More Halloween

We had a fantastic Halloween. There were several parties all month and Saturday was non-stop fun. We went to our ward Trunk-or-Treat/Chili Lunch. The highlight was finding another Fancy Nancy wearing almost the same costume as M's.

Later that night Trent, Kylie, and Lady J joined us for dinner and the viewing of some football. I had planned to take M and Vi out trick or treating before they came but the weather did not agree and it poured for over an hour. We began to wonder if we would go at all when M's friends from down the street showed up at our door with candy bags and umbrellas. We grabbed jackets (the ever-present costume accessory in Utah and Idaho) and an umbrella and joined them.

I didn't think the kids would last long but M and her friend were having a fabulous time and didn't want to stop. We were out for about an hour and the kids made a haul! Most people said we were the only ones to show up and gave the kids handfuls of candy. After heading home we spent the rest of the evening handing out candy to the few who dared brave the rain and cold. One of my favorite moments of the evening was when we found Vi with a Tootsie Pop shoved in her mouth and she was gnawing her way through the wrapper. She was not a fan of me when I took it away.

We all had a lot of fun but the best is really just watching M and Vi enjoy it all.

M as Fancy Nancy

Vi as Fancy Nancy's Little Sister

The Haul. Vi refused to look at us for this picture, it was all about the candy. Kylie got some great shots of Vi and J going at it all.

New Photos

Here are a couple new photos of the boys.

Kade and Ty are both playing Jr. Jazz. I will post a picture of Ty next week after I take some. :) Kade was insistant on not wearing a shirt under the jersey - even for team pictures. Oh well - what can you do. This is Kade's little friend Blake.

My Dad and his wife Sharon came down this weekend for the boys primary program. The boys went crazy over Sharon's little dog, especially Zack. He was so excited and happy to play with Sam-e.

Before the primary program I tried to take a picture of the boys - I was getting so frustrated because they would never all look at the camera at the same time, so this is as close as I could come. I got all teary eyed during the program watching them sing the songs, I am blaming it on the pregnancy hormones - but still so sweet to watch my boys sing I hope they call me on a mission.

Halloween

Halloween was a 3 days celebration around here. Thurs. was the big celebration at school with the costume parade for parents to come watch and all the class parties. No school Friday - it was a teachers work day to work on report cards for parent/teacher conferences coming up. Rich's work had a Halloween party where they fed us pizza and had trick or treating for the kids, they loved it! Saturday they had a primary program practice with a halloween carnival afterwards. Saturday evening we went to our friends house and had dinner with them and then went out trick or treating with them. The rain had stopped by the time we went out trick or treating and it great. So many houses were handing out full sized candy bars - I think we ended up with about 13 and each kid got a pop plus all the normal mini candy bars and treats. We are in candy heaven!! After a few houses Zack wanted me to hold his bucket because he said it was too heavy :) Kade is Obi Won Kenobi - same thing he was last year. I bought Ty and Zack's costumes at Kid-to-Kid. Zack wore his for 3 days straight. It is stretchy pajamas - which he LOVES - so he'd sleep in them as well. I did have to wash them once because he peed in it, but we are getting closer on the potty training. We had a great time and my Dad and Sharon were here at our house handing out candy to any trick or treaters that came here - it worked out great.

I hope you all had a great Halloween!

Halloween

Carv in his adorable Halloween jams.

Macie as Pocahontas.

Riley as a witch.

Charlotte as a monkey. Her and Macie's costumes came right out of the dress-up box, and Riley's witch dress was a thrift store find! Woo Hoo!

A forced picture before trick-or treating. Charlotte looks possessed for some reason. Our neighborhood was flooded with children. We think we had between 100 and 150 kids come to our house! It was really fun. In Idaho it seemed everyone did trunk-or treat...or maybe it is just so cold that no one goes door to door? Anyway, it was fun to get out and do it the old fashioned way! On Thursday, we went to a community trick-or-treating thingy at a park with the fire department, police, and different little things. We had to wait in line for an hour. We discussed how we never did those things in IF because we knew better. :) We will spend this first year discovering what the smart locals here already know :)

Our Branch had a little celebration this morning. They had games and activities for the kids, then a chili cook off. We had to leave before the chili part because Todd and I got called to teach the Strengthening Marriage class and had to attend a training meeting in Evansville, Indiana.

We had a fun day, and we look forward to hearing about each of yours....especially Morgan!! Come on, Morgan! Tell us what you did. The HOWL? Did you dress up? You need to do your own post and fill us in...with words and pictures and everything :)

Macie

Mace has pretty much been a grump since the move. This is her first day of preschool picture.

She does enjoy holding Carver. I think she needs to wear a back brace to do it safely. She wants to carry him around all day, and she is always asking me to do things like walk down the stairs or take him outside with her! I think she measures maturity by how much freedom she has with carrying the little man.

Stupid Silly Putty

Kade got silly putty at school yesterday - his first time ever having silly putty and he was fascinated! I thought it was cute until I found some stuck the the bottom of my jeans. I told him to put it in the container before bed. He insists it was on his night stand in the container all night - but his hair and clothes and sheets and pillow case would prove otherwise! I had to give him a haircut this morning at 7:30am because he was so upset that is was stuck in his hair and he had been pulling at it to try and get it out and he was crying. Thankfully it was just above his sideburn part, so the part I cut off that left a bald spot is on the side of his head not on the top. I had to cut the rest of his hair shorter to try and make the bald spot less visable - which didn't really help, but he thinks it does a little. The adventures never stop around here :)

Raspberry Roost ?

Huge pile of dirt behind the store. Some how the raspberries were not touched.

Upstairs linen closet in the hall. I took these yesterday, starting to realize how long the finish work takes. Multiply this first one by four units and it will be a couple of months to do.
Detail around the windows, I'm tempted to ask if they would do crown molding in my house.

Front door, it might just be a construction door at this point, but you can see the trim. Val, is there something else that goes on the top?

Siding is done except for the trim work. You can see the front steps and partial sidewalk. The mailman wants a cluster of four mailboxes instead of the multiple box thing, and I guess its his decision. He doesn't have to get out of his truck that way. I started painting my kitchen table, its fun! I will post some pics someday.

If you like football and Mormons.

Vai Sikahema has been publishing a series of articles for the DesNews discussing his memories and experiences as a football player and missionary. He seems to be trailing off into randomness, but the first several of his articles discussing his decision to come to BYU, and then to go on a mission are some of my favorite news-blog entries ever. Link:

Football and Missions Part I
Football and Missions Part II
Football and Missions Part III
Football and Missions Part IV
Football and Missions Part V

He has some incredible stories and experiences.

Townhouses

Paint is done in the first one. The trim work is coming along. This is one of the window seats in the end one.

With the beautiful sunset behind them.

Garages

Patios

Just the siding on the bay windows is left to do. Dad actually showed them to a guy today, so there is some interest. Val, I like the interior doors, they look knda like bead board panels.

Want a Signed Book?

I'm giving away a signed copy of "Beautiful Creatures" on my book blog. Go sign up and win some stuff!

areadersreviews.blogspot.com

Second Floor

No soccer practice today (hail), so here's the second floor plan.

No so sure about the room with the bunk beds. The room to the left of the bunk beds is a laundry room. The closet space between those two if for a furnace. Jack and Jill bathroom above, a common bathroom below. The white "C" shapes are all walk in closets. Not sure that I like the long hallway, but I have yet to come up with a better arrangement.

Here's a look at the whole model (minus a chimney).

Bedroom Sizes

Since there's a lull in posts, here a simple one.

As I mentioned weeks ago, I've got an upstairs for our home plan. Over the last month or so I haven't had any time to work on it, since we've been swamped with soccer. In thinking about it now, I wonder about the bedroom sizes. What is everyone's opinion about the size of a child's bedroom? A 10x10 is about the size of most 'standard' track built homes. Seems a bit small. But at some point they can become 'too big', just more to clean.

How about closet sizes? We are big fans of walk in closets, mostly because we've had such bad luck with those bi-fold doors.

Thoughts?

Birthday party

I know this is very informal but I just wanted you to know you're invited to come eat cake at our house at 6 PM this Sunday for Lady J's birthday. If you can't make it we understand but you're all welcome.

Soccer

We've got 4 kids in AYSO this season. I'm coaching Brooke, Michael, and Alexander. The nice thing about that is they schedule the games so I can be to each one. Michael's team has won most of their games. Brooke and Alex are about .500.

Lydia is playing on a Challenge team for AYSO. That means she had to try out and make the team. They play in the Duke City soccer league (or maybe it's some other league). Anyway, it's against more competitive teams that stay together each year. So far they haven't won any games, but they have been competitive in several (losing by 1). I haven't been able to see a single game, because of the other coaching commitments, and because her field is a good 20 minutes from our house, and a good 40 minutes away from were Michael plays. The commute each Saturday is exhausting. I think we put about 100 miles in the van.

I hear Lydia is doing great, and play defense mostly. Here is the one picture we have so far (taken by another player's Mom).
Check out that form. Hopefully we'll get some more pictures (of all the kids) and post soon. Only 3 more Saturday's!!

Kentucky Send Off!

We went to Louisville early to take Pat & Dale to the airport so we could go by the temple and go to the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. Here are a few pics from our adventures.

Main entrance to the temple

Front/street-side view of the temple

The girls posing in their tie-dye shirts

The girls with Gma and Gpa

Pat swinging Johnny Bench's bat

The family with Ken Griffey Jr.

Dale takes a swing with a Mickey Mantle bat

The "Mickey Mantle"

Carver in the over-sized glove

"Play Ball!"

Riley, Grandpa and Grandma took a shot at the batting cages

Grandma poised to hit one out of the park

The world's largest bat! It was pretty cool.

Grandma & Grandpa In Kentucky!

Carver with Grandma

On our way to Stake Conference in Evansville, IN - Elder Neil L. Anderson came to visit.

Grandma & Charlotte caught a lot of fish

Outside Todd's work

The girls showing off their pumpkins

The girls finishing off the brownie batter

Grandma & Grandpa at Riley's desk

Grandma & Grandpa at lunch with Riley

Grandma on Macie's bike