My favorite holiday

I have always loved Halloween. I LOVE dressing up, I LOVE candy and I LOVE talking to people. Halloween is a great opportunity to do all three. I love creating a costume each year and looking fabulous! My costume is important to me, and by extension my kids costumes are important too. I have been blessed to have a Mom who is not only able, but willing to sew costumes for me/my kids each year. So far as a family, Ella's first Halloween she was a duck, I was a princess and Jon was an astronaut. For her second Halloween Ella was Tinkerbell, Jon was Peter Pan and I was Wendy. For her third Ella, Jon and I were all pirates. Last year Ella was a dragon, Jon and I were knights and Wes was a tiger. This year I let Ella pick her own costume (with some guidance from me!) She decided she wanted to be Boo from "Monsters inc" and Wes should be Mike Wazowski. Mom and I figured out a great way to use one of our existing patterns (the duck from Ella's first Halloween) to make a FANTASTIC Mike costume. And we used a Elephant collapsing hamper and some supplies from the craft store to make the Boo costume. Ella wanted to be Boo in her monster costume, and I think it turned out pretty good. I emailed back and forth with Jon about our costumes. I wanted to be Westly and Buttercup from "the princess bride" or Kahlan and Richard from the "sword of truth" books/ "legend of the seeker" tv show. He nixed both of those ideas saying they were too obscure. I then suggested Ariel and Eric from "the little mermaid". He nixed that and then suggested we be ninjas. Ninjas? LAME. But then he pointed out that he has the bo, the nun-chucks and the katana's to go with the out fits. (really he just wants to play with weapons!) and I decided that he has gone along with all of my idea's for the past 7 years that I ought to let him pick this year. So Ninja's we will be. Now back to the fabric store to get the supplies.

Sweet Honey

Today I spent the morning teaching a photography class to a local homeschooling group. The girls were aged 6-10 and I think they had fun, I hope they learned something. We talked a lot about composition and such. After that it was home for naps, then out with Nana to get the stuff we needed to make the kids Halloween costumes this year. After dinner Jon and I were sitting on the floor and he commented on my feet. He told me they were "gross". I told him that if I got a pedi they wouldn't be gross anymore. He said "why don't you go get one?" I told him that I couldn't get one with the kids and I don't like to spend money on myself. Then he was all "No, why don't you go get one?" I was like, "Now, seriously?" and he said "Yes, why not?" YEA! Jon watched the kids while I got a pedi and then I brought home ice cream home for them. Jon had them all in Jammies and was in the middle of bedtime when I got home. What a sweet honey today!

Primary program and Grandparents day

Today was Ella's very first Primary Program at church. She has been so very excited to "talk in the big microphone like the grownups" and she did a fantastic job. When her class (the Sunbeams) got up to recite the first article of faith, Ella grabbed the little microphone and recited it perfectly word for word. It was cute, and her teacher said it was just as well she hogged the mic since she was the only sunbeam to have it memorized perfectly. Then she got up to say her "piece" and was perfect in every way. She didn't forget her line "God is the Father of my Spirit" she said it loud (but not too loud) and clearly and then evidently gave Nana and Daddy a big THUMBS UP as she left the podium. I did get to see her do that, because I was sitting behind her in the back with my class. I was so very proud of my little sunbeam!
After church we found out from Kristy and Brenna that today was Grandparents day. Ella decided that she needed to make something for Nana. She is grounded from coloring because she colored red pen on my couch (it came off thank goodness) so she decided to make a "pinecone person" It came out really cute. She gathered all the pieces and told me where to put them and I handled the glue gun. Nana was suitably impressed with Ella's creation.

Workin' hard

Today we worked hard ALL day. Whew, I need a nap! We ordered new windows a little over a month ago and I got the call yesterday that they would be ready to install on Wednesday. YEA! new windows. On the downside, in order for them to install the windows we had to move Ella's loft as it was partially in front of the window. This was no easy task, but we finally got it done. Only took 5-6 hours! The room is majorly rearranged. We figured we had to move the bed anyway, why not go whole hog? I think it turned out nice.

photo shoots

I had two photo shoots this morning. So I was pretty busy. The second happened to be for my best friend, so I got to shoot some of my kids after I was done and before I cleaned up. Wes would not STAY OUT of the set while I was doing Nate, but when it was his turn he wanted nothing to do with it. Ella was game though, so I got some sweet shots of her. Tomorrow we have a busy day. I have to finish tagging for Klassy Kids consignment sale, and help Jon move Ella's bed to a new spot so that our windows can be installed on Wednesday. I am so excited to get new windows!

Happy Birthday Dear Grandpa!

Today was Dad's birthday. He invited us over to share his special Birthday dinner. I helped Mom cook a special sun dried tomato, garlic cream sauce and shrimp scampi. It was Delicious!!! After dinner we did presents, Ella gave Grandpa two "Special prickly pine cones" and a picture. Grandpa was suitably thrilled with the gifts. Jon and I gave him Carcassonne a fun game which we played after presents. We ended the celebration with Banana Pudding, his request for his birthday "cake". It was a fun evening. Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Splish Splash

Today we decided to go to the Bridgestreet fountains. We haven't been for a while and it was such a nice warm, but cloudy day we thought it would be perfect. The kids had a ton of fun, and they were the only ones there. They got a lot of energy out, which is what I wanted. Once they were done playing, or really once I was done chasing Wes back into the area after he escaped, we walked over to "Tommy's Pizza" to try out a slice. The pizza was good, but a little expensive for the amount you got. We finished our morning by walking over to the chocolate crocodile and getting a pretzel. When we got home Wes took a nap and Ella played very nicely on her own in her room. She had a lot of fun with my old barbies, even if she did keep coming over to me and asking me to put this or that piece of clothing on them. After naps we went to Moms so that I could work out with her, then the grocery for dinner items and finally home where we made hommade sushi for dinner. It was a fantastic day!