Best Neighborhood Decorations

I was pretty impressed last year, when I saw how many houses in my neighborhood had Halloween decorations. A lot of the houses didn't just have a few decorations, they had a bunch! So this year I was thrilled to see even more great houses out there. I thought it would be fun to share some pictures of the great houses...of course they look so much better at night with all the lights, sound effects, and moving parts, but this will at least give you the idea.

This one's mine. ;)

same house
again at night

Josh holding Justee

This house is probably my favorite:
Same house

I am too tired to post about how our Halloween went tonight. I will post more tomorrow.

Trunk-or-Treat

Tonight was our ward's trunk-or-treat. Sydnee wanted to invite her friend from the neighborhood, so she joined us. There was a potluck dinner and then games for the kids. Here is Justee at the fishing booth.Another game they had was the one where you tie a donut to a string and you have to eat it without using your hands. Sydnee didn't want to do it because she said she didn't like donuts (she eats donuts, so I think she was just too embarrassed.) Charlee loved it and she made me laugh so hard. After the games came the good stuff. This is the back of our Expedition. It was much cooler than it looks with the flash photo. We had scary music and a strobe light. Justee hung out with me while the other girls went from car to car. Justee would wander to the cars right next to us to get a piece of candy and then say "Tank Q."
Syd looks pretty scary in this picture. They were excited to help pass out the candy after they made the loop. Here is my cute jack-o-lantern trying to eat a sucker.

I always love TorTs. I think they are so much fun. We had a great time, and I am glad that so many people in my ward are so willing to lend me a hand. They really are great.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Yesterday was busy with Sydnee's school Halloween party and PTC. They have the kids walk through all the other classrooms in the school in their costumes. Then they return to their own rooms and have a party. I didn't get any good pics of Sydnee with Charlee and Justee keeping me on my toes, but here is a pic of her class. She is in the middle back area of the pic.

Sydnee is going to be a skeleton for Halloween and I didn't mind not getting pics at the school because I can get some tonight (Trunk or Treat) and tomorrow night.

After school I went back to talk to Syd's teacher. She said Sydnee is doing great. She is above grade level in every area but 3.(the grading system for 1st grade is like 'below grade, at grade, or above grade level, basically. There are a few in betweens, but that's the main idea.) Two of those things she is right at grade level and they are: Participates in class- her teacher said she is very quiet and doesn't say much. Completes work on time- her teacher said she isn't daydreaming or messing around. She is working the whole time, but she has to have things just right before she moves on. The one area that she is just under grade level is math. I have never really worked with math with her, so it makes sense. I guess we will have to start doing some at home. Overall, I am proud of Syd. Her reading has gotten really good really quickly and she is a great kid. Her teacher said she has lots of friends and is very respectful. I always got called "a good leader" I knew, even as a 7 year old in elementary, that that was just a nice way of saying I was bossy. ;) Sydnee's quite a bit quieter than I was.

Jack-o-lanterns!

Tuesday night was our big pumpkin carving night! It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun too. We turned on "The Worst Witch" (an old classic Halloween movie that I LOVED as a kid) and got to work. I think the movie replayed 4 times before I was even near done.

I went to a site online where you can create your own templates. The girls had a lot of fun picking what they wanted their pumpkin to look like, then we printed them off.

Justee had fun playing in the pumpkin. I even caught her taking bites off the spoon she was using to clean out her pumpkin. The face Justee is making, kind of makes her look like her jack-o-lantern. ;)
Charlee poked holes along the lines of her face; she really wanted to carve too, but she is just too little. I helped her do a little bit, and then she got mad that I was helping and went to watch the movie. Sydnee did hers all by herself. (I cleaned up the cuts a little bit after she was done.) She did a great job.

Taking a break from carving to watch the movie:

Once I was finished helping the girls, I started on my own creations. I did a haunted house and a ghost with bats. I wanted to try the method where you don't cut out any pieces, you just scrap the skin so that it is thin and the light shines through. I did that with the haunted house. It turned out ok, but man it took a long time, and it was very messy.
The girls' faces:We got some lights that change color to put in the girls' pumpkins, so here is some of the variety:

After the girls were put to bed, I took on the task of creating a pumpkin topiary. I saw the idea on Tracy's blog and thought it would be fun. I thought it would be faster and easier than carving 3 pumpkins. Boy was I wrong. It took a long time to clean them all out, make them fit stacking, poke all the holes and stick the lights in. Then, as I was carrying the heavy thing to the front porch, I wobbled as I was setting it down and the top pumpkin fell off, pulling the lights out of it. I had to re-poke them in. I think it turned out pretty neat...not perfect, but it's DONE. Thanks for the idea Tracy!


The aftermath:

First Fire

I was going to put this little note in Sunday's post, but I forgot about it until now...When Justee is not playing peek-a-boo with whoever is sitting in front of us or behind us at church, she is trying to run around. One thing that she will sit still for, is when the sacrament is being passed. She gets very excited for the bread and water. She has been known to scream at the poor boy who takes the tray away from us, but the screaming has been replaced by a very polite "Tank Q" the past few weeks. I hope this change is permanent...I won't hold my breath.

Last night the girls were saying they were cold so I decided to start up the fireplace. Fires are one of my favorite things about the change of the seasons.

The girls love sitting in front of it, especially after a bath, to warm up.

This is random: Our neighborhood is infested with rabbits. They are everywhere. My girls love this though. They think it is pretty cool that there are always rabbits in our yard. Here is one hanging out in our graveyard:

Monday, Monday

Justin informed me of this website: http://hawkpilot.com/. It has pics and a little info about what they are doing during their mobilization. He said it will be maintained the whole time they are gone, so that is good news. My favorite and least favorite feature is the time counter at the bottom of the home page. It tells how long they have until they come home. Hmmm, if only I could find a way to speed that up.

The girls and I put together a little Halloween package for Justin. It has some treats and some pictures the girls colored for him. I included some of Justin's favorite cereal...It seems odd, but I couldn't resist because it fits the Halloween theme perfectly. :) I'm sending some air freshener to him too, cause after I made my annual trip to Bath & Body Works for some new fall scents; I have been telling Justin how great our house smells. He said to send some to him so his room could smell like home. Sydnee picked out the spider because she said, "That would be good to scare Daddy."

Primary Program

Why did I spend time helping Sydnee to memorize her primary program part (For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children. (2 Nephi 4:15)) when she was just going to stand up there and let her lines be fed to her piece by piece? She had it memorized perfectly...Oh well, at least she can say it for her dad on the phone.

Last night, while on the phone with Justin, I was telling him about my "problem." My "problem" goes by the name of Justee. Justee has really started to get into EVERYTHING! I can't turn my back on that girl without her getting into something she shouldn't. As I was saying goodbye to Justin, I looked down at Justee...She had a glue stick and was putting it on her lips like it was chap stick. I should say she was putting it on her face like it was chap stick. She had just had a bath and her legs and hands were covered in marker and her hair and face were covered with glue. ahh!

Charlee has quite a bit of hair and it gets sooo tangled at night. That girl is a rough sleeper. While I was trying to comb through the crazy mop, I suggested a haircut. (I do this periodically, but I don't think I could bring myself to cut her hair, not more than a couple inches anyway.) Charlee informed me, with attitude, that "Daddy said my hair is supposed to be long and when it gets long, I don't need a haircut. That's what Daddy said!" Who lied to this girl and told her Daddy is in charge?

After church Charlee asked when Daddy was coming home. This is the first time any of them has asked since he left last Sun. I guess they are used to him being gone a week at a time, but now they want him home. Only 4 1/2 weeks left. At least this next week should go by pretty fast with Halloween and all it's surrounding activities.

Loving Ourselves and Others

The YW lesson for tomorrow is about "Loving Ourselves and Others."

I found a cute idea for a handout online with rubber duckies (in essence of the "Ugly Duckling".) I saw these wood cutout ducks at Hobby Lobby and thought they were even cuter. I attached the Mormonad that reads:

"Reflect on this: You are a child of God. With his help, you can reach your great potential. (See Romans 8:16-17.)"

I wasn't going to bring any other treats this time, then I remembered it was the last Sunday before Halloween. I can't let Halloween go by without doing something fun for it. So I filled these goody bags with gingersnaps (Justin's favorite so I can send him some too) and some other Halloween goodies.

The cute duck and the jack-o-lantern go together so nicely. ;)

My Award

Jamie has bestowed this award on me. I am soooooooooooooo flattered!!!!
This award comes with a requirement; I need to post 6 things I value & 6 things I do not, then pass it on to 6 other awesome bloggers!
Here we go.


Things I Value:
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
Family
Unconditional Love
Friends
Peace of Mind
Honesty

Things I Do Not Value:
Dishonesty
Fancy Jewelry (don't wear it, don't need it)
Bleeding-Heart Liberals ;)
Flaky People
King size bed with only me in it. :(
Celebrities (How can people with such messed-up lives tell "normal" people what is right or wrong?)

And this award goes to:
Ranee' (cause I know how you love tags;)
Stacey Mullins
Kristin Owens
Dana (cause I haven't heard from you in a while.)
Dani Weber
Tracy Bassett (cause I want to compare mother/daughter answers. :)

One More

Ok, I have one more...



Does anyone think this guy looks like Taylor Graves? I thought it was Taylor the first time I saw him cause he sleeves were rolled up and everything. No kidding!

I know the pic is small, but that what happens when you steal off of people's facebook. ;)

Now I need to find a pic of Taylor...better go pull out the year book.

and here he is:

Twins?

One of Justin and my favorite things to do is to compare strangers, people in crowds, and people we meet, with someone else. I have compared a few people in my time that I thought looked just like someone else, but no one agrees with me. Let me know what you think about these comparisons:

First one~

This is the YW President in our ward:

The first day we went to church, Justin told me, "Look at the lady over there." I immediately exclaimed, "She looks like Aletha!"

This is my mother-in-law:

Do you see the resemblance?

Second one~

While watching the new 90210 I was introduced to a new character. My first thought was she looked like my friend Shawntay. Then I realized that she is on CSI this season too. Her name is Jessica Lucas and I think she is beautiful:

This is Shawntay with her adorable little boy, Ozz. I didn't have any pictures of Shawntay, so I stole this one off of Vicki's blog. She took some mother/child photos of them a while back.

-Shawntay, if you have any pics of yourself, in which you look more like Jessica, send them to me and I'll put them up. ;)

After a comment by Shawntay, I was inspired to find this pic of a Judy Reyes (she is on Scrubs.)My conclusion is that Shawntay looks like a lot of celebrities. :)
I have been really tempted to bring my camera to volleyball at Gold's because there is a guy who looks a lot like my friend Becky's husband. He even sounds like him. I am very tempted to pull him aside and take a pic, just so I can post it on my blog. :) There is another guy who plays who looks like Clay Aiken; only not so geeky looking.

This might be my new hobby: taking pics of unsuspecting strangers and comparing them to people I know.