celebrating halloween

I love this holiday because we get to celebrate all month long.  We took advantage of every opportunity to be in costume.  We had parties with friends, neighbors at school and at home.  Here are some of the highlights!

{School Parade and Parties}

We got to the school at 8:45 am and didn't leave until 1:00 pm.  This is the first year I've had two children in school and it's a little crazy trying to juggle all of it.  I can't imagine how parents with three, four or five kids handle it all!  Luckily, Tim took the day off to be a part of the fun and to help out.  The kids can't wear masks at school so Tim painted his face. 

After waiting for thirty minutes it's so fun to see your child for THREE SECONDS as they cruise past.  We had to threaten Payton to hold still while we took his picture.  Thanks, Pay!  Standing with one of his BFF's Alex Geertsen.

After the parade, we had a quick break.  We ran to the gas station to grab some fuel {diet coke}, stopped by the grocery store to buy toilet paper {mummy wrap game} and then back to school to start the parties. 

Isn't this the nicest witch you've ever seen?  We LOVE Payton's teacher this year {just so happens she's our neighbor, too!}

Parker is in afternoon kindergarten so they do their own special parade.  They walk through first grade and then the hall where the parents line up.  Parker asked us why we weren't there?  This picture is proof that we were there.  It also shows why he didn't see us...did he see anything?

After the parade, we had Parker's class party...more mummy wrapping!

Parker has the cutest class, an awesome teacher and his BEST friends in class with him. 

Cooper also got to have a party with his friends from play school.  He's the dinosaur on the end!

On Saturday we celebrated Halloween with the annual festivities at our house.  My neighbor, Dana, brought this darling cake {she's selling them now too...more on that later!}

The kids were anxious to get busy trick-or-treating in the rain!

Cooper loved it.  It was so cute to hear him say, "trick-or-treat." 

Krista and Sophia enjoying the spooky music on the porch.

Becca, a cute cow and WOLVERINE?!

Jaimy & Allie trick-or-treating in the rain.  I think she only lasted a couple houses.

Allie loved my Mom {she must know we're related}.  She sat on the couch and played with her, Sophia and Becca for hours.

Wolverine watching the Utah football game.

The Wright Family should have received a costume award along with Clint.  Magnum PI and Katniss.  Plus, the pink cowgirl from Wyoming.  Is that really a costume or just everyday wear?  We also loved the little Yoda and classic Spiderman.

Grandma Ann and Brice

Here are most of the kids {where's kyle} in their cute and scary costumes!

My kids are already talking about what they're going to be next year...

Happy Halloween!

off track fun

I know that I'm back "tracking" {pun intended} a few weeks, but I have to post about our off track fun.  The boys are on year round school so we get to have mini-vacations all year long.  I absolutely love it when the boys go off track.  It's a three week long party at our house.  It's a time to reconnect with my kids and enjoy our time together.  The first day the boys are off track I have them each make a list of things they want to do while we're off track and then we plan these things into our time.

Here is Payton's list:

As you can see, his requests were fairly simple.  {FYI:  For those concerned about him as a student, you should be.  This is not his best work.  His goal for this term is to slow down and write more neatly.}

Parker's list was fairly simple as well:

After I see what the boys want to do, I usually have a few things that I want to do with them.  The biggest goal that I had this time was to try to visit my Grandma each week that we were off track.  Luckily, we were able to do this.  We took her to Gardner Village with us one week.  We went to lunch at Arctic Circle and got those awesome Square Pumpkins the next week.  We stopped by to visit the last week.  It was fun for her and us!  I've already blogged about some of the things we did while we were off track, but here's a few things I missed:

Pirate Pizza in Orem {so fun} with other friends who were off track...

Engh's Pumpkin Patch {a must every October}...

Lunch with Grandma Patty at Chuck E. Cheese {the boys were in heaven!}...

Sleepover at Grandpa Ock's & Grandma Patty's {heavenly for me and the boys}...

We've been back in school for three weeks now already, but I'm already looking forward to our next break!

happy halloweening

As you can tell, we've had fun celebrating Halloween all month long.  But, not that kind of fun.  Tim's only drinking rootbeer {no worries}.  Hey, I was just happy he wasn't in a speedo this year!  My boys have loved doing all things Halloween and wearing their festive pajamas.  Today starts the marathon of Halloween activities for the next three days.  We're so excited it's finally here!

Happy Halloweening,

ten-ten-ten

Here you go, Mom.  Here are the only pictures we took on 10-10-10.  We were driving home from dinner at Tim's parents house and my Mom called {almost beside herself}, "Have you taken your 10-10-10 picture yet?" 

"No, but we'll do it right now!"

...and we did!

p.s.  My Mom is a Math teacher.  She loves numbers.  She's obsessed with things like this.  We love her anyway!

chef parker

Need an assistant?  Too bad...he's not for sale.  Parker is the best helper in the kitchen.  He absolutely loves cooking and is always begging to help me.  Morning.  Afternoon.  Evening.  Really, every time I'm in the kitchen he wants to be scooping, measuring, stirring, cracking, mixing or anything I'll let him do.

I love to cook so naturally, as a Mom of all boys, I worried that I would never have anyone to cook with me or to pass on my mediocre skills to, but Parker is a dream come true.  It's fun working with him in the kitchen and he's getting pretty good at cooking.

He can cook Ramen noodles all by himself.  Keep in mind he's only five.  I'm so proud, but I do hope his cooking repertoire gets a little better as he gets older.