Happy Halloween

Despite the cold & rainy weather we were able to have ourselves a very fun-filled Halloween. First, we got up early and hit the Zoo for some Boo at the Zoo trick-or-treating. 

Berlin in her Wonder Woman costume made by me.

Finley in his Lego Darth Vader costume made by Ryan

(except the cape, that was sewn by me).

Then we took a short lunch-break before heading out to Finley's last soccer game for the season. Next we stopped at Canyon Rim park for Millfreaks in the Park. 

We were there about 45 minutes when it started to rain downpour. So we headed home to dry off, take a quick breather, before heading up to Ryan's step-mom's house for dinner.

Lego Darth Vader and Wonder Woman in all their glory.

After some yummy food and visiting with family we met up with some friends to go trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Luck was on our side as the rain stopped long enough for us hit up a couple blocks with the kids. They had such a great time.

Wreath Re-fashion

So, this is the wreath that's been hanging on our front door for the past 2 years. It' was pretty hammered and F.I.L.T.H.Y, so I finally took it off and brought it inside. But, the pack-rat in me couldn't just throw it away. After much thought, and some inspiration from this blog I kinda knew the direction I wanted to go.

So, I unwired all the berries, stars, and greenery, leaving me with just the twig wreath. It was so dirty from being hung outside that I had to rinse it off in the kitchen sink and let it dry out again.

 

I wanted to use felt because I love it so, but I didn't have enough to do the whole wreath, and cheap-o me decided I didn't want to spend a dime on this project. So I just used some cream fleece that has been sitting in my sewing closet forever. The fleece made for larger, softer flowers, which I guess it worked out in the end. I still want to try one with smaller felt flowers, more like the inspiration picture though.

Other than the fact that it took forever to cut, wrap, and glue the gazillion flowers onto the wreath, this is my kind of project: easy & super cheap (FREE!!!).

Halloween Parties Galore

Between Preschool, Kindergarten, Dance, and Tumbling classes, we've had LOTS of Halloween parties this week. Seriously, we have enough candy in our house that we could forget about trick-or-treating all together this year (seriously tempting since it's supposed to be freezing & rainy Sat night). Though I doubt that the kids would go for that.


Berlin's preschool party (she's wonder-woman):

Trick or Treating thru the High School Classrooms. 

Getting ready to sing. 

Chattin' up her friend Lulu. 

For a silent, but cute video off Berlin in all her super-shy singing glory ... click below

(note: my camera for whatever reasons unbeknownst to me, had some random speedy time lapse setting going on so it's play in fast-forward. I guess it's good for consolidating an 8 minute movie into a 23 second clip with no sound - arg ARG! If only I had remembered to charge the Flip mino beforehand.)

Berlin's Dance class party:

Finley's Kindergarten parade/party (he's Lego Darth Vader):

 

the start of the parade ...

 

Finn's friend Mason (iron mask - on)

Finn coming out of the auditorium. 

 

Finn's cute friend Kate.

Heading back to class.

Decorating treat bags.

  

I didn't get any pics of the games they played (musical pumpkins and Don't eat Pete) as I was in charge of the story station (There was an old lady who swallowed a bat), but it was fun. They got to trick-or-treat at each station and have some witches brew.


Finley was very disappointed that he couldn't wear his darth vader helmut. I told him no because I was told no masks. But now I am thinking that he could probably have worn it anyway since 1/2 the kids had masks on in the parade. Oh well. He's excited to get to wear it on Saturday when we go trick-or-treating.

October Happenings

My niece has been staying with us for 10 days while her parents are on a fun vacation. Since she has been with us I've tried to fill our calendar with lots of fun activities.

First up, we went to This is the Place Monument Park over UEA for their Halloween extravaganza. It was crowded but lots of fun with cute crafts, trick-or-treating, story time with a Witch, and more. The kids had a blast.

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Second, we went up to Hill Aerospace Museum. This was VERY cool. I loved that it was free (yep, FREE!), and the girls just loved singing and skipping thru the place. Ryan's been suggesting this for a while and I've never been all that enthused, but I have to say, it was awesome and totally worth the trip.

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After the museum we headed up to Brigham City to eat lunch at Maddox, our favorite place to eat in Utah. Then we hit a couple of the Fruit Stands, one of which had a free wagon ride thru their orchard, another had a free kids maze & slide. It was awesome and we were all worn out by the end of the day.

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Another day, we hit the zoo.

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And finally, we topped the week off at Cornbelly's.

And so it begins...

the continuation of our yard remodel. The first stage was removing the 7 pine trees back in June (as seen here). 


Now we are starting stage 2:  the removal of our old driveway, the pouring of a new one (on the other side of the house), new walkway around the house, new landscaping, and more. Of course the weather, which has been unseasonably warm this month has decided to get crappy all of a sudden. With all the rain, our yard is now one big mud-pit ... wrestling anyone? Needless to say, Bentley is lovin' it all, and I'm just praying I survive the next 3-4 weeks.


Here are the pics from mid-day Friday (Day 1):

the beginnings of our new driveway entrance.

this is where the new driveway will be (runs the whole way back to the basketball court).

view from the basketball court to the street.

the west walkway in the back (used to be solid weeds and about 1 foot high). This will be all concrete sidewalk - probably my fave part of the project as I wasted so much time trying to keep this weeded over the summer. 

Just some of the ivy, weeds, and debris from the south side of the house.

just another view of the south side of the house.

view of the back of the house & irrigation ditch where the new wraparound sidewalk/walkway is going.

La Boheme

Photo credit: fandomania

On Monday I checked my cell phone and saw a missed call from my little sis. So I called her back, to find out she had pocket dialed me :) But, after chatting a while she says, "hey, I have an extra ticket to La Boheme tonight. Wanna come." 

Ummmm, YES!  Ryan was already taking the kids to his sister's house for a game night, so I was totally in. 

Even better, FRONT ROW SEATS. 

So HOORAY for missed pocket-dialed calls. Yay for a great opera that I hadn't seen before. And oh how I love my sister for taking me. You are the best!

Eccles Dino Park in Ogden

We met up with some good friends last week at this place and had a blast. I haven't been here since Finley was 2 years old, and he was freaked out by all the sounds. That was NOT the case this time around. Both kids had such a fun time, so much in fact Berlin cried the whole way home screaming that she didn't want to leave. Good thing we got the pass so we can come back again. Plus we scored 4 free passes to the Children's Museum at the Gateway.