Our Spooktacular Halloween!

Is it really Christmastime? I'm just finally getting around to blogging Halloween! Well, technically now I am all caught up with this blog because believe it or not, I haven't really taken any pictures (of my own family) since then! I took my camera to our Thanksgiving festivities, but it never found its way out of the bag.

Halloween was so fun this year! I just love getting the kids all dressed up. The weather was beautiful and we got a lot of trick or treating done this year!


This is the first year I've had a child be something "scary." Bennett chose to be Frankenstein quite a while ago. I was a little stressed about how I would come up with that costume, but with a little creativity (i.e. posterboard, paint, crayons, hot glue, and black felt), I was very pleased with the results! And Bennett was pleased, so that was the greatest part. He made a very cute Frankenstein and had some fun acting the part. We were able to use the same blazer he wore when he was Michael Buble 2 years ago; we just stuffed his shoulders (with soccer socks). Cheap and easy costume!






Mylie stuck with her decision from a year ago to be Snow White. That was an easy one for me since she already had a Snow White dress up. I just stiched up the rips and holes, took a tuck in it and added some velcro to the back since we usually have cinched up the dress with a silly band or hair band. I also made her a Snow White headband. One of the funnest parts is getting to wear makeup. I always love getting to add a little mascara to her long lashes...and of course red lips for the final touch.



All in keeping it cheap and easy this year, we recycled Bennett's Scarecrow costume from 5 years ago. It was fun to have an excuse to see that little costume again. Coy made a darling little scarecrow, just like Bennett did when he was two.




The next picture is when Bennett was the scarecrow. Do you see a little family resemblance?


The kids always insist I dress up. When I saw this sweater, I thought: add ears and tail, and I can be a cat. Win-win situation--I have an excuse to get a new sweater, and the kiddos are happy because I dressed up.








Russell didn't dress up this year. I think the kids eventually forgave him :)




The kids learned the art of running from house to house this year. And once Coy finally decided to let us hold him to run in between houses, we covered a lot of ground. Trick or treating is always so much fun in our neighborhood. Once the buckets were full, we headed to grandparents'  houses to eat and visit, and do a little more trick or treating. And as of today, the kids still have candy in their buckets! Coy's is almost gone though, since he got the least and asks for treats the most.

Bennett's Birthday~

Two weeks ago, we celebrated Bennett's seventh birthday! He got to do a lot of celebrating! A couple days before the actual birthday, he invited some friends to see a movie--Hotel Transylvania. Then the day of his birthday we had all of the family over for some Halloween food, music, and dancing. He also got taken out and spoiled by Russ's parents the next weekend, and taken out to eat the next week by my mom. He got his fill of celebrating. I think he is excited to be seven.

Here are some pics from the actual day:



He got to open one present real quick before he had to leave for school. It was an Ultra Stomp Rocket! He was excited to finally have one of his own. Plus it helped pass the time later that day while he waited for his guests to arrive.
I love getting to be the mom of this boy.
Bennett with his dad. I am surrounded by great guys in this family :)
Bennett & Mylie = best friends (well, most the time)
He wanted a spider web cake this year (which was nice for me...pretty easy to do that one) and then mummy hot dogs and Halloween fixin's just like last year.




The little witch hat cookies were so fun and easy to make. What did mom's ever do before the internet...Oh, I guess just be creative all on their own.




Jack-o-Lantern vegetables...Yum! And Mummy dogs. I also loved the Halloween-colored tortilla chips I came across at Walmart.
About his presents: Bennett received the first set of Magic Tree House books for his birthday last year. He has since "fallen in love" and has read almost every single on in the past year. I think he is currently on #45. The only thing he asked for for his birthday was Magic Tree House books. However, since he has discovered them at his school library and the public library, he had already checked out and read every single one I got for him. He didn't care though, he still wants the whole collection, and he now almost has it. He loves to read them to Mylie (even though I don't think she really listens most the time). He will just follow her around reading. He wants to make sure she hears all of them. He also just loves playing with and looking at t he actual books. He comes up with all sorts of games to organize them and sort them.   He also got a nice chess set. He has always loved the game chess, and at seven years old he is probably better at it than me.   Mylie wanted to get him a stuffed dog, so she picked out one that looked like Aspen, the golden retriever my parents used to have.   We also got Bennett his own digital alarm clock for his room. He is obsessed with numbers and time and always  has to know the exact minute he goes to bed so he can calculate how much sleep he gets. Now he doesn't have to ask us to check the clock for him one last time before he goes to sleep.   He also got some great books (science, activity, and piano) from relatives, including one about "Trees" that Franklin, his cousin, wrote and illustrated for him (it is the most darling book ever.)
Happy Birthday Bennett!

Bennett~

I can't believe this boy is SEVEN! He is such a joy in our family. I couldn't have asked for a better first child. He is such a wonderful older brother to his siblings and really tries to be such a good person. I can always count on him to always be honest and to always try his best at whatever he does. (Even if that means he is a little too hard on himself sometimes...i.e. perfectionist.) He is such a smartie and loves to read and learn. He is getting so good at the piano and memorizes all of his songs. He loves running and playing soccer and basketball. He is extremely logical and inquisitive and asks a lot of questions...He always wants to know and understand everything he can...even if I'm not so sure I want him to know the answer to everything just yet.

Here are a few shots I took of him just before he turned seven. I bet his smile will look a lot different next year when he turns eight. So long to the cute little baby teeth...

Remember how just two days ago...

The weather was like this? Today feels like winter. See more of this family HERE.

Some October Happenings

We always love visiting a little produce shop near our home every October. The kids get so excited! So excited that even though the wind almost blew us over when we got there, they cried when I said maybe we should just go another day! So we braved the weather and dirt blowing in our faces.

Bennett of course likes the big pumpkins. Mylie always picks a little one, and Coy wanted to pick a little one that had green on it...since green is his favorite color.

After we left the pumpkins, we went to Kobe for dinner. It is a Tepanyaki restaurant, and the kids absolutely LOVED watching the man cook our food and do his tricks. They said it is the best restaurant ever! They devoured every last bite of their steak.














Later that same week, we enjoyed General Conference. Bennett and Mylie always get so excited for conference. I hope that excitement lasts :) They did some activity sheets, played a little conference bingo, and Mormon Tabernacle choir time was apparently dance time.




Here's Mylie dancing when the choir sang.


This is Mylie's worksheet.


Mylie also worked on a chain for Halloween. I didn't have any colored construction paper left, so I cut her strips of some blue cardstock that I had. She decorated every single strip herself, then put it all together by herself using lots of tape. I can't believe she has already ripped off every single piece and that Halloween has already come and gone! I was flipping through the radio stations last night and heard Christmas music! Really? I couldn't decide if I was ready to listen to it yet or not. I ended up listening...Don't know if I'll pull out the ol' Christmas CDs just yet, though. I can't believe the holidays are already upon us. I really love this time of year!