Eyeballs...yummy!

October 27, 2009 - So I love to make spooky Halloween food. I think that is one of the funnest parts of Halloween (although all the parties and dressing up is fun too!) This year, as we looked for ideas online, we found this one for edible eye-balls! Tris loved the idea, so I made them for his and Camerons' classes. Although I think the kids were a little too freaked out to eat them in preschool. I saw almost all of them still on the kids' plates in the trash can! But they were yummy - they are basically donut holes covered in white frosting, red squiggly lines of cake gel, with chocolate chip pupils!

Eat me!

Carving Pumpkins

October 26, 2009 - For family night, we had our annual pumpkin carving. This year Tris and Becca actually kind of carved their own pumpkins (with help from us and their aunt Jakelle and uncle Teague).

Reese painting her little pumpkin.

Cam and Dad working together to carve Thomas the train into their pumpkin.

Becca working hard, don't be fooled by this picture of Jakelle lounging in the background - we put her to work soon after this so she got her share of pumpkin guts too! (Thanks Jakelle!)

I think this was the first time Tris has been allowed to even touch a carving knife, so he was pretty excited. Although he ended up getting a lot of help from Teague.

Becca actually won first prize at our ward Halloween party for the funniest pumpkin for this guy.

Tris and his bat pumpkin

I think this one turned out really good. Some of Tristan's best work!

The JDRF Halloween Party

October 24, 2009 - This year, we went to a one-of-a-kind Halloween party. At least it was differnt from any halloween party I've ever been to - because there was NO CANDY! That's because it was sponsored by the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Researcg Foundation). They had lots of fun games for the kids, and the prizes were all small toys and pencils instead of candy. They had Crystal Lite to drink, and for lunch they provided thin crust pizza from a local pizza place with a big sign next to it that said "15 CARBS PER SLICE". It was nice to have a relaxed environment where Cam and his family could have fun without worrying about all the sugar!

Cameron taking a swing at the pinata (filled with small toys and vampire teeth, of course)

Reesey decided she wanted to be a witch this year, and was very good at acting the part this particular day. Maybe she just really knows how to get into character! It's a good thing she's so cute!

Becca was Lava girl this year from the Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl (one of the weirdest Disney movies I have ever seen, so of course the kids think it is awesome!) All the lava fell off the front of her costume in the parking lot and had to be reapplied before our next Halloween event. There should be some pictures of the completed outfit to come. The coolest part, however, was just having pink hair! Who cares if your lava plates fall off?!

This is me taking a page from Reese's book after she threw her hat and broom on the floor for about the 17th time! I decided to be evil and steal them from her! Now I am the Wickedest Witch in all the land Ha Ha Ha Ha! (Oh yeah, by the way, I cut all my hair off.)

Spider-cam ans Robot-Tris having fun together!

Last soccer game of the season

October 17, 2009 - Yes, know I'm, behind again! But, in my defense, I was in the middle of getting the kids all ready to sing in the Primary Sacrament Program (I was the Chorister), then shortly thereafter, (the next week) was called to be the new Primary President! So I am just now feeling like I have a moment to catch up!

Anyway, As I stated in the title - here is Becca and Tris's last game of the season. They had a lot of fun and we loved watching them!

Here is an action shot from the game.Gramy and Reese on the sidelines

Sally, Cam, and my handsome husband
Reese checking up on current events! =) I love this picture!

Frolicking in the leaves - again!

October 16, 2009 - Hannah spent the night and we started the morning out innocently raking leaves again

Then Grammy appeared and chaos errupted!

We all had leaves in every crevice imaginable by the time we came inside!

I Love Fall!

October 13, 2009 - When the kids got home from school, there were leaves everywhere and they asked if they could rake them up into a big pile. I love this part of fall, so I agreed and we began raking up and jumping in the leaves! I don't know what it is about fall - but it is my favorite, I love the beautiful colors of the changing leaves, the yellows, oranges, and reds make me happy. I love the crispness in the air, and even when the leaves are dead and brown covering the earth - I think that is a beautiful sight as well. I love the sound of the fallen leaves as I crunch them beneath my feet. Anyway - now that you know I'm in love with fall, here are some cute pictures of my kids enjoying it too.

PS - Reese was still taking a nap during our frolicking, but not to worry, she had her fun the next time we got to play in the leaves - I'll be posting those pictures soon too.

The not-so-fun field trip

October 13, 2009 - Cameron's preschool class had their first field trip to the Venetucci Farm Pumpkin Patch. I have to tell you this day goes down in my book as one of those horrible days that you have to keep telling yourself, "this will be a really funny story later"! It started out okay - the kids were really excited at first, but we stood around for 30 minutes waiting for our tour to begin, so I had 2 grumpy kids on my hands pretty quick. Cam, of course has to eat on a regular basis because of the insulin in his system, so as we're waiting and waiting and waiting, and Reese is whining and whining and whining and pulling on my arm, saying "let's go Mom, let's go!", I had to kneel down in the dirt to check his insulin levels, while Reese is pushing Cameron and saying "hold me Mom, hold me!" By the time we are allowed to look around they are both so grumpy that they refuse to look at the animals. Cameron started it. He would hide behind me and make angry, whiny noises if I tried to make him look at the animals. Then Reese thought that looked like a good idea so she wouldn't look at them either. They both got mad if I tried to take pictures, so I had to catch them by surprise.

Here they are NOT looking at the horses.


Grumpily eating their peanut butter sandwiches as we walked



Some chickens that all the other kids were looking at

So we finally made it past all the dumb animals to the pumpkin patch and Cameron got excited again to hunt for a pumpkin. So Reese did too. The outing started to look up with his new-found enthusiasm. He was really a trooper hiking through all the weeds and plants and uneven ground. Pretty soon we began to notice that all the pumpkins were either half-eaten by animals or very squishy and gross. I started to get grumpy again, but Cameron persisted, he knew he could find a good one. Reese, by this time had decided that the vines on the ground were snakes and would not let me put her down. Why, oh why did I have to try and be prepared for any eventuality and be carrying a heavy backpack too! After about 45 minutes of searching, I was about to give up and go buy a stinking pumpkin when Cameron found a small, green, slightly squishy pumpkin that he thought was perfect. So that was good enough for me. He put it in his bag and we started our long walk back to the car (with Reese still on my hip, and my heavy backpack still on my back). I was exhaused, my back hurt, and we were covered in some kind of prickly stickers when we finally made it back to the car. Cameron handed me his bag and I gasped so loudly it was almost a scream. The bag was empty!!!!! After all that miserable time searching and hiking and carrying and just AAAAAHHHHH!!!! The pumpkin was not there! Cameron decided right then and there that I was freaked out enough for the both of us and wasn't even upset. In fact I think my little break-down scared him a little, because he immediately started apologizing, which made me feel even worse! So, needless to say, I don't have any pictures of Cam with his pumpkin! And I still am not quite able to laugh about all of that yet. Maybe I just need some time.