Veteran's Day Weekend

We were all really excited for Friday night. After dinner we played hide and go seek. It was pretty fun. Hannah loved finding everyone! We also ate pizookies...yum!

Saturday was pretty busy. We went to Kohl's for a few minutes and the mall. Then rushed home to take Tommy to a birthday party for a girl in his preschool class. He was so excited to go and was in heaven. Damon loved hanging out with Dad and Hannah. I was able to go to a super awesome craft night with some friends. Nathan came into town and we had fun staying up late talking with him. 

Sunday was our Primary Program. The kids did such a great job. My boys each had 4 speaking parts that they memorized. Since I lead the Primary music, I was sitting in the pews in front of the podium. Tommy would mouth to me: Mom, which one is this? Then I would mouth the first few words...it was hilarious. And Damon kept looking at me, mouthing: Mom, can you take my suit coat? Crazy kid. Hannah loved sitting on her Daddy's lap chowing down a bag of fishies:)

Nathan hung out with us all day. He made us delicious guacamole which we devoured too quickly. We always enjoy chatting and eating delicious food...but I can never remember to pull out the camera. 

I love taking pictures of her in her new Sunday dresses.

 The kids had Veteran's Day off, but Barrett had to work. We cleaned their room really well, then went to a friend's house to play in the leaves. It was so fun!

 There were tons of leaves everywhere and I happened to look over and see this holly berry sprig. Total contrast! It was so pretty.

 The kids did an obstacle course through piles of leaves. The last part was to stand on the edge of the playground and jump in the pile of leaves. 

 Tommy was great. He was the last boy to go, so had watched everyone. At the end of his, instead of just jumping in like everyone else, he jumped off and spun then landed. It was awesome (only because he didn't get hurt)! I didn't capture it, but this is his face afterwards...so proud of himself, strutting away. When he was telling Barrett about it later, he said he did Spinjitsu!! Go ninja go! (thanks to Lego: Ninjago)

End of October and Beginning of November

These are the projects from October this year (well except our 5 Little Pumpkins sitting on a gate...those are from a few years ago...oh and the bats from last year!)

 Damon made this in art class at school. He thought it was hilarious that he put a mustache on his pumpkin!

 Tommy painted this pumpkin at school.

 Watching tv as a family. Hannah was snuggling with her daddy and her baby doll. One day she brought her doll in the car with her. We were running in and out of stores and left the baby in her carseat. Every time she got back in the car, she kissed her baby...so precious!

 The first Saturday of the month was open...no plans!! We decided to take the kids hiking around Killens Pond. The leaves were beautiful and the weather was perfect. We all had a wonderful time!

 When the hike was over, we ate our sandwiches and played around. Hannah took off down the sidewalk and backed up to one of these parking lot bumpers and sat herself down. It was adorable.

 The boys loved climbing on these picnic tables and pillars.

 That night we told the kids we were going to a restaurant for dinner called Mom and Pop's Cafe...aka our own house. We were all going to help make a fancy dinner with spaghetti and meatballs, warmed french bread, and salad with apples, craisins, and candied pecans. We were going to pull out a table cloth and fancy goblets. The kids had fun and everyone had full bellies.

Hannah woke up in the middle of the night with a bad cough. We steamed the shower and hung out in the bathroom for awhile to help her breathing. We gave her medicine and Barrett gave her a blessing. She slept ok but still wasn't feeling well in the morning. I was doing my hair and found her asleep in the hallway. I got her new dress on for church and few minutes later, she threw up all over it. Poor baby was really sick for the first time. She's always been a snuggly little thing, but she was even more snuggly for a few days. She basically laid on my shoulder with one little hand holding tightly around my neck. It was rough for a few days, but she's doing much better now.

 Damon has had the worst luck with field trips these last two years. Either he is sick and misses them or the weather is horrible and it gets cancelled or postponed or cut short. Well, he was supposed to go on a field trip before Halloween, but it rained so it was postponed until after Halloween. Of course the day they finally got to go was super cold, but they had a great time at Fifer's playing at the Fall fest activities. He came home with a pumpkin and an apple. I thought it was hilarious his apple was bigger than his pumpkin:)

 For some reason Tommy has been soooooo excited for Thanksgiving. He keeps saying it is his favorite holiday. He'll ask me about it randomly. One day we had a pretty good conversation.

Tommy: Mom, do we have to go outside and find a turkey for Thanksgiving? 

Me: No, we buy them in the store. 

Tommy (very surprised): They sell turkeys in the store?!?!?!?

Me: Not real ones. They don't have feathers. They're dead and all ready to cook!

Tommy: Oh.

I had him make this T is for Turkey this week. I just love how creative he is.

Pumpkins and Halloween

Phew! What a week!! On Monday, Damon woke up with a swollen eyelid. We kept him home from school and took him to the doctor. They sent us home with a topical cream. That afternoon I did some laundry. I decided to wash my bedspread. I had washed other big blankets and such and thought as I was cramming it in there, "what's the worst that could happen...it just won't get clean." Well, 20 minutes later the smoke alarms went off and smoke was coming from the washer! We got everything settled, then I called Barrett home after the boys and I had opened every door and window in the house. Barrett pulled my super soaked bedspread out of the washer and hung it outside to drip. Of course there was a ladybug infestation outside, so there were ladybugs all over us and flying through our open doors into the house (we're still finding ladybugs inside!). We had promised the kids a trip to Fifer's to get pumpkins, so off we went. Its always so fun! We even scored a 1/2 bushel of perfect Pink Lady apples as "seconds." Seriously, we were digging in the "seconds" bins when a worker came and dumped a bunch of apples that she had just pulled off the full price pile, then told us they "looked too green". Barrett and I were really excited...over apples:)

So, Barrett ended up having to order a new washing machine belt which we learned are not cheap! The next morning, Damon's eyelid was even more swollen!! So, I kept him home from school again and took him to the doctor again! This time they gave us an antibiotic (but we never ended up giving it to him because it was almost fine the next morning). Damon ran errands with me and begged to go to the craft store. Then he found these cute Halloween packs of Perler beads. We bought one for each of the boys and they spent all afternoon making things! That night we had our annual Halloween dinner of mummy dogs! We also had bloody fingers (french fries and ketchup) and eyeballs (grapes). Then, Barrett went to the laundromat to wash my bedspread and another load.


Tommy had his Halloween party at preschool on Wednesday. Hannah was napping, so I didn't get there until the end, but it was cute to walk in and see these little preschoolers with their bat hats dancing to Halloween songs!

That night we carved our pumpkins! Tommy knew exactly what he wanted!! A pirate skeleton. Damon wanted to put a mustache on his. I helped Tommy while Barrett helped Damon, but Damon wanted to do all the carving, so he did!

 That night Barrett fixed my washing machine!! I still feel so silly. One little expensive choice and Barrett paid all my consequences for me!!

Well, Halloween finally came! Tommy was so excited all day long.

He loved being a big brother this day. He put Hannah in her chair and shared his fishies with her.

 So, Hannah discovered our big bag of apples. I kept pulling them out of her hands...cute little apple thief!

 Here are the kids all ready for trick or treating!! I had to put all their photos on here...each one cracks me up! They each had a different pose each time I snapped a picture!!! They are hilarious!

 We went to a friend's house for dinner and trick or treating. It was so fun. The kids were trick or treating singing: It's time to trick or treat, it's time to trick or treat, Hi ho the derio it's time to trick or treat!!

 We made it home to look at our loot!

Damon was sad to see Halloween come to an end.  As Tommy was trying to fall asleep he said, "Mom, I can't believe tomorrow is the first day of Thanksgiving!"