fall fun

Tyler and I raked some leaves this week, and he had some fun jumping and playing the pile before Dad mowed them all up.

trunk-or-treat

Dallin and I were kind of bummed when we found out that our ward doesn't do a trunk-or-treat for the kids. Then about a week later it was announced that we'd have a trunk-or-treat activity. We were so excited! Don't know why, but we just think they are so fun!

Pumpkin & Peter Pan

Tyler's crazy face. I don't remember if this is supposed to be a scared face or a scary face.

Dad manning our trunk.

Inside they had pictures of pumpkins the kids could decorate and color.

Adeline and her friend B with B's daddy.

Adeline and B.

jack-o-lanterns

We love carving our pumpkins! This year we had so many from the pumpkin patch, that we decided to carve and paint some. One of our pumpkins was dropped, and got a crack all over, so that one has already been cooked, and is now sitting in the freezer waiting to become pie. Here are some pictures of our fun FHE activity.

Tyler took this picture of the inside of the pumpkin.

Here's Dad cleaning out the pumpkin. We have our system down now. Dallin does the cleaning out of the pumpkin, and I help with the carving, which right now means I do the carving.

While Daddy was cleaning out the pumpkin, Tyler and I began to paint his gigantic pumpkin. We decided to paint this one simply because Dad didn't want to be up to his shoulder in pumpkin goop.

I painted the face on this one just as Tyler told me to, and then he started to paint around the face.

5 minutes later.

It took all night for the paint to dry on the pumpkin. Tyler finished it the next day after school, and then wanted a picture of it with him being "scared of it." This was his "scary pumpkin." He did paint the face completely by himself.

Here we are deciding what kind of face to put on our jack-o-lantern.

And the carving begins. Notice Tyler helping.

Here is our finished product. Adeline was a great observer.

On the porch.

TOFW Omaha

I had such a great time at the Time Out For Women in Omaha a couple weekends ago. I went down with my new ward sisters, and was able to meet up with my mother who had come with her 3 sisters and a couple of my cousins, and I got to see some of my sisters from our ward in Dubuque -- I totally miss you gals! It was also the first time I was able to go to a TOFW without Adeline. That was really nice. Here are some pictures.

Me and Mom

Gals from my new ward.

My Dubuque friends.

If you have not gone to one of these, you must, must, must go! Here is the schedule for this next year. And to my friends & family in Utah -- GO! It's right there 3 times! And my family in Ohio -- GO! You ladies are so lucky to have them right there. The cost of these goes down incredibly when you don't have to pay hotels or extra food. Stay at a friend's. Okay. I'm done.

crazy girl

Addie got a hold of her pajamas and tried to put them on. She was so proud of herself!

Our little diva

fall

I love Fall! Even as an adult I find pleasure in the sound of leaves crunching. I took these pictures last week on the way home from picking Tyler up from school.






I don't allow Adeline out of the stroller during our walks to and from school until we get to the corner of our street. I get her out and let her push the stroller home -- 2 houses. When Tyler's with us he helps steer the stroller.

fire station

I went with Tyler's preschool class to the fire station last Friday -- yes, I spent my birthday with my son's preschool class. And after spending the morning at the fire station, I had lunch with him too. It was really a nice day. Here are some pictures. The teacher in the white t-shirt is an ASL interpreter. Tyler has a little girl, J, in his class who is deaf. J is right in front of the teacher in the pink shirt, and Tyler is just to the right of her. J really likes Tyler. She is always so excited to see him, and sat by him on the bus coming and going. She even stops me sometimes to say hello, too. She's such a nice girl.



The kids loved the lights and sirens! This was especially exciting for J because it was the first time she's ever "heard" them. She has a hearing aid in one ear that helps to amplify vibrations. She thought it was the neatest thing!

free handbag

Handbag Planet is giving away free handbags every hour for 24 hours October 15. Someone's going to win, it might as well be one of us!

Check it out here: http://www.handbagplanet.com/

called to serve

I love love love this video! I have such a soft place in my heart for missionaries. I get goose bumps every time I see missionaries sing this song. The spirit bears witness to me that these truly are members of God's Army. Watch it. Love it. Share it.

apple orchard with ensign's

Grandma and Grandpa Ensign, Uncle Brian and Uncle Jared came to visit us this weekend. We spent Saturday afternoon at the local apple orchard. They had kiddie games, a haunted house, food, a children's play area, and a pumpkin patch.

my smart little man and his beautiful sister

Tyler had been outside playing when he called me to come and see something. I thought it was another one of his scooter "tricks." But when I walked outside in the garage this is what I found:

He also showed me his elephant.

Tyler's been in school now for about 6 weeks, and after just the first week he started writing the letter A. He'd write one, and then ask, "Mom does that look like an A?" "Uh. Yeah. It is an A." He also started trying to write his numbers after I made a hopscotch game on the driveway. He's loving this writing thing. I'm sure he finds it empowering, and I knew he would, he would just never learn it from me. Believe me, I tried. But now that he's in school he's asking me all sorts of questions about words and what things spell, and when I read to him, he now wants me to move my finger under the words as I read them. He also good at sounding out the letters and trying to figure out what the word is. I can't believe the change in him in just a few weeks. I love it!

Addie likes to watch Tyler do his art and letters. Here she is eating a whole wheat chocolate chip cookie -- Great Grandma's recipe. Yum!

She just looked too cute this day for me not to get a picture of her. One of her other favorite things to do outside is to sit on the front steps like Mommy does, and watch all the cars go by.

peek-a-boo

Adeline has started "hiding" in every cupboard she can find. She will sit in it with just her feet sticking out with the door as closed at it can be. The best part is when she's really underfoot and just need a couple minutes without her I can tell her to go hide, and she will find a cupboard in which to hide!