Present from Nana and Papa

Better late than never, William's birthday present from Nana and Papa finally came in the mail. William was so excited to not only get his goodies bag from them, but his birthday present as well. 

He was so happy to see some new Cars Lego sets when he opened them up. He couldn't wait to build Mac. He has always wanted a giant Mac ever since the movies came out. This wasn't a giant one, but it would at least tide him over until he found one.

Halloween Night

After the kids got home from school and Ben was done with his eye appointment we all sat down to our tradition Halloween Jack-o-lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's. Once we were done eating it was time to head out for some fun.

First we stopped off to see Grandma and Grandpa Hall. They are so cute and so happy whenever the kids come by to see them. They even surprised them with a whole baggie full of treats. The kids were really excited about that. We couldn't stay long, but it was good to be able to stop by.

When we were done visiting Grandma and Grandpa Hall we meet our friends at a nursing home in downtown Ogden. Their Grandma is a resident there and they invited us to go trick or treating with them. The residents of the home looked so excited to be able to see so many kids in their costumes. Some of them even dressed up for the event. It was so sweet to see.

After we were done at the nursing home we quickly stopped by to see Nana and Papa before Papa headed off to work. They even got a fun little goodies bag as their Halloween treat.

After our quick visit to Nana and Papa we meet back up with our friends to go trick or treating in their neighbourhood. They know all the good places to go. Some of which even gave out king size candy bars. They made out like bandits, they got so much candy. I was grateful when the sun started to go down because that meant we were finally done.

Halloween Parade

Halloween brought a day of fun. To start it off the kids got to participate in a parade at school. The kids truly do look forward to this every year. I was excited about it because I put their costumes together and at a pretty decent price I might add. 

Owen was so excited to be able to show off his Toothless costume. He loved it so much and and to top it off he can wear his awesome hat whenever he wanted.

Gabbi was equally excited to put hers on as well. She was Poppy from Trolls. Her hair was a little difficult to put together, but it ended up okay. Gabbi wanted it to be higher, but we could only get it so high and have it stand on its own. I'm just glad people were able to tell what she was.

After the parade we went back to the classrooms and snapped a few more pictures. One with their teachers and I was even lucky enough to be there in time to snap one of Owen's class before they took their costumes off.

William was just as excited to dress up even though he wasn't allowed in the parade. He happily wore his costume all day. He thought it was pretty cool that we were both dress up as pumpkins.

Spirit Week

October/Halloween also means Red Ribbon week at school. To get the kids excited about Red Ribbon week and being Bully and Drug free they planned some fun days of dress up for the kids. My kids look forward to it every year. Even William wanted to get in on some of the dress up fun.

Day 1 was pajama day.

Day 2 was crazy hair and socks day.

Day 3 was wear your school color day.

Day 4 was wear your favorite sports team jersey. Sadly for our kids we don't really follow sports and this one was a little hard. Gabbi wore my old Weber State sweatshirt and the boys found any shirt they could that resembled any kind of sport.

Day 5 was hat day. I'm pretty sure that this day was my kids' favorite day.

To end Red Ribbon week, they got to wear their costumes to school and participated in the Halloween parade.

Beth's Halloween Party

One of our favorite parts of October is Beth's Halloween party. We all look forward to it every year. This year around I wanted to make something fun. I decided to make a 7 layer dip with olive spiders on top. I'd never made a 7 layer dip, but it turned out pretty good. I was just crossing my fingers that it tasted yummy too. 

When we got there we all sat down to eat. Everything was so yummy and Halloween themed fun. Not to mention my dip wound up being a crowd pleaser. Once we got the tables cleaned off it was time for some games.

Beth found this game idea online and decided to give it a try. She wrapped up all sorts of treats, toys, and even money inside a plastic wrapped ball. One by one you rolled the dice. If you rolled a 7 or 11 it was your turn to unwrap the ball as fast as you could. Whatever fell out was your reward. When someone else rolled a 7 or 11 you had to pass the ball on and wait until your turn again. It was so much and almost dangerous. We were all yanking that ball out of everybody's hands like crazy. It was so much fun. Ben and I even walked away with some of the money.

Beth even had some fun games for the kids. They got to play with balloons, pin the bats on the coffin, and a few different coloring pages. Each of the kids were given a fun party bag as their prizes for playing the games. Once they were done, they all ran off to play.

Before heading out, we grabbed a few pictures of everyone in their costumes. Ben and I are always under dressed. We don't ever dress up. My idea of a costume is a shirt that's Halloween themed. At least our kids make up for it and dress up every year. They are always happy to dress up.

Fort

Since we were so late getting done with the Haunted house Christy offered to keep the kids if they were all asleep when they got back to Jana's. Lucky us, they were all asleep, so they got to stay the night. Grant it, they ended up moving them from Jana's to Christy's, but at least they all went quickly back to sleep when they got there.

In the morning as I was checking in on them through text, Christy sent me a lovely picture showing me that all was well and that they were having a good time. The girls had built a fort to sleep in and as you can tell they were having a blast. 

None of them wanted to go home. Lucky for them, they got to stay a little while longer.

Haunted House

After leaving Garland we had plans to go to a haunted house, well maze, with Brandon and Christy. So we headed that way. We were meeting at Scott and Jana's house, they were going to be watching our kids for us. When we got there we found out that a few others were going to be joining us on our adventure to the haunted maze. When we were all ready to go we headed out and planned to meet at the maze.

We got there before the other cars and decided to go in and play for a little bit before hitting the maze. They had hay slides and even a zip line. We were being a little crazy, but with the child at heart we were having a blast going down the slide over and over as well as a few turns down the zip line. I felt like I was going to break the poor zip line, but it was still a blast and luckily I didn't.

When the rest of the group got there we headed for the maze. I wasn't excited at all. I hate haunted anything, but we went inside anyways. I was holding on to Ben so tight that he was just laughing at me. I don't blame him, I was being ridiculous, but I truly can't stand haunted houses. Some of them were pretty creepy looking too. To make it worse it was a maze and we had to back track a few times so we ended up seeing some of the same characters more then once. I just wanted out of there and tried my best not to fall and I walked with my head down holding onto Ben.

I was so happy when we finally made it out of there. I was ready to be done and go home. We walked around the few thing they had in the court yard, grabbed a hot chocolate, and then headed home. As a fun surprise Christy promised to keep the kids overnight since we heard that they had all fallen asleep back at the house. It was a nice surprise considering that I would definitely need a cheerful movie to help me sleep.

Halloween with Nelson and Deann

With the Sagez Halloween party so early this year, Ben and I made sure that we were able to stop by and visit Nelson and Deann closer to Halloween. We planned to have dinner and visit for a little bit despite not being able to stay very long. We has some plans later that night, but we wanted to make sure the kids had a chance to share their costumes with Nelson and Deann.

When we got there the kids were happy to show off their costumes, they were excited to show them off because they were homemade and they got to help make them. Well parts of them. They excitedly ran to the door and helped themselves inside. The dogs definitely didn't enjoy seeing their costumes, but everyone else was. 

We then sat down and ate some dinner while vising. After we were finished eating dinner the kids were excited to go and see the new additions to the decorations that Deann had been talking about. They acted like they were trick or treating and went outside and around to the front door. Gabbi and Owen thought the new additions were pretty awesome, William not so sure. He was pretty much terrified. We tried to get a good picture. but he could hear the noise that it made and just couldn't give us a smile. He was very happy and grateful when we went back in the house.

After going back inside we didn't have much time left. We had the kids go and clean up and the we snapped a few pictures to remember a fun night with Grandpa, Grandma, and Great Grandma.

Pottery

Gabbi was invited to a birthday party. The third one since she's been in school. I was a little hesitant, seeing how I didn't know the family, but since it was actually at a business, Color me Mine, I was leaning towards it being okay.

Once Ben and I had decided that it was okay, she and I went to the store to pick something out for a birthday gift. She was happy with what she picked out and then started to count down the days till the party.

When the day finally came I dropped her off and waited for the call to come back and pick her up. When that call finally came I ended up picking her up at the Cold Stone across the street from Color me Mine. 

As we were driving home she told me all about the party. They each got to choose an animal and then they got to paint and glaze them. Once everyone was done they collected all the pieces of pottery and were told that they would be fired later the next week. They would call when they were done and ready to be picked up. The girls dad told me that they would call when they were ready. At least I wouldn't have to take a third trip to pick up her Elephant. Once they were all done, they walked over to Cold Stone for a treat and to wait for their parents to pick them up. Gabbi was excited for me to see her finished Elephant. 

A week later I finally did. The girl's dad had brought it too me right before school got out. As soon as we got home, she ripped opening the paper and showed me her finished project.

I have to admit, she did a pretty good job.

Fall Social

The Primary again was in charge of the Fall Social. It's fitting considering this really is an activity targeted towards the kids. We had so much success last year that we did the same thing. We planned on doing a trunk or treat and soup/chili's for dinner. 

I made sure my morning was clear and once I took the kids to school I headed straight to the church. I didn't really have to do that and I certainly didn't have to do it by myself, but I had nothing else going on and it just made sense to get started. 

William and I worked together and we got all the chairs and table pulled out. Once that was done it was time to grab some lunch. We ran down the street, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then headed back to the church to now decorate all the tables. It went rather quickly. I was pretty please at how it turned out. Now we just had to wait for everyone to show up.

Once they did, it went off without a hitch. Everyone who signed up to bring food all did and we had plenty to go around. When the kids were done eating we called everyone outside to start the trunk or treat. The kids really seemed to like it. They liked it even more when they were told to go around a few more times.

When I headed back inside I was happy to see that everyone had pitched in and things were getting cleaned up. Once everything was done, we all headed out and headed home.