Carved

We finally got around to gutting the 3 pumpkins we had gotten from Papa Kevin last night and finishing them up this afternoon, just in time for the rain tonight. This was a no pattern year. They turned out fairly well considering.

Of course Mike's is great. He saw a picture of one like this online and free handed the design onto the pumpkin.

Caleb drew out the design for his face and I free handed the Z monster for the Z boys.

The rain tonight seems to be ruining the trick or treating fun in the neighborhood but that's not stopping us from displaying these gems in the window.

Ouren Dynasty

Today we all dressed up and went to visit the workplaces. This year I am a Geisha, Mike and the boys were dubbed as Kung Fu Fighters. Collectively though, I like the ring of the Ouren Dynasty. We hit Mike's work first, then his Westminster to see some old co-workers and then onto my current office at SLCC and to visit Aunt Allison in her office there as well. It was a fun afternoon.

The best part was that instead of us asking for treats, we reversed it and gave out treats. What better to fit our theme than the fortune cookies I stumbled across at the party store this morning? And check out the cute purse I scored as well. Perfecto!

We hope you all have a good Halloween weekend and we can't wait to see pics of your families and little ones next week. Up next for us-Pumpkin Carving! Then trick or treating tomorrow night. Stay tuned for pics.

Dennis

I Love this kid, I do. He has earned a new nickname as of late, I've been referring to him as Dennis. And it truly fits him. My own little Dennis the Menace. He's full of mischief and love and above all, just darn cute too.

I can totally picture him doing something like this in the not too distant future.

If you are thinking of something for me for Christmas, I could use some Dennis the Menace comic books. I would love to read them and get parenting tips from his mom and dad. I also want a neighbor like George Wilson. Now that would be fun!

Weekend Project

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, things around here have been a little hectic.
I spent another weekend in Price with my sister and kids. We set off for a project to make her bedroom a new/different space for her in an effort to carry on and move after their loss. We were able to paint, put up a wallpaper border, put in some wood flooring, put up new curtains, buy new furniture and get it all put together and up so she could finally have a bed to sleep in before I left on Sunday. It was a long, hard, but rewarding weekend.
Oh, and in the midst of it all, I finally tried out another recipe from Pioneer Woman's website. Best Lasagna Ever, and it was! It was nice to be able to cook that and share it with her and my parents while working so hard. Yumm-o. I highly recommend it.

Grandmas Halloween Party

Tracey and the kids decided to have my Mom still put on her annual Halloween party at the park on Saturday. I didn't have my camera with me so I was only able to snap a few shots and since we didn't have our costumes with us, we improvised with some batman jammies for the twins, found Caleb a dracula shirt and Mike a ghost buster shirt. Tracey and I found shirts that came with little headbands. Hers a Bee and mine a Devil. We had a good time eating pizza, frosting cookies, in the bounce house and having potato sack races. I'm so glad we were able to have some fun together in the mist of the sadness. Enjoy the few phone pics. As you can see the wax lips in the goodie bags were a hit.

Uncle David

For the last week, we have been in crisis, comfort and support mode. I am saddened to report that my Brother in Law, David, passed away 1 week ago. David's obituary can be found here. He will be missed and loved as Uncle David forever in our house. My sister and her 4 kids are holding up and being as strong as can be expected. I am truly in awe of them. Please send them your love, support and kindness to get through this hard time. I love you Tracey, DaNell, Taylor, Schydi and Leyton. Anytime you need me, just call and I'll be on my way. Rest in Peace David.

Star Student and Chinese Lesson #3

This week is Caleb's week to be Star Student in his classroom, we spent some time this weekend working on a poster all about him. It includes a picture of him and of his family. It also asked him to fill in the blanks on some questions: age (6), favorite color (orange), favorite animal (cheetah), favorite food (pizza), favorite place to be (home), what I want to be when I grow up (football player), favorite thing to do (play my DS), and if I could wish for one thing it would be (100 dogs). This was a fun project to help him with and he's very excited to take it back to class with him tomorrow.

They are also starting to learn the names of colors in his Chinese lessons. So here's the next lesson for you to learn along. I tried my best to sound them out in spelling. But try google translate if you really want to hear it correctly.

red = Hóngsè (Hong-sa)
blue = Lán sè (lon-su)
green = Lǜsè (loo-sa)
yellow= Huángsè (who-on-sa)

A Witching Good Time

Maybe it's this amazingly warm weather but I can't figure out how October came so quickly! I am having a hard time getting in the fall spirit though since we can't decorate our house or anything this year (due to showings). But once I realized it was already October yesterday, I decided it was time for an intervention. We set out in the afternoon for a ride to go see the witches at Gardner Village. They were fun like always and the boys liked posing by them and with pumpkins. I think the twins had to sit on every single pumpkin they could find on the ground. Caleb got to do a fishpond activity and I got one of my favorite fall goodies, a caramel apple. Yum. And before we left, we had to stop for pony rides of course. Caleb and Zaric were in Heaven. Zaden rode around a couple laps then decided he didn't think that was very fun. Overall, we had a good time though. I'm still wondering with this weather though when I get to put away the summer clothes? Enjoy the pics.