Her New Trick

Here's a cute video of McKenna. Look for her little snort at the end of the clip. Look out, she'll be walking soon!!

And Finally...Halloween Day

Maybe it's too late to be blogging about Halloween still, but I wanted to add it anyway. The day started at Derek's school where they had a cute little parade. The parents sit in the gym and all the classes walk by on stage. It's fun to see all the cute and clever costumes. Later in the day I was able to help out with Derek's class party. I made a cute Halloween Bingo game. The kids split up into four groups and man, that was hard keeping my enthusiasm up for a whole hour. "Mummy, anyone have the mummy...any winners yet?"

After school I took some pictures of the kids outside. Here are my favorites:

We ate a pumpkin-shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's for dinner and then waited for Daddy to come home from work. We are always a little late getting out the door. It tortures me and the kids! Dave happened to work late that night, so we started with our apartment complex neighbors to stall the kids. Just as I was about to leave Dave, he pulled up and went straight on to trick or treating. Poor Dave. No breaks. I really enjoyed it this year. We were out for about an hour and the kids walked the whole time. It's amazing how they suddenly have energy to walk on their own when candy is involved. Here's Taylor and his loot. They did what all kids do after getting their free candy...dump it out and check out the goods.

McKenna trying her best for some of the sugar.

It was a crazy day...like all Halloweens are. It's a non-stop day, but the kids look forward to it and it's fun to be a part of it. Now on to Christmas!! :)

Our Ward Halloween Party...

... minus the Trunk or Treat part. :( (For some reason they did away with it this year. Sad.) Last Wednesday the youth in our ward put together a party for the kids. They had a golf course, fishing, digging for treasure in saw dust, and a table for decorating cookies.

Dave made quick work of his donut. I almost missed him. And like every year since he was 2, Derek cheated. He always ends up holding the donut with his hand to get it.

Dave went as Rex from Rex Kwon Do. (From Napoleon Dynamite for those that are not familiar with Rex.) I thought that he should have carried a framed picture of Starla's body with my head on it. :) McKenna was our little butterfly fairy.

Derek was a great black ninja.

We had a red ninja costume for Taylor, but last minute he decided to be Raphael again.

It was a fun night, but we missed doing the Trunk or Treat. It's fun to hand out candy to all the little kids, since we are always gone on Halloween night. Besides, no one ever comes to our apartment except for a few of the neighborhood kids.

The Doll Phase Begins!!

A couple days ago I was checking out at Toys R' Us and a lady behind me said "can I ask you a strange question?" I walked over to her and she asked if I wanted the Cabbage Patch Doll in her shopping cart. She only wanted the clothes it was wearing and not the doll. I replied with a very excited "yes". I asked if she wanted anything in return, but she didn't want any money for it. So we went outside and she stripped the doll and gave me the naked baby. So basically she paid $32 for a doll outfit! Apparently she has a collection and has already purchased all the other outfits. I said "thank you" a million times and she was happy to give. When I gave the doll to McKenna she smiled a huge smile and gave it a big squeeze. It was perfect timing! I've been wanting to buy her a girl toy since she only plays with swords and trucks. So McKenna has her first Cabbage Patch Doll. It's naked, but it's hers. :) We'll buy an outfit for it one of these days.

Halloween Family Home Evening

Ahhh...pumpkin carving. This is one of those traditions that I have a love-hate relationship with. I love the finished product, but it's such a mess to carve the blasted things. The kids sure love it, so we'll continue on. :) We let the boys pick out their own pumpkins, which seems to be the hardest one to get to on the pile. Then, we give them a marker and they draw what they want the face to look like. Taylor drew a very cute face this year and was actually large enough to cut out. Derek drew a very detailed picture of a vampire face, which was about 2 inches tall. So we tried to follow his description. Dave ended up carving a pirate/vampire pumpkin for him and Derek was just as pleased.


Derek's pirate/vampire pumpkin. I realized later that Derek was in the bathroom while I was taking pictures. I forgot to get one of him. But here's his pumpkin anyway. Dave made a fabulous Batman pumpkin.

Can you see the resemblance? I tried to make a "McKenna pumpkin". (This is her new thing. Hilarious! Along with the face she breaths rapidly through her nose, like she is snorting. We've given her so much attention for it that it's becoming how she smiles. I think we need to back off a little. :) She's so funny!)

Taylor drew this face and I tried to cut it out the best I could. He even drew eyebrows and the oval above the nose is the "forehead". And here they are lit up.

We finished our night with glazed donuts and apple juice. Now that's a tradition I can live with!

Never Say "No" to Dinner

This blog is quickly becoming a log for all of Taylor's scars. Here's the latest injury. A couple weeks ago, I was serving dinner to the boys and as I was trying give Taylor a scoop of rice, he put out his hand to block me. About five pieces of hot rice got on his hand and instead of brushing them off, he let them burn him. We put his hand under cold water, but I had no idea that rice could do such damage. He had very large blisters from where the rice had contact. Poor Taylor.

Drum Roll Please!!

This project began on August 30th (not counting all the hours of previous research and drawing plans) and was completed on October 18th. It took all the free time Dave could gather. I regretfully admit that I was a skeptic in the beginning, but I LOVE how it turned out. I am so impressed with Dave's skills!
And here it is...the long-awaited bunk bed! This beautiful piece of furniture was designed and built by none other than our up-and-coming handyman...Dave B#*&$ (For security reasons. We don't need too many interests in his work quite yet. Ha ha.). The kids have been playing on it ever since Saturday night. It's been a great new form of entertainment for them. Dave and I are enjoying the peace and quiet in the living room. :)
Taylor has been sleeping in a little toddler bed and needed a serious upgrade.


I feel it necessary to give a big shout out to the Visnaw family. Thank you for letting us take over your garage Saturday after Saturday!!