So how was Halloween?

We had a great time! Let's see. There was a pirate, a ninja, and a mime. Now how cool is that?

First they prepared for the evening:



Grandma helped out the mime while the pirate (Girlie Girl) helped out the ninja so after Girlie Girl was done, she had to fix herself up:



Grandma did such a good job on the mime that he insisted he pose for me for posterity! Marcel Marceau would have been proud.



Just before heading off, the kids had a great time in the parking lot going at each other. The mime looks like he trying his "mime-ish" Jackie Chan pose, don't you think?



Then, it was off for the door to door trick or treating! I'd take pictures of their treat bags, but no; I'd be embarrassed. The thing is, a lot of folks know them and so they'd give them more than one or two so by the time we went to a few doors, then headed off to the church "Fall Festival" function, they had more candy than you can shake a candy bar at!



By the end of the night, the kids were exhausted and so they went to the church choir room where there was a very cute and funny puppet show. They just sat around and watch and laughed while eating their loot.



So, tell me. How was your Halloween with your little ones? If you don't have little ones, did you have fun with other adults? If you post some links in your comments, I'll be glad to visit and see costumes, especially of kids. I saw this incredibly adorable four year old little blonde girl dressed as a UPS delivery worker!

Did you ever locked yourself out of your house?

I did last week and it was 11:30pm to boot! I'm glad my mom is still here visiting but I did have to wake her up by knocking loudly.

At least something like "THIS" never happened to me:

A Tale of Dancing Children...

Two of my monkeys had to dance in front of a crowd at a local festival this weekend and they were pretty darn cute.

I was waiting out in the audience when I caught the little Guy warming up backstage. I had to zoom in quite a bit to catch him when he finally looked up and noticed me:



Of course, they had to wait a while before it was their turn to go up and dance so what do children do when they have to wait? They play and laugh and have a good time!



It was almost time for them to do their dance when I caught the Little Guy waiting by the side of the stage, looking out to see if he could spot his dad:



Finally it was time and they got up their and did a very good modern dance piece to the tune of "Colors of the Wind."



Overall, I thought they did a wonderful job. Considering it was their first modern dance piece, the stage was very small and it was pretty cold, they stuck it out and didn't panic about the size of the stage or anything. Normally, if you want to freak out beginning students, change their surroundings, but no. They completed the whole song and were very graceful about it.


I offered them ice cream after they were done, but they decided I was crazy, that they would rather get some kettle corn that was being made at the festival, all hot!

Animaniacs and Mel Blanc

I recently joined Netflix and the first thing I did was order all the "Animaniacs" shows so that I can introduce them to my kids. They were my favorite cartoons and I think I was already a teenager when they came out. It was a hit! You should hear my children laughing to no end! They all seem to favor different characters. Little buddy seems to love the actual Animaniacs (Yakko, Wacko, and Dot) while Girlie Girl loves Slappy the Squirrel. The Big Guy loves Pinky and the Brain and can do a great imitation of Pinky.

Here's one of my personal favorites, "The Nations of the World" brought to you by Yakko:



I love watching cartoons with my kids. Wait, let me rephrase that. I like watching "good" cartoons with my kids. There is some really terrible stuff that passes for kids cartoons nowadays and I won't watch that. Most of the time, I end up going to the past. Here's this awesome clip of Mel Blanc being interviewed by David Letterman that is very entertaining! It's amazing to hear all those great voices (Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, etc...) coming out of this man!

Better be nice to me...

I've got a Ninja and I'm not afraid to use him!



I even have a gun toting sheriff so you better watch out!



Okay, if that's not enough, I have a honey eating bear just sitting around waiting for you to get close!



Not enough to scare you? Well, see what happened to this once fearless victim that was attacked by a killer cow!



Let that be a lesson to her.
Actually, we went to Dollywood where we played at the Fair and she won all sorts of stuffed animals. You would NOT believe how hard it was to fit that cow in the Van.

The girl's good! Girlie girl and Little Buddy love playing those games and get along well going from place to place, supporting each other, cheering each other on.



Even little Buddy made out okay at one of the games and ended up winning a stuffed monkey.



The Big Guy likes to go on the rides more, though, so he tried this crazy contraption that takes you up and down like a Yo-Yo. Going up!!!



I was able to get a decent picture of him on the downturn which made me think, "darn, that is a good looking kid." I know, I'm biased...

I know it's a bit early...

... but if anyone wants to know, this bed is what I want for Christmas. Watch the 30 second clip to see why.



So, whatcha think? You want one too, don't you? (smile)

How is everybody? I haven't been anywhere in the blog world in over a week because of events in the "real" world but it finally let up a bit so I do hope to go visit all you wonderful, funny, and very real blog buddies and catch up, laugh, etc...

See you in a bit!

Happy Birthday, Big Man!

Well, I thought I'd be posting pictures of sleeping children, but those will have to wait a while because I had one CRAZY weekend. Why? Because my oldest boy turned 11 on Saturday and we celebrated and did so much that very little sleeping was done.

Did I mention that my mom is in town? She almost always comes for the kids birthday and this time she came in on Thursday and we gone non stop since.

Here's a picture of the Birthday boy and I tried to get him to smile, but to no avail:



My mom got him a Guitar Hero 2 for the Playstation and he played it for a while. Then the other two tried it and decided they would do better together:



Next, he wanted to go to the Dixie Stampede to see the show and have a great dinner. He has been asking for this since June so I couldn't say no. On the way there, in Pigeon Forge, I saw this amazing Scarecrow!



We finally made it to the Dixie Stampede and the kids got very excited. First there was a pre show where you could drink some slushies and eat peanuts:



Then we were moved to the main room which was sort of a rodeo type place and we were fed a wonderful dinner while watching an even more wonderful exciting show!



The thing was half the audience sat on the "North" side while the other sat on the "South" side. The show was really a set of competitions, North against South. We were sitting on the North side. There was even an ostrich race!



The rivalry was serious business. Even in the bathroom you had to be careful:



The North eventually won by a slim majority and the kids went wild!!! Of course, my little buddy went to all the pretty girls to get their autographs.



You ever hear those news stories about some 2nd grader who was caught under the stairs kissing a 5th grader? I'm hoping I don't get that phone call from the principle.

Anyways, it was a very exciting and wonderful birthday which ended with my big 11 year old boy giving me a great big hug and saying, "this was the best birthday I've ever had dad. Thanks!" You know, you can't pay enough money for something like that.

Oh, I almost forgot. On the way out of the Dixie Stampede, Dolly Parton said goodbye.

Man, we had fun!!!

I know. I know. I've heard some folks say that all I ever do is have fun with my kids, but it's not true. I just don't blog about the boring times.

That said, I did have a terrific weekend! Guess where I went with the little guys?



First was buying the tokens. Then my daughter, whom I think has a serious career as an accountant, separated the tokens:



Then it was time to Wack the Moles!!!



I actually like that game myself. Then there was flying around and playing in tunnels:




Afterwards we had to go back to a friend's house because I'm dog sitting for him until he comes back from Disney with his family. It was actually fun playing with the dog:



My little buddy is the one on the left, just in case you're not sure. The next door neighbor's kids were outside so my kids quickly made friends with them and then got on the trampoline and had a blast for over an hour:



So that was my fun weekend. Well, I guess this post does little to dispel the notion that all I ever do is have fun with the kids. My I'll post about when the kids are sleeping. There, that's not so fun, is it?

What does a seven year old sound like...

... when he sings the National Anthem? Well, I guess it depends which seven year old is singing it. I love hearing/watching talented kids perform. Listen to this little guy!