Hat head

This is what I found the other night when I went to check on the girls... I promise that the girls room is not cold! This hat belonged to Emma as a baby but for some reason Abby loves it and has stretched it out to fit her head. I don't know why she decided to sleep with it on but I have never really been able to explain Abby!

Halloween Festivities

We have had A LOT of Halloween around here this week. Our ward activity was on Thursday and as always it was a lot of fun. Kyle had to be the cutest bug ever. It was the perfect outfit especially when he crawled around on the floor and the claws stuck out the sides.

This has to be my favorite part of the Halloween activity. Every year my girls are the first in line to eat the donut off the string with no hands. Abby is a professional!

The ward had a cake decorating contest. I have never done any real decorating and frosting and I don't get along, but I attempted to make an "easy" Frankenstein head. It took a good chunk of my afternoon to finish and it really did look pretty good. I set it on the counter while we ate dinner and got ready to go. Five minutes before we were suppose to walk out the door Frankies face fell right of. Luckily the other side of the cake was still in one piece so he got a new face and Trevor performed surgery with skewers to try to hold the rest of his head together. It was a good thing it was a Halloween cake because it was scary!

My witch and cat with their goodies. They started out wanting to be scary but they ended up going with sweet and cute.

The next day the girls had their school parties. Abby's class got to go on a little parade around the school to show off their costumes and then their teacher made "witches brew" which included things like cockroaches (raisins), flaming dragon eyes(twislers), bat fangs(candy corn), and porcupine quills(pretzels).

This is Abby with her haul from school. I was actually pleasantly surprised. She got lots of popcorn and crackers and not a ton of candy.

Later that day Emma had her parade. It was lots of fun watching all the kids show off their costumes.

Kyle was a trooper! He was content to sit in his stroller and watch everything going on around him.

Emma with her stash! She came home with LOTS of candy. People out here take Halloween seriously. She also got sent home with 26 cupcakes which I still have not gotten a good explanation of why.

Today was the "real" Halloween. After my difficulties with Frankenstein I was hesitant to make the planned treat for the day, but the cake ball eyeballs turned out great and they were relatively painless to make.

Silly kids entertaining themselves before dinner. We had a great meal of chili and cornbread at the Johnsons which I think is the perfect Halloween meal.

Here are most of the kids eating their dinner. They are a wild and crazy bunch.

After dinner we went trick or treating. The weather was wet but warm. The girls managed to fill their buckets to overflowing in less than 30 minutes and we headed home wet but happy.

Bright Futures

Abby has been able to have lots of fun already this year in school. It has taken a little adjusting for my homebody to be okay with having to be somewhere everyday. Some days she just wants to stay home in her jammies and watch TV. Their first class field trip was to the local fire station and Abby had a blast. Every time we pass the fire station (which is a least once a day), she yells out "Look there is engine 66!" She had fun getting to explore the fire truck.

I love her face in this picture. She looks so determined!

The whole group made fire hats that said Engine 66 on them.

This is Abby with her teacher Mrs. Magdovitz. Every week the kids get to bring in something to share with the class. Abby loves her sharing days and it is always fun to see what special thing she picks to share with her class. So far she has chosen a photo album, pictures that she has drawn, her favorite stuffed animals and a Halloween craft we did together.

Today Abby's class took a walk to the Secret Garden. Each kid got a goody bag filled with a mini pumpkin, coloring book and a T-shirt. The kids had a good time and did an excellent job crossing some busy streets.

Kyle enjoyed the field trip too! He especially like his little pumpkin and kept calling it a "ba" his word for ball.

Kiddy pics

Thanks to a very talented friend we got some great pictures out of some not very cooperative kids. One was sick, one was tired and one was bossy but you would never be able to tell from their pictures.

Sick, Sick, Sick, and then more sick...

So if you have been wondering why there has not been much blogging from me lately this picture gives the only visual I have of one of the reasons I have been missing in action. My family just seems to be freakishly sick this year. This was last week and the picture does not even do it justice!!! Somehow Emma got poison ivy. We have no idea how...she played in the same areas she has been playing in for three years now. Her face was so red, swollen and itchy! She was a trooper and with the help of some good lotion she is feeling much better this week. Other than the poison ivy Emma and I both had pneumonia. Emma had two rounds of antibiotics before she started to feel any better and after five weeks we are both feeling much better with just lingering coughs. Kyle had an ear infections followed by a sinus infection and Abby got bronchitis which made her cough so hard she threw up (she has always been my gagger). Between sick visits, flu shots, follow ups, ear cleanings, well child visits and teething we have practically lived at the doctors office. The good news is we are all feeling well for the first time in weeks and I am going to attempt to update this blog...we will see how long we can all stay healthy!

Horray!

Kyle started clapping yesterday! He still has some struggles with his hands so it was so exciting to see him figure out how to clap. You can tell that he is excited too.

Pre-K

Today Abby started the Bright Future's program at the elementary school. She was very excited as you can see from the picture. Most of her friends have started Kindergarten so she is really excited to be able to go to school too. She came home asking me if she gets to go back tomorrow. She is growing up so fast and we sure do love our Abby. (By the way...does anyone know what we should do with the giant pumpkin plant in the background? It does not have any fruit on it yet, should I just be patient or should I rip it out?)