Happy Halloween

I decided to start the morning off with some jack-o-lantern pancakes. I colored them orange(ish) and tried to make chocolate chip faces. That didn't work out as well as I wanted, so I just darkened some of the batter and made awesome, one-of-a-kind faces on each pancake. They were fun!

We spent most of the day doing school stuff. I did entice the kids with a movie at 2:00 in hopes that it would motivate them to get their work done. It sort of worked. My visiting teachers came and were a little disruptive - only because my kids love to visit with them as well, and they had goodies for the kids.

It has been rainy all day so I wasn't so sure about trick-or-treating. Well, let's be fair... We don't live on a street that is trick-or-treatable so I feel a little odd just driving to some other neighborhood to pick up candy from strangers just because of this odd holiday. I did find out that the Bridgeport Historical Society was sponsoring a Trunk-or-Treat near by but with the yucky weather we feared that it would be mobbed (they moved it indoors). Kevin ended up taking the kids, dressed in their "costumes", to the store to do some grocery shopping, and pick up their own candy - they each got to pick a bag. They also came home with two cans each of Kroger brand pop that the store was giving away to kids for Halloween! After the groceries were sorted and put away, we ate glazed popcorn while we watched The Emperor's New Groove and just enjoyed being at home together! What a wonderful way to spend Halloween! Maybe that will be our new tradition - at least until we live in a trick-or-treatable neighborhood!

I did think about taking pictures before they headed off on their adventure, so here they are in their costumes.

K - cowgirl

B - doctor

H - elephant

D - princess

M - cook

E - vampire

 X - princess

 

Their loot!

Movie time in costumes!

(This is actually their third time - but I didn't take pictures of the other events. Saturday was the ward party, Tuesday was the library party. Some kids are in the same costume, while others kept being something different. I guess that's the fun of dressing up. Ben was a doctor each time. Marissa was Dorothy from Wizard of Oz the first time, and a vampire the second time. Emily was Mulan the first two times. Xiomara was a vampire the first time , and a rock star the second time. Kemiah was a soldier the first two times. Domonique was Piglet the first two times. Harmonie was always a cute little elephant. Camdilyn didn't dress up, and neither did I.)

Ziibiwing Center

We went on our second school sponsored field trip. This time I did it by myself, and it worked out just fine. The Ziibiwing Center is all out the Indians who lived in our area before the white man showed up. They lost some of their lifestyle when the children were forced into white man's schools but now they are returning and trying to share their history with others. It was interesting to learn from them and watch the dancers. 

 

Poor Harmonie spent almost the entire time

strapped into the stroller

so I could keep track of her.

The school group that attended the field trip.

Can you find my five kids?

Indian dancers with my Fabulous Five.

FYI - The clothing weighs 40 pounds.

We all had a nice time and we were glad we went. The kids really enjoyed meeting some of their teachers, and socializing with the other students was very fun for most of the kids.

One Month Old

Can't believe she's a month old!

What a sweet little person!

Time with Grammy and Gaffa

We didn't do that much while my parents were visiting, but that's the way we like it. They were here to help with the MEAP testing, and helped with some of my projects, and playing with the kids. I didn't take many pictures and realized this fact the day before my parents left. We were all playing different games on Sunday, so I captured our activities. 

 

Group shot that I took Monday morning before my parents left.

That's a lot of cute, sweet, talented, wonderful, loving, helpful, intelligent, fun, energetic, passionate, children! I'm so glad they are mine!

Blessing Day

It was a beautiful, albeit a bit chilly, day for a naming and blessing. It went fine, and Camdilyn did great. Sister Allred was there and took down the blessing for us. I'm so grateful for all the blessings in my life.



New Look for our Old Chairs

Kevin bought me this table and chairs set back in our first house in Alaska. I love them. I covered them with plastic in our second house in Alaska. They are since (and already were) a bit dirty and stained from the kids feet rubbing on the white fabric. They stayed in Kevin's parent's basement while we were on the island and then we moved them to Michigan. The plastic was splitting and cracking and tearing (with the help of booster seats and little fingers). I decided to cover them with new fabric instead of trying to clean the white cloth. So then I had to figure out what I wanted to do!

 

I found four coordinating fabrics and decided to make two chairs in each style. So here are our new chairs. I really like them....

Now I need to paint the walls and redo the floor! (Or not.)

 

This is what my baby did while I worked the first night.

 

What a sweet baby!

Bath Time Fun

We decided to give Camdilyn a bath in the kitchen sink - after we cleaned it out really well. It just seemed so silly to fill the tub with so much water, for such a little girl. I am so happy with how well Camdilyn handled it. We even used the shower spray on her and she didn't fuss. I'm not sure this will last very long, because she really didn't have much room, but it worked and that's all that matters.

 

Carving Pumpkins



A while back Kevin bought pumpkins with the kids. We decided we'd carve them while his family was here. Unfortunately, it didn't happen while Memere was here. Fortunately, we did get it done with Chris, on his last night with us. It's nice to have an extra set of adult hands to help out. The kids were much faster at deciding on their designs this year, but we had to improvise some because they don't understand that we can't cut out circles or curves very well. I must admit they all turned out great! It was so fun - even though I seem to dread it a bit in the beginning. Kevin and Chris did most of the carving - I had a baby to feed. We all enjoyed going outside to see them lit up!

We also enjoyed root beer floats afterward. Yummy! Oddly enough, Domonique didn't eat all of hers, but everyone else enjoyed them to the last drop. We should have those more often!

 

Here they are waiting for the lighting of the candles! It was neat to seem them glowing, but you I couldn't get a good picture of them glowing. What a fun evening.