Scout Day with the Eagles

The Eagles hockey team was holding a special "Scout Day" and our troop participated.  Tickets were expensive, so just Dave and Carson went, but they had an absolute blast.  Carson talked about hockey for a long time afterward.  While they were gone, the girls and I had a "girls night" complete with a girl movie (Princess Diaries) and pedicures and manicures.  Joely wants to have girls night all the time now.  It was a fun way to spend Saturday night, even though we weren't all together.

Turkey Day Prep

We had Atti and Elli over for a day to play with Joely.  As part of the fun, we made turkey hats.  They turned out great!

Silly little turkeys!

Preschool Field Trip to the Fire Station

Our kids have always been able to go to the fire station on preschool field trips, but this time was special because our good friend Danny actually is a fireman and he gave us the grand tour!  Monica (Danny's wife) organized this amazing field trip and invited lots of other ladies and kids to join us.  We drove to Mead and got to see everything from the fire truck to the kitchen and bedrooms.  Danny even put on his fire suit for us!

Becky and Eli and Sarah and Angela

Joely did not want to sit in the drivers seat, but she was fine with sitting in front!

Exploring with Sadie

These four girls are all close together in age.  I'm glad Joely has lots of good friends.

I love Elynn's expression!

The suit definitely captured the kids attention!

Monica read the kids a fire book and then had snacks for everyone to enjoy.  What a field trip!

Christa and Amanda...two of my good friends.

Fun field trip!

Late-Over

We don't do sleep overs with friends as a general rule at our house, but we LOVE late-overs.  We had Keaton and Macy over for an evening while their parents were on a date.  Pizza, games, and a movie with some of our best friends...it was a great Saturday night!

Movie Time!

HALLOWEEN!!

I loved that Halloween was on a Friday this year...the perfect day to celebrate at school and stay up late trick-or-treating.  Emma's teacher, Mrs. Duvall, has a unique take on class parties.  Every class party is in the morning and includes breakfast.  She says that way she doesn't go crazy listening to 25 first-graders asking, "Is it time for the party yet?" all day long.  Smart woman.

Joely and I got to be at the school for both of the kids parties...Emma's in the morning and Carson's in the afternoon.  Carson signed me up to bring treats to his, so I made mummy Oreo pops, which were a huge hit.

Silly First-Graders

Emma has been blessed to have Mrs. Duvall.

Our friend and neighbor Tiffany helped hand out the bacon and sausage.  We're thrilled Emma and Keaton are in the same class.

School doesn't get any better than this!

Carson's class picture didn't go quite as well for me...

This girl was patient through all the festivities...plus she was able to enjoy some of the goodies too!

Riley, Ava, Brooklyn, Carson, and Liliana

It was a mad-dash kind of day with going back and forth to the school, making lots of taco soup for later that night, cleaning the house, and making sure our costumes were in order.  Shortly after we got home from school, Aunt Sjani and Uncle Ryan's family came.  We had a warm dinner and then got in our costumes for trick or treating!

And a whole new costume for Halloween night.  This one brings back memories of Carson...

Ready to go!

Trick-or-treating at the Bishop's

This little bug loved sitting at Emma's desk and drawing when we were done trick-or-treating.

I love our Frankenstein door!

Sjani and I took the kids around the big block while Dad and Uncle Ryan carved pumpkings (we hadn't ever gotten around to it).  We traded places with the dads and Sjani made baked doughnuts.  They weren't gone long before all the kids had petered out.  It didn't matter that they only went around a couple of blocks...their bags were full!  We enjoyed our doughnuts and apple cider before calling it a night.  Thank goodness for being able to sleep in the next morning!

Fort Collins Halloween Fun

Aunt Sjani arranged a whole day of Halloween fun in Fort Collins for everyone, including cousin Madi whose family came to town for the weekend.  Dave had to go in to work that Saturday, but all the rest of us met at the Gardens at Spring Creek for a "candy-free" Halloween festival.  It was pretty awesome!

There is so much cousin cuteness in this picture!

We took lots of pictures and then set off to play lots of carnival games.  Fishing, bean bag toss, ring toss, etc.  There were so many games to play, and the kids had fun with all of them!

Harry Potter, at your service.

Our little pirate

Cute Pun'kin

Joely and Madi stuck together

Fishing for fun

I think she caught something!

Walking with Aunt Myra

Emma is our super brave child.  She had no problem petting the tarantula!

I love this picture! ROAR!!

We went to Celestino's for lunch with the gang...YUMMY!  My kids had eaten there before, but I hadn't and we loved it.  Plus, it's right behind the Institute, which is fun.  We played at Aunt Sjani's for awhile and did some shopping.  Dave arrived in time for our hot dog dinner and then we headed over to the Lee Martinez Farm for trick or treating.

Emma was a little grumpy...

So Dave had to shake the grumpies right out of her!

Joely switched costumes for the second event of the day.  So many choices...

Handsome Harry

These three little girls were so cute knocking on the doors together.

Trick or treat!

A quick hayride

Dave found a buddy.

Hot chocolate and cookies to warm up.

It was a really fun day of family and Halloween fun.  Thanks, Aunt Sjani, for coordinating so many fun things and hosting us all day long!  We love our cousins!