Halloween Happenings

Happy Halloween!

from

costume-less Holly,

a Jet Puffed Marshmallow;

Jillaire, wearing things she wouldn't normally wear together;

a Tiger, a Bag of Jelly Bellys, and Pinkalicious.

 

The above photo was taken before we left for our church Fall Festival.  Damon was in charge of it this year and worked so hard to make it really fantastic.  We started with a chili cook-off.  I won 2nd prize in one of the categories! Amazingly, the first place prizes all went to teenage boys.  After dinner there were carnival games for the kids set up in different rooms throughout the building: a cookie walk, bowling, a fish pond, ping pong toss, beanbag toss, etc.  Damon crafted an amazing fun house that regrettably did not photograph!  It began with a climbing through a tunnel that twisted and turned, then you stood up in a room where you had to balance on boards to work your way through shark-infested waters (fins were coming up out of the floor and blue tulle billowed to create water; our shark tent was in the corner).  Finally the kids had to run through Damon's gauntlet. There were two poles being turned lite a rotisserie and several cross poles tipped with stuffed animals were rotating around it. Balloons covered the floor and you had to get through without getting knocked by the spinning poles. The entire activity was a big hit. Well done, Damon.

Adah had several opportunities to dress up this year between parties at a friend's house, the church, and at school on top of Trick-or-Treating. Extra tape and balloons helped see this costume through all the events.

If you don't know Pinkalicious, you really must read the book. Maggie had it memorized at age 3. She carried the book in her school parade so that everyone knew she wasn't just a common fairy princess.

Here we are setting off for Trick-or-Treating.  Damon stayed home with Holly to hand out candy.  After having done Gunnar's tiger face make-up three times already that Halloween season (including earlier in the day to attend the girls' school parade), I persuaded him to go Trick-or-Treating as a fireman.  I was the Balloonatic.  That was the super-hero identity I created for girls camp this summer and so I wore my T-shirt and made a funny hat to attend Maggie's classroom party that afternoon and make balloon animals for the kids. For Trick-or-Treating I kept my hat on, but I wore a jacket and gloves.  It was cold!

Finally, here's the most costume I could get Holly to wear across several days and opportunities to dress up for the various events.  In the past she had really liked to put on dress-up skirts, but I couldn't get her near the little fairy costume I had.  I even tried to put this tiger skirt on her for our church party, but no luck.  I stuck a tail down the back of her pants and got half a set of whiskers drawn on her cheeks that night before she wiggled away.  I think next year she'll be ready to really join the Trick-or-Treaters.

Of course, a week later she let me put this giraffe costume on her. Go figure.

Adah Sees Stars for Her Birthday

On October 22 Adah turned nine.  Wow.  I have a nine-year-old.  She is a great big sister and surely sometimes bears the brunt of being the first child, hence the guinea pig on our labratory of parenting.  We're so happy she's in our family and were happy to celebrate with her.

We always start the day with presents!  Adah was super excited to get her own Mancala board.  The kids in her grade have really been into playing Mancala this year and she'd been asking if we could get the game.  I'd like to say that I got her this one, but it was actually a gift to her from my visiting teachers (women in the Church who visit me monthly to chat, share a spiritual thought, and see if they can help me in anyway).  They had no idea Adah liked the game; it was pure coincidence.

She was also eager to read Vet Tails, a book from her grandparents that's written by a veterinarian.  Adah wants to be a vet when she grows up.

Adah's birthday party this year had an astronimical theme.  My parents gave us their telescope in September, and Adah used it as a base for planning her entire party.  I wish I'd taken more photos of the cool decorations, but you can see them a little in the backgrounds of these other photos.  The black wall behind us (below) had a bunch of giant star and planet stickers on it, but we also used the little gold foil star stickers to create arrangements of real constellations that party-goers tried to find.

The birthday cake was a fun one to make.  The colorful Fruit-by-the-Foot edges were a stroke of genius on my part (if I do say so myself) since frosting the edges of a cake that has been cut can be really hard (lots of crumbs).  The photo doesn't show the yellow sparkles on top.

I thought the cake looked pretty cool before it was frosted.  When I realized that it would take two 9x13 cakes to get all the pieces, I decided to marble two cake recipes.  Cool, eh?

When everyone arrived Adah gave them masks decorated with stars and star bandanas.  Other party favors were Starbursts and Milky Way candybars.

We hung stars and balloons from the ceiling.  The balloons were meant to be planets.  See that one on the left? That's earth with the moon orbiting around it. Get it?  I also made a cool one that looked like Saturn.  Wish I had a photo of that!

 

Here's Damon manning the "alien head-knocking game," as Adah called it.  Everyone got three throws to try and knock over the alien heads on the back of the chair.  See? The name is apt, I suppose.

 

After games, cake, and presents, we sent the girls (there were about a dozen) outside to play with glow-in-the-dark bracelets.  Damon was able to find one sliver of sky that wasn't clouded over where everyone could catch occasional glimpses of Jupiter.  We were hoping for more stargazing time, but they all had a great time running and playing outside until their parents came. It was sure a fun way to celebrate.

Schoolboy Gunnar

I was about six weeks late on making my decision, but as the beginning of October loomed, I suddenly felt very strongly that it was time for Gunnar to start preschool.  He has two more years until he goes to kindergarten (you need to be 5 on September 1st in Washington state, and Gunnar's birthday is in October), so I had planned to wait until next year before enrolling him in a real preschool class.  However, I just really began to see a need in Gunnar's (and our family's) life for a little more structure, socialization, and organized experiences for Gunnar.  I felt like he would benefit from being around other adults and children, learning to follow directions and take turns--from someone other than his parents and with someone other than his sisters.

Gunnar's first chance was a week after his birthday when he was able to take a community education class about spiders.  The girls had a half-day at school and Gunnar's class didn't start until 2:00.  He was so excited that he had his backpack on several hours before it was time to leave.

Here's the obligatory front door, first-day-of-school shot:

And, at pick-up time he posed in front of the spider web that his teacher had made during class. I remember being a little worried about dropping him off; he can still be a little nervous and clingy at church amongst familiar people, so I didn't know how he would do. However, after I lingered for a minute in the classroom he came over and kind of gave me a tapping push on the legs saying, "You can go. You can go." I knew then that he'd be just fine and he did have a great time.

One week later Gunnar had his official first day of school when he joined the twice-a-week morning class.  We carpool with his friend Jack.  They take lunches and eat them in the car on the way home, since school gets out at noon and it's a little bit of a drive. Gunnar loves having a lunchbox.

Gunnar's class is kind of large--a little bigger than I'd like--but there are several teachers in the room and he seems to get plenty of attention and has had no problems transitioning to this new routine.

 

Here he is with the house of brick and (?) straw that he made on his first day. 

They were doing the story of the "Three Little Pigs."  The best part of this for me is that when Adah was 3 she briefly attended preschool with the same teacher before we opted to switch her to a once-a-week option, and she learned the same story.  I can remember driving home from school with Adah telling me the story of the Big Bad Wolf huffing and puffing, and I had the realization that she was telling me something that I hadn't taught her.  That was new for this stay-at-home mom.  Now I'm used to my children going out and learning from other talented and energetic people, happy that there are places for my kids to go and be creative and messy and independent.  Here's to Gunnar's start in this exciting new venture!

October Randomness

Our favorite orchard in the Gorge is Mt. View Orchards in Parkdale, Oregon.  When we first moved to the area, I met one of the owners at the grocery store.  She was in line by me and had a cart full of sweetened condensed milk.  I talk to strangers at the grocery store, so of course, I asked, "Are you making caramels?"

"Caramel apples!" she replied and then launched into a bit of a schpiel on her orchard and how just she happened to have some newsletters with her and we should really come to one of the weekend festivals and use the coupons, etc.  She was just so cheerful and happy.  Looking at the schedule, we saw that they were having their "Edelweiss Days" on Adah's 3rd birthday.  So, we went there for apple picking in the gorgeous October sunshine.

Every fall since then, I've returned to buy pears and apples for canning, drying, and eating. We've taken Damon's parents there for Edelweiss Days. When I was there just a couple weeks before Gunnar was born, the same kind woman went in her house and returned with a baby gift and even something for the girls.  It wasn't until about 3 years ago that we actually discovered that the owners of Mt. View Orchards are Latter-day Saints and that the husband of this woman I met in the grocery store was someone that Damon and I had been serving with in the Church for nearly a year!  One year, their newsletter arrived (we're now on the mailing list) and we saw a photo of this man we know and suddenly put the pieces together!  Now we love visiting the orchard even more.

This year we headed up there on a sunny October day and enjoyed a hayride, playing with the toys in the yard, and piling one of their ubiquitous Radio Flyer wagons full of apples and pears.  We chose one unusual variety, just for fun.  It's called Eve's Delight and is GIGANTIC.

Perhaps this next photos gives you a little bit better sense of scale.  I wish I'd weighed it so I could give better statistics, but believe me, this baby is the New York City of apples.

(Note: Adah had put a bunch of stickers on her face. I don't know why.)

A little more October fun: Damon found Gunnar asleep on the floor like this one night.  Actually, Gunnar was lying with his other cheek up and Damon came to get me.  By the time we got back, he'd rolled over and had even more coins stuck to his right cheek than Damon had seen on the left!

This sweet overalls were worn by Damon and his brothers (mostly his oldest brother, I believe their mom told me) when they were little.  The giant smile on Gunnar's face is really just for the sake of the photo.  It took a little persuasion to get him to put them on and he took them off as soon as possible, a la Ralphie's pink bunny suit in A Christmas Story.

Just a cute little "cheeeese" from Holly.  I think I caught her on the "ch."

Finally, pumpkin carving the Saturday before Halloween:

 

Oh, we've got moves, alright.

I was scrolling through photos of 2011 looking for inspiration for our Christmas letter when I happend upon a few videos that I didn't remember.  Well, I don't know HOW this one didn't make it on the blog before.  It's obvious that these girls are related to a professional dancer.

This video was made in March when Holly was about 10 months old.

Scripture Comics

Adah has loved to draw for as long as she could hold a pencil.  And now, she is slowly coming to love the scriptures as she is able to read them herself and to better understand them.  One night for our Family Home Evening Adah was in charge and wanted everyone to draw a comic of the scriptures, putting those two loves together.  Here's what we produced:

Adah's rendering of Ammon watching King Lamoni's sheep:

Maggie's representation of Nephi getting the brass plates:

 

See Sam poking his head out to say, "You got them back!"

Jillaire's drawing of King Benjamin teaching the people from the tower:

 

Benjamin says, "When ye are in the service of your fellow being ye are only in the service of your God."

Damon drew the prophet Elijah calling on the true God to create fire on the altars and the sad "loser priests" failing:

Gunnar's drawing of Samuel the Lamanite preaching to the people from the top of the city wall:

Damon helped by drawing the arrows.

Gunnar's Pirate Parrrrrrrty

Ahoy, mateys! The theme of Gunnar's birthday party was inspired by this pirate cake that I saw in a magazine a long time ago.  It was a lot of fun to make and, was, I think, one of my best yet. 

I also lucked out at Target when I was buying party supplies and found whole bunch of pirate stuff on clearance!  What would have cost me $13, cost about $3.  Love it.  Add a few cool printables and pirate-y crafts that I found online and we were in business for the perfect afternoon of swashbuckling fun for four 4-year-olds (and a couple sisters).

 

Maggie dons her best pirate face as she shows off her cup-and-foil hook.

Pirate spyglasses and hooks awaited the mateys.

 

Adah and Maggie helped by created our "treasure map" on the floor.  They created a path of electrical tape dashes from the front door, through the entry, around the table, and finally to where an X marked the spot.  Treasure chests got hidden under the desk just beyond the X.  We brought the boys inside after they played outside for a bit (thank goodness for dry weather that day) and they found their treasures; eye patches were inside.

Balloon swords, added to the spyglasses, eye patches, and hooks, completed their pirate-y ensembles.  Aarrrr!  The boys loved running around the yard and using the play structure as their pirate ship.  We even had a "plank" for everyone to walk.

We also played pin the eye patch on the pirate.  (Thank you, again, Target clearance shelf.)

Gunnar loved the harmonica from his buddy Jack.

Blake gave him this fun Play-Doh board game where you make little Play-Doh potatoes and they have to move around the board without getting turned into french fries, chips, or mashed potatoes!  (And I need to give thanks here to Blake's mom, Andrea, who stayed throughout the party to give me a hand since Damon couldn't make it home from work.  Holly, amazingly, napped through almost the whole party.)

 

Make a wish, birthday pirate!

Happy Birthday, Gunnar!!  We love the excitement and adventure you bring into our family!

 

Gunnar Turns Four!

Gunnar turned 4 on October 3.  He loves being 4--his new favorite number, of course.

Gunnar got a big box full of dress-up clothes, thanks to a friend who outgrew them all!  I worked with a friend to design a vinyl decal for the box lid, and the whole thing slides under his bed.  It's perfect for all the new dress-ups and all the ones he'd already accumulated.  Now he can be Batman, Superman, a tiger, a policeman, a pirate (or 2), a fireman, construction worker, shark, lion, or other superhero.  He has quite an extensive collection of hats that actually have their own cupboard.  It provides lots of fun.

It was a super birthday!

Happy birthday, officer.

 

This Unaccompanied Minor has Major Fun

Adah got a pretty special early birthday present this year.  Her birthday is on October 22.  On September 30 she got on a plane all by herself and flew to Salt Lake City where she was met by my parents.  The next morning they took her to General Conference, the semi-annual meeting of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that is broadcast throughout the world.  At the meeting, the general leaders of the Church, including the prophet President Thomas S. Monson, give counsel and teach doctrine to the worldwide membership of the Church.  We watch the two-day conference on BYUTV every April and October.  This time Adah got to be there in person--something Damon and I have never done ourselves.

This photo was taken on Monday when Adah, Nana, and Gumpin had lunch at the Lion House and toured around the post-Conference (aka, less crowded) Temple Square.

Adah had a great time as the solo grandchild with Nana and Gumpin.  The weekend fun included a drive in Little Cottonwood Canyon, watching movies, and spending Sunday at Uncle Peter's house.

 

Monday evening (Gunnar's birthday) the whole family went into the airport to get Adah.  Damon went to the gate while I made a Target stop with the other kids, and then we stopped at a McDonald's with a playground for Gunnar's birthday dinner.  (More on birthday celebrations to come.)

She LOVES that soup.

It's called Summer Soup, although it's good anytime of year.  Holly is an independent girl and really wanted to feed herself.  She did a pretty good job of getting it on her spoon and into her mouth. 

And on her face.

 

And plate, and bowl.

I told you she loves it.