Mark and Ethan enjoyed the pumpkin spice cake.

Mmmm...can't wait to have leftovers today!

The g5 Family

Daddy's Girl

Our girl.  The boys were done with pics by this point :)

Mommy's Girl

My precious boys.

Our Thanksgiving Tablescape

Kaylee in her Thanksgiving Outfit

Mmmmm...meat off the bone.

Thanksgiving Art Project

Today we made some napkin rings for thanksgiving.  They are little feather head dresses.  Next week when the kids are off, I thought we would make the counterpart napkin rings, the pilgrim hats.  

They came out cute and the kids kinda had fun making them.  

Ethan doesn't like to get his hands dirty, so I helped him paint his.

Javi in deep concentration mode while he paints.

    

Javi couldn't wait to mix the paint after we were finished.

Ethan practiced his cutting skills.

The finished product.  Little head dresses!

Knotts Camp Spooky and Halloween Photos

We had a great Halloween. We went to Knott's Berry Farm with the kids on Thursday. We were shocked we were still able to make it. My mom had gotten out of the hospital that morning and we went straight to Knott's. She couldn't bare Javi's disappointment, so she trucked on and we went for a few hours. It was the perfect amount of time there, since it wasn't crowded at all. It was decorated for the night time event "Haunt" so it still felt like we were there for Halloween. We had bought tickets over the summer time and they expired on Halloween, so we thought we'd at least go for a little while, rather than waste the tickets. We had a great time. My mom got to ride a few rides with the kids too, but she mostly let me take Javi on rides. Ethan wasn't that interested in riding that day. We did get to ride the two different trains they have, which Ethan was thrilled about. The park closed early to the regular patrons, so they could get ready for the night time event. We stayed until it closed until 5:30, then we had dinner at the chicken restaurant there, which is one of our favs.

We had family over for Halloween.  We had Javi's Nana, Aitona (Javi's Grandparents), Acho and Brianne (Javi's dad and stepmom), and Javi's Aunt and cousin Analia.  We are still very close to them and celebrate many of our holidays and birthdays together.  

We served chili with a topping bar, corn bread, hot apple cider and cocoa at the party. We have had the fam over every year for the last three years. The kids, including Javi's cousin Analia (flamenco dancer), go trick or treating with the fam while I stay behind and pass out candy.  

The aftermath, empty Chili crockpot and the empty topping bar which included two kinds of Cheez-it's, Fritos, shredded cheese, green onion, and sour cream.

Hot beverage bar with Javi and Ethan's pumpkins.

It was fun. I always get way in to Halloween. It was nice to have the fam over too. The chili was demolished, so I assume everyone enjoyed it. I made a crock pot full and there was nothing left.

We decorated with foyer as a zombie meat market. I got the inspiration from our trip to Sea Scare. I was the zombie butcher. I actually forgot to take a pic of the set up, but we had our dinning room table as a gurney with a "body" which consisted of blankets covered by a "hospital green" sheet, with just a foot hanging out. I had my butcher block all set up with a hand, and a head that we affectionately called "Bob". The boys and I also made "brains" out of macaroni and a corn syrup, food coloring, water and cornstarch. I kept eating pieces of it to gross the kids out. I gave them a choice between candy and brains. Had a couple takers on brains :) We called it the "Whole Body Foods Market" our slogan "Fresh Flesh for your Family".  

Wish I had gotten a pic of the set up, but you get the idea.