The Boo Crew

My little ones were bouncing off the walls to go trick or treating tonight. First we had to take pictures right.  

 The tiger.  This kid loved his costume. He cried to wear it everyday.  Not bad for black sweats and orange duct tape.

 The Rocker.  This is what he wanted to be and thought about what to wear all by himself. I like the attitude in this picture. I see a lot of it around here.

 The Witch. A good one of course. 

 My kids were not big trick or treaters. They were done with once around our little block.  They just wanted to come home and pass out candy.  Our neighborhood was buzzing tonight.  We ran out of candy and 7:30, then came in and got ready for bed.   My kind of Halloween.

Note to Self

Dear Self,  

You have never bought a cheap pumpkin carving kit until this year. You always thought why?  I have a good kitchen knife that has always done the trick, but still not easy to carve a pumpkin.  I was wrong oh so very wrong.  The cheap kit I bought was worth every penny and more.  We had pumpkins done in no time and the kids were able to help.  The scooper worked like a charm.  Self, never let another Halloween pass by without a pumpkin carving kit you will be so glad that you have one.

Birthday

Last week I had a birthday.  I'm not all that sure how I feel about getting one year older.  I can't stop it so I might as well celebrate and be grateful for 36 years of fun, experience, love, relationships, trails and joy.  I wasn't camera happy that day, so this is the one picture I took.  I think it is just as important to get a picture of yourself on your birthday as it is for kids.  At 36 I am still  more comfortable without makeup then with it.  I wear flip flops almost every day.  I weigh less now then I did in high school. I am married to wonderful Kevin and I have the 3 fun, happy, healthy kids.  I have stretch marks.  I enjoy documenting my life with my camera and on this silly blog.  I run twice a week.  I make dinner almost every night and almost always we have homemade pizza once a week. I teach preschool form my home 3 days a week. I still hate cleaning the bathroom.  My favorite show to watch is Parenthood.  I love this song .  I teach gospel doctrine.  I check pinterest everyday.   

I have very sweet friends that brought me treats and cards and gifts.  I was so excited that my birthday fell on a Monday because I was able to go out to lunch and dinner for free courtesy of Liberty Market and Joe's Farm Grill.  Thanks Mandy for having lunch with me.  As the birthday song goes.  One year older and wiser too.  Older yes wiser I hope.

Halloween Party

Time to celebrate Halloween.  Our neighbor hosted a fun party for the kids on the block this year. We played games. Like wrap the mummy.  Max got sandwiched in between his friends.

 They brought out a fire pit to roast marshmallows and make s'mores

 There was pumpkin decorating and a pinata.

 And of course the kids dressed up in their costumes. Lilly the witch is posing with her neighbor friend Claire Red Riding Hood.

 Happy Halloween! We are just getting started.

Pumpkin Patch

Let's go back to the first part of fall break shall we.  My parents were here!! We love when they come to visit. Since it was nice out. I think it was in the 80's we went to the Pumpkin Patch.  We met my brother and my parents there.  It was the Groupon for sure.  Look at all the fun things that we got to enjoy.

horse rides

roping cattle

Playing games

A family potato sack race.

the cousins together

a maze

A HAY ride.

Pumpkins

Lilly cried when we left because she wanted to play with her cousin more.  She loves to play with Jack.  On our ride home Max pulled out several thing from his pocket that he found on the farm.  I just had to laugh.  Boys are so like that. Max has to pick everything up and keep it.  He love to find things on the ground.  I can't complain too much I think this boy is so smart. I know that some day he will find a use for all his things, I'm just sure of it.

Last day of Fall break

Today was the last day of  fall break.  I had 2 options try to fill up the day with activities and take the kids places or have a pajama day.  We took a pajama day.  My kids love to go out, play with friends and try new things, but what they love most, are pajama days, where they can watch TV or a movie or both.  The deal was that they could watch TV and stay in PJ's until lunch. After that we needed to clean the house and get rooms clean.  I felt pretty lazy today but now as I take inventory of the day we accomplished enough to call it a success.

Today's outfit.

The back porch got picked up and swept.
I cleaned out Kevin's pile on the closest floor.
Kitchen wiped down, all dishes washed and put away.  (I'm kind of cheating on this one b/c this gets done everyday)
All the clothes got washed, folded and put away today. That never happens.

I finished the top of this quilt today.

I learned a few things about sewing today. 1.  I can sew.  2. Sewing is not as easy as it looks.  3.  People that sew well really do have a talent.  4.  I enjoyed it.  I already have ideas for another quilt.

The house is all picked up and the kids mostly played together with only a few fights.

One of the reasons that the house had to be picked up was because Max had a movie night with a few of his buddies tonight.  Lilly had one on Wednesday with her friends.  My kids thought it was so fun to stay up late and watch a movie with friends.  Movie night is awesome because there is very little planing or work.  All you need is a movie maybe a short game and popcorn, every one was happy.
I didn't feel like making dinner tonight and Kevin had another late night at work so we had a sandwich night. Everyone was happy but our little Luke. He is not a fan of meat sandwiches, he ate tomatoes, cheese, bread, apples and chips.
Kevin came home shortly after Max's friends arrived.  He is glad this week is over but, some really good things came out of it.  Rumor is that next year when they hold this conference it will be in Rome, Italy.  I'm already scheming ways on how I can go with him. Somehow I must find away.

Kevin

Today is Kevin's Birthday.  So here is my shout out to him and some reasons why I love him lately.

Sometimes at work he gets to play chef and he is pretty good at it. 

Kevin is always up for a challenge.  For his birthday he wanted to complete the Venezia's pizza challenge.  If you don't know what that is I will be happy to tell you.  One 24 inch pizza must be eaten by 2 people in one hour.  Why would you want to do that you may ask, for the fame, the t-shirt, and the photo on the wall of course.  Kevin thought his best partner in this would be his brother Kyle.  Here they are before they start to eat.  All smiles.

They did really well and ate all but 6 pieces in 15 -20 minutes.  The last 6 pieces were the hardest.  See, he is struggling a bit.  If you ask me it looks painful.  But Kevin is a fighter.  So he was not going let 6 pieces of pizza get in the way of his goal.  

They did it, they forced the last pieces down and were victorious in 45 minutes.

Sadly I don't think we will see Kevin on his birthday this year because he will have work late almost all this week. So I hope he reads this and knows that I love him for so many reasons pizza eat contests and all.

October 12th

1.  Getting up early to get a little workout done. 

2.  The weather this morning was just amazing!

3.  Smoothies this morning per Luke's request.  He woke up this morning saying "I hungry, smoothie, please" how could I say no?

4.  Mopped the floor today. I love when that gets done.

5.  Park day today. 

6.  Luke and I love our bike rides.  

7.  Beautiful weather today, and such pretty skies.

8.  We walked home from school today.  The kids wore their school shirts because it was their school spirit day.

9.  Making  dinner. We had the missionaries over.

10.  Folding clothes

11. All the windows and doors were open today.

12. At the end of the day I sat down, put my feet up, and watched a little tv.

Happiness is

This week I felt HAPPY,  I don't think there was a real reason, maybe because I made an effort to recognize the little things or it could be that we did some fun things. Whatever the reason it was a happy week.
Happiness is....
WinCo
WinCo opened up this week.  It was crazy busy. I bought my apples for 25 cents a pound and the kids got to pick out treat for conference
Apples
25 cents. Love my apples
Lilly's chorus concert
The school chorus performed fun songs. The kids had fun.  Lilly sang her heart out and really loves to sing.  She is getting so much better. I just love to watch her grow.

Observational drawing of a fish
In preschool we studied fish.  I had them do drawing of my fish.  They did really well.

making a quit
Mandy helped me get started, form picking the fabric to teaching me how to sew.  Lilly has no idea it is for her. I told her it was for a friend.  She looks at the fabric and keeps asking me if I will make her one. I am so excited to finish and surprise her for Christmas.

Going to see The Secret Garden with my favorite girl and friends
We loved it.  Lilly even asked for Mary's autograph.

General Conference
I am uplifted from hearing the words of the prophet.  Now to go out and serve and do a little better.
My kids were excited to hear from the prophet
There were a few moments where the wrestling stopped and they listened   Luke colored on the same paper all day. I know what I am doing now if nothing else is teaching them that I love the prophet. I know what the prophet teaches is truth.  They are beginning to understand that if we follow the prophet we will be happy.

Watching Max play soccer
Max had another great game. He will get in there and play.  I love to see his smiling face when he takes the ball.
Decorating for Halloween
I don't really love any of my decorations, it is just what we have.  But the kids love them they remember where we put them every year.  I let them do it all they were so excited.