Ghost n' witches n' scary things....all on Halloween night

Halloween is a favorite night around here.

The kids get so excited picking out what to be.

They love everything about it.

JJ really wanted to be a space man but because of some $$ to his costume 

and attitude about entitlement he ended up having to make due with what we had. 

I think he did a great job...and probably was able to maneuver better.

JJ is a Mad Scientist

Emma is Mary Poppins

Ellie is the Cutest darn Witch ever

Elsie is a cheerleader...after many other choices first.

Don't they just look great

Best part I only spent about $20 bucks all together on all of them.

That makes me and Jeron happy.

And you can't have Halloween without

Witches Brew

Elsie was very nervous about it.

She didn't want to get up by the smoke.

Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Jeff must have missed the memo...wheres the costume?

G and G usually don't disappoint so they must have really had a hard week.

Next year...NO EXCUSES  ;-)
Tara was a cute cowgirl and Mac was a darling lion.
He looked so cute and Tara made his costume.
She did a great job.

Brynn came over and we love having her here.  She was Pikachu from Pokeman.
She looked darling.  The kids just love having her here...and so do we.

It was hilarious when Papa and Mama came to the door.

Ellie was handing out all the candy tonight.  

So when we saw them coming to the door we didn't tell her who it was.

She opened the door with a huge smile.

She took one look at Papa and 

set the candy down 

and 

RAN

When I got to her she was shaking like a leaf and would not look up at papa.

I would have felt bad if it hadn't been so funny.

We finally got her to look up and him and she just kept saying

"WHY?"

She never would go around him but she would look at him and smile.
To get this picture I had to be in it.  She had her head hidden until Jeron said smile
Then she looked over and gave him a huge smile.
Love that girl.

I thought they looked great.  

Mama was one cute Little Red Riding hood

and Papa looked like teen big bad wolf.

JJ and Emma had a blast going with their friends.  

JJ was hilarious.

He got a map of our neighborhood and him and his friends mapped out the perfect

candy route.  They actually did pretty good.  He got his best haul yet.

Emma and her friend Josie just planned a run and conquer method.  

They also did great.

You can't see it good here but JJ's pumpkin is all black.
It looked really cool
Mine is throwing up.
I figured it should represent me.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Creating Faces

This was a bit different for us. 

We usually use the designs that you buy,

but this year I was not feeling all that great

so....Jeron and I did our own faces.

Even JJ did.

Emma carved her own pumpkin

and so Jeron and i only had to do 2 each.

We finished in under an hour.

We had a lot of fun seeing the kids be so creative.

Ellie and Elsie both picked out the pattern that we used on theirs.

So our pumpkins were all very personalized.

The kids did a great job.

And yes, I was there.  Finally a picture of me.

My pumpkin on Halloween will be throwing up.

It will look so cool.

I was impressed with all of their pumpkins. 

Aparently JJ's will look different on Halloween as well.

They all created awesome faces.

Pack's Pumpkin Patch

JJ was hardly around.  

He always takes off to find that perfect pumpkin.

He has such determination.  

We always just get ours in the first grouping but not JJ

He heads all over the place to make sure he doesn't miss THE ONE

Emma is cute. 

She usually finds hers in the first few seconds and is in love with it.

This year JJ and Emma decided that they wanted to fight.

Like a real fight that ended with Emma getting elbowed in the nose.

So when it was time for pictures on the hay

(which I refused to take until Jeron said it would be funny to look back and see her acting like a little bum)

I had to capture little miss Emma in all her crying glory

And post in on here for her to remember humiliating me for years to come.

Oh, and JJ was just as wrong and just as humiliating. 

Ellie decided to be like JJ this year.

She took off and wandered around the whole patch.

At one point we had to go and get her because I think she would have just kept going.

She had a ton of fun playing with the cart and pulling the pumpkins. 

Just because she has the most pictures doesn't mean she is my favorite.

She loved every minute like Ellie did.

She loved playing in the maze,

pulling the cart,

 and finding the best pumpkin 

that she LOVES

Having fun at the best patch ever

Jeron with his little ladies.

I can't believe how late we went but I am so glad we did.

The kids were so worried there would be no pumpkins

Man, they were wrong.  It looked like no one had been there.

We had a great time until JJ and Emma decided to ruin it for everyone.

Oh well, I guess that is part of being a family.

Finally....A parade

I have been hoping that my kids school would do a Halloween Parade 

and 

after a very long

  four year wait it has finally happened.

The kids looked so cute and they seemed to be having a great time.  

I loved seeing all of their friends also.

I wish I had gotten a picture of Ellie's Special Needs teachers.

They all dressed up like the characters from Scooby Doo with the bus and all.  

It was darling.

Meeting my Nephew

I took a trip out to DC from October 18h to October 25th. When I planned the trip I didn't realize how sick I was going to be. I had the best of intentions to go out there, spend memory making moments with my niece, snuggle my cute new nephew, and spoil my sister and brother in law. I was completely disappointment that I couldn't manage to do any of this. In fact poor Ryan would have to come home from work and take care of Maren and me. It was great that I got to meet Benjamin and good to see all of them I just wish I had been more helpful.

Even more lame we didn't take any pictures except these three winners.  I do love Lulu in this pic though.

Proof of me holding Benjamin

This was a scene you could see everyday.  All of us passed out.

Maren from pure exhaustion and me from sickness and the kids having a nap.

I hope next time I am better suited to help her out.  I need to stop having grand illusions.  It really makes it hard when you can't live up to even half of what you wanted to do. 

Happy Birthday Ellie

We can't believe that Ellie is seven 

She is so full of life and we just love her to bits

She is always smiling and happy to see you.

We had a little birthday party for her.

She loved to see everyone.
She was so excited to get her presents.
She would hug the present and say THANK YOU with a huge smile.

All the people that came to love on Ellie.

We love you and appreciate you coming to her party.
Jeff, Tara, and Mac came but we missed getting a picture:(

f

This was one of the first  years that Ellie knew it was her birthday.

She really was thrilled you guys came.

ROCKET MAN

Little did I know just how much Fun this was going to be.

Jeron and JJ made this rocket together.

On the day of the rocket launch Jeron could not go:(

I felt bad because he really missed out and I know he was bummed.

I kind of went out of protest.

and turned out it was a blast (pun intended)

Here the kids are all getting instructions from this sweet man who does this as a hobbie now.

 JJ is soaking in all the information

So serious

Setting his Rocket up on the launch pad

JJ wasn't the first group to go but he was in the second Launch.

We had seen a few go before and it was incredible to watch.

The big ones seemed pretty cool and I kind of felt bad I was so cheap.

We got JJ the most inexpensive one but the instructor recommended it.

The big ones would shoot up but really didn't go all that high.

Then JJ's launches and it goes up so high, higher than anyone's yet...

Then it gets a spur in its side and decides to go sideways at the speed of sound

(okay maybe not that fast but FAST)

It lands somewhere east of the school.

JJ and I set out to find the rocket.

We looked just past the portables on the east side

no rocket

We looked in the school parking lot

no rocket

we looked on the street

still no rocket

Then I looked by a garbage can at a house across the street.

I saw some orange so we went to check it out.

We found the rocket in tact but the house was not.

His rocket was still going so fast it hit the house and cracked the siding. 

OOPS

Holy cow that rocket went far.

Elsie, Ellie and Emma got to watch the rocket launch which was a lot of fun.

JJ really wanted to let Elsie and Ellie launch the rocket.

(Emma had to go back to class)

So on JJ's second launch Ellie helped him out.

Hers went straight up in the air and straight back down.

Way to go Ellie

Elsie was just not having it because she was scared of them.

Can't say I blame her. 

Those things are crazy.

One went sideways straight at the crowd.

It then turned down and stuck in the ground like a dart about 3 inches in.

It was really cool to watch but a little dangerous as well.

Elsie has self preservation in mind at all times.

She hid under the playground for most of it.

On JJ's third launch it went up and then I swear I saw it burst.

My friend also thought she saw the same thing.

We seriously could not find it.

JJ looked everywhere.

FInally it was time to go in.

I told him I would go to the street behind the school and see if I could see anything.

It was great.  I drove down the street to where I thought we might find it.

I was stressed thinking I would have to search through the field.

I found it right in the gutter.

and it was destroyed.

So yes, we did see it burst just not the way we thought.

It was seriously a really fun day.

If your school does this you should go and watch.

It truly is a blast.

What a good big brother

Ellie has not mastered the art of pedaling yet.

This has posed a problem for bike riding to school.

JJ came up with a plan since he really disliked walking home.

He hooked up the bike trailer to his bike.  

This has been awesome.

Plus it warms the cockles of mine and Jeron's heart when we see him be such a good brother

Game Day

Game day around our house has always been, well, interesting.

Everyone always says "What?  The kids are all Utah fans?  Jeron didn't get one?"

and I of course have an answer for this.

I try harder.

Jeron calls it brainwashing.

Yes people, I sit my kids in front of countless movies, books, and songs and place little tidbits of information about UTAH so that my kids "believe" the like the UTES!

PUUULEEEASE

I simply make it more fun than he does.

And that isn't really hard considering that most byu fans are well DULL

First off there is the sign making that I do with the kids the night before.

I've never seen Mr. byu do this.

Then there is the hair decorating for the girls.

Again never seen Jeron do this.

Then there is the awesome face painting. 

Again, I have yet to see my sweet hubby run up and say "Kids lets paint cougar paws on our faces"

Forth, we get all decked out in our UTAH RED and make cool signs

Jeron hasn't taught the kids any cool signs

 And last but certainly not least

Our team WINS

We get to hold up #1

while Daddy yells at the TV

I think it is clear to see my kids just have one thing that their dad is lacking

Good taste in a football team

Plus we all know its all about WINNING

UTES CRUSHED my hubbies poor little kitty kats this year

Like I said, we are just a lot more fun.

For everything there is a time and a season

This year I made a HUGE mistake.

I totally forgot to sign Elsie up for preschool.

I have felt really bad about this

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UNTIL

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I realized that FINALLY after 7 long years

I can hang out with my BFF Jana again.

Today was our first official date.

It was so good to just talk with her and not have to rush anywhere.

We both are at a point where we have one child home and the rest in ALL day school.

Our husbands have been going to lunch all of these years and we have been so jealous.

Ha, no longer do we have to be jealous of them.

We too, can have lunch dates.  WAHOO!!!

This is our season.

And while it will be only for 9 sweet months I'll take what I can get.

Our first trip out was to Gardner Village and to our surprise the Witches were already out.

 Elsie loved the witches.

She is at such a fun age for this kind of stuff.

She was a bit bossy and wouldn't let Jana our I shop

We finally just let her lead us around Gardner Village.

We were fine though, because we were there for the company.

It was so nice to just talk again.