Get Your Witch On

We hadn't yet gone to see the witches at Gardner Village.  My brother's kids were in town for the holiday, so we decided to run over with the whole extended fam.  Of course, the first thing Nana did was buy everyone eclairs from the bakery.  Yum!

Hard to resist picking one that size!

Denny, Stacy & Jon

Deb, Daelee & Dahri

Me & my cute kids!

Dahri wanted to keep posing.

Silly girls!

Group Hug

The boys got new Harry Potter wands while we were there.  I really wish they could cast spells for chocolate.

I love this picture!  We were heading back to the cars and they just naturally hold hands.  Love it!



Halloween Pt. 1

Our big Halloween festivities began with the kids school parade and carnival.  Jonah was really nervous to wear his costume to school.  I assured him that all of the kids would be wearing costumes and that he would feel more uncomfortable if he was the only one not wearing one.  Once he got there and saw everyone else dressed up, he was good to go!

His teachers were dressed up as The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.  Very cute idea!

They paraded through the school and then end up in the auditorium. They are introduced as they go up on the stage to cheers and applause from parents and the older classes. 

Deb, Daelee and Dahri joined us for the fun.

After all of the classes go through, it is time for the carnival!  The 7th and 8th graders put on the carnival for the rest of the school.  They make up and design their games and dress in costume to match.  I am always so impressed every year at how they make all of the little ones feel so special.  They help them with the games, give them high fives and treat them all like they were the best they have ever seen.

Of course they have a little bag for the prizes they win.

Dahri won a little football duckie.  (Not sure why I don't have pics of Daelee -oops!)

Josh and Jonah

Jonah gave out "dog bones" to his class.
Zoe and Noah were both in the afternoon carnival this year.  They are at the age where they would rather just run around with their friends, so I don't have carnival pictures of them.

Zoe was a Tooth Fairy.

Emily, Zoe and Ellie

See Napoleon Dynamite behind them. That is their friend TJ.  When they announced him he totally did the sign language butterfly like the movie.  Hahahahhaahaha.

Of course, she handed out toothbrushes to her class.

Noah was a Hillbilly....I mean, Appalachian American.  Hahahaa.  He was unrecognizable to most.

He handed out Slim Jim's to his class.  Unfortunately, my pictures of them didn't turn out.

Two parades and carnivals makes for a long, fun day!  I LOVE HALLOWEEN!

Family Fiasco

So we attempted family pictures again this year.  Not sure how to describe the event, but fiasco seems to fit pretty well.  Of course we were running late (Hardman Standard Time), which always gets me in a great mood to start. 

Our location was down in Provo so it was a bit of a commute and allowed time for Jonah to fall asleep.  Good and bad.  We got out of the car and hustled to the location where our photographer was all set-up and ready to go.  The problem:  J was totally sleepy and was having trouble waking up.  He would not let go of my leg or even turn towards the camera.  Ugh!  Doesn't he know we only have about 45 minutes of daylight left?!?

This is where Chris came up with this great idea on how to snap J out of it.  The Name Game.  (CAUTION:  If you view me and my family with any sort of high standard, this is where you should stop reading.)  Come to find out this is a game they have played before.  I believe it started with a "butt-sniffer" and then whooaaa...all down hill from there.  The rest of the session was filled with "pee-drinker", "booger-eater" and the like.  HOWEVER, as bad as it was, it solved the problem with Jonah and he was now laughing his head off.  He was a total ham for the camera!

Oh, then it gets better when we are sitting for a group shot and the photographer asks if Mom does anything funny.  Without even a millisecond of a pause, Noah blurts out "She Farts!"  Now I would like to just take a moment to clarify:  I do, as every other mammal on the planet (I think there is a book to that effect), have to release a little hot air now and again.  BUT (not to be confused with butt) it is not like a regular hobby or constant habit like my beloved second-child would have you believe.  He just thought it would be a funny joke...and actually it kind of was.

There are a ton of deer in the orchard where we were taking pictures.  Very cool, but they do leave their "business" behind.  So when Chris and I are doing a few couple shots we look over to find Noah squatting over some deer pebbles as if they were his own.  Okay, I admit I am laughing but am also thinking of the report our photographer is going to give her hubby of our out-of-control session.  Seriously?!

A little more wrestling kids, bribes of ice cream and a few shots later we were done.  We all survived and left great stories behind for the photographer to tell.  I apologized for our behavior and got in the car to lick my wounds.  We headed to Training Table for burgers and cheese fries and then to Cold Stone as promised.  It was a fiasco, but the greatest fiasco we've had in a long time.  I LOVE MY CRAZY FAMILY!!

Oh....here are some of the results:

P.S.  We have since changed the Name Game rules to only positive things (i.e. spaghetti-eater, scripture-reader, etc.)  Yeah.  We'll see how long that lasts.  :)