What to do with all that candy?

I wish I could remember what magazine I was reading that recommended this web site but I think it is a great idea.

We always use our candy for the Christmas countdown calendars that we make, we might skip the countdown this year and just play mad scientists.

How do you get rid of your Halloween candy?

Princess Halloween hair

Anyone with a princess needs to check this out . We will be doing Tinkerbell, but I thought it was nice she has something for every princess!

Pumkin Faces

Ben did not like pulling the guts out. After each handful he would run to the bathroom and wash his hands. Kendall thought the squishy insides were cool and kept putting her hand inside even when the seeds were all gone.

Ben was very specific about the kind of face he wanted. Happy face with triangle eyes zigzag eyebrows circle nose and a semicircle mouth with just one tooth. Unfortunately the tooth fell out in the carving process so his Jack-O-Lantern underwent surgery. With a little help from some 'toothpicks' the cracked tooth is back in place. Kendall wanted a full circle face. When it was all carved she looked at it and said, I wanted a happy face but this pumpkin looks surprised!!

We took this photo at least 5 times because Ben's eyes were always closed. He figured out a way to fix that.

from the mouth of ben

Scott and Anita came over with dinner and cookie dough tonight. After dinner we made Halloween sugar cookies with the kids.

Ben told Anita:

' cookies are the best part about the month of October'

I guess Anita's cookies were so good he forgot all about trick or treating.

Pumpkin 'patching'

as Kendall would call it.

Tonight we picked our pumpkins. We have been waiting for Ya-ya to fly back from Boston

and she arrived just in time.

Kendall has been watching all the kids at the pumpkin patch

near our house picking their pumpkins

and everyday she asks, 'when do we get to go pumpkin patching?'

I don't know if she could have waited much longer.

Of course she would have but she might not have liked it.

family pics

We finally did it....after searching for clothes (this is the last time I try to match the rest of us to something Kendall is wearing, girls clothes are much easier to find), waiting for bad haircuts to grow out (fantastic Sam's, need I say more?), the weather not cooperating for us (what was with all those freak rain storms this summer?) and schedules not working out we got our family photos done.

My wonderful cousin did a great job check them out.

From the mouth of Kendall

My new favorite thing that Kendall has been saying lately is:

"I smell something NOT delicious"

that girl cracks me up sometimes!!

cloudy.....

...with a chance of meat balls!!! What else is there to do on a rainy day but eat popcorn and watch a movie about the "rain"

It was hard to keep those 3-D glasses on

Day out with Ya-ya before she flys to Boston. What a HAPPY grandma she will be seeing all her grand kids within two weeks of each other.

fresh air

With cold weather knocking on our door we have been getting outdoors as often as possible on the weekend when we are all together.

Yesterday we went for a hike to doughnut falls.

Ben with his adventure pack and his compass leading the way

every time we got close to the river edge Kendall had to stop and touch it to see if it was still cold.

Labor day we went for a walk around Silver Lake.

about 10seconds after this photo was taken that cookie got tossed to a duck. I think she was secretly planning it (that might be what that mischievous grin is for)

we love having Mima and Pa-pa so close they are up for most anything we plan at the last minute.

The weather was so great that day we never planned on bringing long pants or jackets for the kids. When they got a little chilly they both shared Mima's jacket.

The 2nd 1st day of Pre-School

Ben had his first day of pre-school today! Finally!!

He could hardly sleep last night and woke us up extra early to remind us that he was going to school today.

(someone give that boy a haircut please!)

He is attending with his cousin Adalee this year. My sister is driving to school and I am picking up and he did not even want me to take him to school on the first day. He kept asking me to call Marianne and see when she was coming to pick him up. I guess I should not expect much considering last year, at least I know what to expect next year with Kendall. I guess I will just have to learn to deal with it my kids are not that attached to me

she has a mind of her own

with over 20 pairs of shoes at the age of 3 you would think she could find 1 pair to match.

Play date

Because Ben was sooo upset about not starting

pre-school yet he started to think about his

school last year. He was getting very worried

about his little neighbor friend that

attended the same school with him last

year and that he would probably never see

her again because they will be in different schools this year.

When I told him we could call her

over for a play date that seemed to

make him feel better.

Ben was not being a very good listener in the morning

so I told him if he didn't start to listen I was going to call

Madeline's mom and tell her she could not come.

Well that got him to listen but when Madeline's mom forgot

what time we had talked about and was a little late Ben started to

get sad and thought that I really had called and told her

not to come. Poor guy he is have a very emotional week.

We didn't do too much just some board games and then

decorated sugar cookies. The kids seemed to have fun

and the more people I have to eat cookies the more I like to

make them. We cut out the shapes and it was all I could do

to keep them from eating the dough. Once the cookies were

cooled off they could hardly wait for me to color the frosting

so when I started to pull out the sprinkles they all said they

didn't want them and then they dug in eating their cookies

before I tried to make them do something else to them. Hey

I just thought they would like to make them cute, but I guess

4 year olds could care less. as long as they enjoyed it.

They did enjoy posing for the camera.

Madeline is such a HAM my kids could stand

to learn a few things from her when it comes

to taking photos. I love it.

Kendall and her green frosting face.

Now if I may pose a question... when kids come to your house do you let them just play in the other room and check on them every so often or do you have a structured play ready for them when they get over? Am I too much of a helicopter mom? I feel like I hover a lot.

1st day of Pre-school

Kendall started pre-school today. It was a strange day because it felt just like any other day, I thought I was going to be sad and she would have a hard time saying goodbye. None of that happened.

We woke up just like any other day and had breakfast and got dressed.

the only thing that really surprised me about Kendall this morning was that she was so excited to get out the door she didn't think she had time for her favorite breakfast (Dutch Baby: she wants to eat this every morning. she even knows how many eggs it takes to make and she likes to look in the fridge to see if we have enough before she asks if we can make it),

she just wanted cereal because it was faster.

When she was all ready and dressed in Red (the color on the calendar for this week) she would not stop asking if we were all ready for "her" school.

I think she likes the idea of having something of her own.

Once we were out the door she could hardly hold still for a photo.

I didn't even get a picture of her and her teacher until pre-school was over because

she ran in so fast. No problems saying good-bye I even had to ask her

for a kiss when she was halfway through the door.

I think Ben might have had the hardest time today.

trying not to mess with his schedule too much I decided to go to the gym and let him play in the daycare. Without his sister there I thought for sure he was going to run wild.

He walked in and flopped on the floor, I thought he was just being dramatic.

he was in the same place when I was done with my class. Poor boy didn't know how to act or what to do without his sister.

He is so sensitive.

He did like that he was the one that got to choose our post gym activity. He was not totally over it when we pick her up so I told him he could ask Kendall's teacher if he could see her pre-school.

I think he just wanted to make sure Kendall was not having more fun without him.

I am not sure how things went today with Kendall because she was not willing to volunteer too much information.

What did you learn about today?

Nothing

What did you do today?

Nothing

What was your favorite part of pre-school?

I don't know

she is going to be a fun teenager.

play-doh works like magic

My house is clean and the kids were entertained for a while. I cannot believe how much I got done in what felt like a short amount of time of play-doh play!
They shared and played nice with each other, the day just flew by. I even got to make a few things with them as I was doing things I needed to get done. It is not everyday that things go so smooth but today the play-doh was the

magic touch.

Today was a good day!

Play date

We spent the day playing in the sun. Some long time friends and I met at good old Murray Park had lunch in the shade and watched the kids play as hard as they could. We were all smiles because we all know what that means when it is time to go home.......Naps!!

I was so excited to find out that Debbie is now expecting, now she is a part of the club...... going crazy 'cause I have more than one. I think it counts if your preggers because you are just as tired as if you had two.

We all know it is possible for plans to change because we are talking about Debbie and all, but I was even more excited to hear of their plans to move back to Utah. I do feel a little bad that I never made it to Texas for a visit but hey no one ever traveled to the great northwest when I was residing there. Could you get back here quick so we can work on our daughters being best friends!!

from the mouth of Kendall

we were shopping and Ben was running around like a crazy boy, Kendall asked to sit in the cart so we could talk

and she said:

"Mom, I want a new brother"

I will have to get back to you on that one!!!!

fun 4th weekend

We stayed home this year for the 4th. Camping just seemed like too much work. It was still fun, just different. The kids got to attend their first parade and seemed to enjoy it. Especially the candy that was thrown, every float or car that went by Ben would wave his arms and say "over here, over here" I think he got the hang of it. Although I think Kendall ended up with just as much candy sitting on the sidelines. People would see her with out any and they would walk over and hand her a handful. Maybe she really had it figured out, she didn't even have to work for hers..
Ben's ultimate favorite was seeing all the different cars that drove by. He loved, loved, loved the line of corvettes because they all had the same round tail lights (that is how he decides if he likes a car, by its tail lights). Kendall would only stand up to wave to the "princesses" on the floats or to dance when the cheerleaders would come by. If we stay home next year I think we will go back again. We were all pretty lazy the rest of the day, it was nice. Burgers on the bar-b-q for dinner, fireworks on the driveway (Kendall was a little scared of the sparklers), popping snaps on Scott's bare back (ouch) laying on a blanket in the backyard watching the kids play with uncle Scott and a bunch of glow sticks waiting for the big show at the park across the street to start was the way we spent our evening


We were lucky enought to have Scott and Anita stay with us for the week. Scott is working here in Utah now and Anita is still finishing up with school and will be moving out here in August. The kids love them to death... if I cannot find them anywhere in the house all I need to do is find Scott. We played with Anita when Scott was working mostly shopping and catching up ya know girl stuff but we did take a few breaks to have fun with the kids.

Dropping Anita off at the airport was heartbreaking for Kendall she cried almost the whole way home until she fell asleep. I didn't cry because I knew she would be back.

going camping

I am off to girls camp. see ya'll in a week.

to all the blog watchers

I am dusting off the keyboard, get ready to see some posts.

Ben's last day of Pre-School

today was Ben's last day of pre-school and last night we wrote thank you notes for all of his teachers. There are five that I know of so I pulled out five sheets of paper and let him draw a picture then he told me his favorite thing about each one and I wrote it down. When we were done he said "Mom, we are not done. You forgot Miss Penny!" Okay! I guess but I don't know who Miss Penny is. I have never met her and her name is not on the weekly newsletter but if he says there is a Miss Penny and we need to write her a letter too who am I to say no?!... Well we got to school and I handed the letters to Miss Emily, she looked and them and then asked me "who is Miss Penny?" I don't know, Ben's favorite teacher I guess. Oh dear! my son's imaginary friend is a pre-school teacher. It could be worse at least she is teaching him something right. As for the other five he loved them too. This school has been great at improving his social skills and all the teachers were really great to work with. I wish we could keep him there for next year but I really feel like he will learn more at a normal pre-school. This pre-school was for challenged kids both mental and physical. Ben and his little friend Madeline have been a few of the "peers" attending the school to help teach interaction with different individuals. It has been great but he is ready to move on and be more challenged academically. When he got in the car after pre-school I asked him if he was sad to leave. He said no because he was excited to start his new school next week. Man this summer really flew by fast.

Tink's party

Thanks to my DH Kendall's birthday party was off to a great start. we started out with some face painting. I was surprised the girls held still and let me paint so much I was sure they would all end up with a little heart or something on their cheeks because they would not be that in to it, but like always three and four years olds are surprising. The girls made some bugs out of pompoms as they were waiting their turn. we then decorated fairy wands using large pretzel sticks, pink candy melts and lots of sprinkles. There was a small glitch just, a little mid-party melt down. I am still unsure what it was about but I guess it was her party, she can cry if she wants to. I tried to keep the party small so it would not be to overwhelming but I guess that is something that cannot be helped with a three year old. Next, we had lunch pb&j cut into stars, pink go-gurt, pink cookies and pink punch. Someone likes pink I think. Then the girls had a fairy coronation. Each girl got a new fairy name and a certificate welcoming them as fairy by the Never Council. they got sprinkled with pixie dust and got to make a wish as they chanted "WE BELIEVE IN FAIRIES!"

Then we opened up gifts and had cupcakes.

Ben had a baseball game after pictures but he told Tyler that he really did not want to miss Kendall's party. I really just wanted him out of the house because when Kendall was asking for friends she named Anna and Madeline both of them are Ben's age and I was worried he would take over the party because his friends were there. But by the time they came home it was time for cupcakes and gifts. Ben didn't miss the whole thing and Kendall got her "girls only" party. Ben didn't want to be left out so as we were waiting for the parents to come pick the girls up the girls watched the Tinkerbell movie and I tried to paint a tiger on his face. I am no professional that is for sure.


Kendall has been talking about a Tinker Bell party for months now. I tried to talk her into princesses, fancy Nancy, or pinkalishious because I simply could not think of anything for Tinkerbell but then I was looking at this great blog for YW ideas and she had a tink party posted for her daughter that I just had to copy.http://angbrimwil.blogspot.com/2009/05/hannahs-birthday-party.html

from the mouth of Kendall

Yesterday Kendall and I were playing dress-up. She came out with an outrageous outfit!!!

Me: Wow! Kendall don't you look SO pretty?!!?

Kendall: I know, that's my job!

OH Dear!!

Pitty party!!

*This post was origianlly titled Tink's party but when I started going off I decided to make them seperate posts so if you are not interested in complaining and just wanted to see what the party was like, look up*
What a day. I really hurt my back yesterday just in time for Tyler to take Ben camping and leave me to make the finall preparations for Kendalls party. I can stand and sit just fine so baking cupcakes and hanging decorations was not a problem I just couldn't clean up anything that invoved walking or bending over. So pretty much any mess the kids had made!! All I will say about that is earlier in the day both kids "helped" me sort and fold the laundry :>. I thought I was going to lose my mind. I couldn't sleep last night because my back hurt I didn't want to take anything because I didn't want to sleep-in and not be ready for the party. Then my sister called to say she was going to be late (I really needed her help) at least she had a good excuse, her daughter had gotten gum stuck in her hair. With the rush I was in I was tempted to tell her to just cut it out but this is the same daughter that has cut her own hair like 5 times so she doesn't have much hair left. Then to my surprise my DH came home early just to help me because he felt so bad about leaving. I was glad he took Ben camping he had been looking forward to it and he has not been able to spend much time with him lately. I was much happier to see him walk through the door because I knew everything would be okay. He made lunch (pb&j cut into stars), cleaned up the floor, and got Ben ready for baseball pictures that had been rescheduled (thank goodness he was home for that I might have really lost it if we had not gotten his first ever team photo, it is just the scrapbooker in me:)). Tyler was out the door with Ben by the time the party started and the same time my sister showed up BTW. The day started out pretty crappy but everything turned out alright thanks to my superhero hubby.

Time Out

together!!


Holding hands because they were being mean to each other.
Before breakfast even, what a way to start the day!