HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

As you can see we got really creative this year...and used costumes from a few years ago. They fit the next child in line just perfectly. Evan hated the lion's mane, but was a good sport and actually wore it most of the night. I loved that you could only see about 2 inches of his face and from the back he looked like a little Tina Turner. The weather was perfect - 60 degrees. It is the warmest that a Halloween has been since we moved to Kennewick 6 1/2 years ago. In the past it's been 25-30 degrees.

Granny's Buffet allowed all kids who were dressed in costume to eat for free so 8 of us ate for the price of 2. Brett threw on a black cape so he could eat dinner.

We now have too much candy. I always throw a handful away each day when the kids are at school. That way they don't really notice. I can't imagine them eating all that candy - especially after going to the dentist this week and all of us being in the cavity-free club again. YIPPEE!!

Playing in the Canyon, Getting pretty with Granny, sick Evan, and Carving Pumpkins

Here is everyone playing in Zintel Canyon after we took family pictures last weekend. The weather was perfect and of course the girls found a little creek where they found lots of stinky "clams." We stayed until Kehli fell in the water. Mark's parents came down this weekend for a visit. They took us to Granny's Buffet for dinner one night, which the kids think is the greatest treat. The girls love to put on Granny's make up and get all pretty. You can tell that Erin is more interested in looking beautiful and the other two get a little carried away with the eyeliner pencil. I told Erin that witches are supposed to be ugly and she informed me that it wasn't Halloween yet so she could be a pretty witch.

Brett, Jaylee & Evan have had the barfies the last few days. The only thing I like about having sick children is that they snuggle with us more. Evan, who is a little busy pants, will actually sit still and let you hold and rub him. Here he is snuggling with Mark on the couch. Why do they have to grow up so fast!?! Here we all are carving our pumpkins tonight. As you can see I still do it the old fashion way. Mark doesn't have the patience so he enlists the help of his tool box. Every time he turned it on Evan would run and say "monsters coming." I guess it scared him a little.

Family Pictures

When Michelle was here last weekend she took our annual family pictures for us. I'm having trouble adjusting the picture on the blog - it keeps cutting off the right side of the picture. If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix that I'd love to hear them.

Jaylee is now a permanent fixture in our home. She's been with us for almost a month now. She and Erin share a room, she does chores, says the prayers, acts as a peacemaker (my favorite!!) and in general just blends in like she's always been here. We'll see how things progress in the coming weeks and months. She's a great girl and just wants so much to be part of a family, something she's never had before. So now there are eight of us under this roof. It's a good thing we bought a big van last year because now we only have one empty seat in it. I keep teasing Mark that we need to fill it - he's not amused. I'll try again another month...

I love the fall - the changing of the trees. That is what I miss most about living back east. We have a little bit of trees around here, but nothing like Maryland. Our family pictures were taken down in Zintel Canyon. There is a nice trail through it that we like to walk on and pick wild blackberries in the summer.

Time Out For Women - Portland, Oregon

Here we (April Homer, Michelle Birch, & Me) are at Time Out For Women in Portland, OR last weekend. Michelle came up from Bakersfield, CA for a visit and we had a little weekend away. We had tons of fun shopping, relaxing, eating & getting rejuvenated. We could have easily stayed another night...

My sister, Heather, met us there from Eugene, OR and shared the hotel room with us. It was great to see her again.

Here we are relaxing in the hotel playing games in our jammies.

Then April & I being dorks at Denny's in The Dalles, OR. We really did have too much fun - if that is even possible!! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

A Smorgesborg of Things

Brett got to go on one last scout camp out for the year last Friday so the girls wanted to go camping too. It was going to be in the 30's that night and I was worried about having Evan out in the cold so we just made a fort in the living room and the girls camped there. They thought it was great!!
Evan has been so into guns and shooting lately. This particular day he saw a squirrel on the fence in the back yard. He went and grabbed his gun and ran outside to get it. It was interesting because I watched from inside so I wouldn't scare the squirrel away. The squirrel would actually stop and watch Evan, even as he would stop to cock the rifle again. It was very amusing.
Here is a picture of all the free stuff (after rebate) that I got at Rite Aid last week. My rebate check for all this stuff will total about $112. It included cough medicine, lip balms, flu medicine, allergy medicine, throat lozenges, nasal sprays, saline rinses, headache medicine (adult & children), cold sore medication, mentholatum rub, and more. All the stuff that we need to keep us healthy and feeling good through the winter. That is the most free stuff that I have gotten at one time - I was so proud!!

Azteca - Girls' Lunch Date

I forgot to include this in the last post. The girls got to go out for another fun time together last Friday for lunch. It was Sherilyn Mills (+2 kids), Rebecca Carter, Me (+Evan), April Homer (+2 kids), Cami Rhoten and her sister Chandra (in the pretty red hat). There were 6 mommies and 5 children. Despite the almost even ratio the floor still looked like a war zone. I guess that is why we tip big? I wish that I could speak Spanish - it would have been interesting to understand what the waiters were saying to each other each time they passed our table.

Where does the time go???

WOW - it's been three weeks since I posted the last time. The kids are finally in a good routine with school. Brett told us last week that he is too lazy to do his work all the time. We aren't sure where that came from, but we told him that wasn't an option so now he's back-peddling to get his grades back up. Erin is doing fabulously well - even has a 100% in science. She has a great teacher (maybe I've said that before) and is excited about learning. Kehli is the resident Spanish expert and is always correcting Bubba on her pronunciation of words. It is so fun to listen to Kehli read her decodable books each day and she is now able to tell me the whole story back in English. Evan and I are having a great time with each other all day long. He has quite the imagination so we pretend - usually with a toy motorcycle and a stuffed doggie. He is just so much fun - I can't get enough of him!!

Mark is into the heavy harvest season and I am no longer surprised when his phone rings at 3:30 in the morning with the first problem of the day. I'm finally able to get back to sleep for a few last hours. I started working out at a gym again. Two friends (Cami & April) and I joined up and have been taking classes for two weeks. I started with weights again on Friday so I'm walking like a gimp. It's all good, right!?!

Here are some pictures of Evan. The first: I told him to look at me and say cheese and this is what I got...

Here he is being a big boy in daddy's work boots. He didn't get too far in them, but sure thought he was pretty cool:

And one last one with Evan's new "sister" Jaylee. She is a neighborhood girl that is with our family a lot. She was with us pretty much all summer and is now over every day during the week from after school until bedtime. She stays all weekend and is even with us tonight. We love her like she's our own. Evan just adores her and runs to her when the other kids won't leave him alone.