Halloween

I spent my time General Conference weekend making Avynlea and Rylees Halloween costumes. They came together pretty fast and easy. Rylee really wanted to be her favorite Princess Jasmine and that one I struggled with trying to come up with a modest Jasmine look. Avynlea as Belle was really easy. I sewed a simple dress in the beautiful yellow color and then added tulle and roses to make the dress look more like Belles. Rylee's pants were  easy and fun and then I used a peasant top pattern to make her top. I originally kept the length with the blue and added some elastic in the middle to pull it in but it did not look right to me. Finally I cut it and added some flesh colored knit and it looked a lot better. It had the essence of Jasmine yet still maintaining my girls modesty. Avynlea loved her dress and Rylee acted pretty happy with hers. When I asked if she liked it or would want anything changed Rylee did confess that she was hoping to be able to have her stomach uncovered but didn't ask because she knew what the answer would be. Oh my girl! I need to really keep an eye on this one.

Before the Peterson party I had my kids pose outside for our annual Halloween costume photo. They looked so cute and hit their poses perfectly. I especially loved Kenedy's Sleeping Beauty pose.

Kenedy is of the age where she just does her own thing. I stopped making her costumes when she started complaining about what I was making her. She wanted to go along with the girls theme and decided to be Aurora, her favorite Princess. She borrowed my leggings and I bought her some pink tulle to make a skirt and got her a pink shirt. She borrowed a tiara from a friend and she looked beautiful. Ryker decided he wanted to be Eggs from the movie The Box Trolls. I thought that was brilliant and super easy. Kefford brought home a box from work and an Eggs sign he had printed off. Ryker was super clever and made it so when he hid in the box the top came down to cover his head.

Hallowwen 2015

Avynlea:Princess Belle, Kenedy:Princess Aurora, Rylee:Princess Jasmine and Ryker:Eggs

Sleeping Beauty

Jasmine

Eggs

Belle

When I have nothing else to do I will sometimes take a picture of myself.

Avynlea and Rylee were taking the trash out and Avynlea came running in wanting my phone because the sky was so pretty. She took a couple of decent pictures of the dusky sky and one shot of Rylee on the trampoline.

I volunteered to help bring treats for Avynleas class Harvest Party. I found these cute spider doughnuts on Pinterest and decided those would be fun and easy to make. I think the pretzels I bought to make the legs were a little too small but the spiders still turned out so cute despite the wonky legs. Avynlea was my happy helper and I let her work on these while I did dinner.

I volunteer every week in Rylees classroom and not at all in Avynleas. When they get to be fifth graders the teachers don't seem to have a need for regular volunteer help. So I was happy to go to Avynleas class for the party to drop off the treats and stay and watch. Mr Ceniga took the kids outside after dividing them into teams and had them play the mummy wrap game. I liked seeing all of the spooky mummys standing around the playground.

I have to admit I struggled a bit with being in her classroom. I am not a fan of loud noises and these fifth graders were loud! While they were eating they were playing Bingo and the screams and yells made you think a massacre was going on in the classroom. I was glad when the bell rang to go home.

Friday night, the day before Halloween, the girls came to the studio with me while I taught dance. After the dance classes the studio was putting on a Halloween party and my girls were excited to go. They had face painting, pumpkin painting, they made monsters out of marshmallows and cookies and of course there was dancing and games. While they were at the party Kefford met me at the studio and we went out to eat and to drive around. It was a fun night for all of us! Avynlea had a rose painted on her cheek in honor of her favorite Princess and Rylee got a crown.

On Halloween Kenedy had volunteered with NHS to help out at Boo at the Zoo. I have never been with the kids and since I had to take her down their I decided to take the other kids with me so we could check it out. Ryker did not want to go but the girls were game and really excited.

We dropped Kenedy off at the volunteer entrance and then we paid and went in to experience the fun.

Overall the experience was fine but not something I will ever want to do again. It was crowded but that did not bother me too bad. Avynlea just wanted to look at the animals which was great and they had some vendor booths who handed out candy and volunteers dressed in animal costumes who handed out candy also. Basically it was not all that different then going on any other day except they had some candy being passed out. Not enough of it though that made me think we should do this every year. Rylee got tired of it pretty quick but we managed to last two hours so that was good.

Avynlea had me take a picture of them in front of the fox so we could send it to Kenedy, the fox is her favorite animal.

The boy Kenedy likes is in NHS and we found him passing out candy with the generic Pooh Bear. I had the girls go get candy and then I took a picture so I could embarrass Kenedy with it.

Trick or Treating that night was fun. Mikell came over with her kids so we could go out together. Ryker went with his friends and Kenedy could not decide what to do so she stayed at home until she decided to put her costume on with the horse head and go with Ryker. When Ryker got tired of it she found us and came with us for a bit. Halfway through trick of treating we got a call from Kefford saying Kelli was awake and crying and so Mikell took James and went back to feed the baby and I kept her girls. It was a lot of fun and I liked going around with the girls. When Mikells girls got tired of it we went home and Kenedy took Rylee and Avynlea out for more fun. It was a good night and my kids now have a ton of candy. 

Mikell sent me this cute picture of Ryker playing with James. 

Halloween Banner

Last year I had the idea that I wanted to display all of the Halloween pictures I have taken starting with Kenedys first Halloween. I started compiling pictures as I found them and putting them into a Halloween folder on my computer. I was thinking maybe just printing them off and putting them in frames but thought that was a lot of frames and where would I put them. I was not sure how to do the displaying and so I just sat on the project for the year. 

This year I happened upon the perfect halloween printable. It was free, all I had to do was get it printed. It was the perfect solution for my display, a banner. They had put space for pictures and had dots with all of the years from 1996 to 2035. I was so excited! I looked through my pictures and realized I had every picture but could not find 2001. I knew it was Kenedy in her honey pot costume but I could not find a copy anywhere. I feel I have been really great at sending pictures to my Mom and Mother-in-law throughout the years and so I texted both of them to see if they could find it. My Mom wrote back that she had it and she sent a picture of it. Yes! Pictures gathered, banner printed, time to start making. 

I put it all together and decided to laminate them all so that it could last longer. I sewed the pages to a ribbon and decided it needed more pizzaz so I added orange and black ribbons from my ribbon stash. I absolutely love how it turned out. It makes me so happy to see an idea come to life in the perfect way. I hung it on hooks we already had up so I could take these pictures but definitely did not want them in these spots. I bought some 3M hooks so I could display them over the piano but no matter what I did I could not get the hooks to stay up. I was getting frustrated but then thought it was not a big deal and I put them away until next year where I would find the perfect spot and the perfect hooks. 

Red Ribbon Week

This week has been Red Ribbon week at school. Each day is a different theme and requires a different dress up. Tuesday was Hat day "to put a cap on drugs"and the girls were really excited to be able to wear hats to school. Rylee has recently rediscovered her baby doll and wanted me to take a picture of her wearing her hat while holding Lisa.

Avynlea wanted her hair all pulled to one side and after I finished she had me take a picture so she could see how she looked. Apparently mirrors are so last year!

Wednesday was "be a "jean"ious and don't do drugs" also known as wear jeans and a red shirt. My girls looked so cute in their matching Chaparral shirts that I had to take a twinners picture.

Paper Mache

Avynlea had to do a paper mache project for music class. She had to make a shaker by putting some unpopped popcorn in the paper mache ball she made. She worked really hard on it and had it ready to turn in on Monday.

I carpool with a neighbor friend who lives right around the corner. She drives the kids to school and I pick them up after school. The girls walk to her house in the morning for their ride to school. This monday morning that the project was due had been pretty rainy. Even though it was not raining at the time they were to walk out the door, Avy asked if I would drop them off. I said sure and we all got into the car. Avynlea had her project in a grocery bag to protect it from the elements and after she climbed in the car she reached around all her stuff to shut the door. That was when we all heard a crunch and realized she shut the door on her project. It was flattened and popcorn was falling out. Avynlea was devastated and did not know what to do. I told her to just take it in and her teacher would understand, she at least needed to see that it got done. Avynlea grabbed some white duct tape we had to take with her so that she could try to repair it. I felt terrible for her and hoped for the best. 

After school I asked Avy how it went and she said they did not have any time in class to do anything with the music makers. I asked when her next music class was and she said Wednesday. I told her we could make a new one but we had to do it quick seeing as how we had less time. We did not have any more balloons or newspaper at home and so after asking neighbors we managed to get a happy birthday balloon and some newspaper. I love helpful neighbors! One other girl was assigned the shaker like Avynlea and after seeing hers Avy wanted to make her second one a little different. She wanted it a little smaller and with more color. After doing one layer that night, we hung it up to dry over night. It was not quite dry the next morning and so we brought down Kenedys fan from her room to help it dry faster. After a couple of hours it was dry and since Avy was in school I helped her out by adding more layers so that by the time she came home it was ready to paint. 

I think this one turned out even better then the first one, it definitely helped that we were able to learn from our mistakes with the first one. Avynlea loved it and everyone was happy!

Pumpkin Carving!

We did pumpkin carving Monday night for Family Home Evening. I had Pandora going with some fun Halloween music that really made it all festive. I love the traditional things like pumpkin carving that we do every year. This year the kids all gutted their pumpkins and Kefford carved the faces for Rylee and Avynlea while Kenedy and Ryker did their own. I helped separate seeds from the guts and cooked the seeds and other then that I was able to just sit back and watch and work on my own Halloween project. It was a fun and relaxed evening in which everyone had fun.

Rylee was first to be done with her pumpkin and after taking a picture with me she got herself some ice-cream and watched everyone else working.

Rylee took some pictures of me working on my Halloween project. 

They did some fun designs this year. Ryker did the triforce from Legend of Zelda, Kenedy did BSU and Rylee and Avy did some cute faces. I love the buck teeth and eyebrows!

I love these kids and I love fun nights like these that will make long lasting memories!

End of October Randoms

Ryker borrowed my phone to call one of his friends and then used it to take a selfie and make a series of weird video shorts. Basically he was videoing the kitchen area from the room he was in and making strange sounds. I deleted them all.

Avynlea loves going to the store with me and as much as I love her company, my bill is always higher when she is around. We walked by the Halloween stuff and she wanted to try on this mask and then wanted me to take her picture so that she could see what she looked like. I am not a fan of the scary Halloween stuff at all.

Kenedy had this picture of her taken by someone on the yearbook committee. After it was forwarded to her she sent it on to me. Go Warriors!

After church on Sunday the girls had a little cuddle session they needed documented. Oh they are so cute!

This week is Red Ribbon Week and while I was at the school on Monday I was looking at all of the Red Ribbon things the teachers had up. I loved the third grade football goals and had to look for Rylees. I laughed so hard when I saw what she had put for her goal! She told me she wanted to be rich so she could buy me a present every day, that's my girl!

National Honor Society Induction Ceremony

A couple of weeks ago we got a letter in the mail inviting Kenedy to apply to be a member of the National Honor Society. I thought it was cool but didn't think much of it. Kenedy applied and then a little bit later we got another letter saying she was accepted. I thought that was great but again didn't think too much on it until I saw how excited she was. She was really thrilled with being accepted and when I saw her excitement I thought maybe I was missing something. I didn't realize what a big honor this was until we went to the induction ceremony. We got a fancy invitation in the mail for the Monday night ceremony. Kefford stayed home but I took all of the kids with me and we got to the school right before it started, probably about five minutes before. When we walked in everyone was already sitting in their seats, included a row of people on the stage, and it was deathly quiet. It felt a little awkward especially considering the fact that the only seats available for all 5 of us were in the very front. I could feel the eyes following us to our seats. 

It very quickly got started and it was a really nice ceremony with speakers giving short messages and the current presidency explaining all about National Honor Society. I got this picture of Kenedy solemnly swearing to do something or other as a member of NHS, maybe it was the actual induction, I really cannot remember but I am sure it was good.

Kenedy gets really annoyed with me taking pictures of her and so when she acts like a stinker in front of other people I make sure to do whatever I am doing to annoy her more. In this case it was the picture taking, apparently its only cool to take selfies, not when a parent takes your picture. 

They called the members names and they got to go up get their certificates, shake a lot of hands and then get their official pin and sticker.

The principal of the school gave one of the speeches and I really enjoyed listening to him. He was a good speaker and he kept it short which always pleases me. He is the lone man in the bottom picture. I love the look on Marshanne Bates (in the blue and black) face being excited for Kenedy. She does all of the financial stuff for cheer and was Kenedys math teacher last year so she knows Kenedy pretty well. We like her a lot, and she is the advisor for the NHS which is cool, we did not know that.

After everyone marched across the stage it was time to make this all official by putting the sticker they were given on their certificates. 

Kenedys friend Katie Thidedeau was inducted that night also and it was fun for the two of them to do this together.

This was a fun night of honoring Kenedy and her accomplishments. After all of this was done they announced the members by classes and when they came to Kenedy the girl said Kenny Peterson. We all thought that was hilarious! They got her name right every other time so it was ok. :)

When we got home apparently Rylee decided to be a bit annoying and take pictures of Kenedy as she was lying on her bed. She took a ton but I chose two and then deleted the rest.