Happy Halloween!

This Halloween was another week long party. On Wednesday we got to go to Grandma's trunk-or-treat and dress up, play games, and eat a lot of candy. On Friday, we then went to Mike's work to celebrate. It was insane the amount of work they had put into decorating. The pictures do not do it justice. Each team had a theme. Mike's was care bears (you will notice him dressed as Papa Bear with the kids). There was also Peter Pan, Super Man, and Sesame Street to name a few. The kids had a great time there and got a lot of candy. On Saturday we went to our final Halloween celebration at our own church. The kids dressed up again and had more fun and way too much candy. When we got home, Mike told them for just that night they could eat as much candy as they wanted. Allen fell asleep with a lollipop in his mouth and there were candy wrappers everywhere, but they did not eat as much as I thought they would. I think they actually got a little overloaded. Benjamin was the only real trouble maker of the lot. He did not like any costumes and it was very difficult to dress him up. You may notice that he has on a different costume in each picture. You may also notice that they only times he is not crying is when he has a lollipop in his mouth. Oh well, maybe next year! Anyway, it was a fun Halloween. Enough talk. Enjoy the pictures!

Mike dressed as Luigi for the party on Saturday at Allen's request. They looked very cute!

the battle for sleep

I just wanted to add this one more picture, because I think it is funny. We have been trying to get Benjamin to fall asleep on his own because he is still very difficult at night and soon it will become a real problem. So, I put a gate in front of his door, and he has been crying himself to sleep. It is very hard for me, and it really hasn't improved even after a few months of doing it this way. sometimes, his brothers will help try to comfort him. here is the result of Misha's efforts to help him fall asleep.

Misha is 6!

I can't believe that Misha is 6 and Allen is 7. The boys are getting so big. Anyway, Misha had a birthday bash on Saturday, so I thought I would share a few pictures before I forget. Enjoy!

Misha chose the theme of Avatar : the Last Airbender for his birthday, so his party was a little more subdued than Allen's wild Star Wars party. I actually had a really hard time thinking of activities, but came up with a few things that the kids had a lot of fun with. There also were a few less kids, and this set was a lot easier to deal with, so it made it a much less tiring party.

We carved pumkins for the earth bending. I was a little stressed out with all the kids having their own carving knives, but it turned out ok.

We also played with water balloons and poppers for the water and fire bending. I think they had fun with that, although they had a really hard time catching the water balloons.

The kids liked the bubbles and the rocket balloons that we used for air bending. Misha was really happy, and that is what really counts. Thanks to everyone who helped out!

A Little Look Back

I realized after posting last that I never did post any pictures from Simeon's birthday. I hate to use pregnancy as an excuse, but back in June I was a little overwhelmed with work, having all the boys home from school and just feeling really icky that I kind of forgot to put the pictures up. I also was really bummed because my camera battery died right as we were starting the party (another oversight on my part) and so I couldn't take any pictures. Luckily, Dan and Mary were nice enough to take pictures on their phones and email them to us. Anyway, Simeon chose to have a family party and to have a barbecue and just enjoy everyone being over. He had a really fun time and got a lot of fun presents. He didn't really stay still long enough to get clear pictures, but at least we got some.

Simeon chose a Donkey Kong cake. I had some disasters with this cake (as usual) since the frosting was very runny and Misha knocked it over (in the cake holder thank goodness) right before we started the party. I had to try to put it all back together, and so it was a little messy. I felt bad because Simeon didn't even get to see it before the mishap, but he liked it nonetheless. I always seem to have some disaster story or other when it comes to birthday cakes. Maybe that is an indicator that I should just start buying them from Walmart or something.

I can't believe that Simeon is already four. It scares me to think that he will be starting school next year. He just still seems little to me. Time flies. Well, I think that is it for now. I think I have finally caught up to the present. Here's to hoping the I can just keep up now.

Allen's Birthday, Greer, and Some More Chicago

Well, I am again unable to move pictures around, and I am too impatient to figure out how to do it, so this will be a hodgpodge. Anyway, I found some more Chicago pictures in our 300 or so that we took that I wanted to post as well as a couple pictures from our trip to Greer on Labor Day weekend. But, I thought I should also post Allen's birthday pictures before Misha's birthday party comes around so that I can at least separate those. Allen chose to have a Star Wars party this year, and he and I had a lot of fun planning for the party. I found a lot of really fun ideas on line, and I must admit I got a little overambitious, but it turned out really fun.

This is a post party picture, and, althougth I do not like to post pictures of myself, I thought the boys were really cute.
Allen's birthday cake was supposed to be this really cool looking R2D2, but my homemade fondant started falling apart and so I just sort of slapped it on. I told the kids it was R2D2 after he fell in the swamp where Yoda lives. They liked that. They also thought it was really funny because the cake was red inside (I made a red velvet cake just to be different). They all screamed and laughed while I cut him up, so I guess it was a success in spite of my disappointment.

I made the kids light sabers out of noodles and duct tape and let them practice hitting bubbles. They of course hit each other as well (hence the noodle light sabers). Online a lot of people suggested buying each kid a cheap plastic light saber. I found some, but know boys well enough to know the disasters that could lead too. I liked the foam idea much better. They really liked them too.

We also had a couple special guests at the party. Mike was nice enough to consent to dress as Darth Vader and let the kids throw water balloons at him. It was really funny, and the kids liked that part a lot. Especially since Darth Vader danced around like no one has ever seen him dance before....

One of our friends has a really cool storm trooper costume as well, and he made an appearance at the party to take pictures with all of the kids. They were kind of intimidated by him, but they thought he was cool. Abigail was probably the least intimidated and kept going up to him to touch him and see if he was real.

I wish I had gotten pictures of the work we did in Misha's room as well. We put up black plastic bags all over his room to make it completely black (like I said, I got a little over ambitious), and then hung up some glow in the dark planets the kids and I had made, glow in the dark stars, and glow sticks. It looked really cool. We then filled it with a bunch of balloons that John and Cristina were nice enough to blow up. The kids went in there last and popped all the balloons (we called the death stars) to find some pictures that we had put inside. It was crazy, but they really liked that part. It was definitely worth all the work. Anyway, Allen had a really fun birthday, and was very excited to be seven.

Now for Greer. WE got to go to Greer to celebrate Grandpa John's 60th birthday. We got a huge cabin and just played and enjoyed the outdoors for4 days straight. It was very relaxing and wonderful. The kids had nonstop fun with their cousins and were very sad to leave. One picture is here, and the other is at the end.

Finally, a few more pictures from Chicago.

Benjamin with Auntie Laura (He took to his Aunts there right away).

We spent one day at Six Flags GReat America. WE took Katie along and had a really fun day (in spite of the heat). I wanted to include this picture because I was proud of Allen for being so brave. He decided on his own to try this climbing thing with Mike and Misha. Allen is really afraid of heights, and so I know it was hard for him, but he did really well and even wanted to go all the way to the top.

Benjamin loved this little area that was devoted to the Wiggles. He didn't much care for the kiddie rides, but he loved the slides and the Wiggles show.

With Aunt Monica, we got to go to a water park and a park where mammoth bones had been found. The kids loved the mammoth statue and the train ride that we took at the park, and they had a blast in the water.

this is more from Great America. I have to say that I was really proud of Cristina here as well because she went on a lot of roller coasters, including the superman ride which is very scary.

All the grandkids (minus Abigail who was asleep) in Greer. Benjamin would not go without Cristina (who is hiding behind him).



Well, there it is. Another fun filled post from the Tereks. I will hopefully be posting again soon with some wild and crazy pictures from Misha's birthday party. Enjoy your day!

Yikes! Has it been that long???

I realized after ttalking with Kim today that it has been a really long time since I have posted anything. I had every intention of posting Simeon's birthday and our trip to Chicago and everything else that we have done, but somehow time got away from me. Anyway, I do not hink I could possibly catch up, so i will just post some of the pictures from our fun trip to Chicago. We had a great time visiting Grandpa, all of the aunts and uncles, and the cousins. it was a very action packed adventure, and it seemed like we were going from sun up to sun down (or well past sun down). Every night we dragged the kids into the hotel at around 11 or 12, plopped into bed, and slept very soundly. We had a wonderful time riding a train, going to the beach, having a fireworks show in Grandpa's back yard, going to a waterpark, and having a wonderful time with family. Here are some of the many pictures that we took while we were there. They are not in any order because I am having trouble getting them to move around, but they are there.


We got to go to a private beach with the family. It was very fun. the cousins were all very nice to help the boys build a big sand castle, and we all had fun sitting on the beach, playing in the sand, and wading in the freezing water.

We definitely wanted a picture of the family while we had everyone together. It is not often that all of the cousins are able to get together.

Auntie Laura and her girls took us to a children's museum. It was really a fun place for the kids, and they all enjoyed gettin individualized attention from their cousins and aunts.

The fourth of July party was a blast and the boys enjoyed just being able to run around in Grandpa's big back yard with their cousins. The firworks show was also very fun and quite impressive. I discovered that allen is a little bit of a pyromaniac as Uncle Doug taught him to light fireworks and he seemed to enjoy a little too much. I unfortunately could not get any good pictures of the fireworks, but we were completely surrounded by them as we were not the only people in the neighborhood that were putting on a show.

We took a little trip downtown one day for the Taste of Chicago. It was fun to walk around Grant Park and see the city. It was a little chaotic and very hot, but we enjoyed seeing the sites and tasting the food.

The train ride to and from Chicago was an adventure in itself. There were some rocky parts, but it went mostly very well, and it was fun to be able to get up and walk around whenever we wanted to. I am so grateful Cristina went along, or we may not have survived it.

Anyway, that is a quick glimpse into our little adventure.