Harry Potter Clan

Introducing our cast of characters. (Drum roll, please.)
Ron Weasley, played by Isaac.
Ron with Scabbers, his pet rat.
"Expecto Patronum!" says Harry Potter, played by Lucas.
Head of her class, Hermoine Granger, played by Ariel.
Hedwig, Harry's pet Snowy Owl and magical familiar, played by Elsie.
Albus Dumbledore, played by Michael, and Professor McGonagall, played by Lisa.
The entire cast and crew on their magical mystery tour.A mysterious dementor joined our group. Who is that masked man?

Jackpot Boy

While Trick or Treating last night, we came to a home/business with a large window display with many different size decorative spiders. It was the 4th annual "Guess How Many Spiders" contest. The prize was a 5 pound Hersey's chocolate bar. We got a phone call at 9 pm and were told Isaac was the winner out of over 300 guesses. The correct number of spiders was 312, and Isaac guessed 312 exactly. They delivered the candy bar today after school. Isaac's expression here is to let you know it is a very heavy candy bar.

Another one bites the dust

Last week both computers crashed. Mike and I were asked to speak in church. It was looking like we were going to have to prepare the old fashioned way, using books that are within our reach and writing our talks out by hand. Luckily, by the end of the week we borrowed a laptop from our friend. I have a camera loaded with pictures that I cannot download yet.

I entered a contest that ended last week to be a Snowmama at Park City Ski Resort, which required I write blog posts and give tips on taking a family skiing/boarding. The winner gets a week's paid vacation at the resort and a family season pass. My kids might be even more excited than I am about the prospect of winning. Everyday Lucas or Isaac asks me if I have won.

There was a spot on the application for your blog address. I was planning on doing lots of great blog posts to increase my chances of getting picked. That did not happen because our computers are out of commission. I even had to ask Haley to help me fill out my online application. Bless her heart. She was able to cut and paste my essays into the application by logging into my email account. The essays were so long we stayed on the phone for about two hours as I bossed her around, having her fix problems. I didn't have access to my photos to submit with my application so Haley had to find photos to use off my blog. It was a very kind thing for my high school senior sister to do on a weekend evening.

The boys are acting like they are in a read-a-thon. This month Isaac has read the complete Harry Potter series and Lucas read the Ready Freddy series. Isaac stays up until the crack of dawn reading. I am up early this morning on the first day of fall break because the sound of Lucas rustling pages was too much for me to sleep through.

Ariel has learned to write her name and loves practicing writing letters. Her teachers at preschool have taught her how to hold her pencil correctly and she takes it very serious.

Elsie is growing many teeth right now. Her top and bottom gums are both totally swollen. She is climbing up and down on everything -- a very dangerous hobby. She climbed up on a stepping stool and was almost on the counter when I grabbed her. She is fast and there have been several falls. Oh, I gave her a haircut yesterday. I lopped off her mullet into somewhat of a bob.

I pulled out the sewing machine Monday and started to sew our Halloween costumes. For the first time we recycled costumes from previous years. Everyone has grown so I still needed to make three new ones. Photos to be uploaded soon, I hope. Keeping my computer fingers crossed.

Mike did his first cleft lip/palate repair yesterday.

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous.