Happy Halloween

Super fun night with my 2 ninjas, cleopatra, and Hulk Smash.  It felt so low key and unrushed in the perfect crisp fall evening.  We were out for about an hour and the kids managed to score 6 full sized candy bars!!  Yep, we know all the best houses to go to!  And we followed out usual route to the awesome backyard with hot chocolate and scones!  The kids counted their loot and carefully chose out their 12 pieces of candy that they are allowed to keep and somehow managed to talk me into 2 additional pieces this year.  Then the rest was left for the witch to take away!  She gave the kids each $5 for their candy!  Nice witch if I do say so myself.
So Halloween wasn't ruined by my lack of sewing creativity as it was the first year I went out and bought the kids costumes.  Kinda sad, but it was such a hard year at home that I couldn't handle the stress of choosing a cute theme or sewing or anything.  And the kids were really happy with what they ended up with.  Even if Max ended up as a ninja, and not Captain America...  but that's another story for another day.

Fruit Loop Necklaces

This was one of the best paper chains so far.  It was a great 'snacktivity' as the kids called it.  I loved it so much because we all sat on the floor in my room with the door shut and took our time creating necklaces.  The kids were talking, not shouting, and giggling at a normal level.  No one got riled up or out of control.  I loved that we weren't rushed to do anything or go anywhere.  It was an easy night.  And who doesn't love the fruity rainbow of fruit loop cereal.  At the end, Max was even writing words on the carpet out of his cereal.  I'd do this night over again for sure!

Happy Birthday Plate

We painted the coolest plate and goblet cup when we lived in Iowa many years ago and used it for every birthday until it accidently got broken...  Saddest day ever.  For the past year we have been using a gold charger and a glass goblet.  Not near the same, so before Rich left for China, we made it a point to go and paint a new birthday plate and cup.  They didn't have a goblet, but the cup turned out pretty cool.  We all helped pick out the colors and Rich and I painted them while the kids painted Christmas ornaments for their ornament this year.  It was a super fun evening and it was great to finally pick it up today.  Can't wait for the next birthday so we can start up the birthday plate tradition again!!!

Kangaroos

Hop around the house like kangaroos today!!  Gotta love that paper chain :)  We waited till it was too dark and we couldn't do it outside, so we did it inside.  I think there is a reason why kangaroos don't live and bounce in houses!!  Too loud and destructive...  But the kids loved it and it got a few wiggles out before bed, and also created a few new wiggles before bed too!

Pumpkin Faces

Our tradition of carving pumpkins is still alive while Rich is half way around the world.  10 of us in the kitchen made for a very loud and fun night of knives, spoons, guts and more as we made out pumpkins come to life.  The kids were pretty quick at choosing the faces they wanted on their pumpkins.  I was missing Rich's help, but was so grateful Matt was home to help out tonight.  He carved 3 out of 4 of the kids pumpkins tonight.  And he even gutted one of them too.  I helped by gutting the rest of them, carving one, and sorting the seeds and guts and cleaning the seeds to prep for roasted pumpkin seeds tomorrow!  Yum!!  The night came through without any mishaps or tears, which is always a bonus!  Happy Halloween !

Good bye old gals!

We have had chickens for a year and a half now.  We started with 7, Twinkle, Sprinkle, MaMa Bear, Cookie Dough, Penelope, Midnight and Midget, then Midget got stepped on and died and we replaced her with Sylvia.  Then during the winter a bobcat came and took care of Penelope, Twinkle and Sprinkle.  This spring we got 4 more.  Mona, Ruby, Ellie, and Flo.  Ellie died of heat in the summer, Mona died of starvation we think because none of the other chickens would let her eat (that or she couldn't see her food with her awesome mo-hawk hair), and Flo turned out to be Fred and was a rooster who crowed all the time.  Our painter ended up taking him home.  So we ended up with 4 good chickens.  We got 3-4 eggs a day.  Light blue, brown and light brown.  Great girls.  Too bad no one ever wanted to take care of them and you know who ended up doing all the work!!!  Well, we knew we had to get rid of them before moving to China, and no better time to do it then when it is nice and warm out still, and not snowing... that was the worst last winter...  So here they are, all boxed up, ready to go to their new home in the country to free range with 5 other happy chickens.  They will love it!!  Poor Peter had a hard time letting go.  He has such a tender heart sometimes.
Bye Bye girls!  It's been fun!

Tick tock, what time is on the clock?

The kids thought this was a boring paper chain today.  'Get to church on time and take a picture to prove it'  Huh, I wonder why they thought that?

Anyway, we tried hard and got to our one o'clock church barely on time.  I secretly took a picture of the clock from our seat, but it was super blurry, but what's a girl to do?  So we ended up in the primary room and took the clock down for a decent picture.  I swore the kids to secrecy, but we took this picture after church and wound back the time.  They were SOOO embarrassed!!  But here's the proof, sort of, that we can get to church on time without Rich!  Ha, HE is the one that always makes us late. Take that!

Pick a Pumpkin, Any Pumpkin

Our paper chain told us to go pick pumpkins today.  And it was super uneventful.  No drama what so ever.  Perfect weather, perfect tractor ride, everyone got to sit by who they wanted to, perfect pumpkins, everyone got just what they wanted, even Gavin with his mini pumpkin as he calls it.  And really, perfectly happy kids.  When does that ever happen??  The worst of it all was convincing Sophie that she shouldn't wear her yellow capri's in case they got dirty, that regular blue jeans, or blue jean shorts as it turned out, would be the better pick.  And I got to hear "you were right" out of her mouth when she wiped her muddy hand on her leg and I reminded her that that could have been on her yellow pants...  I win.  And we all won on this perfect fall afternoon.

Trick or treat, the trick's on me...

Just sayin', Max LOVES Captain America and the Avengers, so much so that he used to be obsessed with him.  Captain america shirts, pj's underwear, backpack, shoes, everything...  And this is the first year I have ever bought Halloween costumes for the kids.  Too crazzzy around these parts.  So, Rich thought it would be a great idea to buy Max a Captain America costume.  Nope.  He hated it from day one.  But we pushed it.  Especially next to our little Hulk Smash.  It worked for a little while and he even wore it to our family party.  But not tonight.  He threw a fit for over 30 minutes in the car at the Trunk or Treat party.  I ended up leaving the party that I never even made it into and ran to get him the costume he actually wanted.  A ninja, and a scary ninja to top it off.  Don't judge.  You weren't there...  He ended up happy and I ended up hungry because I missed the dinner.

PS- the only way I got him to pose for the captain america picture is because he knew the new one was coming.  And he could wear his mask to hide his tears.

Iron Man made a special appearance.  Max said he's not the real iron man because he can't fly.

And gum all over Sophie's face was sure fun to clean off tonight.  Note to self.  If one bubble sticks to my face, so will the next four I blow and it will make the mess that much harder to get off, just sayin'

Ice Cream, Yum

Our paper chain told us to go get ice cream, so who were we to argue! Fun afternoon with the kiddos...

5th grade volcanoes

Sophie and Rich made an awesome rice crispy volcano over top of a 2 liter bottle of diet coke.  It turned out so cute, especially when she colored it in sharpie polka dots.  Combine that with 4 5th grade classes and a pack of mentos and you have a fun filled afternoon of exploding volcanoes.  Sophie did such a great job, and her volcano went sky high!!

Rich is gone...

Rich left early this morning for his flight to Shanghai, China.  I get so paranoid about him missing flights that we were there at 4am sharp for him to get his 6am flight to LA, to sit for 6 hours before his 14 hour flight across the ocean to Shanghai.  The airport was dead in SLC and we sat together for a while.  I can't believe he is really gone...  He made the cutest paper chain for us while he is gone.  Each link has an activity to do each day he is gone. 
Today the kids were supposed to each draw a picture of daddy flying in an airplane to China.  The kids did so great.  Even Max, who struggled, saying he couldn't draw an airplane.  He went through several papers and much crying and fit throwing because he wanted it to be perfect for dad.  In the end he did it all by himself as his creative juices were flowing and it turned out so cute.
We can't wait to see what else we get to do over the next 101 days.