Halloween part 2

Halloween 2011

annual Halloween picture with our friends, the Bankheads...only this year it was just Porter!

Darth Vader

Smartie pants

The Wall

..and a Cheerleader

Halloween part 1

 As the kids get older, Mike and I find it a little easier to do fun activities as a family because we don't have to do everything anymore...we can actually just supervise.  This year, we went to our city's Pumpkin Walk and oooed and awed over all the awesome pumpkin carvings and kept saying "We could do THAT".  So we tried it.  Mike grew some Giant Pumpkin plants in our garden this year, but most of them just turned out average size and that ended up being okay.  Hence, we had perfect sized pumpkins for carving and one for everybody.  So we got to work!

We ended up with a Mickey Mouse, a witch in a moon, 2 Angry Birds, a skeleton head with flames, a vampire smurf, and some regular jack-o-lantern faces. 

it makes me grateful

 ...everyday that I have a 12 year old brave enough to climb a tall ladder to pick the apples for me.  She's a keeper!

 It also makes me grateful to see the bounteous harvest for that one tree and how blessed we will be to eat apples from it clear into January, plus applesauce for months to come. 

Cub Scouting again...

 I love Cub Scouts!  If I could serve anywhere in the church besides Young Women, I would choose Cub Scouts hands down.  Love what it's about and how it teaches young boys the skills they need to be great young men and then later, men.  When I served in Cub Scouts 5 or so years ago, all my kids loved going to the Pack meetings and doing the activities.  The closer Jonathan got to his birthday, the more excited he got for scouts and the fact that it was HIS turn to do it for real now.  His first Pack meeting was a mere 3 days after his birthday.  He hadn't even been to a den meeting yet!  It was a Bike Derby, as you can see by the picture below.  He had so much fun!!

ready for the Bike Derby

 The second Pack meeting was last month and it was Space Derby.  That's a lot of derbys, I know.  But the boys have thoroughly enjoyed them!  Jonathan had to make a space rocket thing and it would propel itself across a wire after it was wound up tight and that's how they raced.  Jonathan came in 2nd in both rounds that he raced.  Good solid performance!!

 Jonathan also earned his Bobcat and was awarded with that at this Pack meeting.  In our Pack, the Den leaders paint their faces as the Cubmaster talks for their Bobcat award.  It's always a highlight and Jonathan thought it was cool to get his face painted.

(I don't know why he does Bug Eyes, except he must think it's funny...)

Friday night sleepovers

Sidney has lately decided that she does not enjoy being the only kid with a room upstairs.  It basically means her proximity to the other hellions at our house is farther than she would like it to be and she intends to do something about it.

But she's four.

So, she started the whining "I wanna sleep with so-and-so campaign"...and so far it works pretty good.

On Friday nights, she gets to have someone sleepover in her room, or she sleeps in their room.  So far, she hasn't slept the whole night in anyone else's room, and just Jonathan has lasted the whole night in her room. 

But she loves it.

And sometimes you gotta give in...and let them just giggle all.night.long.

Jonathan's baptism

 It's hard for me to believe that my little boy is already 8 and getting baptized.  He is such a good boy who always tries hard to do what is right and I am so thankful for that and also for how sensitive he is.  He loves people and cares about them and I know that quality will take him far.  We were so blessed to have family and friends with us to show their support and love to Jonathan.

Jonathan and his dad

Jonathan and his best friend Porter...(remember this post?) --Love these two boys!

Our family on Jonathan's special day!  (and yes, even with Jonathan's face and Sidney being goofy...this WAS the best picture!)

Little cousins are fun

 Andi came to stay with us for a couple of days and so we got to play tons with cute little Avery.  I absolutely adore this sweet niece!  She is soooo cute and such a happy baby!  I wish I had taken a picture of her and Yoda (our dog) because their interactions were the best.  She definitely did NOT know what to think about him and he would jump up on her and lick her ear(GROSS!),  but gradually she got to the point where she would crawl after him and stuff.

My kids all loved having her at our house and getting to spoil her.  It's such a blessing to have cousins and spend time with them.   Sidney finally got to feel bigger than someone else and she loved it! 

taking a bath

modeling one of the cute skirts that Andi and I made

riding around on a baby toy that I found for her

New is definitely BETTER

 

 

It's about time that Mike got a new grill don't you think?

I for one was super ecstatic that he was thinking of getting a "nice new grill".  And can I just say that the new grill is awesome!!  It has an attachment so that we can do rotisserie chickens, which we LOVE!!  

YAY for new things!