Kylie's School Parade and Class Party

Every year Kylie's school does a Halloween costume parade out on the field. They walk around the track twice while parents watch and take pictures. I didn't realize how big of a deal this was until I get there and there was no where to park except a mile away and there were a million parents there lining the track with their camping chairs and blankets. I learned this is serious business and no one messes around at these parades.  It was really fun to watch though. Kylie thought it was a blast and Jase loved all the different costumes along with Jeremy and I. We had a good laugh at a few of them. 

After the parade I had a chance to come in to Kylie's class and help with the Halloween party. They had lots of fun games and treats for the kids and I loved watching Kylie interact with her friends and teacher. She makes friends really easily and always seemed to have someone around her all the time. 

Kylie's teacher wanted a class picture at the end and all I have to say is she is probably one the the most patient people I have ever seen. Just trying to get everyone situated for this picture I thought I was going to pull my hair out and I wasn't even doing it. She was so nice trying to get them to cooperate and even though they were pretty good to listen to her it was still an ordeal...Kindergarten teachers are amazing!  This morning was a great kick off to the rest of the day...

Trunk or Treat

Last night our ward hosted a Trunk-or-Treat in our church parking lot and if you would seen the kids all day you would have thought it was Christmas. Seriously, they were crazy excited. I think Kylie giggled for most of the day. Five o'clock could not come fast enough!

 Finally when it was time to go, the LAST thing they wanted to do it was take a picture, but of course I had to. They barely smiled and then darted across the street to the church.  We have a really fun ward with millions of little kids and our kids had a blast running around with everyone before dinner.

 WE had dinner and then the real fun began. Kylie ran from trunk to trunk with somer of her freinds and Jase wandered around with Jeremy. They certainly didn't walk away empty handed, that's for sure. They had huge sack-fulls and couldn't have been more happy with their loot.

Not to mentioned it's only getting them warmed up for the real deal, as Kylie reminded me on the way home.

Kylie is a Star

Kylie just finished up being the Star Student of the Week at her school. And quite frankly, I think this was the best week of her life. She LOVED having the chance to tell her class all about herself. 

She brought home this poster for us to decorate. The poster says she is 5 years old, her favorite colors are pink and purple, her favorite animal is a horse and her favorite food is cereal. Disneyland is her most favorite place and when she grows up she wants to be a princess. Her favorite thing to do is get sno-cones and if she had one wish she would wish for a pet horse.  (Good thing she doesn't have one wish!)

 On top of being the Star Student it was also Red Ribbon Week at school and each day they dressed up as something different. This day she was suppose to look "smart" so we dressed her like a nerd. We also dressed her like a super hero one day and another day she brought her helmet. Kylie loves to dress up so of course she thought this was so fun!

On Friday she came home with a really fun book her class made her about all the things she likes. Kylie brought her favorite book one day, which was a really hard decision for her, but she finally settled on Knuffle Bunny Too and she was very pleased when her teacher said it was one of her favorite books too. And then the next day she brought her Minnie Mouse from Disneyland as her favorite toy. I think it was for sure her most favorite week at school so far, which is saying a lot because I get her saying almost on a daily basis, "Mom, TODAY was my favorite day at school!" 

Cheeser

We're getting family pictures taken tonight and Jase is in a major cheeser stage. When asked to smile he squints his eyes, wrinkles up his noes and shows every tooth he has. I have asked him a hundred times this week to smile for me just to see if it's changed...and it has changed, but now he does this....

Awesome!!

He now says his hands are helping him smile. I probably asked his way too many times to smile so he thought he needed some assistance...little did he know.

Oh well, wish us luck or we may have a wall full of pictures with him making this face.

Halloween Festivities

We decided we would get festive this year and actually carve pumpkins for Halloween. Its been forever since either Jeremy or I have carved one and sadly I don't think we have ever done it with the kids...not that  I can remember anyway.  Kylie really wanted to go to a pumpkin patch, but Walmart's pumpkin patch was as good as we got. We picked out two big pumpkins and Kylie decided we would have a boy's pumpkin and a girl's pumpkin. 

I'm not really sure what Kylie expected the inside of a pumpkin to look like, but she was less than thrilled to see all the "guts and seeds" it had to offer. 

 She tried for a second to scrape it out, but then became our official photographer for the night when I was the one that had to become elbow deep in the gunk.

The night pretty quickly turned into this, as the kids got bored and Jeremy and I were left to finish up their pumpkins.

 I was smart and talked Kylie into picking a really easy pattern, Jeremy wasn't so smart and blamed Jase for the more inticute one. I think they turned out pretty dang good though. We're not experts by any means, but we managed to pull it off.

 Of course the kids get the credit and took possession the second they were finished.  It was fun and maybe we'll manage to do them more than every 5 years...but I make no promises!!

Sister Love

Last weekend was fall break and since I can't pass up a long weekend without heading to AZ I packed up the kids and we spent the weekend there.  My sister, Amanda is in esthetician school and needed a few models for a fantasy make-up night. Their theme was mermaids and I guess my sisters and I fit the part pretty well anyway.  In fact I remember when my mom was pregnant with my sister Ashley, The Little Mermaid had just come out and I begged and begged my parents to name her Ariel.  I distinctly rememeber my dad promising me that if she was born with fins we would name her that. I can't even tell you how hard my little 6 year old self prayed and prayed she would be born with fins!!

This is the before picture of my sisters Ashley, Lexie and Me. 

...And here is the after! Pretty cool, right? Do we look like we have a scaly fish faces?  My grandma told Lexie she could star in the movie Avatar with her blue/green make-up. 

It was seriously such a fun night and it's awesome having a sister in esthetician school! We get all sorts of cool things done to us.  I just wish I was around more to enjoy it all.  

I love these girls (including Amanda)!! They are some of my most favorite people in the world to be with and I love any chance I get to spend with them!  

It's Finally Fall

October is definitely one of my most favorite month of the year. It usually means it's finally starting to cool down and it's also the start of all the fun holidays coming up. I love the feel of fall and I think there are so many fun things to do. 

One of my most favorite things to do every fall is to drive up Cedar Canyon and see all the changing leaves. Without fail every year though, we are either too late or too early and very rarely get to see what I imagine in my head of orange and yellow and red tree lined roads as we drive the mountain. And this year was pretty much the same. We went up yesterday and I could have sworn it would have been the most perfect weekend for it, but it had snowed during the week and I think that put all the trees into shock or something because only very few had changed yet. We went on a very green drive! 

We actually did manage to find a few beautiful spots and the kids thought the leaves were really neat. Kylie especially loved the "pink" leaves. (I think she can find pink in anything!!)

 Is it odd to see green leaves and snow in the same picture?

My poor thin-blooded children who don't own the proper attire for freezing weather didn't know what to think of the cold, but they really wanted to play in the snow for a minute. Kylie touched it for a second and Jase just got annoyed that it was sticking to his shoes.

It was a fun day! I am excited for all the fun things we have planned over the next few months. October hasn't been too bad so far and I can't wait for the rest of the fall/winter season...Mostly because I don't actually live among snow or super freezing temperatures!