Happy Halloween!- Part 1

The week of Halloween was BUSY! To start things off, I had the opportunity to help with Hyrum's pre-school party on Thursday. Hyrum's wonderful teacher had planned different rotations for the children to do during the Halloween party. The rotations included Candy Land, Bingo, cookie decorating, and making a cute Halloween witch. Below is a picture of Hyrum and his friend Aleece frosting cookies.Hyrum was a little whiny while I was there. During the group picture at the end he wouldn't turn around and smile. He told me later when I asked him why he was sad was that he just missed his dad.

Later that night, we went to our friends house (Carl and Starla) for an exciting little Halloween party. Below is a picture of all the kids. Back Row Left to Right Tucker, Lexi, Hailey, Kelsie, Boo, Hyrum. Bottom Row Left to Right: Skye (she moved right as I took the picture), Macey, Delanie, Maggie, Emma, Wes, Emmy and BenTo start off, the little kids marched around the cul-de-sac to the tunes of Monster Mash and Adams Family. Ben and Emily got to lead the parade one time around.

After the parade, the kids participated in some fun Halloween activities. Below are picture of the kids waiting for the activities to start. Each family was in charge of an activity for the kids to do. The children got to play a Halloween Bean Bag toss game, make a ghost sucker, play Don't Eat the Monster, play drop the clothes pin in the mason jar and Halloween Bingo. The kids all had a great time. Ben and Emmy stayed close to Brandon and myself for most of the night.


Starla was great at singing songs and doing finger plays with the kids while the refreshments were being put together. Angel made this amazing ice cream treat that looked like a candy corn. It was very yummy. After the yummy treats, the kids got to watch a Halloween movie while the adults visited. It was a great night! Thanks again Starla and Carl!

Pumpkin Painting and Carvings!

After we went to the mall and rode the carousel with my parents, we went to Wal-mart and picked out a four dollar pumpkin. Hyrum was so excited to pick out the pumpkin and when he got back to the car, he went and told my mom that it was the biggest pumpkin EVER!

Well, the biggest pumpkin ever sat on our fire place for a couple of weeks until we got around to carving it. We didn't end up carving it until last Monday, on the 25th, for Family Home Evening.

Brandon and I decided that it would be fun and easier for the kids to paint their little pumpkins instead of carving them.

At first, we helped Ben and Emily paint their pumpkins by holding the brushes with them, but after awhile, we just let them go to town by themselves.

Hyrum painted a picture of himself on his pumpkin. Hyrum the pumpkin.
Brandon helped Emmy paint a face on her pumpkin and then let her pain the other side by herself.
I was in charge of Ben and let him do whatever he wanted to his pumpkin.
I think their pumpkins turned out cute.After the kids finished their pumpkins, we decided it was time to carve the biggest pumpkin ever. The kids watched with fascination as Brandon cut open the pumpkin. At first they weren't so sure about what they found inside the pumpkin, but after awhile of exploring the insides, they each wanted to have a turn scooping out the goop.
Ben is such a smart boy. While we were carving the pumpkins, he went to his room and brought out a book. Not just any book mind you, but a book about pumpkins and how they turned into jack-o-lanterns. No, this book wasn't just on top of the pile of books (I know, because I cleaned the books up earlier), he had to dig to find this book. He was so excited that he found the book.
Since we got a later start on Family Home Evening then we wanted to, Ben and Emmy ended up going to bed before Brandon started carving the pumpkin. As you might imagine, Hyrum was close the whole time instructing Brandon on how to carve the pumpkin.Hyrum told Brandon that he wanted the pumpkin to have ears and told Brandon how to make ears on the side of the pumpkin. Below are pictures of Hyrum telling and showing Brandon how to make the ears on the side of the pumpkin and watching to make sure Brandon was doing the ears just right. Hyrum wanted the pumpkin to look like himself. Hyrum also wanted the pumpkin to have a bum and pants, but we told him that wouldn't be possible.

After the carving was finished, we put a candle in the pumpkin and lit it. Hyrum loved sitting on Brandon's lap and staring at his jack-o-lantern. It was a fun night.

Rendezvous

One of the things my dad mentioned that he wanted to do when they were visiting us was to go to the restaurant Rendezvous. In fact my dad even wanted to bring my children.

So, we made our way off to the restaurant. Rendezvous is located in an alley, downtown. Originally the restaurant was just in the basement of a building. Today, it is a great tourist attraction because of the delicious food they serve there.

I was quite impressed. We had quick and excellent service. Other then Emmy wanting me to hold her the whole time, the kids did great. Ben was laughing and smiling the whole time. Hyrum loved sitting between his Papa and Grandma and Emmy was content to sit in mine or Papa's lap. Everyone is sunburned after a day at the pumpkin patch.
After the dinner, we went to the mall to ride the carousel. What trip would be complete with out a ride on the carousel, plus it was on Hyrum's list of things he wanted to do with my parents when they came to visit. Ben did ride the carousel too, but I was holding him and taking pictures.
We loved having my parents come and visit us. The kids loved every minute; especially the morning snuggles and reading books. Please visit us again soon!