Halloween Night 2009

Natalie was a witch. She started out with a green face, but then she decided she didn't like it after I took the pictures. She wouldn't let me put the makeup on her neck, ears or anything else so she said she looked stupid. I had to wash her face off, and then she was happy again. She let me put black lipstick and eye shadow on her, but nothing else.

Drew was a vampire. He put the teeth in after I did his makeup. I expected that he would take the teeth out within a few minutes because they were one size fits all for adults. That boy left them in for 3 hours straight! He couldn't talk or really even open his mouth with them in so as he passed out candy, he'd talk with his mouth closed, and when he went trick or treating he couldn't say anything either. When he came home I took them out and all the saliva he'd had in his mouth during that time came out. It was so gross! (But I have to admit I also thought it was pretty funny.)

Natalie and Drew passing out the candy.

Trevor wore a black robe, black shirt and a hockey mask. I'm not sure what he was, and neither was he. But he chose it all out and liked it. He went to his friend Robert's house. Robert moved into the Seare's old house. He's in Trevor's class at school. He's a really nice boy from a great family and he's in a wheelchair. They went trick or treating together, and then came back for pizza and to pass out candy. When Robert's mom called me at the end of the night she said that they met some friends from school while they were out. The friends tried to get Trevor to ditch Robert and come with them. She said that Trevor politely declined and stayed with Robert. She said that he's had friends before that would play with him until someone "better" came along. She was so pleased that Trevor chose to stay with Robert, but was able to be nice about it to his other friends. Wow! I'm so proud of him.

(Top) Trevor in his costume. (Bottom) Robert and Trevor

Justin went to the stake youth conference. After that he came back, changed his clothes, and went to the Buhrley's house with a bunch of boys. They got to watch movies and eat pizza. Justin said they were disappointed that they couldn't go trick or treating, but that he was glad he went to the conference because it was a lot of fun and they learned a lot. Then they got to have fun hanging out together afterwards. I'm so grateful for good friends that make good choices.

Mom, Katie and Melia came after the kids left with Kent. Mom and I stayed and passed out candy while Katie and Melia joined Kent, Natalie and Drew while they were trick or treating.

Natalie, Maryann, Drew and Susan. For some reason Mom was freezing cold. She's wearing a heavy winter coat and I had to get a blanket for her too. I thought it felt great! I am not made to be a desert dweller!

Katie and Melia came dressed up. Melia was Snow White and Katie was a biker chick, not Bret Michaels from Poison as I originally guessed... I made chili, cornbread and brownies for dinner. My kids didn't eat until they were back. I'm so glad I rushed to make it for them so they could eat before they left!

Kent ended up wearing Natalie's witch hat at some point during the evening. It's good to see him get into the spirit of things!

Natalie's Halloween Dance Performance

Natalie is on the performing dance team at her dance studio. On Halloween day the performing and competitive groups got to perform at Schnepf Farms. The girls have been performing together for 1 1/2 years or more, and they are working together so well. Each group performed a tap and jazz routine for the show. Natalie's group, the Rockstars, got to perform Born to Be Wild for jazz and Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend for the tap routine. They did a fantastic job, and looked so cute in their costumes. Natalie in her jazz costume. If you can't tell the skirt has swinging fringe on it. The belt and top are a shiny velour with red and orange.

Here are a few of the Rockstars before the performance. Gracie, Mikylah, Callie, Halley, Emily, Gabby, Jillian, Natalie and KatelynThe Rockstars performing Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend.

After the performance we joined up with Nancy and Valerie Lambert. We rode the train around the farm, then stopped at Bahama Bucks for a treat.

Helping in Natalie's class

Friday was a crazy day. First off I got to go to school and be a chaperon on Natalie's field trip. The first graders got to go see a play at the Higley Center for the Performing Arts to see Strega Nona.

These are the girls I was responsible for: Natalie, Gabby and Kylie... Such cute girls!

After the field trip, I ran home to eat lunch and get my supplies so I could do a craft with Natalie's class, help with their party and then watch the parade.At the end of the day at school Mrs. Dede turned on some Halloween music and the kids all started dancing. It was so funny! I wish I would have videotaped it because it was so cute.

Korbin Hall is one of my favorite kids. He keeps up a running commentary whenever I'm in their class, and he's smart as a whip. He reminds me of Trevor.

Adam. Justin, Anna and Gabby. Justin is a funny little kid. In every picture I took he tried to give the people next to him bunny ears.

Adam, Justin, Natalie and Gabby... Justin's doing the bunny ears again!

Only the K-3 grades are allowed to dress up and participate in the school parade so the other kids get to sit out in the hall while the younger kids have their procession. We got to see Trevor and Justin waving at us as we walked by.

I got pictures of a few friends too. Here's Anderson Pillion....

...And Caleb Lamoreaux. I always snap his picture because he always tries to hide. He's so cute.

Drew's Halloween party

Kent took Drew and Kendrick to their preschool Halloween party at Miss Judi's house. I came a little later, after I finished at my doctor's appointment. I love these Halloween parties! It's sad to think that this is Drew's last year of preschool. He's going to be 5 in just 2 1/2 months! Where has the time gone? They were dressed as a vampire and Ben 10, respectively. There was so much fun stuff to do. They got to color their treat bags, play games, jump in the bounce house, have their pictures taken, listened to a story ready by Miss Judi and finally go trick or treating. The kids all looked so cute and they had a great time.

This was one of my favorite pictures. Kendrick and Drew were deep in conversation about something. It is hilarious to see what they might look like in 20 years!
Here they are trick or treating at the last house. I got a smile from Kendrick!

Kendrick, Sarah, Miss Judi, Kimber and Drew. Drew is doing his best not to smile because "vampires don't smile."

Drew's class playing games with Candace.

For a minute Drew forgot that he wasn't supposed to smile...

Halloween Costumes 2009

Here's what we're planning to do for the 2 little ones, minus their hair and makeup being done.

Natalie is going to be a witch. We couldn't find a costume that she liked in a size that would work so we got her a fancy leotard that resembled the costume she wanted, and the witch hat matches it. Then we got her the striped stockings because they made the costume pop. Her face will be painted green, and she gets to wear makeup. She'll have her hair in two low ponytails tied with matching ribbons. Drew is going to be a vampire. He'll have a white face with "blood" around his mouth. And he isn't smiling for the pictures because he told me "vampires don't smile, Mom." Well, don't I feel silly? Natalie and Drew in their costumes, while Trevor peeks from behind.

Halloween Decor 2009

The top picture is how my front door looked with the cheapo witch, Halloween sign, the spider web, pumpkin garland and pumpkins. There are orange Halloween lights around the door that don't show up in the picture. The front door after I made a new Halloween wreath. Everything else is the same.
These are the terra cotta pots I spray painted with black glossy paint. Since this picture was taken I added Halloween garland around the outside, and moved the raven to the top. After Halloween I'll remove the garland and the raven and use it for Thanksgiving.

Here is my new pumpkin table runner before I laid it out on the table. It seemed to take forever to cut everything out, but now it's done, and I'm glad!

Here's the table runner with my sticks that I spray painted black, my black roses and a couple of spooky votive holders. The felt candy corn pillows I made are in a jar by the front door. I put my new BOO letters in front of the jar. I think it turned out cute. (If you want to know how to do those projects just check my craft blog. There's a link on the sidebar.)

I also have several votive holders and wood Halloween figures around the family and living rooms. Apparently I didn't take pictures of those, but you can look at last year's pictures if you really want to see them!

Cabin Fever

During fall break we went up to the cabin for a few days for a little R & R. Kent hasn't been with us for the last couple of trips so it was fun to have him join us.

This is Kent's idea of R & R... rest and relaxation...

This is the boys' idea of R & R... wRestling and Recreation...

I brought several books thinking that I could get a ton of reading done. Instead I cleaned, cooked and went on nature walks. I also worked with Drew and Natalie on their fall break homework. Justin, Trevor and I watched shows on the Discovery Health channel. They really liked the Real Stories from the E.R. Kent and I even got to spend time together and talk without many interruptions since our cell phones didn't get reception at the cabin.

Natalie on our nature walk. She loves going on walks with me, and loves looking at plants.

Here I am wearing my beautiful Broncos hoodie.

Natalie, me and Drew got a lot of time together. Drew thought it was hilarious to close his eyes and smile for all the pictures.

Another tradition we kept was feeling the animals the peanuts. We were visited by 6-8 blue jays at a time, and several squirrels that would let us know when they were ready for more food. Drew took may of the pictures of the animals this time.

Kent took the kids fishing, and they didn't even get a nibble. I think the bears came to the lake and wiped out the supply so they could hibernate. The kids had fun fishing, though and want to go again.I got scared half to death at one point. Kent took the kids to DQ to get ice cream so I was alone. I was sitting on a chair right next to the sliding glass door and noticed something move out of the corner of my eye. I had my backpack right there so I thought it tipped over. I stood it back up, turned back to my book and almost immediately I saw something and heard some scratching. That's when I noticed the gleaming green eyes that belonged to a fat raccoon. Whew! I was worried about foraging bears, wolves or coyotes. I can deal with a raccoon! The next night that raccoon came back with her 3 babies. The kids thought that was awesome. Our last night at the cabin was movie and Smores night. We lit the fire, melted our marshmallows and had a fun time watching the kids see who could get the best browned marshmallow. Then we watched Snow White. I loved that movie when I was younger, and was happy to share that with my own children.

My date with Drew

Lately Drew gets very upset whenever Kent hugs or kisses me. He gets even more upset when we go on a date. He wants to tag along, but we don't let him go because we feel that it's important that we go out together alone. Last week when Kent and I were getting ready to go on our date, Drew asked again if he could go with us. When I said no he asked if he could go on a date with me. I asked him what he thought a date was and when we would go on it. He told me a date was when a boy and a girl went places together, and he would give me a penny and a quarter so that he could pay for the date. Seriously, I think he is one of the cutest, funniest kids I know. He's asked me every day this week about going on our date, and on Wednesday gave me the penny and quarter and said now we could go.
This morning I got all fixed up so we could go after he was done with preschool. I picked him up, and on the way home I asked him if he wanted Dad to come with us since he was working from home today. He turned and looked at me, and with a very serious expression said, "Mom, you know about boys and girls. We already talked about it. It's one boy and one girl. Not two boys and one girl. Right?" He waited for me to agree with him, and then continued, "I'm one boy and you're one girl so that's it. Not Dad too."
When we got home he decided that he was going to ask Dad to come to part of it, but NOT all of it. He was very emphatic about that. Kent replied that he couldn't come because he had to work, so off we went. He wanted to go to Red Robin, but because we had to be back in time to pick the kids up from school, we didn't have enough time to go there and then see our movie. We ended up going to Chick Fil A, and then went to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs in 3-D. He wanted to sit on the top row, but it was already full so we sat in the one below it. We have never gone to a movie alone before, and we always sit in the lower levels because I hate going up and down the stairs every time someone needs to tinkle. So when he chose that seat I was surprised... He loved the movie, and kept laughing and holding my hand.
When the movie was over I asked him if he was going to tell the kids where we went today. He said, "No. But I'm going to tell them I kissed you on the lips!" Then he started giggling. He always tries to kiss my lips, and gets mad when I won't let him. When he manages to sneak one in, he is pretty happy with himself.
Tonight he says that we're going to go on another date tomorrow, and Dad can stay home and watch the kids. Then he laughs... such a funny kid!

Has this ever happened to you?

Have you ever had a case of the giggles at the most inopportune time and place, and the harder you try not to laugh/giggle the worse it is? That happened to me this afternoon. Drew was assigned to talk in Primary about "How listening to the prophets helps strengthen my family." So he and I talked about it and decided what he would his talk would be about. We practiced before church and he was great.
Kent has to teach the first hour so I was in there to help him.
Before I go any further I should mention that Drew has started talking in this really high voice (almost a falsetto) and doing these crazy moves recently. He usually does it because he's nervous. But he's recently started talking in the high voice to get us to laugh.
So we're up there with the first 2 sentences behind us. As he's saying the third sentence he notices that the kids are fidgeting- a lot. He scans the room, gets this smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. I read the next sentence and whisper it in his ear. Then he starts doing his high pitched voice with hand movements. I don't know what it was, but right then I started giggling. I tried to get out the words again, but all I could do was laugh. The more I tried not to laugh the worse it was. I had to turn away from the kids because I was laughing so hard at this point that I had tears. I vaguely noticed a woman walk in and sit in the back during this time, but I didn't recognize her so I didn't think much of it. Finally, Mindy Sanders (our wonderful Primary President) asks if she can help him finish the talk. Knowing Drew he'd just get down so I dug deep and (*barely*) managed to squeak out the last 2 sentences. I knew there was NO WAY I was going to be able to get any of the other things said because I was on the verge of another round of the giggles.
I got out of there as fast as I could because I was going to start giggling again. The woman who walked in while we were up there was a member of the new stake primary presidency. Didn't I set a stellar example for her? I do think, however, that my giggling helped the kids get their giggles and wiggles out. That's what I'm choosing to believe anyway.
Such a bad example... (But I'm still laughing!)

Lots to talk about

I have so much to talk about! September is already half over and we've already had a birthday, a talent show, had a tween become a teen and so much more. Unfortunately, my laptop motherboard died last Friday while I was working on the program for the talent show so I haven't been able to do much since then. I'm working on getting it replaced so I can post pictures and updates. Until then this will have to do! I have some great pictures of Justin's 13th birthday, fun pictures from the talent show and just crazy stuff going on around here. I'll try to work on it after pack meeting tonight, but this computer is S-L-O-W so no guarantees! Hopefully I'll be back to posting regularly soon! See you soon!

How much?

How much did I spend, and how much did I save? Whoever gets the closest answer for both will get a dozen of my homemade, baked from scratch cookies. (None of this packaged stuff that I got for when I'm in a pinch.) The rule is that you have to post a comment with your answer on the blog NOT via email!

Here's what I got: 5 boxes of Life cereal, 4 boxes of Cheerios, 2 boxes of Fruity Cheerios, 4 brownie mixes, 2 sugar cookie mixes, 8 lbs. of hamburger, 8 boxes of fruit snacks, 6 boxes of Quaker Instant Oatmeal, 1 box of Fiber One bars, 2 bags of marshmallows, 1 cantaloupe, 2 pounds of red seedless grapes, 2 cans of Pillsbury Grands biscuits, 1 can of Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls and 1 can of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls

Hey Sandy, I broke my butt! (with update)

I was watching yet another repeat episode of Spongebob Squarepants last Monday. It was the one where he breaks his butt. My kids LOVE this episode. They think it's hilarious, and record it every time it's on. (I delete all episodes of SB just because I think it's stupid, but that's another story.) So last week as I was watching this I remember thinking, 'How can a sponge break his butt? He's only soft and fluffy so that would be impossible. Dumb!' Well, my posting Tuesday night about being grateful for my extra padding was posted right after I got home from pack meeting, where I landed flat on my butt. Hard. Very hard. It made my head and neck hurt immediately, and I thought my butt and lower back were saved because of the extra padding. Turns out I don't have enough to help with that. I woke up in the middle of the night with intense pain in my tailbone, hip and lumbar spine region. I brushed it off until this Monday because I figured anyone who fell hard enough to bounce on a hard basketball court would be hurting. I would feel pretty dumb if I went into the doctor with a bruise. When I finally decided that it was not getting better and the pain was terrible enough I decided to make an appointment. Because of my previous back surgery I was able to get in the same day. (Thank heavens for small miracles. I knew that surgery history would come in handy sometime!)
I went for x-rays and found out that I broke my tailbone... also known as my butt. I've turned it into a Spongebob joke so my kids will laugh instead of worry about me, but it does hurt quite a bit. And they are all being very helpful by doing their jobs, some of my jobs and bringing me ice packs whenever I need it. Drew has offered several times to give me a massage, but I politely decline because I think it would be just slightly inappropriate to have my 4 1/2 year old son massage my butt. But (no pun intended) it's still nice that he offers.

I'm still waiting to hear from my doctor to see if anything else is broken because I might need to make an appointment with my neurosurgeon. As nice as he is, if I had to go back to him for surgery, I would almost certainly need titanium hardware to be installed. My friend Taya has hardware in her back, and she assures me it's quite terrible. So if I can avoid that I'll be thrilled. The hold up on hearing from my primary doctor is the radiologist at the hospital I went to for x-rays. He or she is taking their dear sweet time looking at it and giving a report. Grr... I might give them a call later today and ask them to fax the report directly to me.

On a happy note, though, I was picking the kids up from school on Tuesday. Trevor was being himself... Oh, I mean, stubborn, that day, and I had to pull over to the side of the road to pick him up because he wouldn't get in the car. When I pulled over I opened my window and turned my head to yell at him. (My doctor said I had managed to sprain my neck (what?!) with the fall.) Well, when I turned my head to yell at him my neck made this HUGE popping/cracking sound, and I had to turn to the other side to do the same thing. I can finally move my neck! Yay!

My mother-in-law, Julie, broke her tailbone several years ago while walking down an icy sidewalk in Idaho. She broke it when she was a junior in high school, and had to have it removed a couple of years later. Sitting was really hard for her so she made a foam cushion with a hole cut out in the center. Then she made fitted covers to go over them. She made one for me, and 2 cute fitted covers too! My butt is in heaven, except when it's not. That's what pain medication and ice packs are for, though.

This is the cover I currently have on the pad. It has black, brown, yellow, white, purple and turquoise in the material so it can match a variety of outfits. Remember, this is going with me everywhere for the next few weeks- church, the movies, the UFC fight this weekend...

This is the second cover. It's black, purple, pink, turquoise and white. This is the one Natalie will steal, which is why it's not on the cushion right now. I need it more than she does.

If or when I hear from my doctor I'll post an update on what she wants me to do. Until then I'm out.

***UPDATE: I got a call from my doctor's office. The radiologist didn't see anything "significantly distorted" so I'm good to go. It'll just take a few weeks of sitting on my cute pillow for my tush to feel better. I'm glad I can stop worrying about another surgery. They are just no fun to recover from, KWIM?