Halloween and Fall Fun 2016

It's that time of year - costumes, decorating cookies, carving pumpkins, and trick-or-treating. 

From the beginning the girls asked to dress up as the Tooth Fairy.  I made their skirts early in the month -very grateful for that.  The boys had decided on Kylo Ren and Jedi, which was great - I bought Damon's and made a new tunic and boot covers for Tyler and Chris used our old ones.  Then one day the girls put on the R2D2 and Darth Vader costume and I thought: "We need to do a Star Wars theme this year!"  So for the trunk or treat we were a Star Wars family.  I was Rey and Doug was Han Solo.  I thought our costumes would be pretty easy to make, and they were simple enough, but they still ended up taking a lot of time.  But it was mostly because I was being picky and wanting to do a good job.  I made my belt, tunic wrap thing, sleeves, and staff.  I made Doug's vest, holster, and boot covers. They were fun to make but I wish I hadn't started so late.  The last week before the activity had lots of late night sewing.  

 

 

 

Here are our creative masterpieces this year.  It's fun now that they can do their own. 

 

 The girls painted their pumpkins and the boys carved.  Doug and I still have to help with the carving, but Tyler and Damon designed their own and Chris told me where to carve. 

Chris's is a Pokemon Jack-o-lance, Tyler's is a T-Rex, and Damon's is Kylo Ren

The girls had a fun party at Preschool and decorated soda pop pumpkins.  

Halloween day the girls were Tooth Fairies.

Here is our loot!  We only let them keep a bit and then we gave the rest away.  

It was a great night, short sleeves and sandals for me - I don't miss the cold trick-or-treating of Utah. :)  Happy Halloween everyone!

Exercise and Preschool Graduation

So Doug and I are starting to take a more active role in our physical activity.  We decided to try the P90X3 workout system.  We like that the workouts are only 30 minutes long, but it really gives you a good work out.  Then we usually run around the block.  So go ahead and ask us how we are doing so we can stay motivated :)  I actually have been taking a few personal classes with a fitness instructor.  She has a regular gym inside her home.  My friend and I have gone for 6 classes - this week will be my final time.  I have worked some muscles that probably have never really been used before and I can tell that I have gotten at least a little bit stronger.  Hopefully the P90X3 will just help me to continue to improve and get into better shape.

Doug and I think it is pretty silly that they do graduation pictures for the Kindergartners - but anyway, here is Chris's.  Wish our kids would learn how to smile on demand.

 I made biscuits for dinner the other day and Jenna spent a good 30-45 minutes playing with some leftover dough making cookies and baking them in her little play-doh oven.

Wednesday morning there was a tornado warning around 5:00 am.  So Doug and I woke the kids up and carried them down to our bedroom closet.  They were pretty good about it.  The girls perked up and were acting too happy and chipper for that early in the morning.  The boys just wanted to lie down and try to go back to sleep.  We took them back to their room about 5:20 when the worst of the storm was over.  The boys were able to go back to the sleep but I don't think the girls did.   The power stayed out from 5:00 am until 1:00 pm.  So that made our breakfast and lunch a bit different but we managed.  It really makes you realize how much we depend on electricity for everything.  My phone went down to about 18%.  They still had school even though the power was out.  Damon's school wasn't out for very long, but the elementary went most of the day without.  I had stayed up late the night before so I only got about 3 hours of sleep.  I was pretty tired and grumpy on Wednesday and went to bed earlier than normal.  

 Our roof leaked from our recent big storm last week and the roof people came out and replaced some shingles.  He found some nail holes and other damage.

 At pack meeting Tyler got his Nova 1, 2, 3, Go! award.  This was a special award that they started last summer that we finally finished.

 The girls had their last class of preschool on Thursday.  They are so cute when I drop them off.  They just say 'Bye mom, love you," and off they go.  I'm glad they are independent and enjoy being with their friends.

This is the first day of preschool in September (Kaylee, Jenna)

Last day of preschool at the end of April. (Jenna, Kaylee)

 I had my yearly eye appointment.  My contacts have been off so I was glad to get a new prescription.  I tried on some glasses to, but decided to wait to get some. It's hard to justify $500 on something that I only use a little bit at night.  

 Kaylee is good to take a nap when she has the chance to.  If I separate the girls at quiet time she usually falls asleep.  Jenna rarely sleeps anymore.

 It was a warm day yesterday even though it rained about 1 inch in the morning.  The girls enjoy the sprinkles on the tramp.

I spent a lot of nights this week getting ready for the girls' birthday.  I made them a play tent.  I wasn't going to, but then I changed me mind so I only had a week to get it done.  My friend watched the girls for a couple of hours on Monday and that helped a ton.  I was able to get the fabric all cut out.  I stayed up late Tuesday and Thursday evening and finished it Friday.  Doug helped me with the poles and I hope that the girls like it when they see it tomorrow.  They are pretty excited for their birthday.  We have been counting down all week.

Crazy weather and Yardwork

Went to Ross last week and found some cute pencil skirts, I haven't had any prior so they were a fun addition to my wardrobe. 

Sunday night April 17 there was a big storm that rolled through the Houston area, and it continued to be stormy through most of the week.  The schools were closed on Monday and Tuesday due to the flooding.  Below is the Houston Temple area.  That is a major street that goes in front of it that is completely under water.  The temple remained untouched and protected from the water. :)

However, Sunday night around midnight our house wasn't so lucky.  I woke up to a loud plunk, plunk, sound and stumbled across our room to feel water pouring in from the ceiling.  I hollered to Doug who was still awake upstairs.  We quickly got some buckets and tried to protect our dresser, floors, and walls.  Doug went up stairs and saw that it was coming from the roof in the attic space that is above our bedroom.  We put a bucket there as well.  We finally fell asleep but the thunder and lightening continued all through the night.  You don't get storms like this in Utah.  The night sky looks like a strobe light because of all the lightning.  It is non-stop and so crazy!  In the morning we checked the buckets and just kept an eye on the roof during the week.  It didn't really leak again - just that first storm produced so much water and was coming down so hard that it leaked (we found out later that there were some nail holes that were the culprit).  It rained 9.75 inches in one day.  

 Doug had bought some plants to redo some of our landscaping in the front on Saturday.  But because of soccer and things he didn't have time to work on it.  So because of the storm he stayed home on Monday and it gave him some extra time to plant in the very muddy and wet dirt.

Here are some before shots:  Doug had already moved a few plants around, but I forgot to take a picture earlier.

 We pulled out some ugly bushes that had died.

 And we removed this tall bushy thing.

 Doug was good to be out in the rain.

Now some after shots after we finished putting in all of the mulch. 

The girls had fun watching dad work, and 'helping.'

We made molasses sugar cookies that evening - the kids were anxiously waiting for them to be done.

Monday and Tuesday the kids were home, I was ready for them to go back on Wednesday though.  They are just so loud and I don't like having to be the referee all the time.  Thursday the girls had preschool - it was stormy again that morning and went back home to check on the roof.

Jenna is funny sometimes.  She tucked her animals into bed on her pillow, then fell asleep facing the wrong way on top of her blankets.  Girls are different. :)

The boys had their third soccer practice/game this week.  They are both improving and having a good time.  Doug went by himself this time and I stayed home with Chris and the girls.  We went to the splash pad and park and enjoyed not being stuck at the soccer field for 4 hours.  It's funny they are both number 18.