Monday, October 22, 2012

Halloween Party 2012

 I can't believe it's time again for our annual Halloween party!  This is what Tom told Ben to do anytime anyone wanted to take Ben's picture.  He's a karate guy - the karate kid to be exact. 

                                    Elizabeth is obviously a skeleton - her daddy did her makeup :).
 Can anyone tell how we are all connected?  Think back to the karate kid and pretend that Ben is Daniel in a shower costume.  Yes, we are characters from Tom's favorite movie when he was a kid.  Me, Tom, and Elizabeth were all skeletons who beat up the karate kid in the movie.  Tom wanted to be scary this year. :)
 I only got  a few couples at the beginning of the party.  This is Melanie and her family - Batman, Batman's girlfriend, Batgirl, and Superman! 
 Thank goodness we have the swingset!  This is where the kids spent the majority of their night. 
 Do you recognize Katniss and Peeta?  They are the training version and fighting version.  Love it!
                                                      Some of the girls playing around.
                                              Elizabeth with some friends on the swingset.
                        After the party got started I called all the kids into the playroom to play bingo. 
                     Two friends Joanne and Dana - isn't Joanne's costume gorgeous?  Her mom made it. 
 That's the only picture of me I could find!  I can't believe the 4 of us didn't get a picture together!

                                       I don't think Jackson ever really played - mostly just ate!





                   This picture got kind of stuck in the middle but these are all neighborhood guys. 


                                                       Cooper, the cute football player. 
 After bingo the kids went out to the garage to pop balloons filled with a treat. 
 Ben was all about it - but Elizabeth was too nervous to actually pop a balloon.  She is so much like me!
                                      Last the kids all played the mummy wrap game. 
                                    
                                                        Some even wrapped up faces!
                                                          Ashlynn and Elizabeth
                                                               Ben and Cooper
                                                                  The whole crowd.
                                      After all the kid games we moved onto the adult games. 
 Victoria's trying to retrieve pennies from the bottom of panty hose.  I think it was harder than it sounded! 
                                      Dianna trying to get the cookie from her forehead to her mouth. 

                                                         Dwayne doing the cookie game. 
 
 This was the funniest part to me!  Tom was trying so hard to stretch all the way to the ground to pick up those bags.  Hysterical!!!!
This was a new game.  Everyone had shower caps on their heads with shaving cream on top.  Their teammate had to throw cheetos and land them on the caps.  It was so funny to watch.  Everyone was so competitive!  We played 11 games and had a few heated debates between teams on who was the winner.  Tom and I had such a great time! 
 This was one of the only new decorations I put up.  I took the pictures of the kids in their costumes throughout the years and strung them up. 
                             I love love love looking at pictures of the kids when they were little!
                                                  Baby Jackson is so stinking adorable! 
Wendy and Peter Pan from last year.  I feel like Halloween is already over - even though we haven't even had it yet!  Such a great time of the year!

Ben's Kindergarten Program

 We were so excited to get to go to Ben's Kindergarten program - it was all about nursery rhymes.  The songs they sang were so adorable!  They were so funny and interesting, not the normal nursery rhyme songs.  All the kids were asked to dress as a nursery rhyme character so Ben dressed as a king - Old King Cole.  I didn't let him bring a pipe though! :)Ben is in the top row with the red hat, right in the middle.  I'm surprised he made it to the top row, I didn't think he was that tall!
 The entire kindergarten.  You can't really see it but on the right was a boy dressed as a big spoon, it was so cute!

 Here's our group of Ben's admirers.  Aunt Nancy, Grandpa H, Ben, Grandma H, Tom, Me, Elizabeth and Grandpa B.  Grandma B had a bible study that she had missed many weeks in a row so she wasn't able to make it. 

                           I wanted to get a picture of our king but he wasn't cooperating very well,
                                        and then he had to just go crazy on the empty stage!
                               Finally got him to stop and take a picture - too bad he has crazy eyes!!
 I wanted a picture of the kids together and they just started hugging!  By the time I got my camera out Ben decided to pick up his feet so he made his sister carry him.  Such goofs.
 On Saturday Ben had his last Tae Kwon Do class for the session.  We did sign him up for the next session, but I finally brought my camera to document these new classes. 
                                                              First up, stretching

                                                                          Balancing

                                                                         Pushups

                                                               Practicing his punching
 After all the warming up and practicing all the moves the kids had some sparring.  This is where mommy got emotional.  I really dislike all fighting.  I can't stand to watch any fights, boxing, etc... We signed Ben up for TKD to get him more focus and to try something new.  I also didn't mind him being able to defend himself, and we'd really like to have Elizabeth take the classes for the same reason, but she has no interest.  Sparring is part of it, but I really didn't like it.  I may have shed some tears when it was all over (not where Ben could see me).  Ben was pretty nervous but he did a great job.  Half of the kids in class are brand new, and half have been there for years.  Unfortunately the numbers weren't even and since Ben was the biggest of the new kids he got paired up with a boy who had done TKD for years.  The instructor told him to be easy on Ben since this was his first time, and he was.  Ben did a great job.  He did his best and landed some hits.  I can't believe it am even talking about my son hitting!  I'm obviously having some problems with this.  :)
                                   Here's Ben showing the instructor his punch with the gloves on. 
                                                        On to bowing and showing respect.


                                                                        The fight! 
                                               I don't think this will get any easier for me!