Halloween FHE

Today I was shopping with Mel and I was trying to decide what to make for dinner and she told me about the Halloween dinner she makes for her kids every year.  She always does fun stuff like that for her kids and I am pretty lame when it comes to fun stuff like that.  I decided to copy her. Tonight we had mummys, fingers and ghosts for dinner.  The kids loved it!

After that we carved our pumpkin.  Jonah put the clip on his nose because he said it stunk.

Keith did a great job, I'm glad he likes to do stuff like that!

After that we watched a Halloween show.  I love that Wyatt and Hallee always want to sit on my lap. 

More Pictures

Last week I got to take Mel and Earl's family pictures.  I love how they turned out.  Mel's family makes it so easy because they are all so good looking and photogenic.

I am used to taking little kids pictures so it was a nice change to not have to make funny noises to get them to look at the camera!

I love these guys.  I can't believe how quickly they all grew up.  It seems like yesterday I was babysitting EJ and now he babysits my kids.  I took my kids with me to take pictures and Cailtyn watched the younger ones and she was thrilled when Mel paid her for watching them. 

Speaking of photogenic, I could eat this kid right up.  He is so stinkin cute!

Hallee has started plugging her ears.  I can't really blame her, this house is so loud!

Caitlyn and Jonah did a great job in their primary program.  They both memorized their parts and knew all of the songs.  They both also shared an experience where they felt the hand of God in their lives.  Caitlyn talked about when she had her anxiety attack (she just said she was sick) and Keith gave her a priesthood blessing and she felt better.  Jonah talked about when he was scared after a bad dream and felt better after saying a prayer.  I am so proud of these two, they really are good kids.

I love how Hallee tucks herself into her pillow case.  When I get her in the morning she is usually sitting on her pillow with her legs in the pillow case.  So cute!

Fun Weekend!

We had a very fun, very busy weekend.  We had trick-or-treating at Keith's work, made cookies with grandma, a get-together with friends, soccer, primary program practice, trip to the movies and the primary program. 

Mel gave Caitlyn this costume on Friday so she decided to switch from the doctor to the Princess of Persia. She looked so cute!

Jonah made a good looking karate kid!

Wyatt loves his dinosaur costume.

Hallee got a lot of comments on her ladybug costume.

The kids always look forward to trick-or-treating at dad's work.  They take good care of them and they come home with a lot of treats.

Hallee was thrilled when she got her first piece of candy.  She didn't want to go anymore.  We had to force her to keep going and every time someone gave her candy she wanted to stop and look at it.  Funny girl.  Hopefully she will have the hang of it for Thursday.

She was so excited to look at all of her candy in the car.

After that we headed to Katie and Ben's to hang out with the group!  The kids had so much fun playing together.  Kiara and Jonah were on a kick and finding trouble together while Caitlyn filled us in on what they were up to.

These three boys are so cute!  Wyatt loves to play with them. I can't get over what a cute astronaut Rockwell was.

A few weeks ago these boys had a little band for us.  Rockwell didn't join in this time, but it was so cute when they were all doing it.

It was so fun to visit with everyone and let the kids play.  I am going to miss Katie so much.  They are some of our closest friends and I'm so sad they are moving so far away.  My kids are going to miss them too.  I'm glad it worked out for all of us to get together one last time before they leave. 

Halloween Carnival

Thursday they had a Halloween carnival at the library.  I took my activity day girls.  I think most of them thought it was fun.  They were all excited to wear their costumes.

Keith had a young men's activity that afternoon/evening so I had to take all of the kids.  Everyone was pretty good, so it wasn't too bad to keep track of them all.

I was spitting to get everyone to look at me.  It looks like Hallee copied me in this one!

Hallee looked adorable in her lady bug costume.  She looks so much like Caitlyn when she wore this.

They had different games for the kids to play where they could win prizes.

Caitlyn liked the art projects.

Hallee liked wandering around.  I can always see her, but sometimes people can't see me.  I had a few women go up to Hallee and think she was lost.  I would wave so they could see I was watching her.  Hallee does much better if she has some freedom to roam!

Wyatt wanted his face painted.  They showed him a paper with a bunch of different options and he said, "no, I just want a circle."  He picked a big brown circle.  He was happy so I was happy!  Wyatt is so confused about Halloween.  He keeps asking if it is trick-or-treating time.  When we go to Sam's Club he sees the Christmas decorations and that gets him all confused!

The Park

Last week the weather was so nice!  We had fun playing outside.  One day we met up with Katie at the park.  Hallee got so excited about everything.  It was really cute to watch.

Hallee and Wyatt loved this thing.  They were both running and laughing. Hallee would yell, "wee." 

Hallee has started yelling, "ma ma" all the time.  She yells for me when she wakes up or if she can't find me in the house.  It is so cute, I love hearing her say it.  She has also started running from me. If she has something I don't want her to have and she doesn't want to give it up she will take off running.  She also runs from me when I stand up after reading her a book before bed.  Keith always laughs when he sees her running down the hall. 

Wyatt has been so moody lately.  This boy has such a stubborn streak.  He is the sweetest little thing, but if he is grouchy, look out!  When he is happy he will give me a hug and tell me he loves me all the time.  It is so sweet.  The other day I took him to story time at the library and he noticed that I was singing (I was trying to make it fun for Hallee) and he got up in the middle of the song and ran over to tell me not to sing.  If I sing in the car he says, "I think I want to sing this song by myself mom."  I guess I already embarrass him!

Hallee continues to provide entertainment for everyone during church.  She likes to go play by the piano, but I told her no because she was banging her snack cup along the back of the piano and it was really loud.  I took the snack cup away and she ran back to the piano and stood their with the biggest scowl on her face.  This girl can give some dirty looks.  The whole Sunday School class got a good laugh about that one. 

You guys are going to watch me!

Wyatt finished his soccer class today.  I think his favorite part about it was having us all there watching him.  He reminded Caitlyn and Jonah that they were going to watch him every week. 

Wyatt does a really good job dribbling.  He keeps good control of the ball. 

He was so excited when the teacher brought out the goals.  He loved kicking the ball into the net.

He was really excited to play a real game.  He pretty much just ran around following the other kids, but he got a couple of kicks in.  Today they did some different drills and Wyatt kept saying he couldn't do it so he would just sit and watch the other kids.  Luckily, Keith was there so he went down and helped him.  Wyatt loved his class and I'm sure he will want to do it again soon.

Hallee didn't want to stay off the court.  She wanted to be right in there with the other kids.  I'm kind of glad today was the last class so I don't have to chase her around anymore!

Indoor Soccer

These two started indoor soccer a couple of weeks ago.  I was really looking forward to a break after football, but they both wanted to play.  I am shocked that Caitlyn wants to play.  She has never been interested in sports and has always been afraid of balls being thrown or kicked at her.  Last year she would even make herself sick because she was nervous about PE.  Something changed this year because she loves PE and all of a sudden she wants to play sports. 

They each have a game during the week and one on Saturday.  Caitlyn is in the 3rd/4th league and Jonah started out in the 1st/2nd league.  Caitlyn's first game went really well. I couldn't believe how she was getting in there and fighting for the ball. She is definitely out of her comfort zone, but she isn't letting that stop her. Jonah did great in his first game, but his team had 14 players.  He spent half of the game sitting out because their team was so big.  We talked to Jonah and he said he would move up and play with Caitlyn.  The Rec Center was happy to let us do this because Caitlyn's team needed more players and Jonah's had way too many. 

I am really proud of Jonah for playing with the older kids.  A lot of them are really big and intimidating, but he is doing great.  It is so much better for us to have them on the same team.  They have their games on Wednesday night, which stinks because Keith has Young Men's, and then just one game on Saturday.

Hallee is a handful at the games, so I am so happy to have them on the same team.  This poor girl gets dragged all over the place. I guess there is advantages and disadvantages to being the youngest! Last week, Keith was able to come to the first part of their game and when he left Hallee and Wyatt were crying and wanted me to hold them.  I picked them both up and Hallee started hitting Wyatt because she didn't want me to hold him and Wyatt was begging me to put Hallee down.  Good times!

The last two games have been a little rough.  The teams they have played have been really good and have some really big kids on them.  You can tell that Caitlyn and Jonah are both pretty intimidated.  They hesitate more when they play against the tougher teams.

The coach asked Keith to fill in for him on Saturday.  Keith did a great job, but the other team was so good.  Our whole team was frustrated.  I love sports because it teaches kids how to be a good winner and a good loser.  Both are really important.  You can't win them all!

Keep her busy!

Hallee is the cutest little thing, but oh my goodness she is a handful.  She is constantly getting into trouble.  She is either cleaning out a cupboard, dumping water or milk, playing in the bathroom, throwing things in the garbage or taking off her clothes.  I have to watch this girl like a hawk.  I have been trying to think of things to entertain her.  It is tricky because her attention span is so short.  She loved coloring the other day and it kept her out of trouble for a good twenty minutes!

Bubble baths are another good way to keep her out of trouble.  I can just sit and watch her instead of chase her around the house trying to get her to leave things alone. 

Jonah watched Hallee and Wyatt for a few minutes while Caitlyn and I were downstairs vacuuming.  He is putty in Hallee's hands.  She had them all wearing girls hats.  He is such a nice, older brother!

Hallee loves her hats, it's her clothes she isn't that fond of!

I bought these boots really cheap when I was pregnant with her and I was so excited that she could wear them to church today.  There was a little boy sitting behind us in Sacrament meeting that is a couple of months younger than Hallee.  Hallee had a great time playing with him.  They kept grabbing each others hands and playing, it was so cute.  Hallee kept giving him kisses.  The nice thing about Hallee's kisses is she just gets close to you and says, "mmmaa" instead of slobbering all over people.  She saves her slobbery kisses for her family!

Poor Wyatt has been sick a lot lately.  He has had a couple of colds that have led to an ear infection and the croup.  He was finally well enough to go to nursery today and he was so excited.  I noticed during Sacrament meeting that a little boy from his nursery class was really sick.  Snotty nose and a horrible cough.  I told Keith if he went to nursery that Wyatt wasn't going because I could not handle him getting sick again right now.  Sure enough they took the kid to nursery.  I don't know if I was more upset that they took him to nursery or that I didn't have the guts to say something.  Anyway, we kept Wyatt out of nursery and he spent a good 30 minutes screaming and crying saying he wanted to go.  I felt horrible.  While Keith and I were trying to get him calmed down after church, Jonah and Caitlyn went downstairs on their own and picked some of their toys that they know Wyatt loves and wrapped them up in a present for him.  It was so sweet!  After that, they did a little nursery class for him and sang songs with him and had snacks!  Sometimes I worry that I'm not teaching my kids enough, but on days like this I realize they are going to be just fine!