Happy Halloween!

 Halloween 2011—my trio of costumed cuties

The LeBaron family held a party at Nanny and Grandpa's last night. I wasn't feeling too festive and opted out of the costume part of things--but then I could take lots of group pictures!

These LeBaron cousins are all very close in age and totally hyper together, but they truly have tons of fun. At one point last night they were all outside on Nanny's swingset, playing in their costumes and cute Porter, swinging on his belly as the super hero he was, slid right off his swing and face-planted on the hard ground. He was rather swollen and bloody for the rest of the night but pulled it together for some donut-on-a-string fun:

We also spent the night creating a bunch of delicious homemade pizzas while Joseph helped the kids decorate caramel apples. He also worked hard on both Saturday and Sunday to bring these beauties to the party:

Jell-O worms

my hubby is a sucker for these kind of gross treats

Today the kids wore costumes to school and had parades through all the classrooms. Bentley's parade (with the whole elementary) was really early this morning, before Cares had even woken up, so I had to miss out on seeing him. I feel bad about not being there, but I don't think he cared much about it (I hope).  I did make Livs skip naptime so we could at least be at the school for Caroline's PM Kindergarten parade. It was over in all of 2 seconds but then we grabbed the kids a bit early and avoided the end of school rush.

And then it was a crazy afternoon with 3 wild kids who were dying to just get out and trick-or-treat already. It's always nice to kill some time with an evening photo shoot before they let loose. Joseph took all 3 kids for about 30 mins and then Olivia was chilled and happy to come inside and help me hand out treats.

sweet Tiana and her frog prince 

daring, darling Hermione

 Bentley the bat caught in flight

 All are now slumbering away and I'm certain I will follow shortly. Goodbye October!

Carving

We spent our Saturday carving pumpkins and watching The Princess Bride with Beans and Cares (who have never seen it). They adored it, although Cares told me she almost peed her pants when the Count set the machine to 50 to torture poor Wesley :)

 Caroline's Ariel jack-o-lantern

 

 Bentley's classic scary-faced jack.

Joseph helped him trace and then Beans carved the whole thing by himself--how did he get so old?

 And a picture from our snuggly Friday night watching a little BYU football before bed

Back to Gardner

We took the day off from school on Thursday so we could play at Gardner Village. My kids hadn't missed any days of school yet so it was fun to take a break and just enjoy a day with cousins (who are off-track) and Grandma Bobbi.

Have I mentioned that this cool, fall weather feels absolutely amazing? I loved being outside at Gardner and definitely needing a sweater but still feeling warmed by the sunshine. So pleasant and beautiful...

Writing the Everyday

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”
― Sylvia Plath

I borrowed this quote from a CJane post the other day. It spoke to me right when I read it and made me feel like my blog may have more merit than I think, even if it is simply a record of my day to day. It also gave me the desire to take a little more time on the things I write--to add that spark of creativity when I post actual writing (and not just an onslaught of photos). One of the reasons I read CJane's blog is because she captures the everyday so well with her unique yet natural writing style. Nothing is trite, overdone or too colloquial and I appreciate how she weaves a brief yet interesting story. I am sure I haven't honed my own style quite yet (or at least one that I am keen on) but it is a goal for sometime in this life of mine.

And with that, images of our everyday around here--not that we make caramel apples everyday...but we should! They are so much tastier that way. I have only ever had one truly divine caramel apple and it was from V Chocolates.

the little lady we lovingly refer to as "Justice Beaver" in pics like this

(random joke from an episode of The Office last season--basically her swooped over hair just makes us laugh. And she really won't let me do anything else. Hopefully one day she'll decide she likes it in clips and ponies and braids, and I will be a very pleased Mommy).

Pumpkins

Some years the pumpkin patch sounds so inviting. And some years it just sounds like a big ordeal (that would be this year). So, last night we popped down the road to a little pumpkin stand to choose out some favorites. Funny thing, my kids hardly noticed the difference, and we were home again within 20 minutes.

 

Our raggity family pic makes me laugh--

poor stand owner could not get a non-blurry pic after 7 tries...

Last Year

A year ago we were enjoying a crisp fall day in Chicago (at the Brookfield Zoo) with some of our favorite people. Family vacations are the best...

And Now We're Home

Our weekend flew by too quickly. It's suddenly Monday morning and I'm back to making Bean's lunch and rushing him out the door. And sadly, my only 2 pics from SG consist of kids on golf cart rides--I was not a very good photographer. But then again, when I had all 6 kids at the pool I was the only adult with them--doesn't make for any picture taking but lots of careful watching!

Our break was such fun. The kids swam every day and played with all the SG toys (and each other) for hours on end, Joseph and my parents fit in some biking, I fit in a mani/pedi all by myself (ahhh), and we all went for a quick Target trip on Saturday evening. Somehow, I managed to never put on a swimsuit the whole weekend even though the weather was amazing. In my pregnant state I am not too sad about it although it would have been nice to sneak in some end of season sun :)

Now it's back to schedules and school events and church callings. And I don't think I'll be heading anywhere besides the cabin until the new babe arrives--that's a crazy thought!

Afternoon in Zion

We are in St George for fall break (with most of Salt Lake valley :) and enjoying lazy mornings and lots of sunshine and outdoor play. We even stole the older Horsley cousins away and brought them with us. Makes for a lot of laughter and busy cousin time which my kids are enjoying immensely.

Yesterday, in the late afternoon, we drove over to Zion for a fun hike and dinner in Springdale. It was still surprisingly busy at the park (for October) but as gorgeous as ever.

Despite being less than prepared on our actual hike (battery was dead in my camera, we ditched the sweatshirts as we dashed to catch the shuttle up the canyon, I stuffed way too much in my pockets--made me look so odd on every picture...) we had a lovely time walking along the river and enjoying the beautiful scenery. While playing along the riverbed we happened upon a huge tarantula. Freakiest thing ever. Joseph asked me later how I didn't fall apart screaming and crying (which I really wanted to do) and I told him I was a mom and couldn't risk being a mess so the kids would feel safe. I am one tough mama, no? :) And we do have pics of the spider but they gross me out and I don't know if I can post them...

 

 My hubby flew down to join us yesterday
 which I am thrilled about. I think the ratio of 4 parents to 6 kids feels just about right :)

 

Bentley thoroughly enjoying his BBQ rib dinner at Oscar's (he split a full-rack with me--yummy). BTW--what are your thoughts on the name Oscar for baby boy? I most likely won't use it since I already have an Olivia, but I am thinking it's a cute little name.