Pre-Halloween Fun

I will post costume pictures later, but I just had to tell you about the week leading up to Halloween.

When I was growing up my parents would take us out the week or two before Halloween to go Reverse Trick-or-Treating. What is Reverse Trick-or-Treating you ask? Well, we got to get in our Halloween costumes and take treats around to our neighbors instead of asking them for treats. It was usually a Family Home Evening activity and any time we got to dress up was an awesome time!

Well, my kids are now old enough to start this awesome tradition. It's actually something that I had forgotten about and when I was thinking about what to do for FHE last weekend I suddenly remembered that great activity. So, I got some treats together and didn't tell the kids what we were doing until the last minute when I told them to go and get their costumes on.

What a great service activity for young kids! The kids learned an important lesson about giving instead of receiving and it was a hoot to see the faces of people that came to the door. Some had a look of sheer panic thinking we were asking for treats and others just wondered what in the heck we were doing in costumes on their front porch. We visited some elderly people and widows, the bishopric and neighbors. We made sure that we didn't stay and interrupt their Family Home Evenings. It usually took a little bit of explaining that we were giving them treats not asking for them and it was nice to let them know how much we love and appreciate them.

I am so grateful for parents that taught me the value of service at a young age. I hope this is a tradition that our kids will look forward to every year at Halloween. It was a really special experience for me this year.

So, that was what we did on Monday night. Tuesday Corban had his preschool Halloween party and parade down Main Street. Lucky for us the preschool is right across the street so we didn't have to go far to watch their little parade.

Corb's teacher sent home a note saying that if it was raining that they wouldn't do the parade. Well, I was just sure they wouldn't do it because that was the day that the temperature totally dropped and it didn't rain - it SNOWED!! And it was really, really cold outside. Well, great lady that she is, when the time came it was not raining or snowing and she braved the cold along with a ton of kids (all 4 of her classes were combined for the actual parade) all bundled up and excited about their costumes. Corban had a great time and loved having yet another excuse to put on his skeleton costume. He LOVES being a skeleton!

On Wednesday I dropped off the two youngest kids at a neighbor's house and went with Gabby to kindergarten to help with her Halloween party. It's kind of a bummer that they don't have the kids dress up at school out here and have a parade through the school or anything like that. I think the PTA does one separately outside of school time. I think this year they are having a children's parade on Saturday afternoon.

Anyway, it was short day, so school was only about 2 hours and they just did some fun Halloween centers and fun activities. I was in charge of making necklaces. The kids strung beads on glow-in-the-dark plastic "thread." They also decorated sugar cookies and ate them with a glass of milk, played Halloween Bingo with M&M's and played some matching games. It was short and fun and I was glad to get to help out. Now the kids are out of school for 2 days because of the end of the term.

Nothing else too exciting happened this week. Bump is dressing up tomorrow at work (along with a co-worker) as a Bio-hazard type of guy with a H1N1 eradication/office sterilization sign on his bio-suit. I will be dressed similarly tomorrow as I scrub my house to get ready for my parents visit this weekend from Washington. What an awesome Halloween! Can't wait for Saturday.

My Halloween House 2009

Wow, we are only about a week away from Halloween and I haven't posted my house decorations for this year yet. What is wrong with me?

So, this year the "theme" for outside was spiders. I created some spider webs out of nylon rope and white yarn and they turned out surprisingly good and were super easy. The spider webs might have to become a tradition since the kids love the big spiders so much. We also hung our scary skeleton guy up above the porch in front of Corb's windows (which we replaced and haven't painted the trim yet. . .) so that he would be more noticeable. His dress/robe things get blown all over during storms, but he has stayed up there really well.

We also have our tombstones out front again, but this year added a few skulls and have them lit at night with the spotlights that we bought for our flags for the 4th of July. The lights are great and light the tombstones and also shine up and light up the spider webs above them so you can see everything at night.

The legs sticking out the dirt is the kids favorite decoration. This year we threw a few extra bones out around the legs also.

Inside we have a few cute things scattered around the house. At the front door I have a cute witch that my sister gave me before she moved and I bought the cute stuffed witches boot from her mother-in-law. It's so much cuter in person!
In the parlor I have hung some creepy cloth over the lamps and added some fall decor to the mantle and put out my cute witches hat that I made at a Relief Society activity.
My neighbor was getting rid of these cute ghosts so I took them and hung them in the dining room for the kids.
The grocery store, across the street, had this fun 2-in-1 Halloween picture. When you look at it one way it is Whistler's Mother.
Then you look at it from another direction it is a spooky Whistler's Mother's Skeleton. I love little surprises like this around the house.
I haven't taken pictures at night, but it looks really cool. Not only are the tombstones and spider webs lit from the small spotlights, but I replaced the front porch light with an orange light bulb. I also put up candles in each window like we do for Christmas, but we used the orange flicker bulbs that make them look old and haunted. Also lining the front walk I have 8 little black iron jack-o-lanterns hanging that hold tea lights, they are in the picture at the top of the post, but they are small and you can't see them very well.

We love Halloween and it is fun to add and change things each year to make it spooky, fun and something to look forward to. Happy Halloween!

Our New Trees

I forgot to post about our new trees! So this is going back to last month, but I just have to tell you about them!

When we bought our house there were these funky bushes on the east side of the house between the house and the road. I say that they were funky bushes because they were actually trees at one time that had been cut down and then started sprouting out of the stumps again. The previous owners trimmed them into "bushes" and that is what we have had. We call them our tree-bushes and had to trim them at least monthly or they would get overly bushy and funny looking. I have been determined to remove them since we moved in. The stumps were rotting and we had problems with wasps trying to live in them - not cool!

Here is a picture of them last summer right after we put our fence in. They were in need of a trim, obviously.

Well, this spring Bump took out one of them pretty easily and we patched the hole with sod - no problem. Then we got busy and didn't get around to the other one until last month.

J&J garden center in Layton had an amazing sale on trees in September and we went one Saturday to check it out. We ended up finding these amazing maple trees for 70% off. We got $140.00 trees for about $40.oo. Woo hoo! So, we finally tore out the other tree-bush and replaced them with 2 gorgeous trees!

They are called Autumn Blaze or Autumn Glory, something like that. The turn a fiery red color in the fall and are absolutely beautiful! I got out and took a picture one day before we lost all the leaves. The one turned color quicker than the other one, but both of them ended up turning that beautiful red color and now have lost most of their leaves. They will get about 40 to 50 feet tall and will shade the house beautifully as well as add privacy between us and the grocery store across the street. It always bothered me that we had an almost 100 year old house, but didn't have large old trees to go with it. I think the house just needs some great old trees! So, even though it will take awhile for them to grow, someday they will be amazing just like our house! I love trees!! Happy fall!

A Bewitching Good Time

Today after I picked up Gabby from school (it was early out day) we went and picked up Grandma Williams and headed out to Gardener Village for a fun afternoon. We haven't had a chance to really enjoy fall yet because we have been sick and Grandma and Grandpa have been sick, so we decided it was time to get out and do something! Luckily Grandma could come with us - Grandpa had another obligation.

Grandma surprised the kids with pony rides first. They each got to pick out their favorite one to ride. And I am sure by their smiles you can tell how much they loved riding the ponies.

Then we spent the rest of the time just walking around and seeing all of their cute witches on display for Halloween. I took this picture for Grandma! :) We got a kick out of her in the outhouse!
Gabby thought that this was a very beautiful witch and really wanted a picture by her. I didn't get pictures of all of the witches because there are just so many really cute ones! The kids loved every one of them.
Grandma also took the kids into the candy shop and let them each pick out 2 things. What a great, sticky treat! After leaving she also bought us dinner at Wendy's. It was so fun to get to spend some time with Grandma! It seems like since school has started that we rarely get to go for a visit. The kids had such a great time and so did I. Thanks for a fun afternoon, Grandma!

What have we been up to?

Did the flu season even start yet? I was just thinking about where to go to get our flu vaccines this year and when the H1N1 vaccines would be available when it hit full force at our house. I got hit first and definitely the hardest this time. Last Monday (that would be the Monday almost 2 weeks ago) I woke up not feeling too hot. By the time Bump got home from work that night I was in bed and pretty miserable. Tuesday Bump went to work and I tried to deal with the kids, but was not on top of my game. It was picture day for Gabby and Corban had preschool, so I got them off and looking hopefully decent (I will find out when pictures come back).

When it was time to pick up Gabby I knew that I probably shouldn't drive so I called my sister, Tracy, and asked her to pick up Gabby from school. She happily did it and brought home a feverish little girl. Dang it! I did my best to be a mom and help her feel better, but I finally threw in the towel and text Bump to please come home and help. He was so great and came right home for me. The next few days are pretty much a blur of aches, pains, coughing, freezing, sweating, etc. Bump stayed home to take care of me and the kids and he started to feel pretty awful by Wednesday. He pushed through it and did some shopping and stocking up of cough medicine, tylenol and ibuprofen for us and the kids, who were all either sick or getting sick by this time.

We quarantined the family in the house through the weekend and Gabby was feeling better by Sunday. We kept her home one more day to be safe and she was back in school Tuesday. Corb was the best off in the bunch and only had to miss one day of preschool (he goes twice a week). Bump tried to force himself back to work on Monday, but only went a half day and again came home to help me out - I was still down and really sick!! He took care of me again on Tuesday and then I finally started to come around, finally!!

I kept thinking that I was getting better and even got up and cleaned a bit on Saturday, but my body was just teasing me and Saturday night was terrible and I felt even worse on Sunday and Monday. This stupid flu hit me hard and did not want to let go!

Today was my first day out of the house and I still feel a bit light headed once in awhile and my body is still weak. I have a slight cough and my sinuses don't seem to want to clear up yet. But I haven't had a fever for a few days and I am in the process of getting my house back together. I swear there isn't one piece of clean laundry in this house! Tracy came by and helped me clean my floors and do my dishes before she had to head off to school. What a treat! When the kids kind of fend for themselves the house really shows it!

I feel like I have been so out-of-it for so long! It's hard to try to get back into a routine when my world just stopped for a few weeks. I am doing good now, the kids are doing good, Bump was doing good but came home from work not feeling well again tonight. Dang it! I think he is just pushing himself too hard and his body is tired. I put him to bed really early and hopefully he will be okay tomorrow!

Anyway, that's what we've been up to lately.