First Snow of the Season

The first snow of the season came a couple of weeks before Halloween, then it warmed up and stayed pretty warm for a while. The kids were very excited to go play in it, although Jonah was a bit hesitant about it all. Once he learned about snowballs, though, snow became all the rage for him.  That boy just loves balls!

Halloween 2012

Halloween this year wasn't as big of a thing as last year when I put together Wizard of Ox costumes for the family.  We encouraged the kids to come up with costumes of things we already had and this is what they came up with:

Caleb was an In-N-Out store manager (note: he was NOT an associate--we did that in 2006--he was the manager.  Store managers wear black pants and a big red apron, associates wear white pants and a half apron with an apron pin in the back); Westley was a spy; Travis was a baseball player; Eliza was Strawberry Shortcake; and Jonah was a frog.

 Our Jack-o-Lantern.  We don't get real creative around here and the kids are lucky that Dad is willing to help carve just one pumpkin (Dad really doesn't like Halloween!) 

At the school parade waiting for the big kids to come around.  Travis' afternoon kindergarten had their own little parade too, later in the day.  It was gorgeous outside, like in the 60's for Halloween, very unusual for Utah.

Caleb marching by

Westley changed his mind last minute to be a ninja.  Here he is helping another student carry part of his costume.

Caleb Turns EIGHT!

Corey was gone on Caleb's birthday to a manager's thing in California.  So we waited to celebrate Caleb's birthday until after he got back.  Caleb had the choice between a birthday party with friends or a fun family activity.  He chose a family activity, which was miniature golfing.  The kids had a great time, although it was a little cold.

I also didn't make him a creative cake like I usually do.  I just didn't have time that day--we had things going on besides doing his birthday activity.  So I bought a cake instead, which was decorated to look like a mummy.  I have to say, it was a nice break from making a cake, but my cakes are much better-tasting!

Toothless

Poor Caleb's permanent teeth have been coming in on top of his baby teeth. His baby teeth have just been refusing to fall out, so he's had to have several teeth pulled in the last few years. This was round three of teeth pulling, and he had four teeth pulled. Two were much more ready to come out, but two were not ready at all. The orthodontist recommends his teeth being pulled so that his permanent teeth can come in straight and hopefully he can avoid braces. He had this done in the morning before school and still went to school that day.

A Beautiful Day

We have had a beautiful fall here with lots of warm days and sunshine. This was in early October on a Friday afternoon. We rode bikes to the big neighborhood park and the kids spent time playing on the playground. My kids are obsessed with the monkey bars and they all took turns showing me how good they were at it
.

The other thing that happened this day was when we got home from the park, we got a phone call from someone who had found our dog out wandering.  He was quite far away from the house, and we didn't even know he had gotten out.  Corey  had been home earlier and gone to work and I'm pretty sure Snoopy was still in the yard when Corey left, so we guessed that right after Corey left, somebody had let Snoopy in the house and then left the door to the garage open and he got out.  Westley said that while we were at the park, he had seen a dog on the other side of the park that looked like Snoopy, but he thought Snoopy was in the yard, just like I did (and I saw a dog too that looked like Snoopy).  We are so glad that Snoopy was wearing his collar (sometimes we take it off him for Jonah's naps and forget to put it back on) and that somebody was kind enough to take him in and not leave him roaming on the streets and then call us after looking at his tags.  We have certainly done that enough times, bringing in a stray dog with a collar and license and calling the number for the owner that we felt this was truly Karma.  It was definitely an adventure for the evening!

Marriage Retreat at Aspen Grove

Every September since 2010, Corey and I have signed up to go to the Marriage Getaway at Aspen Grove. It's a two-day, one-night little getaway that includes a room, meals, and workshops on marriage. This year we invited my brother and his wife to come along. We really enjoyed it, as usual, and will probably return next fall.

Randomness

 My kids love to have their picture taken and they love to get all together for a picture.  On this day, they had all just jumped on the couch and asked if I would take their picture together, so here it is!  I love that Travis and Eliza are holding hands and that all the kids have their arms around each other.

 This is proof that my house does get messy.  

I came down the stairs one morning to find this--Westley looking at the American Girl doll catalog with Eliza, and even talking about some of the items they were seeing.  What a good big brother to take an interest in what interests her!