Happy Halloween!

Trick or treat!  Here we are ready to hit the streets!  Our family costumes didn't quite work on Halloween night with Grayson wanting to be a black cat, and Winry a mermaid.  Good thing we went all out for the trunk or treat, cause we did not repeat on Halloween night.

Brooke had a dance performance in tumble pom this week.  Look at her go!

On Wednesday at preschool, Grandma Pumpkin came to read a story to all the kids!

Thursday morning we had spider bagels for breakfast, spooky and yummy.

It would appear we might have termites... We contacted our pest control company and we'll see what they say, but not exciting.

I had to put this picture of a butterfly in because lately I've been seeing small (5ish) swarms of butterflies fluttering around bushes.  I don't think I've ever seen that in real life, but I've seen stuff like that in movies or video games, so it actually kinda surprised me to see it happen in real life.

This little fellow came to help Monica in the garden.  He sat on the leaf watching, and didn't run away when she came to take a picture.  I guess maybe he thought he was really invisible on a green background.

Once the girls were home from school there was of course time for some Halloween bingo!  Everyone may have been gotten to eat a candy pumpkin or two.

After dinner we all got changed and headed out to go trick or treating.  We took pictures with our pumpkins as we headed out the door, mostly because we forgot to take pictures while we were carving them.

We had a lot of fun going through our neighborhood, and the kids got lots of candy.  One house was definitely aiming to be best in the neighborhood and they had a whole mini carnival in their front yard, bounce house included.  Grayson took some time to play the ring toss as well.  Grayson and Monica went home after we'd been out for a bit, and Brooke and Winry and I continued on until 8!  They had a lot of fun the whole time though.  It was great fun.

Cedar Park has been building a new library since we moved here and it finally opened this past week.  Monica went with Grayson to check it out on Friday, and they've got all sorts of fun stuff for kids.  Grayson really loved this giant water table like thing.

They also have a pretty cool playground out front that's shaped like a giant bird with flowers around it.

One of the hot items from trick or treating were sticky eye ball things.  The kids sure loved throwing them and specifically, liked sticking them to the wall.  It was all fun and games until it went just way too high on the wall, and over a ledge, so it was ladder time to save the day.

I was in Grayson's room at bedtime... or in the middle of the night. Don't remember now, but anyway, I thought Grayson looked real cute laying there asleep, so I took a picture.

Saturday was Winry's last basketball game, so we all went to watch and go out for some fun after.  Grayson got to bring a candy bracelet to help keep him occupied, and it worked pretty well.

Here's Winry with her team after the game.  She had a lot of fun playing basketball this season, and improved a lot.  After her game we went to a bakery and all got a treat, which we enjoyed at a table out front because the weather was cooled off some on Saturday.  There were even spots of rain through the day.  After the bakery trip we went to the farmers market, and probably got more stuff than we should have, and from there...

We all went to the new library!

Brooke really liked these circle seats they had, and want's me to build one in her room to read in.  I guess I'll have to look into that.

And the kids had fun playing with all the things in the kids area.  It's almost like a mini children's museum, which is pretty awesome.  This is one of the coolest places we've found to go so far in Texas, and the kids had so much fun.  The only downside was that it was crazy crowded for opening weekend, but give it a few weeks to calm down and it'll be great!

And that concludes our week!
 

Grayson Turns 4!

Happy Birthday Grayson!  Already 4 years old!  Also, his birthday was conveniently on a Monday, so I don't even have to rearrange pictures.  I guess I normally would put a picture of him with his brownies and candles up front, but a confetti pancake is also a pretty good start.

Grayson loves switching out toilet paper rolls, so we usually leave that job for him.  There was one waiting for him when he woke up Monday morning!  What a birthday!

At preschool Grayson got to make and wear a super cool crown, and  got to go hang out at the rainbow bridge after and then play on the playground for a while.

Once everyone was home from school we opened presents.  Grayson was SO excited for his present!  He had an amazing day playing with everything, and I don't even remember having to break up fights.

Winry gave him a new play tent that looks like a rocket.  They loved to play blasting off to space in the old one, so now it really fits the game.

Over in Utah, but still on Monday, my parents left for Australia for their mission.  The trip went well and they got there on Wednesday.

Here's the whole family, patiently waiting for brownies on Grayson's birthday.

And of course we sang happy birthday!  What a kid this Grayson!  He's got a load of energy, and he loves to be funny and silly.  He's almost always ready to go go go, and "never" needs a nap... (or he does, daily, but does everything in his power to not ever take them...).  He's a great snuggler, and I love him to pieces!

And here he is getting ready for bed.  Smiles all day long!  Oh, I guess I missed the pictures, but he got a yoto player for his birthday, and it has cards that you insert and then it reads stories.  Monica and I made one where we read a bunch of his favorite stories, and he loves it so much.

On Tuesday night I played Runescape with Isaac and Connor.  We completed a quest called Dragon Slayer I, which is the final part of the free areas of the game.  Runescape is a game I first played back in jr high I believe.  It's funny to me now, because I was always trying to find some MMO to play back in high school, and for some reason this one never stuck with me.  I've been having a ton of fun playing it this time though.  Anyway, after we finished we climbed to the top of a mountain and chatted for a bit around a fire.  It was a really great night, and I had a lot of fun.  I'm really grateful Connor and Isaac asked me if I wanted to join their group!

Our garden is a bit less ferocious in it's growth these days, probably mostly due to Monica cutting down all of our previously high yielding plants (mostly actually because of the weather change and just getting cooler weather things planted), but for it's second act it's started producing peppers!  And a LOT of peppers at that.  We've got snacking peppery, jalapenos, poblano, and... green beans...

It's getting dark for the walk to school, and Winry loves to ride her bike, but we want to make sure she's visible.  Monica ordered these lights to put on her bike a few weeks ago, and I walked Winry to school this week and had to capture the action.

WHAT IN THE?!?!  I didn't even know I missed out on a donut until writing this post...  I think I deserve an explanation! and a donut.

The girls have been getting to perform dances at the end of their classes.  I don't know if they shoot for four dances a year or what, but I guess right now is a mini-performance time.  I think there's one around Christmas as well, but I guess we'll see.  Anyway, here's Winry doing her dance.

Friday night it was time for final costume preparations for the ward Trunk or Treat on Saturday night.  Monica made our costumes again, and she was not able to find a suitable wig, so she dyed one blue.  I thought it would be a lot worse, but it didn't end up being very stinky or staining anything.  I guess maybe we got lucky and didn't splash, but it was very successful.

And then we played Patchwork together.  I saw a Halloween edition on sale a few months ago and snagged it, knowing it would come in handy this October.  It's a really fun game, and it's been a long time since we last played.  Monica narrowly squeezed out the win.

Winry had a basketball game Saturday morning, and somehow I slept in until she and Monica had already left!  She had a lot of fun, even though her team didn't win, and she's still got one game next week that we're all planning to go to.

Meanwhile back at home we were having a pinball party.  One of Grayson's big birthday asks was a pinball table like Brooke's, and so that's what Brooke gave him.  Winry's starting to feel that pinball itch now too.  Soon we might have to open a mini-arcade!

I spent most of my day Saturday working on decorations for the trunk of our car.  As you can see below we went as the emotions from Inside Out.  I decorated the car to look like the control room.  Saturday was a blur of prepping for the trunk or treat, doing chores, and putting on our sweet costumes!

They had a donut on a string game, and the kids all had a blast.  They also had a chili cook off, and Monica brought white chicken chili, which was terrific, but didn't win.

Here's a mostly covered view of the car decorations, which did not win the trunk decorating contest, however, we DID win the costume contest!!  Monica got a golden pumpkin for her efforts!  Sweet!

On Sunday, our good friend Lois Eller got baptized.  We had tithing settlement right before, and then went on down and even got there early enough to help set up some stuff.  The baptism was great, and I'm proud of Lois.

And that's about it for our week.  I've been trying to think a little if there are things that don't show up in pictures that have been going on.  I have been hanging out with Isaac and Connor quite a bit lately, but that has been showing up here and there.  My vision is doing a lot better.  I typically don't have double vision in my regular day to day, though sometimes it'll happen during my vision therapy exercises if I push myself hard.  I'll instead get headaches when my eyes get really tired.  It's nice to see clearly, but I'm not loving my approximately once a week headaches right now.  Other then that nothing is really coming to mind right now.  Maybe I'll think about it this week and jot things down if I come up with anything.  I'm pretty sure I was thinking of something earlier today and thought "that stuff never makes it to the blog because I don't have pictures of it," but I also think I forgot whatever that was.  Oh well, till next week!

Grayson's Birthday Party

We're blasting off to space!  We had Grayson's birthday party Saturday, and it was a space party.  He had a bunch of friends come over, and we had an interstellar time in the backyard.  Thank you everyone who came and made it such a fun afternoon.

Time for a rewind.  Earlier on in the week we find all the kids over at the Ellers doing some archery in their backyard.  There was a primary day activity after the father and sons camp out, and they brought some archery equipment for it.  It hadn't been returned yet, so they set it up, and it seems like the kids were having a good time.  I believe at least one arrow went over the fence, but fortunately it's not another backyard over there.

Grayson helped cut vegetables for dinner this week.  He loved it, and I enjoyed my thick cut vegetables at dinner. :)

Here's Grayson at preschool this week.  Looking pretty fly in that jacket.

A lizard got in the house, and Jelly found it.  Fortunately, I was there to save the lizard, though Jelly was very persistent.  It took teamwork, I grabbed Jelly and Monica got the lizard out.  However, the lizard dropped it's tail in the encounter in an attempt to get away.

Here's Grayson helping get everything ready for his party.  He was so excited!

This was in the first picture, but we had a photo stand up for the kids.  We're blasting off into space!!!

We had a pinata, and the kids loved it.  Everyone got a few turns to take their whacks at it, but it was still holding strong, which meant it was time to recruit a dad.  Connor stepped up to the plate, and on his first swing I yanked the pinata up, the bat came out of his hands, and hit a window!  Nothing broke, no one got hurt, and I had a real good laugh!  I wish there was a video.

We sang happy birthday to Grayson, but it was pretty windy, so I couldn't keep the candles lit.  I think in the end Grayson blew out the match, and if I was lucky I got one candle lit.

Sunday was stake conference, and I stayed home with the kids to watch the broadcast.  In the morning after we got ready, Grayson was looking for something to do, and I taught him a favorite game of mine from when I was a kid.  Throwing a ball up the stairs.  It usually bounces it's way back down to you.  Grayson really enjoyed it and played for quite a while, I guess he get's that from me.

Brooke and Grayson were pretty good during conference.  Brooke was able to find quiet things to do the whole time and was hopefully listening.  Grayson also did well at being quiet, and he wandered a bit more, but was still well behaved.  Winry had a rough go of it right from the onset though.  The second we sat down she was too bored to handle life, and came and snuggled up next to me.  For a while I thought we'd make it all the way through like that, but with about a half hour remaining she couldn't take it any longer, and then we spent the rest of conference sitting in a different room with her crying sitting on my lap.

Sunday afternoon Jelly was begging to go in the backyard.  She wandered around everywhere before returning to rest in the strawberry plants.  She really likes laying over here.

And that's a wrap on our week!