Halloween 2011

Halloween, I think I've been on the record before in saying, is such a ridiculous holiday. The kids all love it and really, it's all about free candy and dressing up so why wouldn't they? I guess I'm in the minority of those that don't enjoy it. I didn't even put up any decorations this year, I just wasn't feeling it. This year, our Halloween festivities consisted of 3 separate nights of FuN! First, we had a ward trunk or treat, followed by the schools spooktacular and finally, the night of trick or treating itself. I do have to pat myself on the back for being on top of the costumes this year, usually I am scrambling at the last minute to think of things for the kids to be, another reason I dislike this day!
Here are Jace and Ali at the ward trunk or treat. Ali was a 'wild cat' and Jace was a skeleton.

Baylie, a lady bug moving from car to car

Emily, a baby

Kenna and her friend Hannah, just hanging out

I guess the kids thought 'trunk or treat' really meant to get into the trunk because I have several pictures of them in the trunk. Ali, Jace and Baylie with their friend Maya.

The next Halloween activity was the 'spooktacular' at the school. It's a carnival where all the classes have activities for the kids to do and each teacher gets to keep the money raised in their own classroom for classroom use. I like that part of the spooktacular as teachers always need things in their classes but the whole overall atmosphere is nothing but chaos! The kids start out doing a costume parade for all the parents in the gym. Jace wanted to go with his friend Tyler but as he entered the gym and saw me, he was done! I guess he's not as ready for kindergarten as he thinks he is :) Jace is right behind Tyler and just about in tears.

Baylie during the parade

Ali during the parade. I had stopped the whole parade because Ali wasn't paying attention for me to get a picture of her, so I called out for her to stop so I could get a good one!

Eating the caramel apples they purchased in Mrs. Brintons (Baylie's teacher) room

Our jack o lanterns. Baylie picked out 'tangled' for her pumpkin, which turned out great but it didn't last too long. Jace wanted a smurf, Ali wanted a ghost and Emily did a skull. They all were really cute, I wish I would have taken pictures right after they were done.

Jace, posing with his smurf jack o lantern

Everyone heading out for trick or treating...

Emily took off and went with her friends while Ali, Jace and Baylie got driven around by Kenna in the neighborhood. Once Chris got home, he took them to grandmas and a few other houses in the ward. I think they all had a great Halloween, but I'm sure glad it's over....at least until next year!

Emilys start in YW projects - a quilt

A few months ago, Aunt Anjela came for a visit and brought with her a lap quilt kit for Emily to make and use as one of her personal progress projects. It falls under the divine nature value, to make something for your future home. It was a little harder than the quilts the older girls did as it required 13 different squares to be cross stitched, ahead of time. She worked hard all summer. (I didn't get any pictures of her doing the cross stitch part, I don't know where my mind was). Anyway, when she completed the cross stitching, we invited Anjela to come help us finish the whole quilt. Here is Emily learning to put a quilt on quilting frames

Emily and Aunt Anjela, getting it just right.....

Starting to tie...........

Up close you can see that each square represents a part of the Christmas story. There is a square for Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, a sheep, a donkey, 3 wisemen, a stable, a star, an angel, a shepherd, a camel and a drummer boy.

Emily holding up the finished project

We are so lucky to have such a talented aunt to help us with these projects. I am so proud of Emily for working hard and finishing it. We had a great time with Anjela picking out the fabric for the completed look too. Way to go Emily, it's a beautiful quilt and one that will be a welcome Christmas decoration in your future home!

Jace is 5

I can't even believe it's been 5 years since this handsome little guy came into our family! He is definitely all boy and we are still in awe of him everyday! He has been so excited for this birthday, I don't think there ever has been another kid as excited for a birthday as this one! He had been anticipating for weeks, asking how many more days until Emily made him a little paper chain that he could tear off a link everyday until the BIG DAY! He faithfully tore off a link every morning and let us all know how many more days until his birthday.
Here he is getting ready to eat his most favorite food in the world, french toast for breakfast! He had to go through the whole day until he could actually open his gifts. He was a trooper all day long and didn't ask too many times how much longer!

All the anticipation of this day and all the waiting and wondering how many days was well worth it when he finally got to open his remote control helicopter! He actually was with me and picked it out weeks before so it wasn't too big a surprise. I told him when we got it that we had to save it for his birthday and that he needed to forget about it, didn't happen!

We went to Red Robin for dinner but we had to promise that we wouldn't tell the waiters it was his birthday or he would hide under the table. He didn't want to be embarrassed, I guess. We came home and let him blow out the candles on his cake, we were all too stuffed to eat any. He kept telling me all week he didn't want a birthday cake (he doesn't like cake) only ice cream. Well, this morning, he decided he did want a cake. Not just any cake, a helicopter cake. I knew there was no way I was going to find a helicopter cake, so I just grabbed a random cake from the bakery and bought a match box helicopter, put it on the cake and he was thrilled as can be!

Make a wish and blow them all out!!!
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He had a great birthday and I think after all his excitement, he wasn't too disappointed in the outcome of the day! He is such a great addition to the family. He is definitely spoiled by ALL of us. He is a wonderful little guy and we just can't get enough of him!! I think I'm going to have a hard time next year sending him off to kindergarten, he's been my buddy the last few years and I know I'm going to miss him during the day!

Senior pictures

This post is a little late because Lindsay had her senior pictures taken back in Aug. just before school started. They all turned out great, these are just random ones that I love. I still have to decide which poses to hang on my wall and she has yet to decide which poses to get as wallets to hand out to friends.

This is definitely one of my favorites!

A friend of mine and a lady in our ward, took them. She used to have a photography business in Texas. I think she did a great job! Maybe she shouldn't have taken so many, it's too hard to choose which ones are my favorites, I've only posted a small fraction of her pictures and I have family pictures scheduled in a few weeks from now. I still can't believe Lindsay is a senior, she received some admission information from BYU yesterday and boy was that hard! I know there are great things ahead for her so it will be exciting to see what her future holds but why can't she do it all from home?

Homecoming 2011

Last night was Hillcrest's homecoming dance. It happened to fall on the weekend of General Conference so there wasn't any day dates and the young men in Lindsay's group, picked up their dates after the Priesthood session. They had dinner and played games on Friday night so that all the kids could watch conference. Once again, I am so grateful that Lindsay has such a great group of kids in her life! Here she is all ready to go......

I think her hair is very cute, it is supposed to look like little flowers!

David Norman is the young man that asked her to the dance. He left a head of lettuce and a jar of jam on our doorstep with a note that said, "Lettuce jam at the dance together?" Lindsay had to go through the lettuce to see who was asking her. We thought it was a clever way to be asked and have no idea how he got his name in the lettuce as it was fully intact.
Pinning on the boutonniere........

Her wrist corsage

A few more pictures before they head out

The dance was held outside in the parking lot of the school. The theme was 'carnival' and they had a canopy which Lindsay said was small so all the kids were smashed together if they wanted a cover overhead. She did say it was fun though. We are excited each time she is asked to the dances and I still love shopping for dresses and helping her get ready. She had a great time last night with David and the others in her group!