October 2016

It felt like we celebrated the girls' birthdays and Halloween all....month....long! But I wouldn't change a thing. We had a great October.

I took the kids on an errand running day and we didn't have time to get home before lunch. I treated them to McDonald's. Annie ordered a Happy Meal and it came with a Wonder Woman crown. She wore that crown all month long and suddenly decided she needed to be Wonder Woman for Halloween. WE found a small piece of rope that she used as her lasso and we made her a shield too. She and Tommy for once found something they could play together without fighting. We all enjoyed this phase while it lasted.

Our favorite babysitter from Meridian days had her first baby in September. They named him Spencer and he is a cutie. Looks exactly like his daddy. We went to visit him. Lily was in love. She didn't want to let go of him. Joey was a little jealous that Mommy and Cassandra were holding another baby. And he was so fascinated with the baby.

General Conference weekend was fun. The kids were busy and noisy and tried hard to listen, but honestly we didn't get to hear much. Mommy and Daddy will have to go back and read the talks later. This is how we watched conference.....

Joey liked getting some snuggle and snack time in Mommy and Daddy's bed. He had the best seat in the house for conference.

Between sessions, we visited our neighbors horses. The kids were a little nervous, but they all got brave enough to pet them.

Tommy wanted to make sprinkle cookies during conference. It kept him quiet and happy. Then we wrapped them up and gave some to neighbors.

When we let Joey out of our bed, we learned that he is now a table climber! Nothing like table dancing during General Conference to bring the Spirit into the house.

Afterward Tommy and Mommy had some piano duet time. Hopefully he'll actually want to learn in a few more years.

Joey is my shadow and my helper. He especially likes to "help" with laundry. He often tries to put on as many items as he can, and leaves a trail of clothes behind him. One of his favorite things to put on is bras. Probably because everyone laughs when we see him tangled up in one.

For family home evening one night we made gingerbread houses. And since it is Halloween season, we made a haunted one. The kids all pitched in and had so much fun. They actually tried to be stingy with applying candy to the house so there would be more leftover for them to eat. Silly kids!

 It looks awesome. They are so proud of it. I love Tommy's huge grin in the picture!

Holy hail Batman! We got hit with a crazy storm that left up to three inches in some parts of our area. We hot almost an inch. There were lots of accidents and slide offs. Puna and Papa were on their way to visit, thank goodness they made it safely and didn't get caught in traffic behind an accident.

School carnival time! We took the kids to their carnival. They had a great time. It is honestly too noisy and crowded for Mommy. I always get overwhelmed and anxious. This year we had Daddy with us and grandparents which helped me relax and be able to get space when I needed it.

The kids liked doing the broomstick races. Puna earned major points when she was willing to do a race! Guess who won. ;)

We had beautiful fall weather and made the most of it with a visit to the zoo. I think the highlight of the trip was the ice cream. Annie tried a flavor called cotton candy and Joey couldn't get enough of it!

 After the zoo, we went to the U-Pick Red Barn pumpkin patch. We rode the train, played in the straw maze, and had fun exploring.

The kids liked walking on top of the maze rather than inside it.

Papa gave the kids rides in the little man powered quads. Those buggers were hard to pedal!

We sure love visiting this place. And it was fun to share it with Puna and Papa.

The next Day Daddy had the day off and could play with us. We went to the corn maze in Blackfoot. It was a warm day. The kids liked most of the activities, but no one wanted to do the actual corn maze with Mommy. Joey was suddenly hit with a fever and was upset. We waited in line for over 20 minutes just to buy a drink for him.

The girls liked the zip line the best. They rode it three times. 

Go Annie!

Wahoo Lily!

Tommy loved the pipe slides. He rode them over and over and over and over and over and over again. Daddy was a good sport and rode a few times too. But on his last run, he rode in a smaller pipe. At the last second, he sat up and bonked his head and pinched his finger on the top of the pipe. Ouch! We called it a day after that.

Poor Daddy!

We came home and had a little family party. Puna made and decorated a yummy lemon cake and we ate it with huckleberry ice cream. Lily's favorite cake flavor and Annie's favorite ice cream flavor!

We had lots of fun opening presents and celebrating. Tommy wanted to be a part of the action so he dressed up in his Hulk costume and practiced making Hulk faces with Uncle Brady.

The big hit was the Barbie Dream House! You should have heard the screaming. They have played with it nearly every single day for a month now. And they never fight when they play with it. It must have magical powers!

We lit half the cake for Lily, sang to her, and had her blow out the candles. Then we lit the other half for Annie. They loved each getting their own turn to be sung to and blow candles.

Tommy was more interested in the noise makers. Thank you Puna and Papa for a great weekend visit.

Annie came home one day and told me she had the BEST day of school ever! When I asked her what made it so great, she pulled out this pink firefighter's helmet. She told me all about having a family escape plan in case of emergency, how to stop-drop-and-roll, how to crawl if there is smoke in the air, etc. She wore this helmet constantly for about a week. Until it was accidentally stepped on by a little brother who shall remain nameless. Many tears were shed for the pink helmet. Poor Annie.

Jeremy arrived at work one day and saw this giant potato in the parking lot. It's not real, but it sure looks cool. We love our Idaho potatoes.

The local art museum had a free family Saturday. We decided to go for a visit. We invited the girls best friends to come along.

I am so glad Daddy was there to help me keep track of everyone. We couldn't ever seem to get in the same place at the same time. There was so much to do. I think the favorite activity was the arts and crafts room. Lily and Tommy put together a glow in the dark little piece of art. Annie did a shadow punch design.

Tommy did so great with his art. He loves little projects.

This is the design Annie made. She did it all on her own. She was so proud of it.

Our annual neighborhood Halloween party and parade was moved to the church building due to weather. It was so much fun. Jeremy and Joey were a hit as "the man in the yellow hat" and "Curious George".

Joey was dancing all through the party. He loves music. He enjoyed the party more than we thought he would.

The kids were in constant motion. Hard to get good pictures.

Daddy did the macarena. Tommy wanted Mommy to make scary faces with him.

We had a fantastic time dancing, playing games, and eating doughnuts and apple cider. We are so thankful for the amazing people who put this party on rain, snow, or shine, every year!

Tommy spends most of his days dressed as a super hero. One afternoon he wore himself out and fell asleep on the couch in his Hulk costume. I will treasure this photo when he is 30 years old!

Annie's actual birthday was October 18th. She had clogging that day so we made her favorite funfetti cupcakes with pink frosting to share. The girls in her class sang her Happy Birthday. She was excited.

That night she got an individual cupcake to celebrate. We made her favorite dinner: French bread, spaghetti, and green beans. Happy 6th birthday Annie. There's no one else like you!

The girls bread and cakes business is still going strong. The boys love it when customers order a cake because they get to lick the frosting off the spatulas.

Joey still loves riding the lawn mower with Daddy. It melts my heart to see Daddy driving the mower with the kids.

Lily turned 8 on the 21st. We all met her at school for a family lunch date. She pretended to blow out her cupcake, since we couldn't light the candle. She was surrounded by friends who wanted to sit with her for lunch and at recess she was followed around by a swarm of friends.

She was super excited to get her gift card for ear piercing. We can't believe she's 8 already! Happy birthday Lily Bug.

Ont he evening of Lily's birthday we had to attend a dinner for the President's Club at BYU-Idaho. The food and speakers were great. We sat at a fun table with interesting people. It was a fantastic night. We still stop and count our blessings almost daily that Jeremy found this job. We love BYU-Idaho.

Saturday the 22nd was crazy jam-packed. So many events fell onto the same day. We were on the go for the entire day. First we had the girls birthday party. We got everyone into the local gym for free play time. It was awesome. We didn't have to plan games or activities. All the kids had a great time.

Lily, Hailey, Kaytlynn

Joey and Ashlee

Annie and Lily

Annie and Livia

Hailey and Lily

Lily and Tommy

Natalie and Alyssa

After open gym, we brought everyone back to the house for pizza, cake and presents.

Annie covered her mouth during the singing so she wouldn't accidentally blow out her candles.

We got all the kids out of the house and had two and a half hours to get the house clean and all of us dolled up for family pictures. We had originally scheduled the pictures for an earlier day, but weather conditions forced us to reschedule with the photographer.

Luckily even after a busy fun morning, and hectic afternoon, the kids cooperated great for the photo session. We are excited to finally have family pictures with the boys. I can't wait to see the pictures the photographer took.

After the photo session, we raced back home to host a baby shower for Cassandra Arnold, our friend form Meridian. I had planned ahead and had soups going in crockpots, we used the leftover cupcakes from the girls party for dessert, and all the fruit and veggies were prepped. Only three people came for the shower. She had invited 12. Oh well. It was still fun and it helped us get the house nice and clean.

After that crazy Saturday we were excited for a quiet Sunday and Monday. Annie and Tommy helped me harvest all the rest of our carrots. Some of them were so huge! Annie found the biggest one.

Monday night we went to a trunk or treat event in Idaho Falls. It was a disappointment. We only went because Lily's friend Kayt invited her to go and we thought it would be fun to take the whole family. We were wrong. We waited almost two hours in line just to get into the event. Then the kids got maybe 10 pieces of candy. Mostly the businesses were passing out flyers and coupons. It was not planned well for kids. Lesson learned. We'll just stick to our neighborhood and local community for Halloween events.

The week before Halloween was also Spirit Week at school. Classes got points for dressing up according to the theme each day. Annie's favorite days were super hero day - I forgot to get a picture before they left, and crazy tie and socks day. Lily didn't want to dress up much this year, she's getting too cool for stuff like that.

The Monday before Halloween we carved our pumpkins. Lily did her own this year-she was going for the "throwing up pumpkin" look. Tommy asked for the SpiderMan logo on his pumpkin. Annie wanted Olaf from Frozen. Joey was just happy to supervise and make messes with the pumpkin guts.

After finishing the pumpkins, Mommy ran out the door to go to Zumba with her friends. It was a 90 minute class. The theme this year was Masquerade. If you wore a mask, you got in to work out for free. So much fun! I am so grateful for a way to exercise that always feels more like fun than a workout.

Daddy left for the weekend to help Grammy and Grampy move. The kids and Mommy made a trip to the mall so Lily could get her ears pierced. Lily was a trooper, but she sure lost all the color in her face and teared up a bit when the first ear was poked. Once it was over, she perked up a bit and we went out to dinner to celebrate.

Daddy worked hard to help Grampy. There was a lot of stuff to get out of the storage unit. We can't wait to see your new house in Utah Grammy and Grampy!

Tommy loves to play with our old rubber stamps and stamp pads. He got a little too happy with the ink and finger painted his handprints on the kitchen floor. He wasn't very happy about having to clean up the ink all by himself, but he did it, and hopefully he learned his lesson.

Joey loves wearing his money costume around the house. He likes to play peek-a-boo with the hood. We're not sure who enjoys it more - him or us.

We tried a new recipe for pumpkin cinnamon rolls. They are so delicious. Lily likes spreading the filling on the dough and cutting the rolls. She is getting pretty good at it. Maybe we'll make some more of these over Thanksgiving weekend.

Our town hosted a trunk or treat on Main Street. It was so much fun. Mommy and the kids wen't alone since Daddy was still helping the Halls move. We did a good job staying together and being safe. Joey was happy to sit in his stroller the whole time - once he got a sucker to keep him occupied. The best part of the day was getting a free book from the library.

Hooray for a beautiful afternoon on Main Street. And lots of fun candy and free books.

The kids looked so cute that I made them sit on the porch with their pumpkins. Lily got invited to a friend's house to carve another one, so she had two this year. And Annie and Daddy found another one in the garden for her to carve, so she tried doing her own with crazy teeth.

Tommy is deep into his super hero fantasies. He loves the big muscles and super powers. He wears each costume at least once a day. And sometimes he lets Joey share the costumes too.

We invited Cassandra, Gabe, and Baby Spencer over for Sunday dinner. Spencer looks so much bigger than just a couple of weeks ago. He looks more like his Daddy every time we see him. Lily and Annie love to hold him.

Finally Halloween came! After more than a few parties and lots of dressing up the entire month, it was exciting to finally have the big day arrive. We stopped at Daddy's office to show off our costumes and get some treats.

Then we hurried back home for our annual neighborhood party. We brought Mommy's pumpkin bars, chili, and a veggie plate with green pepper eyes and a bowl of ranch for the mouth.

Uncle Brady came to the party too.

Joey managed to spill a whole can of soda on himself so we had to run home and get a dry sweatshirt. He loved running around with all the kids and finding candy everywhere.

Annie and our neighbor Danielle were both dressed up as Wonder Woman. Annie wanted a picture with Danielle, but was so shy to ask her. Finally at the last minute, she found her courage. Danielle was so flattered. Tommy only went around the trick or treat circuit at the party once. He was content to sit in the van under his blanket. Lily went around at least 4 times. Then once the party was over, we went over to the neighborhood behind us and visited about 15 more houses. It was a successful night. Lots of laughs, lots of candy. Can't wait until next year!