Trunk or Treat

Our ward held their trunk or treat the weekend before Halloween.  The kids were excited to get to wear their costumes for the first time.  We had an incident with Steven the night before.  We were getting the kids ready for bed and Steven kept insisting that he had an ear infection.  At first we weren't sure we believed him because we had just been talking about how often he gets them.  But he kept insisting that his ear hurt; we finally decided to have Karl take him in but told him if he was lying he would have to miss out on trunk or treating.  Although I didn't think we would ever know for sure he was lying since it is possible for your ear to hurt without it being infected. Karl took him to the doctor and of course his ear was perfectly fine.  On the the way out of the doctor's office he turned to Karl and said "I can't believe you fell for that!"  Needless to say we were pretty ticked.  The pointless appointment ended up costing us about $80 and even more we were mad that he lied to us.  So he lost his trunk or treating privileges.  The day of he helped me clean the house so I told him he could earn back half the cars.  There were many tears that night when his brother and sister got to do more cars than him and therefore get more candy.  Hopefully he learned his lesson that lying is not ok. 
Here they are in their costumes.  Summer was a Candy Corn Witch, Steven was Batman and Matthew was a skeleton.

Normally Karl would take the kids around to the cars and I would pass out the candy but we decided to change it up this year!

Crazy Hair Day!!

One of the days for Red Ribbon Week this year was Crazy Hair Day.  The boys were super excited about so we gelled their hair so it stuck up all over.  I must say it was much easier than making their hair look nice!  I think everyday should be Crazy Hair Day!!

 Summer thought she needed her picture taken too!

 I think this is the first picture I have of Matthew in his new glasses!  I got a letter from the school in October informing me that he had failed the vision screening at school.  I appreciated them letting me know that there was a problem but was annoyed that they included a form to be filled out by the eye doctor.  And they didn't just want his signature either.  They wanted all the details of the appointment including his prescription.  Um no, I don't think so....it is NONE of their business. I understand that not every parent out there is responsible but it annoys me that they just assume that we won't be.  I don't need the school micromanaging how I raise my children.  Why not give the parents a chance and then if nothing is done, then try to contact them and see if they need help with a referral or financial help or whatever.  I didn't even take the letter to the appointment.  I figured when he showed up at school with glasses they would know that we had taken care of it.   And gasp, I did it without their interference!!   But anyway I think he looks so handsome in his glasses!!  Both Karl and I were in 3rd grade when we started wearing glasses!  Gotta love those genetics!!

Zoo

During fall break my parents, sister and I decided to take the kids to the zoo.  Unfortunately Karl couldn't come because he had to work.  The admission price had gone up by quite a bit since the last time I had been there.  It's so frustrating that everything costs so much.  I decided just to buy a family year pass because it would pay for itself with just a couple of trips.  Being fall break it was very crowded.  There were a few new exhibits since the last time I had been there, a new bear exhibit and sea lions.  It was very nice.  I didn't get very many pictures but here are a few. 

My parents bought each kids a ticket to ride the merry-go-round.  It was hard to get a picture.  Almost got Steven in this picture, he is just going out of the shot.  On the far right in the blue shirt.

My niece Annika on the lion, Steven is just behind in the blue shirt and Jillian is just behind him I think

After that I gave up trying to get a picture.  We stopped at Burger King on the way home for lunch.  It was a fun day, we just wish Daddy could have been there.  Now that we have that pass though we can go back!!

Summer's field trip

In October Summer's preschool class went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch.  I got to go with her.  We all met at the nursery and rode on a hayride to the pumpkin patch.  It was quite a bumpy ride for this pregnant woman.  When we got there the kids were each able to pick a pumpkin for free.  If the adults wanted one or if the kids wanted more than one they had to be paid for.   Summer got one but that's it.  We had plenty of pumpkins from our family trip to the pumpkin patch so I saw no need to buy more.  Summer took quite a long time picking her pumpkin.  She wanted big ones but I didn't want to try to carry anything too big.  She finally found a good sized one that I felt comfortable carrying so we were set.  We rode back to the cars and went home.  I had a fun time spending some time with my sweet girl.

Summer with her prize pumpkin

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch one Saturday in October.  We found this one last year and like it because it is free.  You only have to pay for the pumpkins.  They also have a fun little maze that is perfect for the kids. 

Summer disappearing around the corner

Steven's going up the stairs (blue jacket) and Matthew in bottom right corner

Summer and me!  You can see Steven on the bridge

See the baby bump

Kids were not cooperating very well for these pics

Ouch!!

One afternoon after picking Summer up from preschool, Karl who was working the evening shift was getting ready for work and Summer was coloring on a piece of paper.  After awhile she was running around the room and dancing with the piece of paper in her hand.  Pretty soon she started screaming and holding her eye.  We figured out that she had hit herself in the eye with the corner of the paper.  She was in a lot of pain and wouldn't take her hand off of her eye.  After trying to decide what to do we decided to run her into the the doctor before Karl had to go to work and the boys had to be picked up from school.  We were lucky to get an appointment right away.  We went in and found out she had scratched her cornea.  They put some antibiotic drops in it and a pain killer and then patched her eye up.  They said to keep it on for 24 hours and then it should be healed.  If not then it meant she cut it deeper than they though and she would have to go to an eye specialist.  She slept pretty much the rest of the day and then all night.  When she woke up the next morning the first thing she said was "My eye doesn't hurt anymore!"  When we hit the 24 hr mark I took off the patch and she has been fine ever since. Thank goodness!!

Poor little girl!!  This is pretty much what she did all day!