A Gibby Christmas Eve!

Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra, ra-ra-ra-ra

Christmas Eve at my parent's house is quite the event! Every year, we get Chinese food! We used to eat at Golden Dragon as far back as I remember with the grandparents and Kay & Bud's family. Now, it has evolved to having Dragon Diner deliver our blessed meal. (Once we had 11 little kids running around-adjustments had to be made!) I missed our tradition of the family Christmas poem. We would take the paper place mat from the restuarant and pass it around to each family member. Each family member was required to write one line of a poem until another masterpiece is created! We have quite the poets in our family (NOT!)

Then, we open sibling and cousin gifts so that we can just come to Grandma & Papa's anytime on Christmas Day. When everyone has 2 families (and great-grandparents) to visit, it make it nice to have some flexibility.

We had D & Kat this year and all they wanted was food storage! Thanks to the Distribution Center...that was all wrapped up! We also gave them some of their favorite chocolate for the rest of their food storage!Amanda got a cute Little EPet and ran right to the computer to 'adopt' it! Sydney got a purse with make-up....so Sydney....and Brandon got this cool helicopter that he had to tell Dad and his uncles (more than once) to please stop playing with his toy! He also got a cool Transformer! In keeping with the food storage theme (and threats of giving us a garbage can to put our emergency 'kits' in), Rog & Coze got us a great first aid kit! (Which we really needed-Thanks!) Here are some attempts at getting the grandkids to pose for a picture!

Our kids were already in their Christmas Eve jammies! Those silly elves had left them in Daddy's car! They are so sneaky that way!

Some Christmas traditions

Someone's birthday is this month. We get our traditional Mrs. Backers cake for each family member's birthday. Since moi's birthday was on a Sunday this year, we headed to SL on Saturday to pick up this beauty! The kids (traditionally) get a gingerbread girl or boy cookie every time we go. I thought this was really fun until this time...when the prices were posted and EACH cookie is $3.95!!!! Holy Moly! We still let them get one, but they had to eat all of it this time! :) We also went to Western Nut to pick up some chocolate covered gummy bears for a couple of friend gifts. I had never been in that store and it's quite huge! I found divinity that I bought for my Dad since I remember him eating Grandma Hook's every Christmas. Mike did one of his college projects on the Western Nut Co. I'm sure he felt like he was coming home-ha, ha!

The family 'surprised' me with a wonderful breakfast in bed! Mike makes the best omlets and the girls made sure I had cute cards! (Mikey is taking me to Market Street tonight to celebrate!)

We usually do gingerbread houses...this year, we did just one and shared it. They all did pretty well with it. But, I didn't get a picture before they started eating the candy off! After about a week...I threw the poor house in the garbage!

We also attended the Arveseth Family Christmas party at Sizzler this year (wow...a new venue!) It's fun to get together with this side of the family! We are, by far, the biggest family of Jim's siblings, but we love seeing the cousins and catching up. My favorite story of the night was when Mike & Doug were talking to Grandma-Great and asking if we could all visit her sometime (at separate times of course) and she said, 'I'm not into visitors anymore.'

Chalk it up to being 93 years old! We know she still loves us and yes, we did go visit her on Christmas!

We made sure to make our cookies for Santa! I tried a cream cheese sugar cookie recipe this year, but it wasn't that great. The kids decorated them when we got home from Gibby Christmas Eve and they were quite lovely. Santa loved them. Again, I was lame and didn't get a picture of the finished product!

But I did get a picture of our beautiful children!!!!

Brandon flips!

Ta-Da! Here is Brandon at his tumbling show. He LOVES this class!
Can you tell by the smile?

Doing a flip on the tramp

Doing his tucks and straddle jumps on the tramp

Going through the obstacle course - pure joy for this boy!

Here he is before the show started

His buddy, Matthew, is in the green shirt

Thanks to Amanda for the photography! I (and Sydney) was using the camcorder as Mikey was out of town and had to miss the big show!

Guess what we do at family Christmas parties?

Super Grandpa Santa!

Our girl

Amanda got to go skiing with the 4th grade yesterday at Snowbasin. This girl LOVES to ski! She loves the story of her Norwegian Great-Grandpa who helped bring skiing to Utah and skied with Alf Engen. The girls say because of this, skiing is in their blood!

She woke up at 6 am, super-excited! We got her all ready and then I took her over to school at 7:15am. She wanted me to come inside with her until it was time to go. I had a good time just chatting with her and her friend, Kiley.

When it came time to go, she gave me a big hug. Then, she gave me another big hug. I even asked her if she was ok because it was such a big long hug. She said, 'Ya' and then gave me another hug. I don't know why I wondered that, but I love that she still will give her Mom a big hug, even in front of her friends!

She had a GREAT time and later that afternoon, I came into the family room after I finished teaching piano and this is what I found. A beautiful, tuckered-out, skiing, mama's girl!

(She really is a Daddy's girl, so just for today, I taking her as my girl!)

A little Christmas party

I'm sitting here watching the snow....our children are all home from school and now on Christmas break, and Mikey is stuck in Denver because of the snow in SL, so I thought I could update the blog!

Here's what the tables looked like full. Julene, Rachel and then the Bishop's family.
Last weekend was our ward Christmas party. It went really, really well. It was a Journey to Bethlehem theme, so first we set-up tables on the floor and decorated them very simply. We told families to bring a blanket to sit on and then put the food out family-style. Because our ward has a million children, we decided to break the party up into 3 groups or journeys.

This worked out so nicely!

Our angelic children.....love you kiddos!
Rachel Orison got a script from another ward she was in and rewrote parts of it to fit our ward. So, after eating, each caravan was led by an innkeeper (Mike or Rick) and a Roman guard (Justin Smith) on their journey. First stop was Joseph's shop. Greg Hess (who is also in MoTab) was Joseph and two of his girls and his wife also helped. They sang a beautiful song and I heard that Greg got choked up at least once. This definately set the tone for the journey and everyone was quiet reverent. It didn't take long for people to feel the Spirit.

Next stop was Mary when they had stopped for the night and Joseph went for water...so she was alone. Mary is my piano student, Missy Smith. She is so close to Mary's age and dark hair....and angelic singing voice....seriously, I started bawling when I heard her sing. Her Mom, Ann, did the narrative.

Practicing...

B dressed up!
Last stop was with the shepherds and angels. Another piano student of mine, Braydon Elliott, was one who sang with his brother playing the viola. Our girls were angels and did great on their speaking parts. Other angels were Sydney's b.f.f., Abby Orison and Zoe Francis. Brandon got to be a shepherd boy, along with Josh Harwood and Taylor Francis. After their part was done, we showed the movie 'Luke II'.

Practicing...

I spent most of the time helping with food and setting tables, but people would come up to us after with tears and saying how wonderful it was. We were so happy that it worked out and was a great experience for us. Our Bishopric were awesome as we asked them to dress up as the Three Wisemen and hand out candy canes at the end.

Brother Summers, Bishop Stuart, Brother McQuiston

We were lucky and got to use the Stake's nativity costumes for a lot of the parts. We also asked 3 people in the ward to do the sets and they turned out incredible!

So, very happy to have it over, but so grateful for all the help we had this year. We have a great committee and such a supportive ward! Merry Christmas!!

Brandon's playgroup

Brandon, Tytan and Will showing me their reindeer cookies!

We had B's playgroup at our house last Monday. Seeing as it was too cold to play outside, I decided to plan a craft! So, we made these reindeer cookies using Nutter Butters, pretzels, etc. (I found this in Family Fun magazine)

Here's Spencer, Nick, Matthew and Henry showing me their cookies
The first batch we made were really cute and done just like I told them. Chocolate chip eyes, a red M&M for the nose....just cute. But, I didn't have my camera. When I came back into the kitchen to take their picture...they had started to eat the reindeer!

So, we had another round....but this time, the boys had their own ideas and we had some pretty funny looking reindeer! Here's Brandon's creation! Silly boys!

Brandon says:

I took the kids to the Festival of Trees after school on Friday (well almost after school...note to kids-your Mom is cool to get you out of school to go to stuff!). After a couple of hours, they were about done. I had gotten them each one toy or prize. Brandon picked a 'noodle' sword (sword made out of a swim noodle). He wanted two. I said, no-just one. This started a HUGE tantrum (you know the kind where other people comment to you: "Hang in there....I remember that age....I teach preschoolers so I understand")

Brandon: I want two swords!

Mom: Brandon, just one. That's the rule.

Brandon: My rule is two! I want another sword!

Mom: No, Brandon

Brandon: Mom, if you don't get me another sword, you're fired!

I'm a terrible blogger!

Mike told me after our computer crashed a couple weeks ago, that I spend a lot of time on it during the day. Ok, he was right. I kind of got out of the habit while my computer was gone, and haven't been good about updating the blog! This is important time on the computer and I'm hoping to do better!

Here is our little Amanda in her Nutcracker make-up. She had the best time!

Last week, we had the Christmas festivities in full swing! Festival of Trees volunteering started on Monday with decorating day. I missed last year because B was sick, so it was all new to me today. I was surprised to see how many trees were set up by the time Elise and I got there! Also, I expected the number of trees to be down due to the economy, but Sharlee said the numbers were up. Where they saw the drop was in the purchase of trees. Still, some amazing trees and it's touching to see how many volunteer hours go into putting on this festival and raising all the $ for Primary Childrens Hospital.



Thursday we had cake & ice cream at the Gibby's because Evan and Jamie were heading home. We had a great time visiting with them and are thrilled that Jamie & the kids are coming to stay with my parents when Evan is deployed. We will miss you so much, Evan! You will be in our prayers multiple times each day. We are proud of you.



Friday, Jim & Renae treated us to Five Alls! YUM! We love this place! And it was really fun to be with the adults and be able to chat. We enjoy our siblings so much and are grateful that we have good relationships with them. Thanks, Jim & Renae for a fun party! And thanks Amanda for tending! I love that she can do that!!!



Saturday started too early as I went to help set-up the Stake's Christmas festival at 7am. This year, the Elliott's from our ward were in charge of the outside party and true to form, it was spectacular! Kathryn's talent is limitless and she created like 10 Dicken's style store fronts that we helped set up.



That night, Mike & I were going back to the Festival of Trees to bag up trees. So, luckily the kids got to sleep at Grandma & Papa Arvy's! They had a grand time and thank you again to Jim & Renae for helping us out! We were able to do some shopping and then met with our friends, Darin & Elise Jensen at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner! YUM! I probably gained 10 pounds this weekend. We were late getting to the Expo center because of dinner (we got there around 10:30p), but there was still plenty to do! We left there around 1:15am!



Note to anyone doing a tree....the people who volunteer to bag your tree and get it ready for transport, do not enjoy boxing up multiple toys, dolls, little statues and fake fluffy snow. It's difficult and very time-consuming for tired people! However, despite the tallest tree almost falling over multiple times (due to an unregulated stand) which we had to prop up until the morning, we were able to get our trees all ready to go!



Since we brought some cheesecake home, Mike and I had a little 'early morning' snack when we got home at 2am! ymmmmmm, cheesecake eating at 2am gives you sweet dreams!



I ran to get the kids in the morning, while Mike met the tree deliverers....I took care of the homefront, activities meeting, posters & flyers for the party, and getting us to church while Mike did more volunteer work. Needless to say, Sunday night all any of us could do (including the kids) was fight or cry.....it was a very early bedtime!

Happy Birthday to my Mom on Monday! We love you Mom and are grateful for all you do for us!

The ward party is this weekend and we are excited about it, but anxious for it to be over. It will be nice to relax and not worry about an upcoming event!
We are about done with our Christmas shopping, also! I wish the same for all of you!
I'll do better at posting now! Loves

Some of the blessings from the back door

As I took down our 'Count your Blessings' display, some of the things really touched me:

Of course, we were all so grateful for each other

Sunshine

Jobs

Working Cars

Strong and Safe House

Transformers

Music

Grandparents and extended family

Three year old's stories and songs

Naps

Jesus

School (really!)

Clothes

Beds

and Sydney summed it up (and made me cry) when she put

My Life

More updates

We are still on a borrowed computer, but I wanted to document our activities this weekend. As I was laying down with Brandon to get him to sleep tonight at 11:15pm (he had come to our bedroom saying his tummy was growling...true...he didn't eat dinner at all), I started thinking about how much I enjoyed this weekend! I love having Mikey home. I love going everywhere together as a family!

I can't remember where I left off, but we went to the zoo with the Gibby cousins on Wednesday. It was really fun and not too crowded for a free day at the zoo! No pictures, because again....no computer!

Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner with my family. It was so fun to have everyone there. The past 2 years we have been on our own for Thanksgiving because both sets of parents have been traveling. But, that made for a fun change of tradition. The first year, we had my bros and their fams up for dinner at our house! We even had the little kid table! It felt a little weird to be hosting, but it was great fun. Last year, we headed south and Kay & Bud took pity on us. It was really fun for the kids to be swimming on Thanksgiving!

This year the food was fabulous as always. Evan, Jamie & kids are here visiting which makes it extra special. We all headed out for a walk around the block after dinner. Quite the adventure with 9 kids 4 and under! Then, the girls spent time looking through the ads and planning any shopping. From what I hear, Kat was the only one to venture out on black Friday!

Friday, Mike & I decided to take the kids to see the movie BOLT. We didn't realize, but we got tickets for a 3-D show. It's a cute show and kept the kids busy. We were late getting there because we were waiting for Mike's boss, Kevin, to come to our house and pick up some tickets from Mike. Since he and his family live in Denver, we visited for awhile and they wanted to see our house. After the movie, we decided we should stay downtown to see the lights go on for the Christmas season. This gave us some time to kill. So, we went to the Planetarium again. The kids love to go there! Then, we rode Traxx to Temple Square. The kids also love that! When we lived in Murray, the girls and I would ride the train frequently, but we couldn't remember if Brandon has even been on the train!

We walked around Temple Square a bit, saw the Christus and then it was finally time for the lights! Very beautiful, although I think they used to put lights in more trees between the Tabernacle and the Temple....now there are tons on the Plaza. We didn't get to the Plaza because the kids were starving at this point-only having had popcorn for lunch!

We went to The Dodo for dinner! Yea! About this time, Roger called to let us know my family was at Temple Square. We didn't go meet them, however, because the kids were tired by then. We had been downtown for 6 hours by that time. We also felt bad again when Steven called to see if we were still downtown because they were going to walk down and meet us since they live near the Temple.

Saturday, we all went to Abi's birthday party! They had a bounce house in the social room of their apartment building. How cool is that! We were excited to see Cath & their girls for the first time since they became Utahns again! We had a great time visiting and watching the kids bounce and go crazy. It was also fun to watch Steven and Mike in the bounce house playing together!

We ran to the U after that and got some new t-shirts! Brandon and Syd ended up getting stuffed animals....so much has changed up there since we graduated! Buildings where there used to be grass....new parking lots....pretty crazy.

We ran Amanda to a birthday party when we got home and then eventually put up the rest of the Christmas lights and outdoor decor. This turned into a small nightmare as we ran out of clips and Mike & Amanda ran to 4 stores to find some more! Amanda was a great help to her Dad and stayed until the job was finished!

Mike & I did some shopping later and then met our friends, Darin & Elise for sushi! We love hanging with these guys. They are great fun and always up for sushi!

I'm kind of dreading the weekend ending. I really do love it when Mikey is home, and when we are able to visit family and friends without worrying about getting home to put kids to bed on a school night, etc. Although, I do need to get to bed sooner (right now it's 12:20am!)

We have really concentrated on counting our blessings and feeling gratitude this month with our children. We have listed out our blessings and things we are grateful for and taped them to the back door. It was fun to see the kids, especially Sydney, come up with different things each day. I will be sad to take down our display tomorrow as we make way for the Christmas season!

Whaaaaaaa!

Can I just cry for a minute? I miss my computer! I don't have my pictures, my normal e-mail, and I am grateful that Mike set me up with a temporary fix, but I can't make it work half the time (could be operator error....so what?). Whaaaa!



Anyway, a little update from my last post. Brandon did poop for Elise. I owe you big time! We had a great time at the ballet. Amanda did great and we are so proud of her! Friday, Mike & Sydney attended and then Mike took the girls to sushi. Thanks to Emily & Scott for keeping B that night so I could go to Twilight! Had a great time with Kat, Coze, Hillary and Cozette's sisters, etc. I'll have to update with pictures later. But, we did get sparkley....



Saturday, we had the ward party and it went really well! Lots of people, horrible renditions of the fights songs and a BEAUTIFUL outcome of the game! Mike went to the game with his Dad and was happy for 3 days straight. Syd & I went to the ballet and afterward went to McD's with Makell & Eva. Thanks for coming girls! And thanks to Mom & Dad for watching Brandon all day!



Sunday, I just wanted to rest, but between getting things ready for church, such as kids, us, the posters for the upcoming Christmas party, etc, it didn't work. We ran to the grandparents after church and were so excited to see Evan & Jamie!



Monday, we decided to hang with the Gibby cousins at Clark Planetarium. We had a great time and we weren't sure who had more fun...the kiddos or Evan! We had lunch with D, Rog, and Mom & Dad. I got home in time to start teaching lessons and Mike called me to say he had his company's Jazz tickets for the game that night. So, we loaded up the kids and headed south. We had to drive around for awhile since we only had $3 in cash for parking. Mike pulled into the lot just north of the arena because he thought we could use the debit card. When we couldn't and Mike told the guy we only had $3, the guy said, just go in and it will be our secret! Blessings to that guy!



The kids were hard in the game, however. Tired as could be. Amanda was doing homework and Sydney & Brandon had to share a chair. When Amanda & B had to potty in the 4th quarter, I told Mike we would just wait outside for them. He came out not much longer to hear Brandon crying his eyes out because we wouldn't buy him a foam #1 finger! That was enough for Mikey...and we ran home!



So, there is the update....for journaling purposes anyway. The kids are out of school tomorrow, so we are going to the free zoo day with the Gibby's. I'm having a hard time comprehending that Thanksgiving is in less than 2 days. I'll be glad to sit and reflect and relax! And I will be extra Thankful when I get my computer back!

Coming up for air!

So, our computer is sick.....so sick with a virus that we got from cougar board, that it had to go to the hospital. I love my computer and spend a lot of time with it each day, writing to friends and family, managing our finances, organizing piano, downloading pictures and blogging!

I am not doing well without my dear computer and hope it's better soon. Mike did hook me up with a substitute so I could do some things, but I don't have all my old programs, etc. But, thanks to Mikey, I can e-mail a little, blog and surf the web. I have tried to download some pictures and I'm not sure where they are going!

Just an update on this week because it is BUSY! Monday night, I had my piano recital. It went great! My students did really well and it was fun and relaxed. I had 27 kids participate in this recital. Our girls played as we did some cramming to get them songs to play. My new goal is to teach them on a regular basis. It's like the hair dresser whose kids always need a haircut, or the cobbler whose kids never have shoes or the tax accountant who never gets his taxes in on time!

Tuesday started Nutcracker week. I went and chaperoned for the dress rehearsal. Let me tell you, it is quite the production! Amanda is having a BLAST! She is loving everything about it! Thanks to my friends who are stepping in and taking Brandon for us while we attend performances this week. Wednesday was also a dress rehearsal. I took Sydney up with me and we watched the first half. Sydney was a little bored, which surprised me. Maybe when she gets to see the second half tonight, she'll enjoy it more. This is the first time I have seen Amanda do her part and she was so cute! We are proud of you, Amanda! We are happy you are enjoy this so much!

Tonight is the first performance. She and two of her friends who are also in the show, wore their Nutcracker sweats to school today. We have the grandparents coming to see the show with us tonight. I have a couple of cute pictures of her in her make-up before she had her costume on, but I don't know how to download them without my program. I'll add them in at another time.

Amidst all this, we have also, shopped like crazy for recital favors, shopped for ward Christmas party stuff, shopped for Ward rivalry party stuff, done visiting teaching, had visiting teachers over, shopped with Grandma Arv for Christmas, shopped for Nutcracker presents (I guess the girls all give each other a little gift closing night), taught piano lessons, volunteered at the school, drove carpools, shopped for a potty-training prize race track, made cookies, done laundry and gone to lunch. I can't tell you how many times I have been to WalMart, Walgreens, Costco and Albertsons this week. I am kind of losing it at this point!

Today, I didn't have anywhere to go, but ended up at Albertsons again because Brandon who is doing much better at the potty training thing has discovered how to hold #2 until you are constipated and I needed to get some Miralax. Just waiting for that storm! Elise, I hope you don't get the brunt of that tonight! I'll never be able to pay you back enough!

So, don't miss me if you don't hear from me for a bit. Just know that I'm not fully wired! And I'm missing it!

I've been tagged by Hill!

All right....like Hill I have other posts to do, but I will stop to enlighten you on my Crazy 8's (so very important:)

Crazy 8s Tag

8 favorite TV shows: I don't know if I can get 8....
~The Office
~The Amazing Race
~I watch the news....
~Sometimes I watch Days of Our Lives if I'm home
~I watch Jay Leno, but I can't say he's my favorite
~I love Tom & Jerry because Brandon sits and watches it for a half hour straight!
(I guess I should watch more tv! :)

8 favorite restaurants
~The Dodo
~Market Street Grill
~Tepanyaki - sushi
~Flemings
~Kyoto
~Mama's Fish House on Maui
~Litza's Pizza
~Chipotle

8 things that happened yesterday:
~Christmas shopped for kids alone
~Clothing shopped with the kids to help Grandma's Christmas list get complete
~Tended Brandon's friend, Matthew
~Talked with Nicole
~Sent Amanda on her first official babysitting job!
~Did laundry-lots of laundry and lots of dishes
~Changed poopy underwear twice
~Made a photo book

8 things I look forward to:
~Thanksgiving and seeing Evan, Jamie & Kids
~Christmas
~going out to dinner with my hubby
~Brandon being potty trained
~Seeing Amanda in the Nutcracker
~The BYU/Utah football game (and our ward breakfast that day)
~The "Twilight" movie premiere next Friday
~Having a lot more energy than I have now!

8 things on my To-Do list today:
~Vacuum
~drive girls all over today for birthday parties and ballet practice
~Help Mike put up Christmas lights
~Make treat bags for my piano students because of our recital on Monday
~Come up with a dinner option
~Clean my bathroom
~Work on stuff for the Ward Christmas Party
~Watch the Utah v San Diego game tonight!

Ok, I tag anyone who reads this and hasn't already been tagged! Have fun!

More Brandon says:

We are having a hard time getting Brandon potty trained. He was doing great with #1 for awhile, but now he's back to peeing his pants. So, when this happens, we take away his bike. The other day, he pee'd his pants when Dad was at work.

Mom: Ok, Brandon, I have to take away your bike until you pee in the potty again.

Brandon: But Mom, Dad will never know!

Honestly! Three years old and he's already trying to play his parents against each other!

btw: We are taking suggestions on potty training.....We've tried everything!

Brandon says:

Brandon was saying the prayer (right now he says all the family prayers), and it was pretty much the same as all the prayers he says. So, Mike decided to help him:

Brandon: Dear Heavenly Father, Thank yee for this day. Bless us to be healthfy....

Mike: Wait, say Thank Thee for this food

Brandon: No, don't teach me how to do it! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

Pie Girl!

Amanda's activity days group made pies this last week! I had to pick her up a little early to get to a doc appointment (by the way, she is in the 99% for height!), so her leader brought the pie by after we got home and said to me, "Boy, is she indoctrinated or what?"

Can you see the U she carved into her very first pie?

(I don't know where she gets it!)

It was really yummy, too!

We are proud of you, Amanda!

Knock please....

Ok, time to go private! So, if you would like an invite, please e-mail me and I'll include you! Thanks! mjarvy@msn.com

Happy Halloween (for reals)

Darling kiddos!

It is finally here! Time to trick or treat! We headed to Hollingsworths for the pre-trick-or-treat dinner party (yep, for reals). We brought Cheri W.'s famous chicken and wild rice soup that gets requested every year! Plenty of warm and yummy food, even though the temperature was a balmy 70 degrees!

back row: Amanda, Susie E., Maddy L., Hanalee H., Ellie B., then Sydney & Brandon! The back row girls all went together and Sydney and Brandon went with Daddy. Brandon HAD to find his friend, Matthew, before he would go, so Mike hung out with Chad B and at one point got together with Sydney's friend, Abby, and her Dad Rick and sister, Lucy. We tried to get hooked up with our neighbors, but they never caught each other!

I sat outside and passed out candy from the front porch! I took my camera out and snapped a few pictures of some of our friends. Mike & our little ones came home after about an hour and a half and Brandon was DONE! Hit the wall. Party overload. I did take him over to our neighbors, especially Chris the dentist, to get a toothbrush! Then, traded places with Mike so I could take Sydney down the next street. It took Sydney and I about another hour to go down one street! But, it was fun to hang out with her. She is so cute and very sweet at each door when she says thank you and bye!Friends, Maya, Darin & Nash J

When we got home, we had another surprise! Rog, Coze and their kiddos were at our house! Mike said when he opened the door to Kate & Elyse trick-or-treating, it took a minute to register who they were! We decided they needed to get a tootbrush from Dentist Chris and took them around to our neighbors. We also jumped in the car to go see the Wilson's scary house and they were already outside taking down their elaborate Halloween display! We also went to the Elliotts to see their awesome display inside their entry. They had a wizard playing the piano and a guy in a coffin! Very fun!

Action shot of Amanda & Susie trick-or-treating...ok, I know you can't see them

After Mike stuffed Kate & Elyse's trick-or-treat bags with our leftover candy, and Rog & Cozette threw their leftover candy bag at us, and Brandon falling off a pumpkin on the porch and banging his head on the house, they were off and we were ready to settle the kids in, hoping that they were on the crash side of that sugar high they have been riding all day!

Our friends, Taylor F and Joshua H

The girls went right to sleep....Bubba took a couple more hours!

Can we say that although it was lots of fun, it's good to have Halloween in the past!

Brando says:

Time: 9:12AM on November 1st

Brandon: "I just want to eat my candy right now.....because I love candy!"

Dad: "Brandon where's my candy?"

Brandon: "You didn't go trick or treating!"

Dad: "Yes, I did. I went with you."

Brandon: Just shrugs

Brandon: "Mom, I have too much candy!"

I don't want to take a nap!

I told B that since it's trick-or-treat tonight, that he needed to take a nap so he would be happy! He really didn't want to. Amanda tried because Brandon said he wanted to snuggle with her. (Oh, that just melts a mama's heart!) But, he didn't sleep because they were watching kid shows. So, here comes the mean mom and I got him to sleep in about 5 minutes. But, not without him getting the final protest in. I just love how he is sleeping on this pillow facing the wrong way in the bed! Ok, Brando...you win!

Halloween Crazy

I thought these two boys looked so cute today waiting to go to their preschool Halloween party! Brandon is (obviously) Yoda and his friend, Matthew, is Spiderman! They also go to preschool with Spencer who lives next door. He is also being Yoda.

When I drive the carpool and help them get out of the car, I have to give them a superhero name as I lift them out of the car. Sometimes they pick the same name, Batman, Spiderman, Superman. Sometimes they have to be a little different, Black Spiderman, Red Spiderman...

This age is so cute and it's been fun for Brandon to have his buddies to go to school with! They had a great time at their party. Brandon came home and divided his treats with me. One for Mom, one for Brandon. Very sweet!

Arvy Party - Halloween take 2!

Brandon getting ready in Daddy's costume!

This past Saturday we went to our friends, the Laws, annual Halloween party! Always good food and fun people. We left before the pumpkin carving this year because we were hosting the Arvy's at our house for another Halloween party!

We had Maddox chicken, funeral potatoes, beans, fries, yummy salad, and my favorite...sugar cookies!

Some of the scarier ghouls having a dual in the backyard (Jace & Corvin)
Elphaba Amanda!

We played games provided by Grandma and Papa. The kids love these parties and hanging out with the cousins!

The cool ones who dressed up! Corvin scary guy, Maddie as Miley, Mikey as Stormtrooper, Brock is a rock start, Kristine with great dracula teeth, Grandma as a rock star, Emily as Tinkerbell, second row: Amanda, Jill as wicked witch of the east, Zach as Indy Jones, Grandpa as a Ute, Jace another scary guy, front row: Sydney as Glinda and Brandon as YodaThe 'losers' who didn't dress up! You were good sports to get your picture taken! Kellie with an impromptu boa costume, Scott as Scott, and scary guys flanking Jim as Jim

Other 'losers' showed up later, but were not photographed...Matt as Matt, Alisa as Alisa. Missing in action....Hillary and Steven and girlies who were feeling ill, or were just scared to show up!

Here are all the cousins (minus Brock who didn't want another photo) back row: Amanda, Corvin, Maddie, Kaili in a cute yellow tutu, second row: Greg as batman, Sydney, Zach, Ryan with a golf ball in his forehead, Jace, Front row: Kelsey as a fairy, Emily and Brandon