Treating

So we had so much fun on Halloween, and got WAY to much candy. Earlier in the day I helped with Ethan and Erin's class parties at school. Then there was the Halloween parade when all the kids in the school show off their costumes to all the parents by weaving their way through the gym.
For dinner I made the kids Mummy-Dogs. (Really hot dogs wrapped with crescent roll strips- but very Halloweenie don't you think?) They even had little faces made out of mustard.


Later, the kiddos did the trunk-or-treat for the ward and got to hit up a street in the neighborhood. They insisted that it wasn't really trick-or-treating at the church. We actually had to go knock on doors and get candy too. Needless to say the haul was immense, and we still had candy left that we bought to pass out.
Jeff dressed up as Santa this year. Ethan was a Clone Trooper from Star Wars. Erin was a bad witch with blue hair and had a mean witch cackle. Katelyn was "Tink Bell" because that is the costume that I had in her size from Erin. And I was the anti-Halloween mom who didn't dress up beacuse I don't really like Halloween all that much. But I do pretend for my kids and make sure that they have lots of fun.

This is our Santa-pretty convincing. A few kids were scared of him, but most thought it was cool. One kid even told his mom that the real Santa was passing out candy. Cool! And Katelyn now thinks that her dad is "SaN-Ta" or "Ho-Ho." Hopefully their will not be confusion at Christmas when Santa is supposed to bring gifts. (I am not ready for that yet- we are all still blissfully unaware- :)
Erin and Ethan door-knocking. Or trick-or-treating the "real" way.

I bet you never knew what Tinkerbell's teeth really look like- maybe fairies should brush their teeth too. Katelyn loved "treating" and was sad the next day when she couldn't go again.

Carving Fun

Last night we carved our pumpkins into Jack-o-lanterns. We like to wait until close to Halloween so they don't get all shriveled up for their big night. Erin designed her own and K's was a template thingy. Ethan had the idea to do a Lego Batman and Robin- Jeff helped with the carving. And Jeff's will hopefully win his company pumpkin carving contest- it's a guy who is a little distressed about his phlebotomy. Glowing brain, kinda cool. Anyway, you can all be impressed with the skillz it took to make. I do not have my own pumpkin as I was busy helping to gut and carve the little girls pumpkins.

Update: Jeff did win the pumpkin carving contest at his work. Prize: $20 to Walmart. Fun times! We were all a little disappointed that he didn't win for the costume though. More on that in a later post.

HSM3- Finally!!

Erin and I had a date yesterday afternoon to go see High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Erin has been on the countdown since April for it to be released. In fact when we went to the zoo earlier in the summer we saw filming going on for the movie. It has been a long wait, but definitely worth it! Erin and I had a fun time and we were glad that the Gillman girls could come along too. Later in the afternoon Erin came grocery shopping with me and decided to spend her money she had on the soundtrack for the movie. This will have to do until it gets released on DVD as she is already asking to go see it again . . .

The girls are all ready for the show to start. We got there almost an hour early to get a good seat- but we were at the first showing of the day so we got right in and picked our seats. We had lots of time to wait, but it was worth it!


Jenny Gillman and her girls, Sarah, niece Kimberlin, and Melissa.

The girls and I.



It was awesome! Thumbs up all the way! Go Wildcats! Yea for Troy and Gabriella!

Weekend Getaway

Since the older kids had no school for a few days, we decided to brave the trip to Idaho Falls to visit B & Nat's family for the weekend. It has been three years since the last time we all made it up together. We had a great time chatting, chasing cousins Jake, Brock, Troy and Ivy, eating yummy food, going to the zoo and park, staying up way too late, and enjoying the unusually warm weather. Thanks so much to B and Nat for being so hospitable and accommodating. I know it isn't always easy to take on 5 extra people! We had a blast!

And for your reading pleasure- the infamous knock knock jokes told by Ethan and Erin for hours and hours on the way home:

"Knock, Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Kentucky."
"Kentucky who?"
"Kentucky Fried Chicken, that's who."

"Knock, Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Freep."
"Freep who?"
"Free poo, no thanks!"

"Knock, Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Boo."
"Boo who?"
"Don't cry, it's just a joke."

They found these so hilarious they just kept repeating them over and over (even though we didn't even eat at KFC, or get free poo).

Grandma's Halloween Party

The kids had a great time at grandma's annual Halloween party. They got to paint pumpkins, decorate popcorn balls, make crafty witches and Frankensteins, and hear lots of scary stories. They also had fun running around with their cousins. Sorry to all those who I didn't catch on camera. I was a little slow with the camera that night!

Davis as Indy and Ethan is a Clone Trooper.

Melanie the ladybug and Jonathan the fireman.

Katelyn with Aunts Jennifer and Suzy.
Zach the racecar driver paints his pumpkin too.

School Pictures

Back To School

Today I hurry off to school,

To work and learn and play.

I'm in a brand new grade this year.

What a happy day!

The kids got their new school pictures taken. I thought Ethan looked the same as last year, but when I got the pictures and compared them side by side- he has grown up a lot! He is loving third grade- learning cursive, memorizing times tables, and making even more friends. He is so responsible. I love seeing him grow and learn new things. He really is an amazing kid!

Erin is loving kindergarten. She has learned all of her letters and sounds and has moved on to reading books. She is so excited to bring them home every day and read each book three times. She is very good at remembering to do all her homework and showing me all her papers that she brings home. I am really glad that she has such an excitement for learning. She is still my helper mouse and both Katelyn and I miss her while she is gone. I am grateful for two great kids in school- and one more at home to keep me company!

Taggle

So, Julie tagged me. Now you get to find out 7 amazing things about me that you never wanted to know. Don't be too scared!

1. I love thunderstorms. Like real east coast thunderstorms. Bucketing rain, thunder, lightning. It makes me feel calm and in awe. I also like the smell of rain. It is so clean and crisp. I can enjoy a cool fall rain smell even if there is no lightning and thunder.

2. I never order milk at a restauraunt. It is always too warm. I like my milk icy cold.

3. I am total remote hog. I like to watch at least two or three shows at once and I always flip channels on commercials. At night when the kids are in bed Jeff always hands me the remote and does something else on his laptop. I don't even know why I do it because then I end up missing part of something I wanted to see.

4. Forks scraping a plate are like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. It brings me right back to my days in braces. It makes my teeth hurt just thinking about it!

5. I make up words all the time. Like taggle... I think that my hubby is finally getting used to this, but I still get teased for it. Needless to say I am not very good at scrabble. (What? Toink isn't a real word??)

6. My belly button is extremely sensitive. I hate having ultrasounds when I am pregnant because they put the gel everywhere and shove the wand thing right into my belly button. Yeek!

7. I am not really a shoe person. I would rather be barefoot, or in the winter in some cozy socks. But the shoes come off when I hit the door usually.

Okay, that was way easier than I thought. I guess I must more quirky/wierd than I even knew.

Thanks Grandma!

THANKS Grandma Hutzley!

We love our new dresses and we are so excited that it is finally cool enough to wear them! We miss you and love you and grandpa so much-

Hugs and Kisses from Erin and Miss K

Wordle who?

So, after checking out my friend Christy's blog, I decided to create a wordle of my own. I loved it so much that I am now using it as part of my header. It basically takes words from your blog, and the more times the word appears, the bigger the word is. Really interesting to see what may be most important in your life. So go and check it out if you want- and make a wordle of your own! (www.wordle.net)

The Two Wheel Wonder

Yesterday, Erin wanted to learn to ride her bike two wheels. She's had her training wheels up high for a while, but they were still keeping her from biffing it on sharp turns. So yesterday I took them off. (Somehow this is the second time of mom teaching the kids to ride without training wheels. Jeff must be smarter than me and gets to avoid all the backaches and running- or I am the one home at the right moment?) She was doing okay, but only made it a few feet before she put her feet down. Today, however, was a whole different story. After taking her little pink bike out with not much success, I wondered if it might be easier for her to ride on a bigger bike. (You know- where her knees weren't so close to the handlebars with every pedal...) Maybe bigger tires would equal more stability. So we busted out Ethan's old classic-- and away she went. Her first solo ride lasted 15 feet. But she kept improving. In a matter of 20 minutes she was riding around the park like a pro. She still needs help getting started, but it took Ethan a while on that one too. So we officially have two two-wheel riding kids in the house now!