Trunk-or-Treat

 From left to right: Percy Jackson, Wicket, Redneck Brady, Brady's pregnant bride, Yoda, and Hiccup.

 Playing carnival games. Gideon kept picking out ball prizes. Ayla kept picking out the candy. Their costumes are recycled from last year. Both of them LOVED their costumes much more this year. Gid was very proud of his Yoda hat. Throughout the night Ayla kept pointing to herself saying "mine" and petting her tummy. I think she really liked wearing a fuzzy costume.

 Partially recycled costumes from last year. For some odd reason my Leia dress was made big enough to fit prego me into it this year. And the veil...it's from my wedding day :) I haven't worn it in almost 11 years. Brady had a blast getting his camo gettup together. For those curious, his hat says: Si for President.

 I made Ammon's Percy Jackson shirt with tshirt vinyl. Love the stuff! Zenock's pants were recycled from last year's Luke pants and dyed green. I added some "leather armor" to it, and partically covered a black shirt in it as well. His armor chest plate is made from vinyl upholstery stuff. It's hard to tell, but he has 3 belts on. One across the chest and 2 on his abdomen. Look up Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon 2 and you'll get the idea.

 The kids got to have hot dogs for dinner. These three loved it.

 Ammon loves chili, so he made an "Idaho Haystack." Smart kid, he is. I did that too!

 After dinner and before the trunking treating began the whole ward sang happy birthday to Ammon. Here is Ayla enjoying a piece of birthday cake. See how she's eating it normally with a fork in the top photo? Well, below she decided using her hand was faster.

 And messier...

And more tasty.

We painted pumpkins this year. All the kids, except Ayla, did their own. From left to right: Zenock's spear, Gideon's blue blob, Ayla's Olaf, my happy face with some help from Gideon, and Ammon's Percy Jackson sword.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

Kids friend B-day party this year

 The boys wanted to play capture the flag, like in the first Percy Jackson book. In order to have enough kids play we combined parties again this year. Ammon's team was the Blue Olympians. Zenock's team was the Black Dragons (like Toothless in How to Train Your Dragon). We did a pinata after the flags were caught by each team. Gideon got the first wack at a bad guy. One side of the pinata was the bad dragon from How to Train Your Dragon 2. The other side was a bad guy from Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters.

 Boys love wacking the bad guy. It was a little harder this year since everyone got to be blind folded and spun around a few times.

 Zenock showing us his bad guy side: the Alpha Dragon.

 Ammon showing his bad guy side: Kronos.

 Zenock's team: Black Dragons. Ellie, Kevin, Hunter, Elijah, and not pictured is Christopher and Mason.

 Ammon's team: Blue Olympians. Kyle, Emma, Ben, Bryson, Isaiah, not pictured is Trevor.

 Thanks to all the kids who came to play at the park with us!!!

Mom's cupcakes were really good, right Ayla?

Happy #10 to Ammon!!

 Before breakfast today Ammon got to open his presents. Gideon and Ayla were more than happy to help him with the opening part.

 They were also wonderful helpers holding up all of Ammon's presents so we could see what he got. There's the Heros of Olympus #1-3, Webolos stuff for scouts advancement, a Red Ryder BB gun, cansister of BBs, and new tire tubes for his bike. 

 After the big kids left for school, the little kids helped me make Ammon's cake. They make great beater lickers!

And the finished product! TADA!! For those who don't know, this is Percy Jackson's sword, Riptide. It's from his very favorite book series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Any guesses how long this thing is????? Okay, I bet you already gave up. 35 inches is the correct number. We took it with us to the trunk-or-treat party at the church tonight. The whole ward sang happy birthday to him and then helped us eat the cake. Happy birthday Ammon!! We are all so glad you have been in our family for TEN years!!

Preschool field trip number 2!

The Pumpkin Patch. Gideon was really nervous the whole time, even crying for a while. He refused to go on the bucket ride with Brady and Ayla. Ayla was loving it though, looking very content swinging around and around.

 We made Gideon go on the swing ride, even though he was refusing because he loves the swings at the park, and this is basically the same. He cried for just a little bit, and then stopped. I saw a smirky smile toward the end of the ride, which I noticed he was trying to hide.

 They also had a bounce house and an inflatable slide, which both of them didn't like at all. There was a petting zoo with goats, chickens, ducks, and two rabbits. Ayla was in HEAVEN! Gideon didn't want to touch anything, but he liked walking around looking at the animals.

 They both were no cooperating for a cute picture with the giant pumpkins.

At the end of the field trip the kids got a prize bag to take home. In each one was a baby pumpkin. Gideon carried it around with him the rest of the day. Ayla took a bite out of hers, which made Gid really concerned and unhappy. I had to sneakily throw it away before it got more bites and more yucky.

Happy Birthday to Zenock!

 The lucky birthday boy got to open his presents before breakfast!

 Kite, green tie, Max Steel toy, r/c helicopter, and scriptures were his loot today. We then ate and quickly got ready for church.

 Please use your imagination when looking at this cake. It's supposed to be Toothless's face. The green eyes didn't show up very well on top of the black frosting, but they are green, I promise.

 After naps we took dinner and the cake to Brady's work since he couldn't get the day off. Frozen pizza and homemade cheese breadsticks were his dinner picks.

The cake was delicious! Everyone had black tongues and teeth afterward :) We are so happy to have this cute boy in our family. He gets baptized on Nov. 1st, which he is SO excited for. HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY ZENOCK!!!

Saturday Adventures

This was a conversation I had with Gideon this morning:
He asked me if the baby in my tummy was grown up yet. I told him he was still growing in there. Gid's face light's up and he says very sweetly, "Yeah!"

Both boys had soccer games at nearly the same times...also happening during nap time. I had a neighbor come over and watch the little kids so they could have their regular schedule while taking the older ones to their games. It was the most relaxing two hours of soccer games we have had all season so far. I loved being able to pay attention the whole time and not wrangle little people off of the soccer field while they tried to run after their brothers. Zenock's team had great team spirit, while Ammon's team won 2-0. It was quite hot this afternoon and I could tell all the kids were tiring quickly so they weren't playing as aggressively as they usually do. What matters, though, is that they had fun.

Tonight I had a hot date. He took me to Rubios; it tasted just like I wanted. We saw Meet the Mormons, an amazing movie. Pregnant me cried through about half of it. Yogurtland was a  delicious dessert. My husband was wonderful company. The kids had a BLAST at Grammy's house. In fact, we heard about the fun from the two little ones the whole way home. Ayla was trying her darnedest to communicate all the fun she had which was hilarious! No one could really catch exactly what she was saying other than a word here or there, but there was lots of excited shouting, sound effects, and arm waving to show us how much fun she had. Gideon was trying to interrupt her as much as he could so he would be able to tell his side of the fun things they did. When he was talking Ayla got even more excited and tried to copy some of the things he was saying. It was quite the show on the way home. Today was probably the best Saturday we have had in a long time!

The last two years I have made a black birthday cake for Zenock. This year it is once again a black cake, but with eyes instead of a bat. I am ever thankful for the special black food coloring from my mom and sister that actually makes frosting black. Here's to black tongues and teeth on Oct. 19th!

recent crafting

I don't know what took me so long to figure out how to make a growth chart. I should have done it years ago because it's really easy, and super cheap! This one I made out of a fence post and some vinyl. I love that I can cut out things that are over four feet long!

And....HAPPY SWEET 16 TO MY BABY SISTER, KALINA!!!!! I remember when she was born...and to me she will always be in elementary school, asking me to play "Littlest Pet Shop" with her. I am sure my parents feel the same way about all the kids as we get older.

Gideon's homework

 This is a paper person that he was supposed to decorate to represent himself. He has an iron man shirt, blue pants because that's his favorite color, and red and blue shoes just like the ones he wears. I failed to get the finished product. He has a blast with the glue.

This is a pumpkin he has to decorate however he wanted. We chose to cut up a sheet of construction paper and randomly glue the pieces on. He loved cutting and gluing. He colored the stem green adn then continued to make green splotches all over the pumpkin before he was ready to be done. He is getting pretty good at drawing circles. We also cut out a black face. He loved how big I made the pumpkin smile. Again, there is a final product picture fail.

Conference Weekend is our favorite

From Brady today:
Powerful words this morning. Good advice for any person who has a positive role model they admire. Do as they do, and strive each day to be a little better than you were yesterday. I am so grateful for a living prophet to teach us what Jesus needs us to know so we can do the things we need to do, to accept Him and follow Him, and someday live with Him again with our loved ones.

Soccer practice...

means it's time to play in the water with our clothes on because Mom is too tired to say no. I am very surprised Ayla didn't join in too.

They were so happy, even saying cheese in sync while I was taking the picture. We sure love the park!!