"I ain't afraid of no ghost"

Fall has come and gone...already...when did that happen?  We have been on an 80's and 90's  kick with our movie nights of late, and in keeping with that I introduced the kids to Ghost Busters.  They loved it, even Spencer, who has been working on his bravery of late thought it was mostly funny.   The boys went around playing ghost busters for several days after. 

Somehow I didn't manage to get a picture of the kids all together for Halloween, but here they are in all their glory. Amanda was a character (Vin) from her favorite book series Mistborn, she actually made this costume on her own for a school project, (ignore the terrible pictures).

Maren was a snow princess (after insisting she didn't want to be a princess for days????) Spencer was a knight, and Jacob was a ninja (again).  Even Skai got a costume, super Skai...and he was not too bothered by it.  The best part about this year was most everything came from our dress up bin=)   

 Jacob really liked Halloween this year.  So much so that he has been asking when the next Halloween will be...every day since!  And unfortunately Amanda didn't get to go trick or treating as she was grounded for the night...I don't like being the mom of a teenager already, boo!  And here I thought we had a few more weeks to go before we crossed that thresh hold!  She did get to participate in the wards trunk r treat, and so is not totally candy less.  We had fun putting together this trunk decoration, and later this monster.

We also had a Halloween movie night with friends and fun spooky treats.  Maren made some "putrid punch", Jacob helped me make caramel corn, and Amanda helped me make these fun eyeball cake pops.  The kids loved it!

Before all this Halloween fun though there was lots more happening around here.  We passed around several not so fun bugs, including a chest cold that gave both Spencer and Maren pneumonia.  Then a week or two later the stomach flu made an entrance and made its rounds leaving no stone upturned, even the dog...ugh!  It was a not so great day when five of us were all down together, including both Dave and I.  Glad that is over! We also took on a huge house project of tearing out two patios that were causing drainage issues for our house and having them re poured.  We hired out most of the work, but it was a pain, especially with Skai. And unfortunately just the beginning of several other renovations that will need to be done.

 

Between all that we visited a few pumpkin patches, including one with an awesome corn maze, slide, and ponies, and spent lots of time playing in  he leaves in the backyard.  

I went to town on drying apples from local orchards, as well as putting away the garden and harvesting all the goodness from there.  I am rockin' this food storage stuff this year...lots of canned, dried and frozen fruit and veggies, dried herbs, several batches of jam and most recently I bought 10 gallons of Breyers ice cream. What else could you possibly need?

I also got to visit with all the kids teachers for Parent Teacher Conferences (all in one day...whew!)  And find out more about what they are learning and how they are doing.  I loved this day!  I honestly was on cloud nine for a week after, my kids are so lucky to have such great teachers and great schools here.  They are all challenged, and while all have their issues, they do well and are progressing where they should be.  I have been helping once a week in Spencer and Marens' classrooms for their reading buddy time since their classrooms are paired together. It is fun to meet their friends and interact with their teachers some.  I have never seen a teacher read the Pigeon books (Mo Willams) like Mr Brown (Spencers teacher).  It is the highlight of Spencers week.  And he is reading them himself now.  I love watching that skill click with my kids!

Amanda has been mostly injury free, and back in the pool.  She competed at a meet in Aspen and was happy to see that at least she hadn't added any times from her year hiatus. She even played some volley ball with the Young Women in our ward and came out unscathed.  Woot woot!    

And my biking girl friends and I got out for a scenic long day ride in an area we have never ridden before but is only about 30 min from here.  It was beautiful as the leaves were changing colors along the Colorado (honestly the picture doesn't come close to doing it justice).  I was having trouble keeping my eyes on the trail.  It will definitely be a place we come back to and I can't wait to take Dave out there one of these days.

Dave has been spending his time not only working on renovations at our house, but helping a family in the ward with some repairs they needed on their trailer.  I was told several times how surprised people were how handy he is. Grateful for his example of serving and not being to grand to do these kids of jobs. Yesterday was his birthday and he requested a day sledding on the Mesa.  It was a beautiful day, and we all had fun.  I had to smile as Amanda kept bugging Dave to play rather than keep fixing the sledding trail.  Glad his example does not go unnoticed by our kids, they are lucky to see that kind of sacrifice everyday.