Halloween Festivities

Wow, has it been a crazy several days of parties, and while I must say it has been fun, I must also say that I am SO glad it is over.

It all started with carving pumpkins. My parent's came to watch Ally's Primary Program (which I must say she did an amazing job) and we decided to carve pumpkins that day.


Ally doesn't really mind carving pumpkins.

But Devin was completely grossed out by the insides and would freak out if any of it touched him... we were all laughing at him, because it was pretty hilarious.

The result...


A few days later Alex got sick... he still is.
On Thursday, October 28th, I hosted Devin's play group Halloween party at our house.
I put on a luncheon and had the kids make spider cookies.



Once again we tried to get a picture of all the kids... and once again it didn't work out so well...

Did I mention that Ally woke up with a cold this morning?... yeah, she had to stay upstairs while we had the party downstairs.

On Friday, October 29th was Ally's Halloween activities at school. So we, got her all dressed up as a witch.



My parents came down to watch Ally's Halloween Parade at her school.

We waited for 45 minutes to see her walk by for less than a minute around the gym... but that's all part of it...

Then my parents watched Devin so I could go back to Ally's class Halloween Party... did I mention I was in charge of it? For my part I had the kids make spider cookies and pom pom spiders.


The it was time for actual Halloween... well, since Halloween was on a Sunday this year, all of the trick-or-treating was done on the 30th... and who woke up with a cold this day? Devin.




We went with some friends to the mall, where the kids got candy from the stores and played around. Then we went to Wingers after for some dinner all together.


Then we went trick-or-treating with those same friends and their kids that night. Devin didn't want anything to do with trick-or-treating, so after a few houses Alex took him back to our house to pass out candy. Ally, got lots of candy though.

Who do you think woke up sick today???? Miraculously, no one NEW was sick.
The actual Halloween day brought another party... only this time for only half of us. Devin and Alex were just too sick to join in this time. So, Ally and I drove up to Salt Lake to spend the evening with my family. Here are some of the pics from our evening:

My niece, Kaylee:

And my other niece, Emily:

And my favorite witch:

We also all got in on turtle races.

And who was the overall winner?

My mom!

So, that was our crazy week of parties and sickness... and should I mention who woke up sick on Monday morning?.... hmmmm, there was only one person left in our little family to get sick.... yep, that's me, lucky, sick me.

Random Moments

Have I mentioned that I am very busy? Seriously, I think this is has been the busiest I have ever consistently been in my life!

Anyway, there is a bunch of us mom's in our neighborhood that get together on Thursday's and let the kids play while we talk... somehow I kind of got roped to be in charge of it.
On the 14th, we went to a pumpkin patch and corn maze place. Ally was out for Fall Break, so she got to come too. We tried to get a picture of the entire group... yeah, it didn't work so well:

Here are some more pics I took, even if I spent the entire time pretty much chasing Devin around...





Moving on, remember my stress over Ally's habitat a while ago... well, here is how it turned out:

And her beautiful paint job:

And here is her leopard that she made:

And the leopards I made her, after she feel apart saying her's wasn't good enough:

(luckily her cute paint job made up for my poor sculpturing).

Now today, Ally's school had a "Fun Run". The kids were supposed to get pledges to run around 2 laps. I am totally for donating to the school for something like this... now those stupid fundraisers where you have to buy something like chocolates or really expensive wrapping paper and the school get a tiny percentage... I HATE THOSE!!! Anyway, Devin and I went to cheer Ally on... I mean, I've got to get my gratification for my donation, right?

But man was I surprised, this girl can RUN!!!

She finished in the top five for her grade... the first girl! She finished in front of most of the 5th and 6th graders too. I'm thinking watch out track and field, here comes MY champion. (Yeah, I'm an overzealous present, but hey I'm pretty proud).

Here is Ally with her teacher, who I happen to ADORE!

Devin loved sitting in his stroller next to Nathaniel and giving his Cheerios to his buddy.


So, those are some random moments caught on film to catch up just a small portion of my life.

Finally!

We meant to put sprinklers in this Spring, however life threw us a huge curveball and it was postponed. But luckily, we started this past weekend. We are halfway through due to 3 of the amazing men in my life: my father-in-law, my dad and my husband.

We started on Saturday... my dad and mom came and my father-in-law and my step-mother-in-law (is that really what I should call her?... I just call her "Lisa").

Here is the "before" picture... (the "after" picture won't be coming until next spring).


Alex and Sam spent a lot of time trying to figure it all out, they only messed up a few times.



Devin, of course had to be in the middle of everything.







And this is what he looked like the end of every day:


We spent another 6 hours (just Alex and I) finishing laying pipe in the front yard yesterday... now on to the back yard!!!

to be continued...