Halloween week...

Is it just me, or do all holidays last at least a week now?  Our Halloween started with the trunk-or-treat on Saturday night.  This is a tradition that we always look forward to.  It was a different experience this year since Jason wasn't running the show, but we still had a great time!

I love this

Sophie was excited to put flowers in her hair...

Sophie is Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and I am Maleficent here...from the recent movie which expands on the story and emphasizes the complex character of the "bad" witch, who in this version of the story isn't really bad after all.  It was fun even though most people had no idea who we were. Plus, having Sophie and I dress up together as these characters made her forget about being Elsa, which was kind of a relief.  I don't know about you, but I am *slightly* burnt out on Frozen at this point!

Jason outdid himself again, with a little nudging from me.  I used to dread the long hours he put into his costumes, but this year I encouraged it because it just didn't seem like October around here without his costume fanaticism!  He built this awesome boom box/ghetto blaster in 3 days...it is just perfect, and he had it playing a few 80's favorites like Ghost busters (of course), Ice Ice Baby, What is Love, Rappers Delight, and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song.

Mommy/daughter selfie...because you just can't have too many of those!

On Monday we went to an awesome FHE activity (Halloween carnival) with the single's ward...I was so impressed with all the amazing costumes everyone was wearing!  They were all pretty awesome.  The kids had a blast, and so did we. I would have taken more pictures, but I spent a lot of time making sure the kids were being safe while throwing darts...they liked it so much that they told me it was their new favorite "sport" on their way home!  Here is a cute pic of Megan McGhie (Cheshire cat) holding Bri Bri:

 On Tuesday, Weston's class got to go to the shark reef for a field trip, and Jason went as a chaperon.  They had lots of fun, but Sophie and I were kind of jealous!  Here is a picture that morning before they left...

On Wednesday we did pumpkin painting, which the kids loved...

 

Brighton really wanted to get in on the action, but I couldn't very well let him loose with a paintbrush, so I helped him paint on some huge paper...eventually Weston got involved and turned it into this masterpiece. He wasn't finished at this point, but once he did he signed it with Brighton's name and put in on the wall in Sophie's room as a poster...I have a feeling it won't be there for long though!

Of course, Weston did a Ghostbusters themed pumpkin.

Thursday we went to the Fall Festival at school.  Jason dressed up in his Ghostbuster uniform and we spent a good hour or so playing carnival games and collecting candy.

Jaime came and spent some time with us at the carnival too, which was great because she makes everything more fun!

Sophie spent the evening hugging every teacher she recognized at the school...it was really sweet.  This is her teacher this year for kindergarten, Miss Lee.

Brighton won a game and got these little goggle glasses.

Sophie got to have her face painted, too, which she was pretty excited about...

That night, Grandma Laurie rolled into town.  She came over the next day with great-grandma, and we got to spend the entire day together!  Weston was super excited because she helped him put up spider webs and other decorations, which he had been trying to get me to do all month.

We went out to lunch and then let the kids play at the park for awhile

It was a perfect, lovely day!

That night Jason and the kids got dressed up and we went trick-or-treating.  Jason got a LOT of attention as usual, and there were kids yelling, "Who you gonna call!?!? GHOST BUSTERS!!"  Brighton got a lot of attention, too, mostly because he is so darn cute.  When he runs, his little fish tale wiggle-waggles with his bum. He just melts hearts where ever he goes (that is, when he's not breaking things)!!

Weston was pretty thrilled with his cowboy cap gun, which I'm sure you hadn't noticed!

Pooped after a fun evening...

The next day (today) is November 1. It is the first post-summer chilly day, and we are all excited!  It is so chilly, in fact, that I made sure the baby was wearing a jacket before going outside, which obviously did a lot of good...

After re-dressing him, I took one more pic before completely ignoring everything else I need to be doing right now to put together this blog post! Priorities, people.  Since there are always so many high priorities, I have found that haphazardly juggling them is the best I can do sometimes. 

At least I have a smile on my face, right!?

More summertime moments...

Mid-June, Jason decided the boys needed haircuts...usually little kids hate haircuts, but Brighton LOVED his.  Meanwhile, poor Weston was just miserable.

I never get tired of this beautiful face...

In June and July we were so lucky to have both Uncle Chris and Uncle Trevor come over a few times for dinner while they were in town working.  The kids adore their uncles!

Watching Frozen...

My little watermelon thief...

During the season Jason isn't around much, but we invited the Wolff's over as much as possible. 

feeling brave...

 

Jason's birthday is sometimes the most difficult day of his entire year since it's the first day of fireworks sales, so this year, we did something to start it off on the right foot!

 Mom's birthday is the same week as Jason's...I wanted to make sure it was a great day, so we started it off by heading to the park with some friends!  Here is Sophie, ever the eager helper, with baby Benjamin.

Some (most?) days it seems like all I do is clean...at least this guy has learned to eat without making a mess...

Yeah, right!

 Brighton does everything he sees Weston and Sophie do...which explains a whole lot.  In particular, it explains his obsession with both guns and shoes!

 When we moved into this house 4 years ago, the smallness of the backyard didn't bother me at all because I had a 3 year old and a baby!  To them, the yard was a wonderland (maybe just a slight exaggeration).  Even though it seems smaller now that they are so much bigger, I never cease to be amazed at the fun they create back there!

Weston goes through phases where he refuses to wear anything  but jeans and boots.  And on this particular day, a long sleeved shirt, too!  You can't really tell, but he had massive amounts of eyeliner on his eyebrows that day that all dripped off with sweat after playing outside.  He had been using eyeliner to make himself look like an Egyptian pharoah, but I'm pretty much he decided never to do that again. Ha!

 Visiting dad's office during the week of sales...I believe this picture was taken on July 3rd.  Nothing like the added bonus of seeing Chris and Trevor!  I would like to point out the Ron Swanson pyramid of greatness poster in the background...

 For the 4th of July we went to see our friends, the Bairds.  The kids all had a great time swimming until some extremely loud claps of thunder scared them right out of the pool!

 Enjoying the fireworks in the rain...(good thing they were already wearing swim clothes)!

 The fireworks were extra fun in the rain, I thought.  There were a lot of aerial fireworks around us too, which added to the fun for sure.  I would have taken pics of the kids with their sparklers, but Brighton was terrified and clung to me with super human force, so picture taking was mostly out of the question.  Poor little munchkin!

Major toy dump here.  We were looking for something that we had lost.  I don't think we ever found it, but it is amazing what you find when you do that!

 Like these sunglasses, for instance:

 Not sure what was going on here...but it involved a lot of weapons!

 I think they were playing Revolutionary war based on the flag tucked in to Sophie's skirt. My kids do drive me crazy at times, but they also make me laugh on a daily basis!

 I love Monsoon season and the sudden moments of dramatically cooler weather that allow for more outside play!

 I tend to forget that 90 degrees with a billion percent humidity is still pretty dang hot (as demonstrated by these red-faced beauties):

 Ahhh, park days.  Can't get enough of 'em!  Especially when there are boys for Weston to play with.

 Maybe it was a little ambitious to try and get 9 kids to all look in the same direction at the same time. Ha!

 Obviously it didn't happen, but we still got a few cute pics.

 I can't seem to keep the camera away from this cute face!

 I seriously don't know why the kids look like they're running from a live bomb, but I think this is a pretty funny shot!

 One night Sophie WOULD NOT fall asleep.  After at least an hour of silence, I went in her room to check on her before going to bed myself.  To my surprise, I found her lounging on her bed all dramatically in a dress and fancy coat. What a girlie girl!!

Me and Brighton...because if I don't take a selfie once in a while, I will never show up in a single picture with my children! This particular night Jason and I had finally been able to spend time together after the season! We had gone out to eat at Bahama Breeze while grandpa watched the kids.  What a blessing that was.

This little dude melts my heart every. single. day.