Halloween . . . finally

We spent Halloween with family this year. Thanks to Randy and Angie for having all of us over.

Ella was a green faced witch, again. She insisted on doing her own makeup this year. More power to you, little woman!
Grace decided, very last minute, to be Snow White.
And Joseph was a stinkin' cute elephant. He love, love, loved the costume.
I imagine this same picture could be taken in millions of home across America. Oh, to be a kid again!
My kids are down to their last few pieces of candy, which I suspect will be gone tomorrow. Once the candy is gone, we can officially put Halloween to bed and moldy "Jack" in the garbage.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and all the fun in the upcoming weeks.

A Tiny Look Back

Holidays are a gazillion times more fun with excited little ones all around.

Halloween 2005 in Utah

We love sharing holidays with family and friends.

Ella is wearing a dress that Aunt Stephie wore when she was little, very cool!

Grace was a cheetah this year. All my kids wear this cheetah costume the Halloween they are one. Funny note, Maddie wore this cheetah first when she was 7 months old.

Halloween 2006 in St. Louis

No, I was not dressed up for Halloween as a "tired mom". I was, in fact, exhausted. Joseph was one month old and being a mother of three was kicking my trash.
Grace loved the hood of this costume and kept it on ALL THE TIME.
Ella loved her green face and was convinced that no one knew who she was. Our sweet friends played along.

Halloween 2007 - St. Louis
This is us at Boo at the Zoo (just another fun and free thing to do in St. Louis).
Joseph was a new walker at this point and wanted to walk EVERYWHERE.
The girls were very opinionated about their costumes this year. I chose not to fight that battle, gave them free reign and tah-dah!

Sharing

Our girls are quite the little sharers.

Adam wasn't able to go to the Halloween party with us last night. Ella and Grace felt bad that he was missing out on all the fun (aka candy) so they shared.

Grace wrote dad a whole "letter" and drew him "shapes" (that's the rolled up one). For some reason they felt the need to unwrap the candy then add the ice thingies, "So it doesn't melt, mom!" said Ella with a very "duh" tone in her voice. (Yah, in case it melts inside our house. Where the heat isn't on. At night. Right. Duh me!)

Ella, Grace and Joe are all great sharers. They are more than happy to share their candy with each other and with mom and dad. I'm hoping they hold on to this trait for the next 100 years or so.

A Week long Halloween Party

Don't you just love, love, love it when Halloween is on Friday? Halloween celebrations last all week long. Who doesn't love a weeks worth of Halloween? Tonight was grandma and grandpa's ward's Halloween party. We go every year we live here and its always a fun time.

Above: All seven of the grandkids were in attendence: one cheerleader (you can't see it but she's a Memphis Tigers cheerleader), one lady bug, three witches and a pumpkin. All high on sugar!
Ella was bashful about trying the "Dangling Donut" game. I was able to convince her it would be fun. And it was!
Grace also did well at the "Dangling Donut" game and shared her donut prize with Joe. However, this picture is all about the bright pink frosting all over her mouth. Aunt Steph was helping with the "Creepy Cake Crawl" so, of course, we had to play.
I found this shirt at Savers lots of months ago and loved it. No clue when I'd ever wear it but loved it just the same. Finally, a fitting excuse to wear my awesome shirt. I'm gathering the gumption to wear this shirt on a regular basis. I'm not sure I've got the style to pull it off but I can dream. I just might try wearing it to the bus stop (minus the pig tails and not tied in the front, promise)

p.s. I had a little boy in Ella's class ask me today, "Why do you talk like a country person?" I replied, "Because I'm from the country." The burbs, where I'm actually from, don't really qualify as "country" but it seemed a fitting answer for a punk red head six year old (with black painted fingernails, btw).

One more thing, these are my new favorite jeans. Not new jeans but my new favorites. I feel very this in these jeans. And that's a good thing!

Jack

Meet the newest addition to our family, Jack. We are happy to have Jack in our home and think he is remarkably cute. He is the product of a mostly excellent FHE.

The girls discovered, despite being warned, that pumpkin guts are slimy. My girls don't do slimy. The faces were classic. Its at times like these that its a true tragedy that I'm not a better photographer.

Somewhere along the way, Joe had had enough. I think taking his shirt off pushed him over the edge. I was just trying to avoid a laundry disaster. Selfish me!

Jack in all his glory! He even has cute little ears.
Adam is our carver extraordinaire! Another talent its taken almost ten years for me to discover.

p.s. Have no fear, we didn't let Jack's innards go to waste. That's another post for another day. Maybe tomorrow.

A Quick Long Weekend

Ella and Grace were out of school for a long weekend last week. We kept busy and Ella said it was the best weekend of her life. So, mom running herself ragged equals kid heaven. Good to know!

Thursday started with the kids and I at the pediatrician's office for Joe's well child appointment and shots. The girls got to wear their witch gear to the doctor's office. The were a hit with the staff. Joseph was terribly pleased with the truck sticker he got on the way out.

We thought a "Wee Witch's Parade" sounded fun for the girls. It turned out lame but at least they look cute.

Friday began with a "Savannah Smiles" movie party with grandma, aunts and cousins and ended with a "Kangaroo Zoo" birthday party.

Then Saturday, Ella had a friend over to play for the day. We went to the library, swimming, lunch then looking for "collections" outside. Those girls collected every piece of garbage, I mean, treasure at the playground. Yuck!Above: Then saturday night we went to an orchard/farm in town for a hayride and an "Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" outdoor viewing. Notice the little pieces of hay (straw actually) floating in the air and the Barbie that "had" to accompany us on our outing. It was great "free" fun.

Finally, check out my little man acting just like my big man. Adam has to keep up with "the market" for work so the news is a constant at our house, especially lately. "The market" better even out or I'm going to loss my mind. I am learning to despise financial news. Nope, I already do! I came into the living room this morning to find Joseph, alone, watching CNBC. Hopefully it didn't scramble his little brain.

Busy but not blogging

It was brought to my attention that I need to "Update your blog already." I'll admit, posting have been a little sparse lately, but I've been busy. Not blogging, but busy, nonetheless.

It all began with getting out and putting up our fall/Halloween decorations. Doing this reminded me that I'd thrown away the kids trick-or-treat bags last year since they were beat to pieces. I've been wanting to make them new ones, so I did. The kids love them and so do I. And they're reversible to all black (toot, toot goes my horn).

Then the weather got cold so I pulled out the boxes of winter clothes and the girls pulled the clothes out of the boxes. And all over their room.
All those clothes then had to be washed since they've been in storage.
Once washed, dried and folded the clothes sat for three days in the girls room. Before the winter clothes will fit in the armoire, the summer clothes have to be put in storage. It was all quite the process.
Above: The kids were pretty good about letting me work. This is a special treat for them: getting to watch a movie on the portable DVD player in their room. I love easy to please kids!
Above: The little bit of frosting left kept Grace busy for a long time.
And then there was the Halloween advent calendar project. My mom and I each started one of these while I was home last month. Only ten days into October I'm, finally, finished. Hallelujah!
You can find the inspiration for this project on ebay (search for Halloween advent calendar) for $100 but mine is cuter and it would take a lot more than $100 for me to let go of this. It was a LOT of work and took FOREVER!

This picture is horrid but I don't even care right now. I'm so happy to have it complete and for my kids to stop asking me when I'm going to finish it. Now I just need to put a little treat for the kids in each pocket and the world will be a happy place again.

This may not seem like too much but while doing these projects regular life marched on. Ella went back on track, Grace started preschool, I started volunteering in Ella's classroom and trading babysitting so I can volunteer, Joe had diarrhea for a week, General Conference and Adam working 60 hour weeks.

For the next few weeks I plan to do fewer projects and do . . . less, more.

Autumn Heaven

We got together today with ALL the cousins, yes, all four of them. We've been wanting to take the kids to Gardner Village to see all the fun witches and autumn decorations. It is such a feastive and fun place where I could spend a zillion dollars (if I'd lost my mind).

It took LOTS of trys to get all seven looking, smiling and not picking their noses or chewing their fingers. Except Olivia, we think her finger chewing is cute. Slobbery but cute!
Only some of the kids (and adults) would dare sit next to her. Adam won't do it.
Stephanie was one of the brave ones.
The Village has a huge number of BIG witches dressed and staged all over the grounds. This one riding her bike over the water is my favorite. Ella liked the hula hooping witch the best. Joe liked the two playing baseball and Grace liked the one out in the boat fishing with dynamite. They are all so stinkin' cute.
I was talking to someone when I hear Ella say, "Mom, take a pictures of me." I turned and find my gorgeous six year old posing. Where did she learn this? I haven't a clue.

We had a fantastic morning with grandma, the aunts (Angie, Emily and Steph) and all the cousins. Adam was even sweet enough to come with us on his vacation day. Thank you my sweet.