Thanksgiving in Indy

The holiday season kicked off with a bang as the Magid family hosted yet another fabulous Thanksgiving. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins.  The turkey bowl was as big of a success as it always is.  The food was delicious.  And there were a lot of fun adult conversations over a glass or three of wine.  Here are some highlights.

Cutie girls.

 Lots of chatting and snacking took place over the course of the weekend.

Iris needed a good nap on mom before dinner.

Lourdes LOVED helping Aunt Julie, Izzy and Zoe make the salad.

After a delicious brunch on Friday, we hit the children's museum.  That place is so freaking cool.

Lou and Finn rocking the motorcycles at the hot rod exhibit.

Lourdes and Sabine are 2/Holiday Pictures

Halloween!

The festivities started the Friday before the big day with the annual Alphonsus Halloween party, which I co-chaired again this year.  Yet we managed to do it even bigger and better this year with the addition of a second balloon maker and a haunted house.  Finn LOVED the Haunted House and must have made his dad take him through it 10 times.  Lourdes also went through it about as many times, though she seemed less than impressed with the whole thing.  Sabine stayed firmly put in my lap while I sold tickets.  My sensible little girl!  We also had the annual Halloween party picture taken, much to Lou's chagrin.

Then Halloween kicked off with all the Alphonsus kids parading through the school in their costumes to the delight of their parents.  Finn loved that.  Then, Joe and I made sure we got off work in plenty of time to take the kids trick or treating.  Lourdes and Sabine seemed happy enough with their ladybug and bee costumes, and they got a ton of complements.  But while Finn had insisted on being Scooby Doo for about 6 months, he changed his mind a couple of weeks before the big day because he decided Scooby Doo wasn't scary enough.  Unfortunately for him, the costume was already purchased.  So while lots of people complemented him on his costume, he would respond that he wasn't really Scooby Doo he was a witches dog (because that was scarier).  Or he told one person who liked his costume, "next year I'm going to be a vampire."  Sabine, on the other hand, was just focused on the chocolate and she used her adorableness to her advantage.  While we told all the kids to just take one piece of candy at a time, she would run back every time and try to grab a second piece.  When I would correct her, the homeowner would be like "she can have another piece, she is so cute!"  Little trickster!

Sabine working her magic.

Pumpkin Art

Just like last year, I picked up a couple pumpkin pattern books so that we could make really cool pumpkins.  And just like last year, Finn picked out the three hardest patterns for his own and his parents pumpkins.  And of course the tools that come with the $4.95 pattern book aren't exactly high quality.  So after the kids enthusiastically helped de-seed the pumpkins, I set to work.  I managed to carve a pretty decent Dracula for Finn.  Then Joe worked on a ghost for his pumpkin while I attempted cookie monster.  After about 15 more minutes, I decided I had enough of detailed pattern carving and my pumpkin ended up being just a big goofy smiley face.  The girls took it easy on me and let me get away with just carving faces on their little pumpkins. I swear next year, I'm either getting better equipment or sticking with simpler projects!  But I have to admit...Dracula looked pretty cool.

A Day at Didier's Farm

The kids and I had a blast on our annual pumpkin picking trip to Didier's Farm with the Cano family.  And while he won't admit it, I think Joe had fun too.  We started the morning off with a pony ride.  Lourdes and Finnegan made an awesome cowgirl and cowboy, respectively.  While Sabine talked a big game the night before about riding a pony, when she was actually confronted with the reality of getting on an animal many times her size she wanted nothing to do with it.  

That's okay because we all enjoyed the tractor ride.

And then came the parade of over-priced carnival rides.  Finn wanted to go on all the rides.  Sabine went on none of the rides.  The only "ride" Lourdes really liked was sitting on mom's lap and going down a huge, inflatable slide geared towards kids 4 years and up.  Such a thrill seeker!

Finn was in freaking heaven on the ferris wheel and dragon train with his buddies!

Such a ham for the camera.

It was a good day!

Little Beanie Lou Who

Grandparents' Day

Finn is a very lucky boy because his Grandma flew in all the way from Ohio to attend his Grandparents' Day at school.  He was so excited to show off his room to her, especially the doctor's station.

Love this pic!

And even after school let out, the fun continued.  Grandma, Finn and I capped off our Friday by going to see Hotel Transylvania. Then on Saturday, Grandma got to check out the girls' dance class and Finn's swim class.  And on Sunday, Grandma joined us for our holiday photo shoot.  The kids loved their visit from Grandma and can't wait until she comes back.