Photobook frustrations!

So, after spending 6 hours creating a photobook on-line at Michael's the craft store.  The $15.00 purchase, thanks to Black Friday deals, costs $80 to ship to my address!  It costs the same to ship it to the Michael's nearest me, a block away.  I am so not impressed!  I tried to find out how much shipping was but of course they won't tell you until you check out.  However, they were nice enough to give me a web address where my friends can look at it!  Here it is:  https://photocreations.michaels.com//scrapbook/170183/i/1408181322168878464

I would like to suggest though that you don't try to create one of these yourself!

All Hallow's Eve

Carson was the only one who had school on Halloween day.  They had their party in the afternoon and Clarke went to the school to paint Carson's face to go with his costume.  I was on call so wasn't there for pictures and when I got home early at 4:30, Carson had already washed off his face so I don't even have any proof of the face painting.  How sad!

All through supper the boys were beside themselves in anticipation of going trick or treating.  At about 5:30 Nathan came into my office and pleaded, "Isn't it Halloween, yet?!"  We got them dressed and they posed, somewhat reluctantly in front of our Halloween tree for "pre" pictures.

 The first house!  The boys always go next door to Clara's house first.

The boys pumpkins

 Jay picked out the witch stencil and Clarke carved it.  Nathan's pumpkin came from his preschool carving night.  It was starting to get a bit moldy but made it through the night.  Carson did the ghost.  He didn't want to use a stencil, just wanted it carved!  

Coming away happy with more treats.  This lady actually asked them to sing a song to get their candy and they all clammed up and except Carson who started to sing, "I am a Child of God."  In the end the 3 managed a pathetic "Mary Had a Little Lamb" but they were well rewarded for their effort!

I just had to add this.  It is our neighbor's pumpkin, what a great idea!

Carson was very sad when the treating came to an end in time for shower and bed as it was a school night after all.  Nathan was exhausted by it all but still happy.  Jay wanted his loot to go to bed with him!  All in all, I think it was a success.

Pumpkin Carving - Au Chapeau

Every year the preschool has a pumpkin carving night just before Halloween.  The last 2 years Clarke has been able to go with both Carson and Jay while they were in Au Chapeau.  He had to work this year so mommy got to go carve pumpkins.  Nathan loved pulling the guts out!

I bought a carving set for $1.49 that I thought wouldn't be that useful.  It came with a little punch though that Nathan could smack while I held it in place and then with some guidance he was able to carve his pumpkin.  They only part I did without his help were the cat's eyes.

Dressed for his school party!

Nathan was very proud of his pumpkin!

Jay's School Party

Jay goes to kindergarten on Tuesdays and Thursdays so they had to have their party early.  His teacher had a conference on the 28th so decided that Oct 26th would be the best day for the party so she could be with the kids.  I went to school at lunch to paint up Jay's face and get him ready.  He was so very excited.  One of the other boys in the class had a Frankenstein costume as well but he didn't get painted up.  After all of our painting (including his hands going green as well), Jay wanted to go to the bathroom to see his face.  His teacher had a mirror in the class and let him look.  He just beamed!

You can just make out the scar on his face.  We used fake blood on it and everything!

Sitting down right before the party started with a big grin!

Jay reported that he had a terrific time and that he was excited for the rest of Halloween to come.

Field trips!

Jay has had 2 field trips so far this month.  One to the fire hall and just yesterday he went to Medicine Hat High School where the beauty culture class painted him up, literally.  I got home late from the hospital and Clarke was already gone to work so some of the make-up was off but here are some of the views:

Clarke is getting old, or so he says!

Clarke told me I didn't have to buy him anything for his birthday.  I was very tempted to listen.  I was in Calgary on Friday and Saturday so managed to pick up a Cheesequake Cheesecake for him from Cheesecake Cafe.  I made him ribs and had planned on having some friends over but they got held up in Calgary and I was on call at 6.  In the end we had cake in the afternoon and then Clarke and the boys had the ribs while I was at the hospital.  I am not a fan of cheesecake but this one was pretty good.

Lazy afternoons...

While Carson and Jay are at school on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, Nathan likes to hang out on my bed and watch movies.  His favorite is Curious George.  In fact, he often asks when daddy will get up so that he can watch Curious George.  He gets all comfy and settles in for about 20 minutes.  He has learned to pause the DVD player and loves that he can go back to it 3 minutes or 3 hours later.

Lounge monkey

"I've been framed, They got the wrong guy!"

While we were getting ready to have a garage sale the Thanksgiving weekend, I was cleaning out the boys stuff and hung up the costumes that were too small to sell.  Clarke is sad that the bat costume is going.  He made Nathan put it on for pictures.  Sadly though the forecast is for snow and there is no room for warm clothes underneath this one.