Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from Woody and the gang!

Sister

My sister and her family drove out to spend some time with us and this is what we did...

My sister is very creative and loves doing things with her kids.  We were very excited to be able to join her this time to decorate Halloween cupcakes.

My sister bought everything that you could think of to make these fun cupcakes...

and this is what they made...

The ones that look like they would be on Fear Factor were made by the kids.  They had so much fun making them and we even sent a plate home with our home teachers!

When we weren't off doing something, the kids had fun playing outside in the backyard.  My sister did a GREAT job taking lots of pictures of all the kids together.  I'm so grateful for her awesome camera and her willingness to take such great pictures. 

The kids were also entertained by my sister and her husband's i-pads and i-phones.  It's amazing how much you can do on those things.

One day we took the kids down to the park to let them run around and play in the leaves.  We also attempted to get a picture of all the grand kids together for my Mom.  We'll have to do some tweaking to get it right, but the kids had fun.

It was fun watching the kids play together.  They all got along pretty well, minus the little fights here and there, but they loved being together.  We did a lot of fun things with my sister and her family but there was one more thing that we did once my parents got in town too... but that is for another post.

All Dressed Up!

We went to the zoo again when my sister and her family came in town.  This time Josh and I dressed up in our costumes.  My dress arrived that morning from my wonderful Sister-in-law who made it (and did an AMAZING job) so we dressed up even though Josh's vest wasn't done yet.  We were stopped by a lot of people telling us how great we all looked.

The kids loved seeing all the characters again.  This time we waited in the long line to get a picture with the Wizard of Oz characters.  While we were in line I had an early teen girl who was behind us in line tell her Mom that she wanted a picture with little bo peep.  Her Mom told her that they were in line for Dorthy, then I was tapped on my shoulder a few seconds later and she asked if she could get a picture with me.  I was very flattered. 

We stopped by the Toy Story gang again and felt right at home.

You've gotta love dressing up for Halloween!!

Check, Check, Check

My To-Do list is getting shorter and shorter.  Well, I guess I should say Josh’s to-do list is getting shorter.  We are slowly getting everything done in our house, and I am loving it!

We finished the entry way.  We switched out the light to one that matches the kitchen.  Put up a mirror and hook rack.

 

We also changed up our bedroom from this…

to this!

  

We changed our bedding, put pictures on the wall and put curtains up.  I LOVE it!  It looks more cozy and much prettier.   We got all of the stuff at discount stores and love how it all goes together.

The other thing that I have been working on was making a Halloween wreath for my front door. 

 

I got the idea from my friend who got the idea here.  I think that it turned out pretty cute… I usually don’t make things, so I am very proud of myself for making something.

I am feeling much better that we have checked so many things off our list… now to the organizing and de-cluttering to get ready for my family to come visit!!

Characters & Treats

We took the kids to the World’s Largest Halloween party at our local zoo last weekend.  It’s always fun to see all the people dressed up in costume.  This year our family is going with a Toy Story theme.  Megan is Jessie, Bryson is Buzz Lightyear, and Connor is Slinky… you will have to wait to see what Josh & I are.

Of course we saw several other people dressed up in the Toy Story theme.  We started counting how many people were dressed as Buzz and Jessie, but we lost track.  So of course getting a picture with the Toy Story gang was AWESOME!

The kids all had fun.  Megan even chose to come with us instead of going to a friend’s birthday party.  We were pretty shocked with her choice, but glad that she wanted to be with us.  Connor loved getting treats.  After he got his first treat he wouldn’t let go of it.  It was a Crunch bar and I kept trying to trade it out once he got more candy for something that wouldn’t melt in his hand, but he kept grabbing it back out. 

We had a great time and are very excited to go again with my sister and her family. 

Two Great Weeks

Josh’s parents came to visit the last couple of weeks.  His Dad stayed for one week and his Mom stayed for two.  Here is a little bit of what we did…

One day on our way to Wal-Mart we got stopped by the antique tractor parade… totally random.

 

Grandma’s favorite place to visit while here is the local flea market. On one of the visits we found these…

 

This is what Connor thought about it…

Until Grandpa stood in front of him and said

“BOO!”…

Then the screaming and crying happened.  Thanks to Grandpa, Connor will start to cry whenever he sees a mask. (we wish we would have gotten it on video though, it was pretty funny.)

******

While they were here we went to the Caves (earlier post), updated our kitchen (latest posts), went out to eat a couple of times.  Once to Cheddars since they don’t have one in Cali

Then we took Grandma to a great burger and shake joint.  (I thought that this picture was really cute.)

Connor LOVED Grandpa and would get mad whenever Megan or Bryson were sitting on his lap.

We wish he could have stayed longer, but we enjoyed the time we had.

 

After Grandpa left we went to work on the kitchen, shopping for pictures and wall decor for the house.  Megan and Bryson decided that they wanted to jump in a pile of leaves and came asking us to rake the leaves, we gave in and gave them the rake.  They were so proud of their pile and wanted me to take pictures of them jumping into it!

Josh’s Dad also brought him out his old bow and arrow to practice some hunting so that he can get one of these (which was eating from our garden)

and eventually get his own rack for the wall.  (yeah!)

We had a great time with Josh’s parents and look forward to seeing them again.  Thanks for everything!

Home Improvement #2

Putting up a tile back splash.

Before:

During: 

It took two LONG nights and a couple of hours the next day for these two to finish this.  Many thanks to our friend for helping and to his wife who let him come. 

We were pretty amazed at how well our children slept even with them cutting the tile in the kitchen.  It is very loud, you can’t even hear the person talking next to you when it is cutting, but all 3 of our kids never woke up, and Grandma even fell asleep to it. 

After:

We also upgraded our light fixture and got one to match it for the entry way (next project)

   

We LOVE it!!