carving jacks

 

We were on the ball this year. We carved our pumpkins a few days before the big night. There were lots of "eeewww this is so gross" and "eeewww this is so smelly." We had a great time. John and I love the fact that the boys are all old enough to help and that we aren't having to carve 6 pumpkins between us. Here is

trunk or treat

It was a busy day. We attended our annual Roseville 5th ward trunk or treat. It felt weird this year. John was in flight from Oregon so it was just the boys and myself. We missed him but are thankful for his job and definitely thankful for a job that does not require him to travel a lot. We like it when he is around.

 

The boys and their friends. We enjoyed a chili/cornbread dinner. They had a blast running around, playing games and of course, trunk or treating.

 

Flash - aka Tanner. thank you Wal*Mart and black football pants for this last minute costume.

Brody and his buddy, Brayden.

 

Garrett and his crew. Not sure who is under all of these costumes. I do recognize the photo bomber in the back!

Carter and his crew. Tommy, Carter, Lane, Ethan and Joshua.

Halloween 2012

My Facebook post tonight read something like this:

6 carved pumpkins. check.
Cheese fondue with all the fixings (tradition). check.
Homemade Wassil(cider) (tradition). check.
Sugar cookies demolished. check.
4 caramel-chocolate covered apples delivered to us from our neighbors(tradition). check.
Loaded candy bowl. check.
Lots of photos snapped. check.
4 excited boys and friends all dressed up, ready to roll. check.

We enjoyed several of our yearly traditions tonight! I tried to replace the fondue with a yummy White Bean Chicken Chili. The boys revolted and said we needed to stick with traditions :-). Fondue it was. As soon as it got dark, we met up with friends in the front yard and they were off. Tanner was Buster Posey this year. Carter was an Olympic Soccer player. Garrett was a dirt bike rider and Brody was Luigi. I stayed home to pass out the treats while John and our friends walked the neighborhood with the boys. Brody lasted about an hour and then wanted to come home to help me pass out the candy.  The boys had just enough time out, running from door to door before the skies opened and dumped a good amount of rain. Here are a few of my photos from this evening!
Happy Halloween!!!

Trunk or Treat #2

The  boys loved the back to back Trunk or Treats. What's not to love? Tonight, the festivities were with our ward(church family). There were hot dogs, chili and nachos for dinner. There were carnival games, a cake walk, a Bat Cave, a spook alley, good friends, doughnut eating contest, awesome costumes and picture taking. We felt especially lucky to have our friends, Mer, Dylan and Crosby join us this year. We  love any chance we get to spend time with them!

Happy Trunk or Treat!

Halloween 2010

This was the first year, in my 11 and half years of parenting that I did not have to purchase one single item for Halloween costumes...all thanks to my boys!

Tanner used his SCREAM costume from last year.



















Carter wanted to be Brian Wilson. He owned all of the baseball gear and we used his eye black (from last season) to paint his beard.




















Garrett was content on being a pirate again!



















Brody was Buzz Light Year. Tanner wore this costume when he was almost 3. We added the wings and gloves that Brody received for his 3rd birthday and the costume was complete.




















The Jacks have all been carved...everyone got involved.

























hAPpY hAllOwEEn!!!

I have been in the mood to craft. I love Fall. It just screams all things comfy, cozy and Halloween. It makes me want to stay inside and hunker down. The weather is driving me crazy. One day it is nice and cool & I am sure Fall is here to stay. Then BAM,the heat is back. I guess when you have AC, it can feel like Fall all year long :-).


Early last week, I found these perfect white pumpkins. They are not too small(like those tiny orange ones) and not too large...they are just right. With a circle foam stamp, black paint,a circle punch, Modge Podge and some ribbon, this is what I created.



















Since this photo was taken, I have painted about 8 more of these fun pumpkins. I have them on a table in our entry way!

I didn't stop there. I saw a darling Halloween countdown frame that I knew I had to make. The hardest part was finding the perfect frame. After two Goodwill runs, I was successful! I will share that little project with you tomorrow!

Happy Crafting!

"sew" much fun!

I have been in the mood to sew! I am pretty sure my Mom fell off her chair when I asked to borrow her sewing machine :-). Lets just say that the last time I touched a sewing machine, I was in 6th grade & it was in my Home EC class. All I remember about that class was the 4 out 10(with a frowny face) I received on the "sew a button to your piece of fabric" lesson. The note attached from Mrs. Forbes read "I know your Mom, you can do better than this." She was right, my Mom is super talented with her sewing machine. I, on the other hand, was not blessed with that talent. I didn't enjoy sewing back then & am not sure what got into me last week! Here is what I have been making.





















I saw these cute Halloween banners online & thought I could whip one up! After the struggle with the bobbin thing, I figured it all out. I have been a banner making fool :-). I strung ours across the top of our armoire(sp?)...kind of fun & festive.

I really am having "sew" much fun! Who knew???

happy halloween

Our morning started off with Carter receiving an award @ school. Each month, there is a character trait that they focus on. This months theme was trust worthiness. Carter was one of the three children in his class to receive this award. This is what his teacher had to say about him: "This student is trustworthy and I can always count on him to do his best work. He is honest and always chooses to do the right thing. He is a great friend, a very hard worker and a wonderful student". Awesome job Carter.

Garrett enjoyed a fun party @ preschool this morning. They played Halloween Bingo, decorated little cakes, & made haunted houses out of sticker. He loved every minute of it. Here are a few pictures of Garrett & his preschool pals. Thanks for the photos Steph!

Then we headed back to the school in the afternoon. Tanner received an award too! He received the Coyote of the month award. This is what Tanner's teacher had to say:"Tanner is an excellent role model in our classroom. he has excellent attendance, behavior, and grades. He also knows how to treat others with respect. Tanner works hard in the classroom and strives to do his best".

We are so proud of Tanner & Carter. They love school & really do try to do their best everyday. We hope they keep up the good work.
Here are our traditional front door Halloween shots. It was so hard to get Brody to sit still, let alone smile.









We hit the streets around 6:15 pm tonight.

We went Trick or Treating with our friends, The Solano's.

It was fun to roam the neighborhood with them. They have four boys too! The boys were so excited, they ran from door to door. We were barely able to keep up with them :).
I could not believe how many people were out Trick or treating this year. It was insane. There were more people than I have seen in years... everyone was out. It started to rain a few times while we were out there. The rain did not damper our fun! A few umbrellas & boys who could care less that it was raining, the fun continued.

The boys hit the mother load in the candy department. I think the candy fairy will have to make a visit tomorrow night & leave a small present in return for their candy.

I am going to leave you with a few parting shots of our cute monkey. I gave him a real banana for the photo shoot. Brody Loves bananas so it was most appropriate that he was a monkey.





We hope you all enjoyed a fun & safe halloween!

Trunk or Treat

It's done!
It's over!
I am exhausted!
I am very thankful to all of those who helped!
I think everyone had a great time.
I know my boys did.



I am in charge of throwing the annual Trunk or Treat party for everyone at church. We figured we had about 250 people attend this year. A ton of time & effort went into pulling it off. Couldn't have done it w/out my helpful committee and great friends who know when to jump in & help. A huge thank you to Lisa P. for watching Brody & to Lisa H.

for doing a ton of everything last night. Love you girls. We had hot dogs, homemade chili & cornbread for dinner. The children enjoyed carnival stations that included face painting, a cake walk, cotton candy, fishing for prizes. a bean bag toss, pin the nose on the pumpkin, a spook alley & the doughnut eating contest. Due to the rain, we didn't trunk or treat from car to car or enjoy hay rides. We did everything but the hay rides inside. From what i could tell, it sounded like the kids had a great time. I know my older boys had fun & played hard. I think I saw them once the entire night. They all went out like lights as soon as their heads hit their pillows.
I'll leave you with a few of my favorite photos & costumes from last night!
Happy trunk or Treat!