Halloween Festivities

Monday started off our Halloween craziness. Actually, I take that back. Pacen had the first official Halloween party on Saturday at a friend's house. But Monday I got to be a driver for Camry's kindergarten pumpkin patch field trip.

Seriously, who doesn't remember going to the pumpkin patch in kindergarten?!?! It's a great day. And Camry had tons of fun and I was really glad to be able to spend some time with her in her element. If you can't tell, she's doing just fine in Kindergarten. She feels right at home. Camry is just that way and I knew she would be, but her teacher is really amazing and I'm so happy with her.

I had to laugh at Cam because the rules were that you had to pick a pumpkin that you could carry back to the classroom and she could pick it up but there was no way she was getting that thing all the way to the classroom.

It's a good thing I was driving and technically she didn't have to get it all the way to the classroom and she could leave it in my car. She took like 7 minutes of serious searching for that pumpkin and I just didn't have the heart to tell her to look for a smaller one. I'm a softy!

The whole class. Camry will name everyone for you if you even give her one second. :)

We liked the pumpkin patch so well, we went back the very next day! It was just my turn for preschool this week and I would always much rather take the kids on field trips that plan out a regular day. It's not like it's easier but it's more fun I guess. The kids were excited to go. And let me tell you, it is so much easier taking a whole class of kindergarteners than it is taking this little group of 3 year olds! We had a higher adult to kid ratio with the 3 year olds and they were much more exhausting!

Our little group. Look at the face on Claira! She was mad because when we left I told her to wear jeans but she refused and then when we got there she didn't want to sit on the hay because it hurt and I said something along the lines of "I told you so" and she did not find it amusing. I did. Just a little. :)

Ethan and Callie.

The mini-maze.

Claira didn't have the patience!

The corn sand box. I guess since there is no sand you could really just call it a corn box.

Gentry was only a fan from a distance.

There was lots of hand-holding to try to keep this group together.

Me and my girls!

I tried my hardest to get all the kids sitting on a pumpkin for a cute group picture but this was what I ended up with. Oh man.

This morning I had my other day of preschool and we did many many Halloween things and it was so fun! Pacen and Camry have been obsessed with "Freeze Dance" and we do it all the time now and I did it with the preschool kids and they loved it too!

Tomorrow we have the Zinch work thing where we just take the kids into the office to trick or treat there (even though we are like the only people anymore who have kids!), then it's the church Halloween party/trunk or treat, Saturday is soccer and a friend birthday party, Sunday is Than's birthday and then Monday is Halloween! It's a marathon of candy and excitement!

Than is driving home from the airport even as I type. He took a red eye to New York City last night and went to a few meetings and then came home. Is that the new normal for life these days? It still seems crazy to me but people do it all the time. I have working appliances now, still no cabinets to put things away, so for dinner I bought a frozen lasagna. When I was dishing it out Pacen said all excited, "We can have a real oven dinner now?" Yes, if you call frozen lasagna a real oven dinner, then why yes we can! There have been a few too many sandwiches and frozen burritos in this house lately. Gentry is getting sick again. I don't know what is going on with her but she is all runny nosed and not feeling 100% lately. Penny got a haircut and is just about the cutest thing right now. I love her when she's all clean and has her haircut. Unlike me who still hasn't had a haircut and my hair is ridiculously long and really not cute. But that's okay because I can say with all the excitement in the world.....FIVE weeks until we leave for HAWAII!!! Woohoo!

two more things....

I just have to write down two things that my kids have said that has made me laugh this week.

Camry said this as she was handing me her unfinished food. "Mom, will you hold this and NOT eat it?" What?!? Like I just eat all your food or something! Rude! :) Okay, I do eat all your food.

And Claira said this while playing with my hair. "Mom, your hair is turning black." So I haven't had time to get in to Summer to get my hair done....rub it in! :)

Oh, how I love my kids.

Oh!!!! And Gentry can now say "Hi"...it sounds like Hi-ya and it's so cute. And she can say bye and mama. Big milestones.

The weekend update.

We had a fantastic weekend!! It was just fun, fun, fun and now we have to gear up for the busiest week ever....Halloween week! So many parties and so much candy and costume wearing. We love it! Okay, I 90% love it and 10% think...when I was a kid we did not do this much Halloween stuff!

The weekend started on Friday when I went to my first ever MKO....kindergarten mom's night out. If you know me, then you know my general opinion about girls night out....I'm just not a fan. Not that I don't enjoy getting out sometimes, I just have issues. :) Anyway, so when I got the email I was a bit hesitant to go but I thought it would be fun to get to know some other kindergarten moms and it really was. All the mom's (13 showed up!) were super friendly and we got to know each other and it was a lot of fun. My favorite part of the night was when they were passing around the margaritas and I said that I didn't drink and one lady said, "You have four kids AND you DON'T drink!" I love being a mormon out here in California. It's fun to see people's reactions to things like that. Than was on his first campout with the boys so the kids had Emma babysit and were happy campers. Ha. It's late alright.

Saturday was filled with soccer games, Pacen's first Halloween party, we finally got rid of Sam's stuff to Becca who is moving to Sacramento, Than went to a baptism, and then we had a DATE night! Yes, they still happen every now and then. It was our friend's birthday and we ate some delicious Thai food and went bowling where I kicked everyone's butt! It was awesome. I bowled a 178 and a 156 or something like that. Then we got some omg ice cream at the SF creamery and I really did say omg when I ate it, it was so delicious. With all of that, we still got to watch some of the BYU game and Than got to snuggle with Gentry (on our new cute couch!).

Now get ready for the cutest picture of me and my kids ever.....

This was right before we left for church today and oh my stinkin' heck my kids are cute. Today was the Primary program and the kids did awesome!!!! Pacen and Camry went right up to the microphone and said their parts, Camry sang in a small group and it was such a fun day. Pacen's buddy and his mom came to watch him, too, so that is always fun bringing someone to church for the first time. They each answered a question for their speaking part in the program. Pacen's line was, "One way I can treat my body like a temple is by keeping it clean from sin." Good one, buddy! Camry's was, "When I listen to the prophet, I like to sit quietly and be good." Most of the time, I'd say that one is true. :) They both did such a great job and we are sooooo proud of them. It's a hard thing to get up there and speak in front of a whole ward. Love you kiddos!

Our Sunday ended with Camry and I making her "Star of the Week" poster. She is so excited to be the Star of the week. Like...soooooo excited. She has been talking about it for weeks and her time is finally here! It was fun looking at old pictures of her. She was such a darling little toddler and three year old and I just forget those things. She's a doll and now is just the cutest little kindergartener there ever was!

And tomorrow I'm driving for Camry's field trip to the pumpkin patch! The fun never ends around here!

Oh Gentry!

I am a mother of four. I 'know' better. But sometimes it's just fun to see what a baby does with a bowl of soup.

Messy babies are happy babies. Go ahead and put that one on a plaque. :)

And babies that play with mommy's phone are happy babies. It's so funny how obsessed she is (and all of my kids were) with electronics. She knows how to use a remote, an ipad, bang on a keyboard, talk on the phone. She's basically ready to head out into the working world.

And she is mastering peek-a-boo and blew a kiss to me last night! She has been so snuggly lately. I think she knew I needed a little extra love with Than gone and I'll take it! I love it when she wants me to hold her and she lays her head on my shoulder and my heart just swells with love for this little girl. This little girl who thinks that she is a big girl and wants to run around with the big sisters. She has been LOVING going to sleep in the same room as Camry and Claira. As in loving, I mean like talking to them and playing for at least a half hour before anyone is asleep but I sort of love it. I totally remember sleeping in the same bed as Emily and not wanting to sleep by myself. Sisters are the best.

Love you Gentry pie.

PS. Stay little.

Living in the new house...

From day one, we have found what we have been looking for in moving to a house. We have had a yard for the kids to play in, and other neighborhood kids that they can play with. Seriously on the first day that we lived in the house, we had a knock at the door and they've been playing ever since.

Pacen has Dylan and Connor. Connor was in his class last year and Dylan is in first grade but swam with them. They are either playing soccer, or soccer, or soccer lately. It's soccer season around here.

Camry and Claira have Morgan who is Connor's sister and is in Camry's class. Claira calls her Morgie....pronounced more like mowgie and it's pretty cute. They play princesses and barbies and barbies and princesses. I'm glad that Claira is getting in on the fun.

And even though we are in Fall, Camry has gotten some use out of the pool on hot days. It's not heated so she's CRAZY, but she had fun.

This was actually on the very first day we lived here! Really not happy about me taking her picture though. :)

This was last week sometime. She was loving it and it was pretty hot but certainly not hot enough for me to get in!

While camry played, Gentry cried. She just wanted in so badly and it made me ever so thankful that we finally put our pool fence in!

"Oh, come on! Just open the gate, Mom!"

It was pretty fascinating watching them install the fence. We bought the fence off someone on craigslist and then found someone to install it. They had to drill holes into the concrete and had everything measured just right and it was hard work, and it was pouring down rain! But it is up and now I don't have to worry about my kids outside which is such a relief.

Today on the other hand was practically perfect weather. The morning was cool and it got warm in the afternoon. Soccer practice was canceled so we headed out to the park and Gentry was EVERYWHERE! She was climbing on everything and we taught her how to go down the slide on her belly and wanted to be in the swing. I was exhausted chasing her around. But it was just one of those perfect days where the weather was just beautiful and it was fun to be out running around with the kids. The kitchen is still not done. The granite didn't get finished so when the appliance install guys showed up on my porch this morning they had nothing to do. ARGH! So I still have all my appliances just sitting in my living room in boxes and our only sink being in our upstairs bathroom. But we do have a working fridge that isn't in the garage so I went out and bought some food tonight. I can't wait to eat tomorrow. :) Living in the new house has been fun. I've gotten an adults bbq party invite for Saturday that I can't go to, a birthday party invite, and a pre-trick or treating dinner invite from the people on our street so I think that if social is what we were looking for, social we found! We went for a walk down to the end of our street the other day and it was just so fun to see other people out walking their dogs and being outside (I was going to say working in their yards but really it was their gardener working in their yards for them!). That was Camry's 'best' for the day. Just going for a walk. I love that. I will be happy when we are done with the work part because then I can get out all of my stuff that I love so much like all my pictures and all my junk that I put out in attempt to make my house cute. I just needed my picture of mom and me out today so I searched a few boxes to find it but I did and put it out and it just made my new house more like our home. I'm really happy that we are here. I feel like we have found the right place for the kids right now and I'm just really happy that they are so happy.