Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year.  We tried to just keep it fun for the kids.  A few days before Halloween we carved a pumpkin.  That is always interesting, but fun, with little ones. 

I regret to tell you that I didn’t remember to take a picture of it after it was finished.  It was a wolf howling at the moon. We did one just like it a Halloween 2008. They sure grow up fast don’t they.

Here are the pictures from this year.  Shaylee was a witch.  She really wanted the green face and black hair so we went all out this year.  She really enjoyed her costume this year.

Courtney’s costume changed several times. For the longest time she wanted to be the “Lady in Pink” from The Backyardigans episode about the Super Spy.  We tried to find her something pink she would wear for that but didn’t have any luck.  Not because of the lack of pink in our house but because she just couldn’t find what she wanted.  So she picked the outfit above out of our dress up box.  I guess you can call her cute costume a Halloween fairy.  She also got to dress up for the library story time.  She settled on Super Girl for that one. Oh, the joy of having dress up clothes on hand.

Kelsi loves huskies and decided that is what she wanted to be for Halloween.  This one was a little more of a challenge in that it was tricky for me to make her look like a dog and not a cat.  I don’t have much experience with face paint but I think in turned out alright.  Regardless of what people thought she was dressed like she turned out cute and had fun.  

We dressed up on Saturday night for the ward Trunk or Treat.  It was a great success.  The girls loved going around.  Courtney just kept saying “I love this trick or treating!” It is always fun to see all the kids dressed up. 

On Halloween day we started the day out with Jack O Lantern pancakes.  Not perfect, but the kids had fun with it.  I can honestly say that I am not going into the pancake shape making business any time soon.

Shaylee’s school had crazy hair day that day also.  This is what we came up with.  You can’t see, but we also sprayed it with some pink hair color in the back. 

We decided not to go out again on Halloween night.  We stayed home and played fun Halloween games.  The first game we played was a musical hat game where you walk around in a circle to music with a witch hat on the floor.  You take turns stepping on it and whoever is on it when the music stops is the winner.

The next game we played was pin the face on the pumpkin.  We all worked together to put the pieces of the face on. The girls seemed to enjoy doing this.  We came up with quite an interesting Jack O Lantern.

 

Here is the end result.

We also played a game of Halloween bingo called “Trick” and “Don’t Eat Feet,” which is just like “Don’t eat Pete.”  For our treat we frosted Halloween shaped cookies. It turned out to be a great day. Filled with sugar and lots of fun.  We all hope you had as wonderful Halloween as we did!

 

Busy Weekend

This weekend was a busy weekend for our family.  Saturday started with me making a quick trip to Pomerene for a funeral for my great Uncle.  As far as funerals go it was a nice one.  He had been having health problems for a while so in a way his death was not unexpected and I am sure a welcome relief from the pain and suffering for him.  It was good to learn more about him and remember him for the good man he was. 

After the funeral I rushed home because the in-laws were coming to town.  They actually got there about an hour or so before I got home.  This is always a fun treat for the family.  We ate at Casa and visited. The guys also went to the EAC football game against Snow College.  They said it was a great game and EAC won so overall it was a good day.

On Sunday we had our primary program.  The girls did a great job.  There is nothing like primary program sacrament meeting.  I here the children sing every Sunday but it doesn’t matter, for whatever reason, hearing them sing in sacrament meeting brings tears to my eyes.

After sacrament meeting we had to come home early because Courtney and I had to travel to Gilbert for an early Monday morning dentist appointment.  We decided to travel at the same time my in-laws were headed that way.  (Thanks!) We had a wonderful visit with Grani in Mesa and then headed over to stay with the Sholley’s in Gilbert over night.  It has been a wonderful blessing to have them live so close to where we take Courtney to the dentist.  More then once they have let us stay with them when we have come down for dentist appointments.

Today, Jeremy stayed home with the older two and got them off to school and took care of things at the house while Courtney and I were in Gilbert and up early and to the dentist by 6:30 am.  Courtney’s appointment was to get crowns for the top four teeth.  She has had trouble with them for quite a while.  They tried filling them but the fillings kept falling out.  So, it was determined that crowns would be the best option at this point.  Very frustrating, especially considering that a little less then a year ago they sedated her to fill them and today we had to pay to sedate her again.  Not a fun experience and not a very cheap one either.  Each time is $550 just to sedate her and insurance wont pay for any of it.  They don’t think it is necessary even for a two or three year old. I can testify that it wouldn’t be possible without it.

Well, the work they did on Courtney ended up being more extensive than planned.  They did the four crowns but they also ended up having to do root canals on two of those teeth and four fillings in the back.  They figured they better get as much done during the sedation so she wouldn’t have to be sedated for dental work any time soon.  My hope is that it is never again.

I must say I think they did a pretty good job.  Courtney pulled through beautifully.  All she remembers is the shot.  She kept talking about not wanting a shot again. 

For those of you who have never experienced your child being sedated I hope you never have to.  It is a scary thing.  I know that the people that do it are professional and  know what they are doing but it is still not fun.  It is a weird experience to watch your child go from a happy playing child to being floppy and having a blank stare on there face.  In a way I am glad that I am not in the room when she is all hooked to wires and tubes and being worked on. 

I am glad to be home and have it all done hopefully never having to mess with those teeth again.       

October is here!

 

We decided to do a fun project together as a family to help us get ready for Halloween.  Found this Q-Tip skeleton project on the internet and it was easy and fun for the whole family.

   

August……falling into September

So, this is the third post today.  Just trying to play a little catch up.  Blogging doesn’t come easy for my because I don’t feel I am a very good or clever writer.  I guess that is really why I don’t do it very much.  I have decided, more than anything,  blogging is more a of a way for me to journal the happenings of my family.

So on to August we go.  The biggest event of August was the start of school.  The girls wanted to look extra special for the first day of school so we put curlers in and braided hair.  Courtney even wanted curlers in but they only lasted about 30 minutes before she was pulling them out.         

They went to bed early to get their beauty sleep.  Not that they need it.  I think they are pretty cute girls.  I am a little bias though.

   

They picked out some pretty cute outfits for the first day and were ready pretty early. 

Shaylee started 2nd grade and is in Mrs. Morris’ class.  Shaylee was excited to be back and Mrs. Morris is a great teacher.  Kelsi was so excited to be back to school that she ran off ahead of me and I didn’t get a picture of her with her 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Crandall (who also seems like she is going to be a great teacher).  I had to sneak a couple from outside of the door because so was already in school mode.

I think it is going to be a good year. They are growing up way too fast. 

Courtney is enjoying her time at home with me, but at times I think she misses having someone other than mom to play with.

I have been a little busy with the start of school.  I have been the Box Tops for Education coordinator for both of my girls schools for a few years now but this year they decided to make me an official part of the PTO doing Box Tops.  I have also been doing PE every other week for Kelsi’s class and about once a month for Shaylee’s class.  I don’t mind it.  It is nice to be involved with the schools and get to know the teachers and students that my kids are around so much.

As we are now into September I am excited for the cooler weather.  The stores are full of fall and Halloween decorations and the excitement of the holidays.  I love the feeling of fall in the air.  It is a wonderful time of year. 

July

I forgot to mention in the last post that my youngest sister got married at the end of June.  She is very happy and we are happy for her.  She is the last of my siblings to be married.  I am grateful for all of my brothers and sisters and that they were all able to be Married in the temple to wonderful eternal companions.

July was a fun month. First off was the 4th of July celebration. 

Our town starts the celebration early.  Cannons go off at 5:30 in the morning and the fire trucks drive around town blaring their sirens.  To some it is annoying, but not to me.  It is kind of fun.  It is also a lot cooler outside and the festivities can be enjoyed more.

By 6:00 am they have a people parade.  People ride their bikes, golf carts, wagons, etc. down the road on a specific path to the middle school football field where they have a patriotic program.  Luckily the parade route passes the corner by our house.  So we decided we would watch the parade and join in when the people on bikes past by.  Just a week or so before this the girls learned how to ride their bikes without training wheels and were so excited to decorate them and ride them in the parade. 

       

Courtney got to ride in the bike trailer with her cousin Emily.  I had the song “God Bless America”  playing.  That is one of my favorite patriotic songs.  Sad to say it was lost in all of the noise of vehicles and fire trucks.  It was a fun thought though.  Courtney heard it over and over and for weeks after she would sing it.  I loved it.   At the patriotic program Courtney and Emily got to be in the Grand old Flag march.  They let all of the kids that wanted to march out waving flags while the song “You’re a Grand Old Flag” played.  It was cute to watch them.  They were probably the youngest out there.  They got to be in it because they happened to be at the right place at the right time.

    

After the wonderful program they had a watermelon bust.  Then the fire trucks soaked anyone who wanted to be.  (Occasionally someone who didn’t intent to be.)  The kids loved it.

After the fun, we spent the rest of the day at home relaxing until we joined some friends for dinner.  Sadly Jeremy had to work and didn’t get home until late.  It was a great day other than that.

In July we also made it up to St. Johns to spend time with Jeremy’s family.  Sad to say I didn’t get any pictures.  That is something I need to get better at. 

On the way up we saw the burned out areas of the White Mountains.  It was sad to see the areas that where burnt so bad.  The fire fighters worked extra hard.  You can tell because so much of Alpine and other areas were saved.  Some areas you couldn’t even tell there had been a fire.  Others you couldn’t hardly believe how bad the damage was.

We stopped at Luna lake for a lunch picnic.  The water levels where very low from the water that was used to fight the fire.  It was beautiful there otherwise.  We even saw some little chipmunks that we shared our lunch with.  The girls really enjoyed that.

In St Johns we just relaxed and played.  We visited Jeremy’s Grandma Hunt and enjoyed seeing her.  She was in a wonderful spirit and it was a good visit. It was lots of fun to see family and spend time with Jeremy’s parents.

One more exciting thing that happened in July was that Kelsi got her ears pierced.  I have always told my girls they don’t have to get their ears pierced and that I want them to do it if and when they want to.  Kelsi and Shaylee have both wanted to, but have been very nervous about doing it and that is why it took this long for Kelsi.  Shaylee was going to do it the same day Kelsi did and even got as far as having them mark her ears, but decided she wanted to wait until she got older.  Which is perfectly fine with me.

 

July was a great month.

June

In June Shaylee turned 7.  It amazes me how fast my girls are growing up.  I love seeing them grow, but it is hard to realize that every birthday brings them one year closer to not being kids any more.

We had a water party for Shaylee to celebrate with friends.  We had water squirters and slip and slides for the kids to play with.  We also had pizza, cupcakes and ice cream.  I think it was a success.  

Happy Birthday Shaylee!

We planted a garden this year.  I was so happy with how it was growing.  We had corn, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, watermelon and cantaloupe.  We got a little produce from it then we started having ant problems.  In spite of our best efforts the ants started destroying everything before it had a chance to ripen.  We also had a shallow roots problem.  We ended up pulling up everything because it was dying or being destroyed by ants.          

What little we did get off we enjoyed.  Maybe next year we will have more success.  I am not giving up anytime soon though.  

May Happenings

During the first part of May Shaylee’s school had a first grade music program.  It was a Disney extravaganza.  They sang and danced to several Disney songs.  Shaylee got to dress up like a cowgirl and dance a western dance.  The costume worked out pretty well because we had everything from a a couple of years ago when Kelsi was a cowgirl for Halloween.  

The first picture is one of her and her friend Kushi.

Jeremy turned the big 34 this May.  He is an old man.  Just kidding.  We are both still spring chickens.  Sort of.  He had to work that day and leave town the next day for work for a few days so we made the most of the day we had. 

Courtney loved helping open his presents.

I am so thankful for my wonderful husband and the love that he shows to us.  He works hard to take care of us and does a wonderful job.  We miss him when he has to travel for work (luckily it isn’t very often) and are very grateful when he gets to come home.  Happy Birthday Love!

Another exciting but not so good thing that happened on Jeremy’s birthday was that Shaylee was pushed off the bars at school and broke her collar bone.  The bad thing is that we didn’t even realize it was broken until five days later.  She didn’t complain too much at first.  She would just favor it and wouldn’t lift it up above shoulder level.  For a few days I would help her with her shirt.  I thought she was doing better.  I even took her to her first(and last for this year) coach pitch baseball practice.  On Saturday she was trying to pull up her pants and cried out in pain.  At that point we knew that something more serious was going on.  So off to the ER we went.  After an exam and x-ray it was determined to be broken. Poor girl.  Bad mom moment not to have realized it sooner.

 

We later decorated her sling with some iron on stars, hearts, and peace signs.  I will have to get a picture of it.  She is doing really well with it.  It will be three weeks tomorrow that it happened.  The Dr. said she can now go without the sling she just has to be careful.  Three to five weeks more and she should be all the  way healed.  What a way to start her summer break.

Courtney also had her third birthday.  She is growing up so fast.  When we asked her what she wanted she would tell us M&M’s.  Well, she got those and a few other things.  Oh, the kind of cake she asked for was a blue cake with Cinderella on top.  It ended up being a chocolate cake with blue frosting and sprinkles and of course Cinderella on top.  She really enjoyed her birthday and it was fun the watch her excitement.  She is getting old enough to actually know what is going on and care.

We are going to have a great day tomorrow and hope you all do too.  Happy Memorial Day!