Pumpkin Carving

Wednesday night we had our 5th Annual Pumpkin Carving Party with the Bowers! Good times! Oh how the years have changed. Now the adults can barely even carve pumpkins due to the kid craze. The little boys were busy tackling and wrestling each other non stop while fitting in breaks to run like maniacs around the house. The little girls just wanted to eat any leftovers and climb on/off any vacant chair. Luckily it's held at our house, so we can easily dump our kids into bed once they've hit their breaking point. Taylee left the party 1 hr into it. Anden should have left the party 2 hrs into it. Everyone had a blast. And for the first year ever, I actually finished my pumpkin too! (ok so Jer had to finish cutting it out while I was on parent mode)

Toy Time

Dinner Time

Giggly and shy little girls when the camera comes out!

4th Attempt at a Group Picture

Little Girls love Little Pumpkins

Kids "Carving" Time

Pumpkin Station

Cookie Station

Plan Z to calm the boys down

The Finished Product

And the creativity award goes to Anden

Pre School Costume Party

Today at school, Anden had a costume party and they went trick or treating to all the high school kids' classrooms. He was so excited! So much in fact, that he wanted nothing to do with his costume this morning. Jer texted me in a panic, "he won't put it on and is throwing a fit!" I calmly assured him that he would be more than cooperative once he actually got to school. Luckily, that was exactly the case!

This year he went from wanting to be Batman (thanks to some crazy wings Jer found) to wanting to be a Robot. I held off on his costume until I knew for sure that "Robot" was his final choice. So Jer and I quickly pulled together a Robot costume the last couple of nights. We thought it turned out great!

Anden the Robot & Ryah the Witch

The back side

After school, Anden's teacher emailed a class picture. I was so excited when I opened it. Then my excitement turned to a mild panic attack when I couldn't find Anden in the picture! He must have wandered off and got left behind in the school somewhere! Then I found him. The only kid standing in the back....because his dang costume is impossible to sit in!! LOL

Next year we'll take functionality into consideration when we design his costume.

Oh, and his teacher did make sure to tell me that she had a good chuckle watching him try and climb the stairs during trick or treating. Nice to see she has humor like mine.

Anthem Carnival

True to my word, I took Anden & Taylee to the Carnival Saturday night. Yes, all by myself I attempted this. The kids loved all the lights and action. Luckily other kids were death screaming on the Zipper ride. That quickly told Anden that wouldn't be a fun ride after all and he stopped begging for it. We sat and watched all the kids go on the scary rides and then stumble off afterwards.

Then we made our way to the coveted Ferris Wheel. Anden had waited half of his lifetime to go on it. We emptied our wallets and bought the ridiculous amount of tickets (yes $1/per ticket and each ride takes 4-5 tickets and then I have to go with him too!) He clutched his tickets and got in line. We were so excited. I admittedly was a bit apprehensive about keeping two kids on my lap 100 feet in the air in a wobbly bucket. Then the missing tooth raspy voice Carnie disrupted my thoughts and motioned for me to come up to the front of the line. Oh such royalty we are! So we moved up to the VIP area ready to enter the next bucket and receive my bouquet of roses and tiara. That's when he gruffly informed me, "That baby ain't allowed on here m'am!" I pleaded with him that I would hold her tight and that my son had waited all day to ride the Ferris Wheel. "I ain't making da rules, I just enforcin' 'em!" No amount of groveling would make him budge. Seeing as this was probably the most authority he had experienced in his life, I let him have his moment. (ok not that I had any other choice!) We humbly gathered our pride and slithered back to the unattended stroller I stashed behind the ride. Anden was devastated. Taylee was just happy to be back to her snacks.

I quickly hashed Plan B. Off we hurried to the kiddie rides! We now had 10 extra tickets to use! Anden's void was immediately filled with trains, trucks, and cars!!

Unfortunately this same smile wasn't on his face after the car ride started. It was on an oval track and literally whipped around the corner so fast he about flew out. Well then it did it again on the next corner. Anden was yelling and begging for me to get him out as he continued the oval nightmare ride. I frantically waited for the Carnie to stop the ride but he wasn't. I hurried and ran over and begged him to stop and let my son out. I was about ready to offer up my Dental Insurance to him in exchange when he then noticed the one little boy yelling and crying in the blue car. He reluctantly pulled the ride to a hault and I leaped the gate and saved my little one. I felt so bad. But Anden quickly recovered and was begging for money to win an inflatable machine gun shortly after.


Me and Taylee watching Anden on the rides! I apparently was a tad more excited about it than she was!

Soccer Game #2

Anden did much better staying on the field this week! As for actively participating in the game, we'll have to work on that. But he did run his little heart out...only because that's what the pack was doing.

On this lovely day, it happened to be Anthem AutumnFest and the carnival was on the other side of the park. Luckily for us the Ferris Wheel, in all it's glory, was directly behind our goal just taunting and tempting Anden's attention. As he would run past me I would hear him yell out, "I just want to go on the rides!" Then on the next pass by, "Cmon! The Ferris Wheel.....!"

We had a full team of kids that actually stayed on the field. So he got much needed substitution breaks to cool down and replenish the fluids. It was 92 degrees and we all got sunburns. Seeing as it's late October, I somehow overlooked the need for sunscreen. During these breaks I spent the whole time explaining to him that the rides weren't working yet and we could go tonight when the sun went to sleep. Reluctantly, he agreed to wait. Then it was his turn to play again. He rushed back out there and glanced up. At that very moment a pillar of light shown down on the Ferris Wheel and miraculously it was awakened. Time stood still as it began it's magical circular movements. Anden froze and his jaw dropped. He sprinted back over to me, "It's Working! It's Working! Let's go now!!" Who knew the rides started at noon that day?! Just my luck. Now we had full motion rides going in the distance with squeals of delight to go along with it. And our field happened to face right in that very direction.

In the second half, Anden decided he was too hot and tired to play. So I secretly whispered to him, "Ok I'll give you a dollar if you stay on the field and attempt to kick the ball." Usually I bribe with candy, but I brought out the big guns today. You see, Jer was out of town so I had the dubious task of wrestling Taylee alone while attempting to watch the game and negotiate with Anden over soccer vs carnival. I needed some help here. So we shook on it and off he ran. I was so proud of him until I noticed he happened to run right to his coach and excitedly scream, for all to hear, "My Mommy's giving me a dollar to play soccer!" All sorts of stares came piercing right in my direction. I chuckled and shrugged...although I felt like yelling, "OK GUILTY!"

We're the green team. The three serious players are 4 yr olds. The two outliers are 3 yr olds. My child being one of them.

This pic is from Tuesday's practice. I didn't understand this "drill" of balancing your elbow on the ball. Hhm maybe that's why I'm not the coach?!

Foot Attire

Your day is always more exciting when you're wearing hot pink high tops.

Sedona

On Sunday, we decided to take a road trip to Sedona. We were supposed to go to Stake Conference for our church but quickly realized there was no way our kids would sit still and quiet for a 2 hour meeting. So we unselfishly made the decision to sacrifice our well being in order to salvage the spiritual experience for those that would have sat by us. (ok and we really wanted a family day together before Jer left for Houston for the week)

So off we set to find cooler temps and fall foliage. We hadn't been to Sedona since we were dating! To our surprise, it's only an hour away from Anthem! Guess we'll be going more often! Our goals were met for the day! Beautiful scenery! Perfect weather! Great photo op!

Here's a visual recap of the day!

Never forget the sacrifice involved to get a good picture!