Halloween Night

After a month of parties, activities, and anticipation, it was FINALLY Halloween night!

After school, we did homework (talk about torture) and ate dinner. It was supposed to be "mummies" with broccoli/chicken/cheddar filling.


My mummies came undone, a bit.

Just makes them all-the-more-spookier, right?

I had SO much fun making their costumes this year. I always do, but this year I found everything at D.I. (or I had it around the house), and I got to do some dye-ing to make Grace's pink sweater/tights.

Awesome.

This is sweet Clifford, the "Big" Red Dog:


This is his sweet owner, Emily Elizabeth:


And last, but not least, this is the fierce Ash Ketchum from Pokemon:




We decided to go trick-or-treating around a neighborhood, since our ward's trunk-or-treat was on Saturday. It was our first time ever doing the neighborhood thing, and it was an interesting experience. The kids had a fantastic time, especially Josh. He had no problem walking up with his orange pumpkin and saying, "Treat!"

It was too, too cute!



And the loot:


I love Halloween so much! It's such a fun holiday!

We've had our fill of spooky fun, though, and I'm excited to get all of my fall pumpkins and turkeys out for Thanksgiving!

Adam's School Halloween Party

Mike had Halloween off of work (and could watch Josh), so I was able to go to Adam's class Halloween party at school! It was sooo much fun to be there with him!

I made these cupcakes for his class. Cockroaches (short black legs) and spiders (long red legs). They were a lot of fun to make, and the kids LOVED them!

They made a few crafts, ate treats, listened to Halloween music, and had a school Halloween parade!




They had a cute Halloween parade in costume. It was a little crazy getting everyone changed from their uniforms into costumes, but the parade was darling!



The kids all had a great time, and I was so glad that I got to help!

Grace had a really, really fun party, too. The last school that they were at didn't have class parties and celebrate holidays, so I was excited for them to get to experience a class party like I had when I was in school. Too fun!

31 Days of Halloween: Weeks 3 & 4

We did everything on our "31 Days of Halloween" list this month! It was a month of spooky fun, and we LOVED it!

We:

Drove around and looked at Halloween decorations (Krispy Kreme was also involved)

Decorated Haunted Houses

Played Pumpkin Bowling

Played "Witch Pitch"

Played "Mummy Wrap"

Went to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat

Carved Pumpkins

Made Hanging Ghosts

Had a special Halloween Lunch

Went to the Halloween Carnival

Made Handprint Bats

(We also watched a Halloween movie, read spooky stories in the dark, made ghost suckers, went to a Halloween library program, and played "vampires in the dark").

It was a spooktacular month!

Primary Program 2011

Before the program

It always seems like October (and our Primary Sacrament meeting program) is sooo far away all year.

Until it's suddenly October and it's not.

My amazing counselors and my amazing chorister (Do you like how I say that they are mine? They are. No one else in the ward can have them. I mean it.) worked really hard helping the kids to practice their songs, say their parts, get them to be where they needed to go, and working and re-working things for our program.

When it was all said and done, I prayed really, really hard Saturday night that somehow it would all work out. That the children who were being irreverent and making crazy faces throughout practices would be reverent. That they all would remember the words to the songs. That the children who hadn't yet to practice, but planned on coming, would fit right in. That it would all somehow come together.

And it did.

It was wonderful.

Adam and Grace did a great job on their parts! Adam had to write his own talk about his baptism, and he did a wonderful job at writing (and presenting) it.

And, seriously, until you've heard Primary children sing, "Praise to the Man" with all of the conviction and power that they sing it with, you have not heard that song.

I love our Primary children and all of my people who work with me in there. (See? There's that possessiveness again), so much. It's such a blessing to be able to serve with and for them!

School Halloween Spooktacular Carnival

Adam and Grace's school had a fun Halloween carnival tonight! We all had a blast going together!

We don't pay for "extras" for the kids; any snacks, treats, toys, etc. they want, they have to earn money for. So, we reminded the kids of our family rule and let them know a few weeks ahead of time, that they needed to do extra chores in order to buy tickets.

Grace worked really hard doing extra chores to earn money for her tickets. Adam didn't work quite as hard, and while he still had some tickets and had a lot of fun, I think maybe it kind of hit him tonight the importance of preparing ahead of time and making choices that will make him happy in the future.

Maybe.

And let me tell you, it was hard not to give in and just give him some money or let the un-done chores slide.

Hard.

But, I think it was worth it.

Anyways, I digress.

My mom was in town for the Primary program (that's tomorrow!), and got to come along with us. They had sooo much fun showing her their school and being at the carnival with her!










All of these pictures are by my mom. It's so nice of her to take pictures when she comes in town!

We all had a lot of fun! The kids had fun eating candy, winning cookies, seeing friends, and dressing up in their costumes. We all had fun watching them (and seeing how much ridiculous fun Josh had with his balloon!).

And, maybe there was a life-long lesson learned tonight...

... which just makes it even better.

Tea Party for the Boy

Sometimes when Adam is at school, and there is no one to defend poor Josh, Grace and I have tea parties...



... and make Josh drink out of dainty tea cups.

We do, however, let him eat "manly" hot dogs...


... as long as they are on dainty tea plates.

We're not all bad.

31 Days of Halloween: Week 2

This month is a super-busy (and super fun) one. It's just flying by! This last week, we:

Made Glow-in-the-Dark Ghost Balloons

Played the Trick-or-Treat game

Ate Pumpkin Pancakes with Spooky Black Syrup and Goblin Scrambled Eggs

Made Ghosts with Milk Containers

Made Q-tip Skeletons

Played "Find the Pumpkin"

Made Caramel Apples

Brag Post

Last week, Adam won the title of "Wrestler of the Month" at the gym where he takes his wrestling classes.

He has been working soooo hard for this and I am so proud that he achieved his goal!

Also, he took another test and his reading level bumped up to the 8th grade!

Another thing that he has been working really, really hard at.

He wants to earn the 4 tickets to Disneyland promised to him by his principal for the Accelerated Reading program his school participates in, for reading enough books/passing off enough tests/getting his reading level up high.

I love seeing him challenge himself and achieve.

He is such a great kid and I am so blessed that he is mine.

***

Grace won a medal for being so well behaved in school this week!

She has stayed on "green" every day in school this school year, but her teacher was just really happy with her helping other kids to choose the right, too, and wanted to recognize her.

She also became a zebra at school, and was placed in the advanced homework and reading groups. "Zebras" help other kids with the class work, while her teacher helps one group read.

She is such a sweet, sweet girl and I love her to "teeny, tiny blue sprinkles," as she says to me everyday as I drop her off.

***

I know no one likes to hear someone talk about how insanely perfect their kids are. And that's exactly what this post is.

But I hope that since I complain about the horrendous things that they do a lot, that you all will forgive me for bragging.

More Fun Than Cleaning Eggs...

Today, Josh threw 1 dozen eggs in the living room.

How?

Why?

I don't know.

I was washing dishes in the kitchen, and watching him the entire time. I would wash a dish, look up, and he would be playing with blocks/watching Barney.

And just as I was finishing, he ran in and said "egg!"

I went to investigate.

For once, I was too horrified to take a picture.

***

Yesterday, though, I was a guest blogger on my friend, Danielle's cute blog: Blissful & Domestic.


Which was so fun!

Much more fun than cleaning up eggs on carpet.

***

Cheers!

31 Days of Halloween: Week 1

Our month of Halloween fun is underway!

We made Oreo spiders

Played pin-the-face-on-the-pumpkin

Played Don't Eat Frank!

Made/ate mini mummy pizzas

Made ghost suckers

Painted (fake - Mike made us because they were cheaper) pumpkins

Boo-ed some friends with treats

Soooo much fun!