Happy Halloween

This year we went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. The weather cleared up for us and it wasn't to cold. Here we are in our costumes. Noah was a ghost, Emma was Cinderella, and Daniel was a penguin. I am a pioneer (like every year). Kendall dressed all in black and said he was a "man in black". The kids had fun and were happy to get all that candy. They really didn't get that much but any candy is just fine with them!

Daniel was so tired and very cranky the whole time. He really didn't like his costume, which was a last minute purchase. We had planned to make him Frankenstein but just ran out of time to put something together.

Pumpkin Carving

For family home evening last Monday we decided it was time for the annual pumpkin carving. As usual we got started late and Kendall and I were in a hurry to get it done and over with and get the kids to bed. We did have fun, don't get me wrong, it was just late and the kids were a little grumpy and so were we.

Noah cleaning out his pumpkin guts. He really didn't want to get his hands dirty. We had him draw his own face since we knew he wouldn't be satisfied with anything we drew. Poor Kendall had to carve out the "scary" mouth which you will see below!

Kendall can't carve a pumpkin without getting the power tools out! It was pretty late and I guess it did make things go faster!

Emma wasn't to happy about getting the guts out of the pumpkin. She didn't remember past pumpkin carving events and was a little upset when we started to cut open her pumpkin. But we were finally able to convince her that this was how we did things and then she was happy. If you know Emma she wants everything to be "happy", so she got the happy faced pumpkin.

I am such a mean mom, but I get tired of doing all the gutting of the pumpkins every time. I really don't want my kids turning out like my brother Jeremiah, who every year makes someone else do all the dirty work!

So here is our goofy pumpkin, scary pumpkin and of course our happy pumpkin.

Grand party

My Sister Melissa and her two girls came for a visit this last weekend. We have not seen them in over 4 years so we were really looking forward to this! My dad and Cathrine decided to have a big grandparents party with just the grand kids and give us siblings a chance to catch up. They were taking the kids to the children's Museum in Olympia which was having a Halloween boo bash. I don't think they realised what they were getting into with 5 kids and a place so crowded with kids. Melissa and I were taking bets on which child they would loose! When they got back I could tell that they had had enough and when asked when they would take the kids again they both said they would wait a few years. It was really good for the cousins to meet and get to know each other.
This is the first picture of us sisters in over 4 years. Melissa seems to do this every time we take pictures together.

While all the kids were at the grand party we went out to eat. Daniel saw us eating and wanted something too. Melissa doesn't like pickle so she gave hers to Daniel. As you can see he loved it!

He loved the pickle so much he really got mad when we tried to take it away!

This is the best I could do to get a picture of the costumes. They really had a hard time standing still!

Noah and McKayla showing off their old men rattles they made.

Okay, Kendall wanted me to let you all know he is against putting this picture on to blog, but it's my blog and I just couldn't resist! This is a total black mail picture! My sister Melissa made these really cute hair things for Emma and I was teasing Noah about them. He really thought we were being silly putting them in his hair. So sorry Noah!

It was a very busy day with meeting new cousins and a big "grand" party we were all very tired. This was a rare moment of calmness and you can really see just how tired we all were. All the kids are use to early bed times and I think this was taken about 8pm.

Poor Uncle Joshua is the favorite uncle which means he is the one that is treated like a jungle gym!

My dad's house is very small and with 6 grand kids plus 6 adults it was a pretty full house. I am amazed Daniel was not trampled to death!

So, we told the kids to act a little crazy and pretend to attack Grandpa Bill and Cathrine, which didn't take much convincing. Alina stood on my dad and jumped on him just as this picture was taken so the look on my dad's face is real.

Getting this pictures was an amazing thing as it was the end of the day and the kids were sooo tired and hyper.

Noah seems to have lost something!

Look at that cute new grin! Can you tell what's missing?

Happy Day, Noah has Finally lost his first tooth! We have been waiting for this tooth to come out since August! After dinner he came to me and said that it felt strange and I could tell it was just hanging by a thread! He wouldn't let me near it but after a while I convinced him to let me look closer (with my fingers). Out it came and he was pretty excited!

Forts

I have mixed feelings about forts. They keep the kids occupied for hours on end which is great. Usually it is Noah who wants to make one. He starts out with "Mom, can we make a fort? We will both play in it really nice and not fight". Translation; "Mom I am going to make a fort and Emma can help make it and play in it till she breaks it and then there is going to be a big fight!" Usually Emma "breaks" it pretty quick because it is made with every blanket and sheet we own and she's 3 and clumsy! So it is a rare thing for them to make a fort cause I don't like the screaming and yelling which comes with it every single time!! They also like to use all our dining room chairs and they get really upset when it's time to eat and they have to take down the fort. Well today they made a fort in my living room while I was working on dinner and cookies for family home evening. I didn't know they were doing this cause they got smart. See, it is a true give away that they are making a fort when my chairs start to go missing from the kitchen, (They didn't want me to know what they were up to this time.) Noah came in and says "Aha! Now our fort can stay up all the time and we can still eat dinner!" As you can see he used all the living room furniture to make his fort. I give up!!!

Daniel update

Noah and Daniel having a little wrestling match!

Some of you have asked how Daniel is doing since his surgery. As you can see from the above pictures he is doing great! I pulled the last of his stitches out this week and his head looks so good. Once his hair grows in you won't be able to tell he had the surgery! He is starting to crawl and is such a happy little baby! I was so excited when he was starting to move around better last week, but now I am starting to remember what it's like to have a baby that can crawl! He is into everything! The kids are learning really really fast that they can't leave anything on the floor. He is into the "grab anything within reach" phase too. I went out with some friends to Red Robin the other night and took Daniel with me. The waitress must not have been to familiar with babies, cause she kept setting things in front of Daniel. He got to the ranch dressing faster then me and got it all over the place! Yuck! Oh well, that's life with kids right!

Squash Beast Harvested

Well we finally cut off all the squash from our beast. In the end we got close to 70 pounds of squash. Some of the blossoms didn't turn into anything. (thank heavens!) Here is Emma with all our squashes. Now if anyone can tell us what kind of squash they are we would love to know!