Trunk-or-Treat

Our bishop wanted this year's ward Trunk-or-Treat to be more of a community/neighborhood event. We got permission from the nearby elementary school to have it in their parking lot.

I was asked to make signs to put around the neighborhood and school. 

 

I made a little pocket, on each sign, with flyers about the Trunk-or-Treat.

My kids are good sports about dressing up...I think they actually like it.

Treyson the chef.

One of my favorite parts of Treyson's costume was his chef hat. I wanted to buy him a professional one, but ran out of time, so I quickly made one out of a strip of posterboard and some inside-out wrapping paper. Voila...chef hat!

Abree the pink pig.

Taylee made Abree's pig nose and ears with felt and a milk jug lid.

Taylee the BSU vampire fan???

Rylee the "cute nerd"...of course not a nerdy-nerd.

Treyson and his good friend Dylan.

Notice the funky rubber chicken..the final touch to Treyson's costume.

TRUNK-OR-TREAT!

Red Ribbon Week

The end of October is Red Ribbon week.

The schools around here have dress up days which include things like; crazy hair day, funny hat day, wear your favorite team jersey day, etc.

My kids love to participate.

This year at the middle school, they had a "Genius Day" (a.k.a. Nerd Day). Treyson went all out and was a perfect nerd. Some of my favorite touches were the inside-out pockets, one pant leg rolled up and his tweeky hair-do.

Do you see the Alfalfa-inspired tweeky in the back?

I don't know if I would call this "crazy hair" ....more like "scary hair".

Who would have thought to have a crazy chicken hair-do like this, but Taylee?

Funny thing is she went babysitting like this. I told her I thought she might want to take it out before, so she wouldn't scare the kids. She didn't.

She also went to a bishopbric's interview (temple re-dedication) looking like this. Yikes!

Back to School!!!

I've said it before, but I'll say it again, it's the most WONDERFUL time of the year...

Back to School!

Rylee is a BIG sophomore.. so NOT a freshman. :)

Taylee is an 8th grader.. the TOP of the school.

Treyson is a sixth grader..a middle schooler?!..no way.

And Abree is a second grader...WAY too big to be my baby!

Here's to a great year.

Middle School

Can you believe it???

Treyson is going into 6th grade this year... middle school!

After gettting registered (and paying BIG bucks),Treyson and Taylee wanted to find their lockers and get set up.

Treyson was excited to find he got a top locker!

Taylee is going into 8th grade.. the top of the school.. the expert of middle school.

For the remaining of the year, this locker will NEVER look this clean and organized again, Taylee joked.
I'm thinking this is a true statement. :)

They're ready... let school begin.
The most WONDERFUL time of the year!

Happy Birthday Treyson!

Treyson requested a PIZZA party for his 11th birthday.

He wanted pizza for dinner and pizza for cake.

He was very specific about what kind of pizza he wanted for dinner... Idaho Pizza Company.

Jason and I didn't know of one close to us, but Treyson said he knew of one. He described the location the best he could..and we found it.

This boy LOVES his food!

We invited Grandpa Waite and Grandma McKinley over to celebrate too.

Earlier in the week Treyson was talking about his birthday... wondering what he might get for gifts. We talked about how turning 11 is getting older and how maybe he doesn't need as many toys. Like maybe clothes might be nice. (Just trying to prepare him a little.)

He LOVED the mp3 player Rylee passed along to him.

He was perfectly happy with the clothes he received (jeans, t-shirt, jacket, shoes). He also appreciated the Zhu Zhu Pet house Abree made him, the candy and book from Grandma, money from Grandpa and a model car too.

Pizza Cake; white cake "crust", strawberry jam "sauce", grated white chocolate "cheese" and fruit roll-up "pepperoni" and "green peppers". Sounds kind of strange, but it was actually good...sweet, but good.

Grandpa Waite helped Treyson put together his model car... a Ford Mustang. Treyson has a thing for Mustangs. :)

Happy Birthday Treyson!!!

Water skiing with the Hodges

For our family vacation this year, we went North...Post Falls, ID. We stayed with Krissi and Steve Goodmansen, and their family, in their brand new home. They had just moved in on a Tuesday and we were there on that Saturday!

When Bob and Karen Hodge found out that we would be in the area, they invited us out to their home in Medical Lake, WA, for some lunch and water skiing.

The Hodge's home on their private lake.

Abree modeling her brand new swimsuit.

Are we ready for some FUN?!

Bob Hodge

Jason was first up..or should I say down. 

On his second or third try, he did the splits and pulled his hamstring. Later it turned black and blue and he had a big knot on the back of his thigh. It's been weeks and it still bothers him occasionally. He hurt himself good.

Bob showing us how it's done.

Taylee was next up.

She struggled to keep her skis straight up, so Bob got in the water to try and help. After many tries without success, it was someone else's turn.

Rylee tried to get up on the wake board.

She was determined, but didn't have success that day.

Bobby, Bob's oldest son, was a patient, kind teacher and boat driver.

Bob thought he had a solution to Taylee's problem. He duct taped rocks to the back of the skis so that they would stay down in the water. Taylee got a second chance. The skis stayed down... but so did Taylee. Lots of close calls, but no success at getting up.

Treyson decided he would try it too. After several attempts he called it quits.

He said, "Mom... I'm a quitter."

I said, "I don't think you're a quitter. I'm proud of you for trying."

Funny kid.

Our family didn't actually get up that day, but I appreciated their determination and was glad they had the opportunity.

Thank you to the Hodge Family for your kindness and generosity.