Ward Halloween Party 2014

Our ward held a Halloween party early in October which was great because there weren't other Halloween conflicts, but it did mean we had to figure out our costumes early!  Carson knew all along that he wanted to be Harry Potter, and we already had most of it ready to go.  We just had to borrow glasses from our friends.  Joely had lots of options to choose from and decided on Minnie Mouse, which our awesome neighbors handed down to us.  Emma was the difficult one.  She was super easy-going about it, but I only had one costume that sort of fit her...my old pumpkin costume my mom made me many years ago.  She was happy to wear it, even though it didn't fit perfectly.

I love our Frankenstein front door, but I love these three kiddos even more!

Candy corn face paint.

Joely chose a bat.

Cheesy Face

After the Trunk-or-Treat

Sultan Dave (also known as Habib) and his minions... :)

Go Lambkins!

Kacie decided to be a flag girl for the FCHS marching band and our family was able to go to one of their home games to see her perform.  I haven't been to an FCHS game since I graduated 14 years ago, and boy was it fun!  My Lambkin pride returned full force and it was a constant feeling of deja vu to be at French Field.  The game was excellent (Collins was undefeated until the playoffs) and the band did a great job as well.  High school football is definitely a fun autumn past time.  I'm thinking we'll be returning next fall for another game and to cheer Kacie on!

Kacie is the flag girl on the far left.

Hail to thee, Fort Collins High School!

Preschool Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

As part of our co-op preschool, each mom takes a turn planning a field trip.  I offered to go first and planned the trip to the pumpkin patch in early October.  It's funny because I knew exactly how to do things at Pack's Pumpkin Patch in North Salt Lake, but everything is different here.  Luckily, there was one relatively close by that had an opening at a time that worked for us.  We were the first group of the day, which was actually perfect.  A nice lady had us sit in some little bleachers and read us a book about pumpkins.  Then she showed us the baskets we could use to get the right size of pumpkin and pointed us in the direction of the "school group" pumpkin patch.  Off the kids went!  It didn't take long for everyone to pick their pumpkins.  After, we walked around the property exploring their different displays.  We finished by eating the pumpkin cakes and chocolate milk I'd brought for everyone and then played on the tractors a little bit more.  It was a fun field trip and the weather was perfect.  What a good day!

Lots and lots of little pumpkin cakes.

Pumpkin Picking

I love the wispy stem on Joely's pumpkin...just like Cinderella's carriage.

Sadie and Joely

Joely is blessed with lots of girls her age.

Almost everyone

There they all are...Sadie, Joely, Katherine, Grayson, Annaly, Corbin, Elynn, Cooper and Lirael

Time for a pumpkin feast!

Look, Ma!

This beautiful girl is all sunshine and giggles.  I love spending time with her!

Look at world!  Here they come!

Clowning Around

Halloween was looming, so I pulled out the Halloween boxes and we tried a few costumes on to see if they fit.  The girls thought the clown costumes were pretty silly!

So it's a little bit small...she's still pretty cute!

Body Art

Joely is normally a very good little girl.  She entertains herself amazingly well most of the time and has a fantastic imagination.  I love listening to her play with her dolls and toys.  Usually she plays house and takes care of all her babies or "little sisters" as she sometimes calls them.  One day, I checked on her after a few moments of quiet and found that she'd been a little more "typical child" in her play.  She wanted to create a pretty picture on her face.  Hopefully she realizes that she's much more beautiful without the body art!

Joely's First Day of Preschool 2014

Joely was so excited for her own preschool to begin again, and this time we had lots of friends joining us!  Grayson, Katherine, Cooper, Corbin, Annaly, Sadie, Elynn, Lirael, and Joely were all ready to go for preschool this year.  We do a co-op, so each of the moms takes a turn teaching and we only hold preschool one day a week.  I love doing preschool this way, because the stress level and the cost are minimal, and Joely gets to learn and have fun with so many friends!

Joely, Katherine, and Cooper

And off she goes!

Vote for Carson

Carson surprised me by deciding to run for student council this year.  I had always thought he'd be great at it, but hadn't anticipated him wanting to the "scary" prep work to make it happen.  At Pioneer Ridge Elementary, student council is made up of 5 third graders, 5 fourth graders, and 5 fifth graders.  Students have to make one poster and give a speech (third graders spoke to their own class, the upper grades spoke to their full grades) in order to run for office.  Given our difficulties with Carson and performing in flag football games, I was nervous to see what he would do, but he did awesome!  He came up with a slogan on his own.  We helped him create the poster and write the speech, which he apparently did a great job on because he was voted in!  He has loved being in student council.  I'm really proud of him for doing something hard and scary.  It sure paid off, and he's having some great experiences because of it.  Way to go, Little Man!

The picture we took and used for his poster.

I triple dog dare you to vote for Carson Jex!  I'm honest, obedient, trustworthy, responsible, smart, and agreeable!