Lately - Pumpkin Patch/Adventure Day/Learning Conferences/Harry Potter/Brewhalla/Halloween!

And then suddenly it was November!! I've been having little moments of panic recently realizing how fast the next 10-15 years of my life is going to go and then suddenly my kids are going to be grown. None of them are babies anymore! I have to tackle Dom to get a goodbye kiss at school drop off. Eva is getting more and more independent. Emilia is discovering herself. All good (amazing) things. Just weird! 

Anyway. Here's a bit of life lately!

I got the kids' school pictures back! Their smiles sure are different! Dom looks SO much like Jeff I think. Also like he's trying not to cry or has to poop or something haha. Emilia just looks sweet and nervous :). Also they now make you order two photos when you do the digital prints! I guess they were losing too much money with people just ordering one and going to print them themselves haha.

She's like, "I hate this."

Dom and a neighbourhood buddy trading Pokemon cards. This boy is such a good friend for Dom. He's a couple years older and is very sweet and generous and helpful. Great example for D!

Waiting for Dad to pick us up after a quick grocery store run <3

As they grow, these girls are getting closer and more affectionate. As my mom would say, "It warms a mother's heart."

Them too I suppose... but in a rougher way. No idea what's happening with Eva here haha!

A couple weeks ago I attended an All of Life Interview at church to talk about Sexuality. It's been a hot button (challenging) topic for the last couple years in many of my circles and communities. I am a part of a couple small groups wrestling with this and how to move forward (or not) with the church. It's a rollercoaster of emotions and levels of hope and weariness. For the time being, I have stepped down for the time being from serving in the church playing on the worship team. If anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to reach out. This isn't the platform to engage on, but it's a huge part of my life right now so worth documenting for future me :)

Loved that they served us a glass of wine and these adorable little charcuterie cups! It was a very cozy atmosphere. 

Drinks afterwards with a few good friends! And Dad :)

October 21st we planned a pancake breakfast at Mom & Dad's as they were watching Phoebe for the day! All the littles were there and it was perfect chaos as usual. 

Dave left from there to go film a video for Greg & Liz Holmes at their annual pumpkin patch VIP & client appreciation event! This day is always an important highlight of my family's fall season. I got Eva up early from her nap and we went out to join Dave. He wrapped up his filming getting a few shots of the kids to add to the video (woot!). 

We found baby bunnies! Eva was in heaven. Her two favorite stuffies right now are both bunnies.

This is the first year the kids were all really into the petting zoo. Eva was all in, and Emilia is pretty sure she's an animal whisperer so that was cute :)

This guy was trying to cuddle me like a puppy.

The kids and I did the hay ride while Dad loaded up the wagon with pumpkins!

We ran through the corn maze

We picked pumpkins!

Love these goobers!

We ate snacks

THE KIDS ACTUALLY DID THIS THING!! Do you know how many times over the last 6 years I've tried to get my kids to do one of these? This is what having big kids is all about. Them finally cooperating just to be nice to me! Haha

We had more snacks

We got a family picture where everyone's looking (What even was this day?!)

And a family selfie where we ate more snacks :)

The following day was Sunday, and we decided to get together with some others to ride the bus and skytrain down to the New West Quay! Dave was busy, so I took the three kids. We hopped on a bus with Scott & Phoebe, and then Jeff, Marta & Owen met us at KG Skytrain station. I'm a lot more relaxed than I used to be on outings like this, and the kids and I had a great time. We didn't last long at the Quay, but that day was much more about the journey than the destination. Lots of fun on public transit meeting strange people too of course. 

As we were heading home I realized this was an Adventure Day like @busytoddler talks about on Instagram! I did it!

Robbie Johal photo bomb haha

Dave drove us to the bus stop and then experienced some FOMO as we walked away. FOMO is a foreign feeling to him, so it was worth mentioning as I am often teased for my FOMO levels.

Dom moved over to sit by Phoebe after a stranger started talking to him and freaking him out beside me haha

Anticipating the noisy skytrain!

Dom still anticipating the noise

Perks of starting at King George - best seats in the house!

As we were leaving the quay for the skytrain again I quickly ran and bought 4 buns for the kids and I at a bakery. Best decision ever. They were all gone before we got off the train and I had 3 kids who were less hangry as we went on our way haha. 

Monday was a regular day. I went to Costco with Eva where she was enthralled with the Christmas stuff. She was very relieved to see all the "pooky cary keletons" were gone. She watched and danced and yelled at this little train for 10 minutes. "HERE IT COMES AGAIN!!! IT'S COMING! HERE IT COMES!" 

Later on Aunty Sonya came over for dinner! She brought a Good Food box, so her and I enjoyed a delicious mushroom risotto while everyone else fended for themselves :)

Tuesday Aunty Lasagna met Emilia and I at horseback riding. She got to wear her new riding helmet! Very fancy <3.

Riding itself was a bit of a struggle. The horse she got is one who does not like being tacked, and Emilia witnessed some agitated behaviour from the horse while the trainers were nervous getting her tacked. That shut the poor girl down. I cannot blame her. The horse made me nervous too to be honest. Eventually we got her up on the horse, but she wasn't feeling comfortable riding. In the end, there was someone shadowing her coach, so he walked with Emilia the whole time and encouraged her and Emilia came out feeling proud of herself for overcoming her fears! The horse is absolutely lovely while being ridden which helped I'm sure. 

No pictures of it, but Tuesday evening I also went out for a glass of wine with Ashley R. So good to catch up.

She was so nervous, but still walked that giant horse in! What an inspiration <3

Thursday we had learning conferences for the kids! This is basically parent-teacher conferences, but it's student led. Both the kids were pretty quiet and shy during the conference. That's normal though as their worlds collide haha. Kind of confusing for their brains! Gramma and Grandpa met us at the school and watched whichever kids weren't in the conference which was a huge help too. 
Emilia is absolutely crushing and thriving in Kindergarten! Dom is the life of the party in Grade 1 and has many friends and is reading way above his level. 

Their school has a kids door :)

We got to peek through Dom's journal. "On the weekend I helpt my dad setup spooce stuf."

Dave has been in full Halloween prep mode and invited the kids to help out some! Love seeing what stands out to them.

Some Survivor night treats!

Friday the kids had school of course, and then while Dave did Halloween work and work work, Kirstin invited the kids and I to the park. I had nothing better to do, so park it was!

In the evening I was intending to go out, but ended up home relaxing and crafting instead. It would have been a really fun night, but honestly I think I made the right call for me!

Dom called a family meeting so he could read us his Kindergarten Bible book :)

"Harry, feel free to treat yourself to a licorice snap. But be careful, they're a wee bit sharp."

This past Saturday was another busy one! Dom had skating lessons in the morning and invited Emilia and I to go with him. He's doing great! We just have to get him to bend his legs a bit more :) Still has 6 more lessons before starting hockey in January, so hopefully he gets the hang of it by then!

In the afternoon we packed up and went to Whimsic Alley Halloween! Caitlin and her family do this incredible Harry Potter set up every year. They share Dave's passion for HP Halloween, but have a budget and many many hands and skills! It's very cool and another important Halloween tradition for us. They were on HP 6 - The Half Blood Prince.

They built the cave at the end of HP 6! Next level crafting. Seriously.

After that we dropped the kids at home with Mom, and went to Brewhalla in Cloverdale with Dad! He had some extra VIP tickets and with Mom's help, we were available! Lots of standing in line waiting for beer, but the VIP area came with extra tokens, one beer tap with no line, and a free burger! One of those fun date night things I never otherwise would have done.

Last minute costumes! Gryffindor

Sunday was the day of Dave's first big Halloween Night! Ash, Scott and Phoebe came over in the morning so Scott could help Dave. Ash and I carved pumpkins with the kids. Have I mentioned this is my least favorite Halloween activity? It went quite well all things considered haha! I realized as we were wrapping up I hadn't taken any pictures. So I totally missed the little ones. They had gone upstairs and were cuddling in Eva's bed playing naptime <3 haha.

I just love that Emilia felt the need to label her pumpkins

The kids played "Pumpkin patch" outside later on

In the evening the Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire was up and running! We like to do two nights so that people who don't live around here for trick or treating can still come see. We figure we probably got around 250 people that night. That's more than we had on Halloween a few years ago! People from all over the place coming! Lots in costume. Super fun :) And the weather... Absolute perfection! We've been so lucky with that. 

Almost everything in our set up is DIY. The rest of it is props and trinkets from Mission Thrift Store! We borrowed a dragon (yup... a dragon) from Caitlin which was an amazing addition this year! We don't have a lot of space to work with, but Dave is very tech savvy, so he made some super cool pieces!

The kids were next level excited and in your face this evening. It was sweet and horrible :)

The graveyard, Nagini, Regeneration potion, and the best creeping fog Dave's ever done.

Triwizard cup at the end of the maze, Foe glass and Moody's eye (hard to see in the picture)

The dragon! Yes, it roars and the eyes light up. And YES it blows smoke!

Dumbledore's office and the most magical pensieve!!

Rest in Peace

Monday evening we did a dry-run for trick or treating just to check out some of the decorations the kids would be seeing and let them know what sort of loop length to expect. 

A Mario house! This was a new one for me. Very creative :)

This brings us to Halloween! Scott and Phoebe came over in the morning and I watched Phoebe for a few hours. It was honestly easier having the two 2.5 year olds than having Eva just on her own. They played so nicely, practiced trick or treating, tried on Elsa costumes in preparation for the evening, helped me make muffins, and dirtied up my windows!

These girls were both planning to be Elsa for Halloween, so we practiced. They sang and danced to Let it Go many times!

Eva came to school pick up with me and insisted on wearing this Minnie Mouse dress and bringing her trick or treating bucket. The poor girl was excited to show Emilia and was going down the hill and totally wiped out. She ended up with a chipped tooth and a fat/bloody lip :( 
We went into the office and got her cleaned up and then she got to practice her trick or treating for real with them and showed them a spin in her dress. This is a very fun age. Everything is so magical.

In the afternoon people started to arrive. We had lots of people over for an early pizza dinner and to get ready for trick or treating. Our group started together, but naturally split up after a block or so. Eva and I were on our own for quite a while until we ran into Wren. The two girls finished up together and silently encouraged each other up and down all the sets of stairs. 

Dom & Emilia were way ahead with Phoebe and crushed it! 

Getting ready to go!

Dom had a repeat year and decided he wanted to be a SWAT again. Perfect!

Emilia said all year she wanted to be Jasmine. A month or so ago she shifted and decided she wanted to be a vet. I loved that idea! Got a Dr. jacket from Value Village, glued some felt paw prints and cross on it, updated the nametag, and filled the pockets with doctor/vet tools :)

And then we had Elsa, wearing Emilia's costume from last year. <3

Owen was a puppy! Checking out Ian's display up the road. Eva and Wren spent a while dancing in the driveway at this one :)

Poor little mouth :(

Wren the Lion roared at everybody. These girls were very happy to find each other

We finally closed up around 10pm after Ian came down to check everything out. He and Dave are Halloween buddies. 

We then got to go up and get the VIP behind the scenes on Ian's display! Witch themed this year. He does amazing work with projectors and sound. So cool and clean and professional.

He's also the Christmas light tunnel guy :)

Halloween was a great success! We had hundreds of people come through from 5-10pm. Also, sort of like our "Adventure Day" on the skytrain, I felt pretty relaxed about everything. This was a welcome change from the frantic feeling of past years. 
Now we (Dave) gets to start thinking about the Order of the Phoenix! Anyone want to sponsor him with time (help) or a budget? Haha. Just kidding... but not really.