An Officer and a Robber

Well, it's not surprise what the boys were this year for Halloween-- an Officer and a Gentleman I mean, Robber. 

Logan really wanted to be a robber this year because he knew his friend Drake was going to be a police officer--Drake just wanted a costume with handcuffs and well, police officer was the safe route when it came to handcuffs. And each year we try and do some sort of family costume for our annual Halloween party -- so Kaden asked to be the officer and Justin and I jumped on the robber band wagon. Easy Peasy. & the boys were both happy.

Halloween night turned out to be a beautiful evening and thankfully we didn't have to add too many layers to the boys before they went knocking door to door with their friends from the neighborhood.

Yes, his costume actually had Officer South on it. We don't mess around with Halloween around here. I thought we would be doing good if we made it around half the neighborhood but the kids were going strong and they just kept going and going and going.

Gone are the days were we had to wait for their little feet to catch up cause now, we are the ones holding them up. Or in Kaden's case, he just took off and I had to send Justin with the golf cart to locate him. Next year, they are wearing their light up shoes! They, of course, made out like bandits, pun intended, when it came to candy & filled their buckets up more than once.

Oh and a big thank you to the lady who gave out whistles! REALLY!! Did you NOT have kids because if you ask me what the one thing I don't want you to hand out, whistles would be at the top of the list. And, of course, they immediately went into the kids' mouths as soon as they stepped off her porch and the whole neighborhood sounded like a high pitched squeal. I totally thought about going over to her house at 6 am and waking her up with that damn whistle.

Other than that, it was a perfectly, delightful evening.

4th Annual South Halloween Bash

It was party time. The 4th Annual South Halloween Bash was a go. Justin had another BBQ tournament so party prep fell to the boys and I. But we had this.

Our costumes were fairly easy to pull together--Logan wanted to be a robber, Kaden a cop so Justin and I jumped in as robbers too. Ordered a few hats, masks and shirts and we were done. Comfy too.

Just like every year prior, trophies are a must. We were prepared to give out one for the scariest, best woman, best male and then best family/couple costume. Boys were excited to see everyone in their costumes and help with the trophies this year.

This year we decided to not try and got all "Halloweeny" on the food, I just wanted to have a good variety of foods for adults and kids. The one thing that we knew we HAD to have, jello shots--for the kids and then of course for the adults too.

I did try and spook things up a little when it comes to the kids dessert bar. I saw a picture of a skeleton that was oozing of deliciousness and knew the boys would have the best time pulling it together. We bought bug tape from Amazon. We bought body part gummies from Amazon. We bought eyeball gumballs from Target and then mixed in homemade cookies and rice krispy treats. They did a bang up job on it & it was a HUGE hit with all the kids.

Sadly, we had a number of people who weren't able to attend last minute BUT we still had a wonderful turnout of friends. From Rock, Paper, Scissors to a ninja family to a creepy old man to two sets of cops and robbers. It was such a great evening of filled with lots of friends and lots of laughter from the kids who hardly came inside and spent the entire night playing out front together.

Last year the Kufeldts came dressed as us, the Souths. It was pretty cute. This year, they came as robbers too, unbeknownst to us. It was pretty epic.

And my dear friend Angela, she was Winda but I mean come on, could we have dressed anymore alike. I might REALLY need the glasses but hey, opposites attract.

Best Family Costume Winners

Scariest Costume Winner (2nd year in a row)

Best Male (2nd year in a row)

Best Female Costume

Runner up for couple.

Majority of the party was over by 9 but a few of our favorites stuck around for a few more hours. Towards the end of the evening I started getting a little tired and counting down the hours until I had to jump on  plane so the night came to an end. But was a wonderful night it was.

Fall Break - No Place Like Home

The boys were on out of school on "fall break" and I needed to work so my mommy came to the rescue. She always does. I literally have the best mom and in turn, the boys have the best grandma. The initial plan was for us to meet halfway in Butler and make a switcheroo with the boys & then Justin mentioned something about the Wizard of Oz in a conversation he was having. Wait what? When? He stopped what he was doing and pulled it up, the Kansas City Ballet was presenting The Wizard of Oz & it was playing through the week. The Wizard of Oz happens to be my mom's all time favorite movie so I texted her and asked if she wanted to drive all the way up and stay with us on Wednesday. We would do dinner and take in the ballet and then she and the boys could drive back home to Carthage on Thursday morning. She was in. I was stoked.

This would be both of our's first time at the Kaufmann Center of Performing Arts & I couldn't think of a better performance to take in with a better person. 

The show was AMAZING. It was not only our first time at the Kauffman Center of Performing Arts but also our first ballet. The Wizard of Oz made for a great first ballet experience because everyone knows the story line, there was no need for dialog. The dancing said it all. It was beautiful.

Thursday morning she and the boys headed to Carthage and then I joined them Friday later afternoon. When I walked in Logan immediately wanted to show me that they had the pumpkins cleaned out and ready to go for carving. As soon as Trenton and Madison arrived we headed out to the shed & we got to work. Kaden wanted a super scary face, Logan a cat, Madison a ghost and then we threw something together for Trenton. 

Logan actually did the entire thing all on his own--well, he asked that I add the ears and the eyes. Kaden did about 50% of the work, the problem was his "kit" wasn't all that helpful. In fact, it was a pain in the ass so I drew on the smile with a marker and then went to carving. Madison, well, Grandma Sara probably did more than her but she stayed right there next to her the entire time. 

About 7:30 Logan came to me and said he was really tired. He's been having troubles going to sleep on his own. It all kind of started when a neighbor of ours had a fire, a bad fire, & since then, he just hasn't wanted to fall asleep on his own. So he climbed up on my lap and within minutes, he was out.

The next morning we were up and out of the house early because he had to claim a spot alongside the Maple Leaf Parade route. Thankfully, one of Madison's friends lives RIGHT on the parade route so we only had to find parking. The boys were all about the candy. & the hot chocolate that Grandma Sara made for them to bring.

We got to say hi to the Jasper Eagles Marching Band who sounded great even though they had very few band members. I grew up in a super small town so having a small band, isn't something new--and good things do come in small packages. 

An hour and a half later the parade was still going. I thought I was going to fall asleep, I mean I love a good parade but I had no idea it would be this long. Thankfully there was a little break in action and the boys stopped long enough to take a picture with their deal old mom. Looking back, I wish I would have got my momma in the picture too--she does so much for us.

After the parade we headed to the square to grab lunch. & since we were all in great moods the kids hit the jackpot. Per Logan they had the best cinnamon rolls ever. Kaden said they had the best root beer ever. Madison said the cotton candy was the best ever too. 

These kids were living their best life.

Flu Shots & Hot chocolate

OH HOLY BATMAN. 

I mean, I remember this time last year and how Logan was completely beside himself when it came time for his flu shot. Like, hold him down, wrap my arms around him and yell "just do it, like now" to the nurse - beside himself. It took a little time for him to calm down but we walked out of there with our heads held high and sucker in tow. We headed straight for Sonic where they both got slushies. As we sat there waiting, he asked when he had to do that again and I explained not for another year. 

Fast forward 11 months, it's September 5th & he asks, "when is my flu shot." His eyes were already filled with tears as he was anticipating my answer. "Next month, honey." & the waterworks ensued. He did NOT want to get another flu shot. He did NOT want to think about it. He did NOT want it to hurt. He did NOT. DID NOT. DID NOT. 

I tried to explain to him that the flu shot is what we call preventative care and would hopefully keep us from getting super sick and having to get lots of shots. He wasn't having it. I tried to explain how we needed to be brave because there are boys and girls out there who have to get shots daily, if not multiple times a day that are really sick. We should be brave for them. He wasn't having that either & that evening he cried himself to sleep as I laid there next to him. My heart breaking that I couldn't take the fear away for him. Or the "pain" of the shot.

& then, like 2 weeks ago he declared that he wasn't worried any longer. That a girl at school said she got one and it didn't hurt at all. Now, Justin and I said the same thing and that did nothing but coming from a girl at school, well, that made all the difference. He said it would feel like a pinch. So we went with it.

Leading up to the big day he would talk about it. How he wasn't worried and it would be over before he knew it. He heard "Believer" by Imagine Dragons and suggested that we listen to that song as the shot is happening. I commented on what a great idea that was and that he was more than welcome to take his iPad and listen to music in the office. 

The morning of, he was ready. He was ready to get it over with. We arrived at the doctor's office, got checked in and then he took his seat. He was more curious than nervous & talking up a storm.

As we got back to the room I reminded them both that Kaden would be getting his well check first and then we would do the flu shots. I also suggested to the nurse that since they were both getting their shots done that maybe she could grab a friend and they could be done at the same time. I just never know which one will freak out and which one will be okay. We settled in for the wait. 

Then there was a knock. The doctor was still with another patient and they wanted to know if I was okay with getting the flu shot out of the way. BRING IT ON! This wasn't what the boys were expecting but they both got up on the table, rolled up their sleeves and before I could even get Logan situated, Kaden was done. Band-aid on. WOW, that was quick. Gave him a high five & then looked over at Logan and he was done and immediately proclaiming that the pinch he gave himself hurt worse than the shot did. He was so stinking proud of himself. As was I.

Hot Chocolates ALL AROUND!

School Projects & School Pictures

I don't mind school projects but sometimes they end up being more my project than his and not because I take over, because sometimes, they are just too much for his age. But not this time. This time, it was pretty much on point--we just had to break it up into smaller chunks. 

The Project - Pumpkin Book Report

Pick a book to read, choose a character and then write and decorate a pumpkin about said character.

Book: Super Fudge

NOPE. NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.

Super Fudge was too long for this sort of project and frankly, the directions given stated that it could be a picture book too. Try again, Kaden. 

Book: The Day the Crayons Quit

We could do this. The project consisted of reading the book, choosing a character then describing that character with 6 different adjectives. Taking those 6 adjectives and formulating a paragraph about the character & including the title, author and a quick summary of what the book was about. Like I said, we broke it up into smaller parts so that it wasn't overwhelming for Kaden and we worked on it a little each night. 

& once we were done with the writing part of the project we dug into the pumpkin decorating. Kaden chose Purple Crayon to do his report on since at the time, purple was his favorite crayon. Although Purple Crayon loved that he got to draw the dragons, grapes and wizard hats, he didn't like that Duncan was so messy. & Kaden loved the face that Purple Crayon was making -- like, WHAT?!

Kaden handled the spray painting, he did all the drawing on the pumpkin and did the cutting of the top of the crayon. I had to help form the shape but he worked hard on pinning it together so it could stick. In the end, he earned a 49.5/50 on this project. We were pretty proud of his effort and you could tell he was too.

School pictures, how I despise you. I typically tell the boys that there are only a couple days a year that I will tell them what specifically they will need to wear. First, Last and Picture day at school. This year, I didn't want to battle. So I told them that they could go with shorts and tights as long as they had a "nicer" t-shirt on. I gave them a couple options on the shirts and then called it good. They were happy and I was happy. It's all that really mattered & their pictures turned out as cute as ever.

Kaden Oliver South - 3rd Grade Mrs. McGraw

Logan Beckett South - 2nd Grade Mrs. Nueschafer