First and foremost, it's that time of year again. Time for elf yourself to reappear! Aaron absolutely loves the elf dances and actually wonders how he remembers the dance from year to year.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/ETRb0yYzpZZfEtfH3xQd

I hope the link works. This year they offer 4 different dances, all of which are hilarious.

The camping trip. Well, it was COLD and WINDY!! The first night I thought we were going to blow away in the 50 mph gusts.

The next morning was freezing and windy making it a tad miserable for awhile. Later the wind died down and it was tolerable. Saturday night wasn't windy but it was 33 degrees. Overall the weather was not great for camping but we survived and managed to have a great time!

Aaron and Justin (both 5) had a blast playing together. They both had matching "ninja" jackets with hoods ($1.50 Halloween clearance!).

The girls (both 8) didn't hold still long for pictures. Most of the pictures I have of them they are making faces or running away.

Alex thought camping was pretty cool. He enjoyed the cookies and marshmallows most of all.

(Alex's mad stance)

We ate like kings with huge breakfasts every morning including eggs, bacon, and homemade buttermilk biscuits (campfire cooked). We cooked two roasts in the fire the second night.

Even Catfish had a good time although it was a bit cold for her liking!

These are from a fishing excursion in the backyard earlier this week. I think the only thing anybody caught was a big turtle but everyone had fun. Julia was inside reading so she missed out on the family fun.

It seems the evil virus is on its way out. Both boys ended up with awful ear infections from it and are on a round of antibiotics. Then Aaron had a reaction to his flu shot and was sick for another two days. So, exactly 15 days after it all began I was finally able to sleep through the night again!! No cleaning up barf on the top bunk at 2 am, no administering late-night advil, actual sleep all night long!
We had a surprise anniversary dinner for the Aucoin's 35th, last night. I haven't downloaded the pictures, yet, to see if any are decent. It was a fun evening!

The big yearly camping event is next weekend so we must prepare! Time to dig out the tent and prepare the menu. We always show up looking like the Beverly Hillbillies with all the "necessary" stuff!

Julia was a gothic vampiress for Halloween. I hope this isn't a vision into our teenage years. She looked marvelous with her black lipstick (thanks, Granny-the applicator), her dress, and black fingernail polish. Aaron was a bat. He had black clothes, wings, and ears. I don't think he wore his ears most of the time.

Alex, well you can see from the picture, he cried the whole time and refused to wear a costume. I forgot to mention that Alex and Julia have aquired the dreaded virus and were both running a fever for Halloween.

Alex finally loosened up and was beginning to enjoy getting candy but then he tripped and fell and skinned
his knee which ruined the rest of his evening.

I was on a rant because only about every 7th house was participating in Halloween. I guess everyone else had something better to do. Why does no one want to do Halloween anymore? The people that do play are so cheap that they will only give one piece of candy (think one lone tootsie roll) to the kids. Next year I'm bringing eggs and going old school on them!!

Luckily we brough the golf cart so we could cover more area with two sick kids.

Aaron had "fall refreshments" at the school on Friday. I made a cupcake cake which came out good (although I'm no Jen Mueller!) and the kids devoured.

Here's the whole family on the golf cart makin' the rounds.

We're hoping the virus will leave us soon!!