Thursday, October 31, 2013

Halloweenies

Halloweenies...rhymes with Sweeney, which was my maiden name. 
 Colleenie Sweeney halloweenie.  

And someone's had too much sugar to type straight.  I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

John-Paul was a joke.  With an afro.  Because he's the whitest white boy and that's funny.

I had originally bought us all funny joke shirts to wear so we would have a family costume as a Comedy Club.  Clever and easy and not crafty at all.  Right up my alley.  But somewhere in the Halloween planning, certain kids decided to be other things, and the whole family idea went out the window.  

Like this girl who wanted to be a princess.  Same dress-up idea, different costume as every other Halloween past.

Andrew did wear his joke shirt (brownie points!) and then wanted to wear a lady's wig for kicks and giggles.

There's that Princess again.  Nurse Princess perhaps?  Always one to ham it up for the camera...

...like her mother.

After many tears (he wanted a lady's wig too!) and frustrating costume changes, Eamon decided to be Mario, even though the costume was entirely too big.



Alexander was the cutest monkey at the zoo!

Group shot before we went to (and missed completely) the Halloween Parade.  Whoops!


So we did some early trick or treating before the family party.


At every house, Maggie would say "Trick or Treat!", followed by "Thank you and God Bless You!"  When I asked her why she was saying that she responded "Because Sister (her Kindergarten teacher) told me to!"  Oh, duh.  God Bless Religious teachers :)



"I gots candies and chocolates!!"




Get that monkey off your back.  Hehehe.

This little town has such cute houses:



We went to my brother's house and met up with family, like my niece, Bridget, as Miss Piggy:

And saw my brother's new puppy, Zoey:


And took a photo of 11 of the 20 (soon to be 21) cousins on the Sweeney side of the family.

 Did I ever tell you how much Xander loves dogs?  Has to pet them and know their name ("What's his name called?")  It's quite an appreciated change from when some of our other kids were little and terrified (ahem, Andrew) of canines.

Speaking of Andrew, we celebrated his birthday (9) along with cousin Megan's 14th birthday:


The loot we came home with was impressive for how few houses we actually went to.  BUt I guess that's what happens when you multiply the goodies by five kids.

We always take all the kids' candy and dump it into a family bowl.  Totally different from when I was a kid and we guarded our candy like it was gold and hid it where our siblings couldn't see it.  My hiding place was my Secret Drawer where all my treasures went.  It wasn't a secret at all, just the 4th drawer down in my bureau.

Excuse me, but I see a Twix calling my name.  

No Tricks, Just Treats

Happy Halloween!

Yes, we are one of those families that enjoys fun Halloweeney festivities, AND celebrates All Saints Day tomorrow!  A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll...or something like that :)

Photo taken by John-Paul, and it's fittingly scary! (Linking up with Theme Thursday @ Clan Donaldson)
19 weeks 4 days, but who's counting?
Right, me.
This afternoon, we will go to the annual Halloween parade in my parent's town, and then to a family party where we will also celebrate some of the October birthdays.
Parade, pizza, party, PERFECT!

My kids' Catholic school allows them to dress up as Saints tomorrow, and not on Halloween, but because the Red Sox won the World Series last night (whoop!) they are allowed to wear their Red Sox shirts today.  



Come back for some Saintlier photos tomorrow.  

And...BOO!

:)

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Five Favorites

1) 
Kate Middleton.

Dear Kate,
    Ever since you married Prince William, you have become my favorite Royal.  Which is impressive since I am quite fond of Prince Harry and his troublesome ways.  

And he was right.  Look at you...

And then you had a beautiful baby boy!  But what was even more beautiful was that baby bump you were still sporting like all of us normal moms:

You fell down a few notches when I saw this picture of you playing volleyball only 3 months after giving birth:

What the flat stomach?  But you won me over again with these Baptism pictures:


Love,
A girl who also married a prince

2)

I never realized how much I loved them until they were all in the dishwasher at the same time and my kids had to eat out of (gasp!) regular bowls.  These bowls serve the perfect amount of cereal and let my kids drink up every last drop of milk without spilling it.

3)
(click that link and sign up, and I'll get money to spend!)
We just scored a great deal on an overnight to a mountain resort in New Hampshire.  The kids are going to be so excited!

4)
The Red Sox...
are winning!  I must admit to watching parts of the games since I found out there's an awesome rookie on the team named XANDER!
He just turned 21, and is as cute as a button.  It must be a requirement that comes with the name ;)

5)
Now I need a favorite from you.  
What book did you read to help prepare you for labor?  Or maybe you prefer the unschooling approach to labor?  I'm specifically hoping for another natural labor, but scared as all get out to actually do it.  I'm thinking of trying hypnobirthing and don't know where to start.
This is how I want to feel.

Any advice?

Now off to Hallie Cute Jenny for more!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

He Said, She Said

The difference between girls and boys.


Upon walking into a room where Phil and I were hugging...

Eamon: Can you guys wait until I leave to do that stuff?

Maggie: Ooooh, can I get in the middle of the kissing part?


Happy Baby.
We discovered that on the weekends, Alexander is mostly a dream child because he gets 4 hour naps.  He is in such a happy mood when he wakes up...


Me: As a special treat for praying for the babies, we're getting Frosty's after dinner!
Xander:  Oooh, Frosty's?  I love it! 
(He's never even had a Frosty)


 I gave Xander a banana muffin...
Xander: This is so really really TASTY! 
(It cracks me up that he uses that adjective as a 2 year old)

Xander wanted to walk on the wall at the park...
"I almost there..."

Not quite, little buddy.

Whenever we try to get Alexander to scream in fright...
Kids: Boo!
Xander (big smile): You scared me! (But he never screams!)

He Likes Older Women.
"I can't wait to show Mrs. C my funny shirt!"
We think J-P has a crush on his 5th grade teacher...
J-P (arriving at school): There's Mrs. C!  (Jumping out of the car and waving frantically) Hi Mrs. C!
Me: Is that her son with her?
J-P: Yeah.
Me: Wow, he's tall.
J-P: No, Mrs. C is just really petite.  (Pause) It's ok, she likes to be called that.

Future Entrepreneurs.

Andrew: Mom, your meatballs are the best.  
Xander: You da best cooker!
Andrew: You should open up a restaurant!
Eamon: Yeah, and call it Colleen's Diner.  And we could have (stops to count chairs) 12 people come eat here.
Me: Well then where would you all eat?
Eamon: Who cares?  They would give us money!