Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! Jim, we all miss you! Hurry home!

Jim is in Seattle b/c he is in a wedding this weekend (a friend from high school). So, its a little rough, but we are making it through. And of course, I'll be ready to go out when he gets home---any takers??? ;)

Tonight Ann and Tim and I took all of our kids out trick or treating. We probably went to about 15 houses. Alli was good and wasn't even nervous going up to the houses. I was always really shy and felt funny going up. I would tell her to knock on the door and she would knock once, then knock again about every two seconds until someone would answer. And it was so cute.....she didn't have a nap, so she fell asleep on our street while being pushed in the stroller. She never did wake up when I took off her costume and put her in bed. All of the babies were pretty good too.....only fussed a little b/c they were so tired. I had fun and we actually met a few neighbors.



These were taken before we went out. Alli was getting a little jealous I think. I told her she was next and she had to let me take 4 pictures of her - I wanted to make sure I got a good one. This is what I got...she is such a goofball sometimes!

#1 - Flying monkey making a snow angel
#2
#3
#4 - Finally, pretty good, but she took the hood off
Trick or Treating
Ann, Tim, Matthew and Michael
She is so sweet
All of my little zoo animals! That might be the best picture ever of all 4 of them! ha!
And these were taken this morning....Jimmy clapping
I was in the kitchen and Alli said, hey mom, come here, all my babies like me. they want to sit by me :) I thought it was so cute!!! Of course, by the time I got the camera, the positions sort of changed. They were all looking at her when I first walked in.

Meadows Halloween Party

Another post from Saturday! After the zoo, I ran around like a nut looking for stuff for our costumes. We decided to break out the M&M's costumes from way back when. After getting home with everything, I realized that the green one was a child's costume, almost too small for Alli. Jim told me it was small, and I did say I could fit into it, but he should have STRESSED that it was Alli's size! So, all that running around for nothing! And now I have to return everything I bought. So, we both just grabbed something out of Toni's 'bag o' costumes' and went with it.

Oh, while I'm thinking about it---thanks for everyone who leaves comments. Jim and I love to read them and to see who is checking in on us. And if you don't leave them, START (please)! Okay, you don't have too--if you don't leave comments, thanks for reading and looking at our pics anyway!

It was a year ago Saturday that I went in for my 25 week ultrasound and was admitted at St. John's. I can't believe a year has already went by. That was such a hard time for me and Jim (and I'm sure Alli too!). Oh, and I guess the rest of our families that had to help out. I still tear up when I think about it. I hated being there away from everyone. But, thanks again to EVERYONE who came to visit me all the time. There was only one day when I didn't have a visitor the whole 5 1/2 weeks I was there. And I cried and cried that day! Everyone did say to relax and enjoy the quiet time b/c it would never be the same. I do have to admit, that sometimes I wish I could just spend one night there and not worry about any babies :) But one night would probably be enough.

The babies are 11 months old today. I took them all to the helmet dr. today for Jimmy's appointment. What a chore! He hasn't been wearing his helmet much the past month, so I wasn't surprised when they told us there was no change/improvement. So, now we go back next month.....we are going to be strict about it. I want to get rid of that thing! Jenna is so close to crawling and is transitioning from laying on the ground to sitting up. Cassie can crawl all over, but she still can't get back up to sitting position. Jenna's physical therapist is going to be so proud when I tell her. That is what she wants them working on. Cassie....4 teeth. Jimmy 3 teeth. Jenna 2 teeth. Oh, and Jimmy is clapping and starting to wave--so cute!!!

Daddy and his girls
Look at Jenna's cute face!
So, here are the Halloween pics from Ann's party.
The Blues Brothers
Yes, this is a Ghost costume and I'm a Jester
Mario and Luigi
The Ref and the Soccer Player
Thug and Operation
Brian and Gina as each other
Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil
Catwoman and Elvis
Liquor bottle and The Boxer

Juno and Bleeker
Prisoner picking up her trash
And Jackie!
More Blues Brothers
The Girl Scout and the Banana
Brokeback Mountain (so gross!)
Katie's man and the race car driver
Mike D & Kenny D

Medusa & Joe (and Jim and Janet)
Ann & Toni

Boo at the Zoo

Jim is going to be out of town next weekend and has to miss Halloween with the kids, so we decided to do something festive. We took the kids to Boo at the Zoo on Saturday morning. The lines were long, so we didn't really do the trick or treating part of it, we just saw some of the animals. The babies were oblivious to them, but Alli really enjoyed it. This was her 3rd time there, but she was too small to really get into it. We went with our friends, the Goewerts, and Katie and Cory met us there, and Mike, Cali, and Jackie too. The babies were good too.

We don't go out to many public places with all of the kids very often, but we got a lot of attention. Maybe more than some of the animal exhibits :) We even had some people taking pictures of the Clauser Zoo.

Right when they woke up....I think they were excited and they love their new pajamas :)
(Jenna, Jimmy, Cassie)
Cassie the Lion
Jimmy the Giraffe
Jenna the Tigger
Alli the Flying Monkey
There were a lot of monkeys at the zoo yesterday, but I think Alli was the only Flying Monkey!
Sweet picture of Jenna and Daddy
Jenna, Cassie, Jimmy, Alli, Mia, & Owen
Mike D & Cali (she was a cat, but kept taking her ears off)
Katie & Cory

And he's walking!
Derek, Owen, & Danielle
Alli and the Hippo (I think that's a hippo or rhino or something;)
Mia, Cory, and Jackie (cheerleader) - Alli wouldn't pose with the group
The babies slept for a little bit, which made it a little easier :)
People were feeding the giraffes, so they were really close to the fence. Alli was a little too close for me in this picture. Of course I didn't want her to get eaten by a giraffe, but I had to get a picture first
The tigers were playing so cute too--Alli had a lot of fun watching them
Jimmy at home after his long day...enjoying all of Alli's play food
We had a party to go to that night, but I'll have to post those pics later. Good night!