Spooktacular

We've been having a Spooktacular week so far!  Would you like to hear about it?  Well, okay then! ;)

We started with pumpkin carving on Monday.  Acadia was the director; she decided what the pumpkins would look like.  She did help hollow out the pumpkins a little but after that, she became the backseat carver and let me do all the "fun" work. lol  Here are some pics:

Then last night was our ward Halloween party.  It was a chili dinner, Costume Parade, and Trunk-or-Treat.  First off, can I just say, 'THANK YOU!" for the weather being so nice?!!  Last year it was COLD and raining!  This year, I wore a short sleeve shirt. :)  I did get a little cool by the time it was dark, but it was definitely bearable.  So nice!  A gorgeous night!

Secondly, we had some fun "trunks"!  One car threw a black blanket over the car, drapping it over the open trunk and inside there were lights and streamers and a "floating" jackolantern.  There was another car that had a canopy set up, lights strung all over, a generator powering an old fashioned popcorn machine and some spooky music.  They gave out fresh popped popcorn, a glow in the dark wrist band, AND still candy!

 

Third, my kids were just dang cute!  But we did have a high school moment when another little girl showed up wearing the same costume as Rori! ;)  It was actually VERY cute, they were so interested in each other! lol  They were "talking" and hugging each other (they are about the same age, 2 months apart). 

Fourth, I LOVED that one of the older sisters in our ward dressed up!  When they had the kids go around for the costume parade, she walked with them and it was awesome!  I'm not sure what she was officially, but she looked like Old Mother Hubbard to me.  Later I saw her trunk-or-treating too! lol  I LOVE IT, she's so fun!!!  I have a pic of her so I'll include it below.

Last of all, Trick Trunk-or-Treating is just plain FUN!  People giving out candy for free!!!  And now that Rori is old enough to walk and trick-or-treat herself, but not old enough to EAT all that candy, it's even more fun for Ryan and I! lol  I think Ryan ate half of Rori's candy last night after we got home!

And here are some pics from last night.  Cadi was a "vampire horse", Rori was a regular horse, Ryan was a cowboy, and I was a cowgirl.  Since Cadi was a vampire horse, she was our protector but she really spent most of the night with her friend, who was a vampiress.  We see where the loyalty lies. ;) 

Today Rori and I went to story time and then out shopping.  There were others dressed up at story time too, Rori's favorite costume there was an Elmo. :)  She got lots of cute coments at the store and the gals at the deli section said they usually get to give out candy but hadn't been given any to handout yet.  So instead they wanted to give Rori a cookie. lol  They were funny.

Tonight I am making Dinner in a Pumpkin. :)  Then I plan on taking the girls out with some of the neighbors to go Trick-or-Treating for a little while.  Afterwards, we're going to hang out at home and give out candy to the trick-or-treaters who come here.  Lots of fun!  Lots of sugar! lol

We hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween too!

Birthday Celebrations

Before I begin, and since we're going to be on the subject, let me first say,

"Happy Birthday!"

to Ryan's dad.  We hope you have a great day! :)

This weekend, one of Cadi's friends had a birthday party at the Kids Club, which is a super fun play center.  We had been there before but not since Rori was born.  I brought my camera and thought I'd share some pics and videos with you. 

Rori and I started out in the tots area...







But Rori's way too much of a monkey to be confined to a "tots' area!  So we went climbing...



Then we ran into Sister and she agreed to take Rori down the slide so I could take pics of them.  Rori LOVED it!  When I was taking her down the slide, she was screaming with laughter!!  It was VERY cute! :)








As you can see, it was LOTS of fun!  I think we'll try to talk Daddy into taking us there sometime.  The kids love it and trying to keep up with them is a pretty good workout!  lol

Primary Program

Today the primary children did the Sacrament meeting program at church.  It was really good and made all the moms cry. ;)

Acadia did a great job, they all did but let's face it, I'm biased toward her. ;)  She had a speaking part and also participated with a small group of children in singing a verse of one of the songs by themselves.  The problem she had was when the person behind her threw up while they were all singing one of the songs.  She looked ill for a moment and was pretty concerned with what was going on, but then kept on singing!  She switched seats after that, since her seat had been hit (fortunately she was all clear).  I was actually really impressed with all of the kids; there was no yelling, crying, screaming, or any other loud outburst when the "incident" happened.  They all looked a little green for a moment, but then got back to singing.  I really feel bad for the kid who "lost it", poor guy.  I hope he's feeling beter!

Aurora loved watching all the children up on the stand!  She got super excited whenever she saw Acadia, she would jump on my lap and laugh and cheer.   Then she kept trying to sing along with them.  It was cute. :)

Before church, I took some pics of the girls.  They are kind of dancing around, trying to make noise with their feet.  And yes, Rori's playing in a box.  lol

Fall Photos and a Good Report

Rori has the MOST ADORABLE little suit and it is DARLING as a fall outfit!  Check it out:



This week was Parent/Teacher Conferences.  We'll get to that in a minute.  But first, right in front of Cadi's school is a GORGEOUS tree and a cute little setting for some fun Fall photos!  I attempted to get pics of Rori but she just didn't want to sit nicely on the rock...







Thankfully, Acadia cooperated a little better. ;)






And now the report:  The conference went really well!  Cadi's teacher is very nice and loves Acadia!  She told me that she didn't think I would need to go in for any other conferences this year because Cadi doesn't really have any problems.  She is at the top of her class in reading, writing, and math and she demonstrates a desire to keep learning and do her best.  I knew she was a good student, but I was surprised to hear she was actually at the top of her class in all three of the main subjects!  The only thing the teacher mentioned that Cadi needed to work on was something that I knew she has a hard time with; she doesn't always wait with her hand raised when she wants the teacher's attention, she sometimes just goes right up and tries to talk to the teacher no matter what else is going on. :S  So that is what we're going to be talking about and working on. 

While we are on the subject of school...  Cadi has been taking piano lessons this school year.  And she is doing VERY well!  She is eager to share her new talents too, which surprises me because generally, while very social, she gets a bit of "stage fright" when performing in front of a group.  Perhaps she doesn't think of this as "performing"?  Anyhow, she told her music teacher that she is learning the piano and her music teacher told her that she could play something for the class if she wanted. 

She's played a total of 5 songs for her class so far, 2 of which were not songs her piano teacher had her learn, they were just songs she learned by herself.  She isn't sharing the short little easy songs, either.  She's shared the Can Can, Melody, I am a Child of God, The Bridal Chorus, and Fantasie.  She really wants to share the Music Box Dancer but she's only learned half of it.  I'm just so proud that she's learning so quickly, has a love of playing, and is eager to share with others. :)

And that is our report!

Pumpkin Picking

So almost two weeks ago... yeah, yeah, I know... I took the girls to the pumpkin patch.  And I took some fun pics!  But I didn't upload them until yesterday (or was it the day before?) and I'm not posting them until today!  I'm horrible. 

So, without further delay...

(Scroll over pics for more comments on them.)
























This was a pumpkin launch area...






















And that was pretty much our day!  We decided that next year Daddy HAS to come with us so he can "man" a wheelbarrow and we can get some HUGE pumpkins!  But this was a fun time and Cadi was happy with the two pumpkins she ended up choosing.  I was carrying Rori in the patch because it was kind of muddy and so whatever Cadi chose, SHE had to carry by herself!  But she was up for it and it all worked out great! :)