Halloween 2013

Halloween was a lot of fun this year...maybe because I didn't have to sew any costumes.
Guard wore an elephant costume I made for Gavin.  He loves elephants so I thought it was destiny.

 He was a little less than thrilled with it.

 Enoch choose to be Calvin, from Calvin and Hobbes.  I found the perfect shirt at Wal-mart for $4 and we ordered him a stuffed tiger from Amazon.  I was a bit worried that people wouldn't know who he was, but he and me got a lot of comments about how cool his costume was.

Enoch's best Calvin face:

Kate picked a kitty - again.  Luckily, Aunt Annette gave us a kitty costume a few years back and it fit Kate perfectly this year.

Kate's best kitty face:

The weather cooperated this year.  The kids and Greg stayed out for about an hour and came home with a lot of candy.  They had a great time!
(Gavin wasn't here on Halloween.  He was in St. George competing in Band of America with the Lehi HS Marching Band.  He had a great time as well.)

Fall Fun

Fall is such a tricky time of year in northern Utah.  Blink - and you might miss it some years.  The trouble is, you never know if fall is going to last a few days or a few weeks.  This year I was determined not to miss out on the fun fall activities - so we crammed them all into a few days.

Visiting the Pumpkin Patch
I completely flaked out on this one.  Our pumpkin patch was at Maceys this year.  I know, I know, I should take my kids to an actual patch, but this was as good as we could do this year.  And, the kids didn't seem to mind.  I let them pick out the biggest pumpkins and they were happy.  After this, Guard became obsessed with pumpkins.  He was always hugging ours and patting them.  He would make a big deal about every pumpkin we saw by clapping and pointing and yelling.  I hope he is okay when we cut into them!

Driving up the Canyon
We might have put this off a bit too long.  The leaves weren't at their peak beauty and it was cold.  Really cold.  It started snowing while we were up there.  And we didn't bring jackets or coats. 
It wasn't quite as fun as we had hoped.

Playing in the Leaves
We always have plenty of leaves to play in covering our yard.  The way the wind blows through our cul-de-sac, we seem to collect a bunch in our front yard.  We have raked a lot of leaves.  But, the kids enjoy playing in them, so it is worth it.

 

Making Halloween outfits

 Quite awhile ago (maybe March), Kate saw this purple fabric with black cats on it in the clearance bin at JoAnns.  Since it was $1, I picked it up and told her we could make a Halloween skirt for her.  

She didn't forget.

Luckily this year, I didn't have to sew any costumes, so I had time to throw together a quick skirt.  She wore it with her necklace that she made at playgroup and...her sandals.  Whatever-she still looked cute.

Randall Halloween Party
The Saturday before Halloween, we try to get together with the Randall family and celebrate.  We get to see all the fun costumes, visit, play and eat homemade donuts.  I can't believe I didn't get a picture of my donuts.  Oh well.  You will have to believe me that they were good!

Fall Food

We also tried caramel apples (not too successful), apple cider (very good) and dinner in a pumpkin (the kids weren't crazy about it).

 

 We have had a bit of an Indian summer this year.  I love it!  After school, I have let the kids play outside until dinner so they can soak in all the warm and sunshine possible before the weather turns cold and snowy (this weekend!  Bleh!). 

Time to get out the Christmas lights!

Carving Pumpkins

I mentioned before that this year I let the kids pick the biggest pumpkins they could find.  I was dreading cutting into those monsters and pulling out all the seeds.
It wasn't as bad as I thought.  Probably because Greg did most of it.  I did clean and roast the seeds.  Yum!

 We keep our jack-o-laterns simple - no elaborate or crazy designs.  Just what the kids want.
Enoch chose to do an ariel view of a helicopter with a test tube and beaker on either side.
Kate and Guard did traditional faces on their pumpkins.
Gavin didn't carve his this year.  He had band practice and ran out of time.

It was great fun and no injuries to report!
Kate's:

Enoch's:

 Guard's: (he's been a bit cranky lately)

Scattered Thoughts

1.  I was able to help in Kate's class with Fairy Tale Friday.  It's a great chance for parents to help by reading the kids a fairy tale and than doing an activity.  It was so much fun!  We had a great time learning about The Gingerbread Man.  I found a great book about the gingerbread man who goes to school and then gingerbread pirates.  The kids loved them.  After reading, we decorated gingerbread men.  Each child got a packet with a cookie, frosting baggie and a small container of candy.

I had so much fun that I signed up to do a few more.  It was great to be with Kate and help out.

2.  Guard. Guard. Guard.  This is pretty typical of our days lately.  I'm tired.

3.  Our garden was so-so this year.  We had high hopes when we planted it, but summer got in the way.  We were so busy that we really didn't take care of it like we should and so our harvest was average.  Guard enjoyed it though.

 

We froze 12 cups of peas, raspberries for our Thanksgiving pie, canned 10 quarts of tomatoes, 50 quarts of peaches, 12 quarts of apple juice, 10 quarts of grape juice, 3 pints of blackberry syrup.  That was enough!

Chalking It Up

Guard adores being outside. 

 One of his favorite things to do is color with sidewalk chalk. 

He has to use every color.

He gets testy if people try to edge in on his territory.

Give him some sidewalk chalk and he is a happy boy.

Happy chalking, Guard!

BYU Chemistry Show

Any one who spends any time around Enoch knows he loves chemistry.  Really loves chemistry.  He is fascinated by it.  He helps explain his world and he needs that.
BYU Chemistry Week is here and Enoch is beyond excited.
Greg took Enoch and Kate to see the 'magic' show.  They both loved it and came home so excited.  I love things that teach my kids and encourage them to learn more.

Maybe Kate wasn't too impressed, but Enoch talked about it for weeks.  Fire is always good for eight-year-old boys.
Thank you, Greg, for taking the kids and letting them see that science is so cool!

Coal & Cocoa

Coal was so excited to have a friend stay with us over Fall Break.  One of her dog cousins, Cocoa Steeneck, slept over for a few days.

They had so much fun together - playing tug-a-war, tag and napping together.  Cocoa is such a sweet dog, but big.  We decided we are probably a one dog family.
Unfortunately for Cocoa, her knee was bothering her, so she couldn't play fetch, but Coal did enough for both of them.

We all had fun outside.  (Although Coal was not happy that Guard stole her frisbee.)

The Steeneck Farm

Steenecks really don't have a farm, but they are getting close with horses, dog, cats and now chickens.  They are thinking of breeding mini cows, and in my mind that equals a farm.  My kids love to visit their house and see all the animals.  Guard always squeals whenever we drive past their house.  He is obsessed with horses right now and loves to see them at Aunt Annette's.
Aunt Annette, Amy and Jennie were so great to let us come over and ride Harry, the horse, after the first session of Conference.  The kids really needed to get out and do something fun.  Enoch, Kate and Guard decked out in their best cowboy gear - leftover farmer hats from Guard's birthday party and Croc rain boots. It was the best we could do!

Guard could hardly wait for his turn!

The kids had a great time.  Harry is a terrific horse and Amy and Jennie were great to help the kids.  All the kids gave Harry a treat and a pat to thank him for a fun ride.

After riding Harry, the kids spent some time with the new chickens.  Enoch and Guard thought they were fascinating.

It was a beautiful afternoon and so much fun with the Steenecks.