Pumpkins, Cemeteries, and Pierre-the-French{wo}man

It seems that Halloween often gets hijacked at out house. My dad's birthday is the next day and there has been many a year that I have packed up my kids, left Nels working late, and traveled to Utah for Halloween and the party the next day.

This year, I spent about 5 hours thinking of doing the same. It was my daddy's 60th birthday and I really wanted to be there for the big family surprise party... Then I grabbed hold of reality and decided to sit tight and enjoy the time here as a family - and I'm so glad I did!

We had such a wonderful time together! We went trick-or-treating with some great friends in our ward. Each child had a similarly aged buddy and bounded happily along the sidewalk collecting sugar. Elsie and her friend Dallin held hands most of the way -- and with her super hero abilities, she even bestowed "electric powers" upon him. - Which was incredibly helpful since he was dressed up as a Gameboy.

With a no-sewing and no-buying edict this year, we kept the costumes to what we already had. Much less work for me! I've made costumes almost every single year (and love it!) but this year I needed a break. No late nights making peacock feathers or sewing flamingo wings, no ironing stars onto wizard hats or putting the finishing touches on R2D2. :)

There are also no pictures at the present time. :) (hopefully we get the one they took at the trunk-or-treat)

Hazel was a peacock one night & a super hero the other
Lilie was a ghost & a bat again
Elsie was a super girl
Violet was a clown
and Clara was a chicken & a clown

They were adorable, and it was very satisfying to see another year's of enjoyment out of past years' energy.

So since I don't have a costume picture, here are a few other halloweenish pics for your enjoyment.

First off, our punkins.

And our first snow of the season.

Next, a picture of the place Elsie wanted to drive through on our way home from a friend's house one October day. "Mom, can we drive in that graveyard?"

"Would it make you happy, Elsie?"

"Yeah, Mom. It's creepy and pretty."

Sure, kiddo. Anything for you, my darling girl.

And lastly, Violet's self-made costume makeup on Halloween morning. :)

Accompanied by her stunning blue eyes.

Halloween 2010

In past years, I'd pretty much decided that I didn't like Halloween. What a silly holiday. It's fun to get dressed up, but it's just a lot of sugar, a lot of work, and not really celebrating anything.

However,

this year I had a change of heart. :)

Friday night we went to Hazel's school carnival. The girls loved getting dressed up and loved playing the many games. It was crowded and loud, but they all had fun and for all the work that costumes seem to be for ME, I'm glad that they get to wear them more than once! :)

Somehow we didn't get a good picture of all the girls at the same time, the entire weekend. :)

Such cute girls!

Hazel, although she looks like a bat (that we've seen before :) from this angle, 

is actually a DRAGON. Her tail and her spikes are hiding behind her. :)

Lilie is a WIZARD. Not a lizard or a witch. She was very specific 

about being turquoise blue with yellow stars. :)

Elsie. What would Elsie want to be?? Oh yeah. What else? THE Princess.

And Violet. Although she looks like a CLOWN, 

she was actually the Court Jester of our Medieval group. LOL!

I really loved watching our girls go from door to door. Hazel led the way, running the whole time and kicking up her tail behind her. Lilie trailed behind, holding on her hat and obviously entertaining her own wizardly thoughts. Elsie brought up the rear, fluttering around daintily and watching all the other "creatures" we encountered. She was enchanted with every other princess we saw and chatted with all the door openers. :) She remembered to say "Fant Tyou" and "Happy Halloween!!" at every door. :)

They were SO cute!! It also helped that it wasn't freezing cold this year! :) Nels and I had such a wonderful night with our little ladies!

Fall Updates

HALLOWEEN: Part II - Pumpkin Carving

Goofy people.

She gets it from her dad.

(Who probably gets it from his mom! :)

The girls drew out their designs for their pumpkins and then Nels and I cut them out. I love the funny things that they come up with every year.

MY GIRLS: Snaggle Tooth, Sloth, and a Tired Turtle

Hazel has lost her teeth faster than any other kid I know. SIX so far. I truly was hoping that this time wouldn't come as soon as it did, but apparently we're in for quite a few years of teeth that look too big for her head.

One morning she looked like this.

By that evening, she looked like this!

With or without them, she's still pretty cute. :)

We're hoping Lilie's eyes don't fall out next! :)

This is what happens to little turtles when their mommies neglect their naps.

They just have to curl up in their shells and fall asleep on their own! :)

KETCHUP!

If you don't know that joke, you should.

So it's been quite a while since I decided to really update my blog. I'm not quite sure why I've been avoiding it, but I think it's one of several of the following:

A) we've switched computers, my picture folder is on the other computer and hasn't been moved yet.

B) I delay posting until I have my pictures ready -- and I don't always like editing my pictures. It's a procrastination thing.

C) the baby is sucking my brains out.

D) I do have things to say, but don't want to say them until I'm updated.

E) this time of year always seems to get busy with projects and such.

Yeah. Probably all of them. Mostly I'm just a procrastinator. --- Anywho. I'm going to update a little bit. At least the pictures that are already on this computer.

Near the end of October, an old mission buddy of Nels's was in the area doing some work and he and Nels had a good time hanging out while he was here. While his wife was up from AZ for the weekend, we took a day trip up to Mesa Falls, Island Park, and West Yellowstone. Thanks Casey and Tanya for a great day! We wish you lived closer!!

Lower Falls

What a cute family I have!

Got stuck in construction on the way to West Yellowstone.

Elsie is adorable!

Sadly this year marked yet ANOTHER summer without actually making it into Yellowstone. However, I seem to make it closer and closer each time. This time we actually drove up to the front gates! :)

It's slightly difficult to see in this picture, but this is what happens when you wipe your nose with the back of your hand too much. You get a permanent red mustache for a week! :) It spread clear from one cheek bone to the other. She's apparently very thorough and SO funny to me!

HALLOWEEN

I spent the week before Halloween making costumes and dreading the sugar to come. :) Hazel's was very simple, Elsie's only took me about an hour and a half, but Lilie's costume was the real kicker this year. Somehow or another I just can't refuse her funny costume requests! Last year, if you remember, she was a bat (still one of my most favorite costumes of all time!). This year was far more complicated, but lots of fun!

R2D2, Ewok, Leia

They were all oh so cute and fun! They loved their costumes and trick-or-treating. The night before Halloween, Nels got a call from an acquaintance wondering if he'd be interested in working that day in Montana. Never one to turn down work or money :), Nels left us and I hauled the girls to Utah for trick-or-treating with cousins.

Isaac, Eli, and Ali

Halloween

Well, even with a couple of setbacks, we've had a wonderful Halloween together as a family. I love my little world so much! It truly is a good life.

Hazel really wanted to be a ghost. I thought that she turned out pretty darn cute (and scary!). She loved it!

My little bat girl! What is going on with my girls? Bats? Ghosts? Silly ladies! Isn't her mask adorable and hilarious!? I love her!

Our little chickie! Such a cute little bird ~ she LOVED the suckers!

GGgggrrrr! She makes me laugh so hard!

I just loved this 5 o'clock shadow thing going on! :)

What lovely eyes she has!

Wow! We have had a week FULL of candy. Wednesday we went to our local "Boo At The Zoo" with some friends, Thursday Melaleuca had their annual big Halloween bash where all the departments go ALL OUT decorating and dressing up, and of course Trick-or-Treating tonight. My children have been on an enormous sugar high for days. Nels and I have definitely had some time to rethink how Halloween will play out in future years. 

Yesterday Elsie woke up from a four HOUR nap (!!!!) with a fever and Hazel started complaining about her neck hurting. Today we got to make two different trips to the doctor completing a CBC, urinalysis (via catheter), and two doctor work overs. Lovely. We've found nothing conclusive - but Elsie is still burning up and Hazel has a hideous cough.

My poor girls have been miserable all day, but the wonders of Ibuprofen allowed us to have a lot of fun spooking our way down the street and back. We came home right as it started to rain, ate some wonderful chicken and rice soup, and curled up together and watched "Goonies". This is also probably one of the first times in my life that I have been the innocent bystander observing real-life sugar insanity. Lilie turned into a crazy little maniac, running around and around laughing and squealing. SO funny and entertaining! 

With the exception of our little spazoid, it was a very calm, comfortable night spent together with lots of love. It was a perfect Halloween!

Halloween's Fabulous Five

1. It's Halloween and after 3 days of massive sugar highs, the day is over and the candy is getting put away - possibly in the garbage. :)

2. My upstairs tub is leaking. :) Leaving a wet spot on the basement carpet as well as leaking between the downstairs wall below it. --- What? I know you're asking - "And you think this is fabulous?" Yes. And let me tell you why. Because of this problem, Nels and I pulled out the little door thingy in the back of the girls' closet, where we have access to the tub above it. As we were determining where exactly the leak was coming from, we decided to take the handles off the tub and see if we could at least get the tub faucet to temporarily stop leaking (which it has been doing quite ferociously for about 3 weeks (or more). While doing this, our 40+ year old cold water knob, broke off! (gasp!) SO . . .  :) now we get to tackle the project that we have been putting off for the past year and a half and I am going to get new tile and fixtures in my upstairs bath tub. :) See! Fabulous! :)

3. My brain has been working overtime for the past week, thinking of new decorating ideas. It's been really fun and I decided to spontaneously take on an art project. I'm embroidering some birds to hang above my bed and they are turning out surprisingly well. I'm so proud of myself and I'll be sure to post some pictures when I finish. You will love them! :) I've realized that aside from crocheting an afghan for a friend's upcoming baby, I haven't done any real "art projects" in a REALLY REALLY REALLLLLLYYYY long time. Last weekend I had a chance to look through some old memorabilia and remembered that I am (or at least once was) quite creative and artistic. Now, I've painted rooms in my house and had other little projects, but really doing anything that is expressive hasn't happened in years and years. You know, the kind of thing that you make just to make it. Not necessarily something functional, just art. I'm excited and think that I'm going to try to keep doing this kind of thing on a regular basis. 

As I've been taking this stroll through the long-forgotten creative side of my brain, I also stumbled upon a picture of my perfect kitchen. It makes me feel so happy just to look at it! :)

Don't you just LOVE all of the turquoise??? So beautiful! I love the countertop, the knobs, and the glass. {sigh} I'm in love!

I've also learned that I have a very vintage style. I love the look of old and eclectic. Sometimes with bright and funky pieces. I think, if given the option, I wouldn't choose to buy a lot of things for my home brand new. If I had all the money (and time) I desired, I would browse endlessly through second-hand, rummage, antique stores to find just the right old, perfect, well-constructed piece and refinish it.

4. The girls' costumes turned out SO CUTE! They made the cutest little bat and ghost and chicken in the entire world! We had such a wonderful time together tonight. A truly fabulous night! And it wasn't freezing cold! - That is truly an amazing thing for Idaho Falls!

5. Daylight savings ends on Sunday! An extra hour at night AND in the morning! It's like Christmas for me! :) - Hopefully (as I hope every year) I will use this wonderful time change to my advantage and go to sleep "an hour earlier" and wake up "an hour earlier". Here's to goals, right!? :)

Just some more Pics of the past week.

The girls LOVED helping me clean up all the leaves in our backyard! We have a huge Ash tree that dumped leaves everywhere!


I think we had 4 or 5 piles around the yard that were roughly this size!


Friday night we went and picked pumpkins at our local pumpkin patch.

The other fella standing around in this picture is not just some random person, by the way. We have had the privilege of Nels' best friend from high school staying with us this past week. I think it's been a real experience for him to be surrounded by all our crazy girls, but he seems to be enjoying it. :) Lest you think that I having him stay here simply for the joy of having two grown men staying up until the wee hours of the morning playing video games in my basement, I'll elaborate. Andrew recently got a new job working for the railroad in Pocatello and is just staying here until he finds an apartment. :)

Hazel and Lilie loved the green pumpkins!



FYI: I don't normally wear my hair in a devil-lock! The weather here in "Windy City" doesn't always cooperate! Poor Rachel! I've just realized that I look like a kook in practically every picture on my blog! Sigh...I think it's the result of not only hardly ever ending up in a photo, but also the fact that once I get ready in the morning, I really don't look in the mirror again until I go to sleep. Another sigh...