all hallow's eve.

i'm still trying to organize and sort things out in our new place. it's really hard to do that when there are babies undoing (ok, perfect timing - mosiah just shattered a drinking glass) everything i do.
so, in order to keep them occupied and away from heavy boxes, we made paint today.
yep, MADE. we have two very small convenience stores in our town. i don't think they sell paint. and if they do, it's probably really expensive. so, we made it. it was super simple and i had all the ingredients like, corn starch, food coloring, oil, etc.
they had fun, i got things done, and when their mess was complete - the paint was not permanent. thank heavens.

this boy loves pushing his pink cart and basketball. 

and pretending hangers are bows with imaginary arrows attached. who taught him about bows and arrows anyway?

because i had been so preoccupied with unpacking and organizing and cleaning, i felt really guilty about not spending enough time with my babes.

i asked them to do their chores so we could start on all the fun projects i had planned.

this is what happened instead...

we got all the craft junk out.

and hurried as fast as we could before daddy had a heart attack from craft mess.

after many tears and tantrums over sharing and taking turns, we ended up with this.

and this.

our all hallow's eve also involved cookie decorating...

and pumpkin carving.

it turned out pretty cute. the other pumpkins are being saved for pumpkin pies and more cookies.

at the end of the day, after tears were wiped and the emotional burden of sharing was lifted, we all watched a halloween movie (the nightmare before christmas) to calm ourselves.
sheesh, who knew being nice could be so difficult and draining?

i tried really, really hard to keep my cool and be patient, and thankfully i was. i really want my kids to be happy for the time we are here. i want them to remember these fun activities and i want them to smile when they think back on their childhood times. it's difficult juggling a move and children and husband. i'm doing the best i can to stop being the mean mom, the yelling mom, the distracted mom, the mom who says no all the time. i'm getting there. slowly, but surely. and right now, i think i deserve a boat load of chocolate. but these halloween cookies and a movie will do.

the end.