Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a great one!

Class Party

I had the privilege helping out with Anna's class party. Those five years old are spunky but a lot of fun!
The first activity they had set up was Halloween Bingo. Once they got Bingo they got these awesome spider hats!Anna and her friend Ella Grace (Crazy how close her name is with Ellie and Grace...Anna was meant to be her friend!) They both got butterflies painted on their faces.
Sara was able to come and participate as well. Here she is trying to pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern.
Playing Bingo with the big kids.
All in all I think it was a success. Love how easy they are to please at this age!

Pumpkin Carving

We finally decided to carve pumpkins. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. But I got to say it paid off. I was able to get the pumpkins for more than fifty percent off. Score! The girls had theirs from the field trips that they took with their schools and they were pretty excited to carve them. That is until Rob told Anna that she was old enough to clean out her own pumpkin. She was not excited to touch the pulp and the seeds (she even used those terms...They learned about pumpkins in nutrition last week.). Sara kept saying that she wanted to turn her pumpkin into a jack o lantern. I don't know where she learned the term, but she is getting pretty smart!
Anna's final product. We let her design it how she wanted. She went a little crazy this year!
All four of the pumpkins.
And the silly picture. What crazy girls I have!

Trunk or Treat

Does anyone else feel like Halloween is now a week long event instead of one night? This last week has been crazy. We had our ward's trunk or treat last night and it was a huge success. Kudos to our Primary Presidency that was in charge of it this year. They had a great carnival set up for the kids to do while the parent's got the cars ready. The biggest hit was the fish pond. I remember doing this as a little kid and loved it.

Sara wasn't feeling too well and didn't have a lot of sleep the night before, so she was a little bit grumpy all night. I love this picture that my friend captured. Poor Sara!
My witch and my butterfly...All ready for candy!
After we were done trunk or treating Anna wanted to go back and help daddy. I love this picture! Could their smiles get any bigger?!
Sara's happiness shining through once again.
We also had a chili cook off. Rob has been wanting to win one for quite awhile now, so I entered him into this one as well. Funny thing, he wasn't able to do the chili since he had to study, so I did it all for him. The most he did was carry the crock pot into the church for me. Well, he won first runner up. He even got a certificate with his name on it. So, now Rob has the bragging rights...Too bad I'm the one that did it all!

The hunt

As mentioned in the previous post, we were invited to a Halloween party for just the adults. It can get a little crazy competitive. One of the reasons is the scavenger hunt. We have about thirty to forty things that we are sent out to find. There are usually 10 pictures that have to be taken, 10 items that have to be collected, 10 fill in the blank items that we have to find around town and that is not including all of the crazy puzzles that we are doing in the meantime. We have one hour to do this and it gets a little crazy. One of the rules that had to be established is that everyone has to obey the law. I guess there were a couple of years where accidents almost occurred. Like I said, crazy competitive! I had the camera, so I get to document the pictures that were taken. The best is that party throwers upload all of the pictures onto their computer and then put them on Facebook for all to see. Awesome!
We had to get our picture taken with a jack o lantern pizza...With one leg up on a shiny red fire hydrant....
Doing a Charlie's Angels pose in front of the neighborhood watch sign...
Doing a cheer in a baseball dugout....

With our hands up on the police department wall...Doing the hula in front of a certain church that was hosting a luau...
On a pirate ship...
Being zombies at a dead end sign...
and by a waterfall.
This picture was taken shortly after Rob threw up. As I mentioned, there are several puzzles (I think six total) that we have to complete to get clues for other items as well. Rob was the problem solver for about three of them, and I guess they really got to him. He about lost it in our friends car. We are so glad he made it out before. But, he can no longer make fun of me for getting car sick. The best part was that after he threw up he got back into the car and started up on the puzzles again.

After all was said and done, we only missed about ten points and came in second place. It was awesome! We loved the party and are so sad that the hosts are moving the end of this year. We're already looking for someone to fill in for them, although no one will ever be able to take their places. Thanks Langfords. You are the best!

Costume Party

We were invited to a costume party. Now, this party is pretty intense and you have to come dressed up. So, for about two months now I have been thinking about what we could do. My first thought was to be Fred and Daphne from Scooby Doo. But I didn't think it would be very appropriate to go as a pregnant Daphne. So last week I came up with the idea to have Rob be Tom Hanks character from Castaway and I would be the volleyball, Wilson. It was a lot of fun to prepare for it. Anna decided to document it with the pictures.
Rob getting his "bloody" hand print on me.He did a pretty good job.
Our awesome photographer.
The final product.
Rob went all out with the paint. The best was Sara's reaction. She kept getting tissues, trying to wipe off the dirt. And here we are at the party. We didn't win anything, but everyone knew who we were. That's a good start!

Preparing for Halloween

These are just a couple of random pictures that show how we prepared for this Halloween. As much I despise the actual holiday I do love decorating for it. Let me clarify...I love to decorate the fun, cute Halloween. I detest the scary stuff.
The first thing I did was the mantle. I thought it turned out pretty good.
Sara wanted to be a witch this year. Here she is all ready for her preschool party.The girls got another surprise package from Grandpa and Grandma Hadfield. This one was a Halloween themed one but it also included our first outfit for the upcoming boy. The girls were thrilled to see that!

Anna's Birthday

It's hard to believe that my sweet Anna is six! Words cannot describe how much I love this little girl. She is one of the most thoughtful, loving little girls I know. I was talking to her school teacher the other day and when I asked how she was doing she just said, "She is perfect!". She is reading and writing above her level and her memory is giving me a run for my money.
I wanted to try and make her birthday a special day since we don't really have a lot of people to celebrate with. So, I told her I would bring her lunch from anywhere. She chose Arby's of all places...But it was her birthday, so I had to oblige her. It was so fun to walk into the cafeteria and see her big grin and have all of her friends want to come and sit by us (I wonder how long until it is no longer cool for your mom to eat with you).
When she got home I made sure she had balloons and flowers. Sara picked them out for her.She also got a package from Grandpa and Grandma Hadfield...A new ballet bag. We're excited that they will be here next week to celebrate big with us! She also got cards from Great Grandma Colledge and cousin Jayde. She received several phone calls from family and friends as well. She was very well loved!
I had to capture this. While Anna was on the phone with one of her friends, Sara and Rob were goofing around. This is their silly faces.
That night we had Anna's favorite dinner, goulash, and then it was time to open presents. She got a new coloring book where her picture can be placed into all of the coloring scenes.
Sara gave her a new Barbie movie (Sara's really into Barbies right now!).
Mom and Dad gave her the new chair. She loves it and will even share with Sara. That's another thing I love about Anna. She is a wonderful big sister!
Some of Anna's favorites at age 6...

Favorite Food - goulash
Favorite Restaurant - Steak 'n Shake
Favorite Movie - the old Parent Trap
Favorite Activity - She has a couple...Coloring, writing stories, reading and dancing.
Favorite Color - Pink
Friends - Emma Anderson, Sarah Galvez, Ella (from school) McKenna (from school), Jayde and Alli.
She loves to talk to Grandpa's and Grandma's and cousins on the computer. She misses Utah and always talks about when we move back how fun it will be.

So, Happy Birthday my sweet Anna! I love you more than rainbows, unicorns and chocolate ice cream!

Anna's Reaction

I have to document Anna's reaction to the ultrasound. I was showing her the pictures of the ultrasound; the head, the body, the feet, etc. I purposely avoided the four pictures that had arrows pointing to the part that showed us that he was a boy, but she saw them anyway. The following conversation occurred.

Anna, "Mom, what does that show?"

Me, "That shows us that the baby is a boy...Anna do you know what boys have that girls don't?"

Anna, after thinking for a minute, "Arrows Mom?"

This is going to be a fun one to explain!

Mini Cupcakes

Grandma sent the girls a package about a month ago that had these cute little cupcake kits in them. I finally broke down and let the girls make them tonight. Sara was hilarious! She had to make sure that all of the cupcake papers were placed correctly in each hole.Anna was proud of the fact that she was able to get them all in the right place as well.
We made chocolate with cream cheese frosting. After they were baked and cooled the girls got to frost them all themselves. It was quite interesting.

I even allowed sprinkles. See, I can be a fun mom some times!
Anna's completed project. She went a little crazy on the sprinkles.
Sara actually did pretty good...Not too many sprinkles, but not a lot of frosting either.
Sara's finished product.
So funny story. I turned my back on Sara for five minutes to help Anna with hers. When I turned back around, that little monkey had ate all twelve of her cupcakes and was asking for more. Thank goodness they were the mini ones. I thought she would be up running around on a sugar high, but she did crash.

Thanks for the fun package Grandma! We love you!