Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the MacDonalds!

We have an exciting morning of soccer and then we will be resting up for Trick-or Treating and then a get-together at the Buelows! I'm going to try to convince Hailey to take a nap so she's not grumpy for the evening festivities! Although, I'm sure her sugar high will keep her going!

And a Blast from the Past...Hailey's First Halloween (8 months)

Kailee's First Halloween (5 weeks)

Furlough Friday Finds!

I'm not sure if the absurdity of the Hawaii school system has made the news on the mainland, but we have no money to pay our teachers, so the genius plan is to cut 17 school days from this school year AND next school year. Not having the school open and not have to pay the employees on those days does save a ton of money, BUT I guess the education of our future leaders doesn't hold much water! Reports that I've read say that Hawaii ranks #47 in terms of states where you'd want your child to go to school! WOW!!!! Insane! I remember the shock I had coming from teaching in Virginia Beach to teaching out here...same grade, same subject (8th gr. math), but TOTALLY different worlds!!!

So, since the 6 parents of the 3 babies that I watch during the school year are teachers, then I also have 17 Furlough Fridays this year. I feel horrible for the sacrifice of their pay, but I actually don't mind having the 3 day weekend. Our weekends have been so busy recently and it's so hard to run any errands during the work week. I like having the extra day...a day to relax, a day to run errands, and a day to do housework.

Today the girls and I headed out this morning to Waikele to hit up Old Navy, the outlets, and Kmart. It was such a success. I found dresses for the girls for Leevi's homecoming AND their Christmas dresses AND the unexpected steal of $2 Halloween costumes for next year! Most likely we will not be in Hawaii and probably some place that actual has a chilly fall. The costumes were originally $22.50 EACH and they just happen to have matching butterfly costumes in the girls' correct sizes for next year. Even if we end up in a warmer weather place I won't feel too bad about "wasting" $4!

Trial Run on the Costumes

The library down the hill had a Halloween Celebration on Wednesday evening. I thought the girls and I would check it out and give their costumes a trial run. Gavin, Steph, Mark, Heidi, and Jackson joined us too. I think a lot more people showed up then they had planned for and while it was pretty organized, the lines for the costume contest, face painting, and balloon animals were ridiculous! We waited in one line for awhile and just gave up and let the kids play around in the book area. The kids had a blast anyway! We are looking forward to Halloween night!!!!

Glenda, the Good WitchThe Munchkin! I was surprised at how long she keep the hat on. It may have been because she was running a fever and was too lethargic to take it off but I drug her out to the library anyway. She's such a trooper and I admit I take advantage of it too often!

The munchkin, the lion, and Glenda...mean ole lion picking on a little munchkin! :)

Hailey and Superman Jackson

The Buelows are also going to be Oz characters

Hailey, Kailee, Jackson, and Gavin...clueless as to what is really going on at the library. They were perfectly content to read books, play with the stuffed animals and check out the other costumes.

Pumpkin Carvings

Hailey and I carved our pumpkins this past weekend. She had fun cleaning the "guts" out and picking the design for each pumpkin.

All 4: silly face, the girls handprints and an "M", a ghost with "boo", and a dog

Halloween sneak peek: The Stampfer and MacDonald clan are dressing up as the Wizard of Oz characters. Leila loves her lion costume! :)

A funny tidbit...Hailey put her necklace on the floor while she used the bathroom and then she called me in to show me this: "It's a ghost riding a bicycle!" :)

Tutu pics!

I'm so excited to finally get this tutu collection finished!!! I wanted tutu photos of Kailee at birth, 6 months, and one year to get framed. I kept forgetting or hadn't had time to take her 1 year ones again (we did some on the beach on her actual birthday, but I wanted them all to be the same)

Babygirl at 4 days old!!!!!!!!!!!!

At 6 months....love the "pre-crawling/walking" chubs!

At one year...crazy how fast they change!!!!

A few more of the hundreds I had to take to get a good one!!!! She did not want to sit there!

Of course she would smile if she could stand where ever she wanted! :)
Mad at me because I took away a toy she had that I didn't want in the picture! Mean Mom! :)

Welcome to the Club...

We had a busy weekend welcoming two of our friends into the "30+ Club" and the "Married Club". We had a surprise birthday party on Friday for Katie who turns 30 this week and a bachlorette party on Saturday for Trish who gets married in two weeks!

The girls and I at dinner

Hailey came right up to the camera when I was trying to take her picture...I think I love it so much because she looks like a baby again instead of my big girl!

One of Kailee's favorite games..."Asleep/Awake" She lays down and then pops her head up!

The birthday dinner crowd

The Bachelorette Party Dinner

The "First Borns"

Steph and I often comment on the fact of how we feel so so sorry for Leila and Marley who used to get all the attention, trips to the dog park and beach, and without a doubt their daily walk. While both of us still manage to squeeze that walk in after work and before the craziness of dinner/bedtime starts, the guilt saddens us. Steph lives so close that sometimes she'll stop home after work and get Marley and walk up to my house to pick up Gavin. Leila can hear Marley coming from down the road and anxiously awaits a good wrestle. The old ladies (they are almost exactly the same age) only last a few minutes which makes it pretty easy on us. On occasion we will walk to a fenced park or court and let them have a good chase. Again, they tucker out pretty quickly, but we are pleased with the effort on our part! :)

On Thursday, I walked up to the elementary school with Jackson and my 3 girls and picked up Rylee on the way. Mike walked up to get Jackson after work and Steph, Gavin, and Marley walked from their house to join us. It's so nice that we all live so close! The kids ran around...the dogs ran around...and everyone got worn out and ready for dinner and bed!

They will always be our first babies!

Kailee, Rylee, Gavin

Marley, Steph, Leila, Hailey

Gavin

Kailee

Hailey...she wanted me to listen to her (and not take her picture) Doesn't she understand multi-tasking yet??!!!

My Saving Grace!

Hailey is amazing. Period. There is no way I could have survived this deployment if she weren't so helpful! While, of course, she has her "remember I'm a three year old moments" they are typically pretty rare and short. She's a great big sister and my expectations of her actions/responsibilities are pretty high. She is my illegal child laborer helping me with the babies all day. :) She keeps them entertained and is helpful with bottles, finding things, consoling etc. And she's great with Kailee in the evenings/weekends while I make dinner, shower, clean-up etc. And I should even add that she's so helpful with Leila...feeding her, letting her out to pee, informing me when she'd pooped out back, putting her leash on for her walk, etc.

The countdown is on until Leevi gets home (less than 1.5 months!!!) and while I'm anxiously awaiting to give up the "single parent" role, Helper Hailey will keep me sane until then! :)

Some of the earliest pictures I have of Hailey with the babies...

Hailey feeding Gavin (I think he was about 8 months in this picture. I hadn't started watching him all the time yet, but this was one day his former sitter was off)

Hailey and newborn Brooke

Hailey and I with newborn Jackson at the hospitalJanuary 09 with Jackson and Brooke

Hailey and KaiKai at 2 months

And now...

Halloween Group Picture

I felt like Jon and Kate Plus 8 getting the kids dressed this morning for the big halloween photo shoot! :) And I couldn't believe that they all sat still! I wondered if any of my neighbors above me saw me acting like a fool to get the kids to smile! :)