Halloween Parties at School

What a fun day at school!  Carter's school does a literature parade where they dress up like a character from a book and then decorate a pumpkin like that character too.  I didn't want to buy another costume, so we decided to find something that we already had at home.  Carter came up with a construction worker.  We didn't have a book with a construction worker in it, so I had to find one...  Wal-mart, Target, the dollar store...everywhere I looked I could not find a book with a construction worker in it.  Not even a Bob the Builder Book.  Finally a girl at the library called another library and they had one she thought might work...so off I went.  Finally about five hours later I had one! (They have to take the book with them to school so show what character they are.)

Here's Carter with his cute pumpkin.  Thanks to Grandma Welker for sewing the tool belt. (I'm not a seamstress whatsoever!!)

Leah dressed up as a cheerleader for her Preschool Halloween Party.

Here's Carter's literature parade at school.  He didn't even look like he was dressed up.  He took off his vest and hat; and wasn't even holding his book. 

What the heck did I try so hard for if he didn't even wear it in the "big" parade?

L e a H

 At the beginning of preschool Leah's teacher told the kids that as soon as they are able to write their name, she would give them a BIG candy bar.  Leah did not forget that promise and has been practicing ever since. Well this past week she has learned how to write her name! That is a HUGE accomplishment because when she started preschool she didn't even know how to hold a pencil!  Her teacher kept her promise too. She came over the other day and brought her the candy bar.  Leah could not have been more excited.  She now writes her name on everything and everywhere.

Way to go Leah!!!

Anyone wanna buy a light bulb?

They aren't just any light bulb...they are environmentally friendly light bulbs. 

Yesterday Carter came home from school with a school fundraiser packet to sell environmentally friendly light bulbs.  What school sells light bulbs for a fundraiser?  And who would be the idiot to buy one for a whopping fifteen dollars???  When he pulled it out of his backpack he was so excited to tell me all about it... He told me that he would only have to sell 30 to get an iPod Shuffle and then asked me how many I wanted to buy...  I told him that we are NOT selling light bulbs for $15 each and his response was, "but they're environmentally friendly and we need to save the environment."

Well, today when we went to my mom's house we had only been there for a few minutes and he tells her, "Wow Grandma, I'm so proud of you... You have environmentally friendly light bulbs."  Of course she could not stop laughing!  She thought that just came out of nowhere.  And then I explained that his school is selling light bulbs that are good for the environment, so he checks out everybody's light bulbs.

What ever happend to selling cookie dough or greeting cards?

Carving our Pumpkins

The kids have been looking forward to carving our pumpkins for over a week.  Of course when we have plans to do something, that's the night that Jason's work likes to keep him working late.  So we waited and waited for dad to get home so we could get started...

This is our before picture...

The Silly face picture... Mila doesn't know what to think.

When I was searching patterns on the internet, the kids really liked the dog, so that's the one I made.

Of course Jason's had to be way more complicated....  This is his first attempt at a portrait pumpkin.  It's a picture of Carter but he thinks it looks more like a monkey than Carter.  I thought it turned out pretty cool, especially since he used a flat screwdriver and a spoon to do it.

Jason had a Brain Fart

Today Jason came home from work and surprised me with an iPod Nano...  He put it on the kitchen counter and didn't say anything to me.  When I noticed it sitting there, he said, "Don't say anything until I tell you the story behind this iPod." 

Here's his story...This morning when he wrote the date on some paperwork, he saw the 26 and thought to himself... Why does this date look important?  Suddenly he realized that our anniversary was on the 26th.  So the whole morning he felt bad about not saying anything about it to me before he went to work.  So on his lunch hour he went to Sam's Club and got me the iPod that I have been wanting.  Later in the day some guy on the radio said, "Wow, I can't believe it's almost November."  Just then it clicked that our anniversary was in August and he had already given me an anniversary gift two months ago...  I could not stop laughing!!  (He said I could keep the iPod anyway.)

Update on our "Pet" Frog

A few nights ago I asked Jason if he would catch our dumb "pet" and take him to live somewhere else.  (I was just so sick of the "treat" that he left on our front porch every night for over a month.)  Well, Jason and Carter trapped it in a 44 ounce cup with a lid, and then took him to the green belt at the end of our street, thinking that he would be happy there.  Well low and behold...the very next night the dumb frog was back on our porch!!  I seriously didn't think that he could find his way back. They must be smarter than I thought...  So once again, Jason trapped it and then we took him to another green belt further away.  I now know that this stupid frog will not be able to come back. I just hope that his friends don't want to make our porch their home either...

Carter's Birthday: Part Two

We really had a fun day to celebrate Carter's Birthday. 

Jason made a big breakfast for him with all of his favorites...pancakes, eggs, and sausage, and then he finally got to open his presents.  He has been trying to figure out what we got him all week and he was really happy once he saw what they were.  He got two Lego sets, a tractor and a dump truck. And he also got a hunting game with a gun for the Wii.

Sorry these pictures are of Carter in his underwear, but that's how he hangs out at home...

We let him decide what he wanted to do for his birthday and he chose to go to Golfland to go miniature golfing.  They had the whole place decorated for Halloween.  We all thought it was really neat, but Mila didn't like it very much.  Every time she would see something she would say, "Uhgeee".

After golfing we went to Chuck E. Cheese. The kids had so much fun playing all of the games.  It's nice how everything there is only one token too. 

Mila didn't like any of the characters there either....they were "Uhgeee".

We then took the Light Rail to downtown Phoenix.  The Arizona Science Center was free all day, so we decided to take the kids since we had never been there.

They had a lot of hands of stuff that the kids really enjoyed.

We were planning on ending our day with a trip to a corn maze, but the kids were exhausted by the time we were done with the Science Center, so we just decided to head home.  Hopefully we'll make it there sometime this week.

Carter's Birthday

Tomorrow is Carter's 7th Birthday.  Since his Birthday falls on Saturday, we got to celebrate his birthday at school today.  He wanted me to bring in donuts instead of the usual cupcakes.  (Which was no surprise to me, cause they are his favorite.)  His class was pretty excited about them too. 

Carter's teacher always seems to make the birthday kid feel so special.  She gives them a crown and a big sticker that says, "Today is my Birthday" to wear all day.  Carter's not one to really love all the attention, but today he loved it!  Especially once I showed up to his classroom with Mila.  He was so proud to show her off to the class.

We're not going to have a big birthday party for him since everyone is so busy, but we do have some fun things planned as a family for him tomorrow.

To be continued...

Back to our Regular Programming

For the last couple of weeks we have been on the go.  That means that Mila's naps have been put off.  The girl won't even take a cat nap without her bed...  Well, today she brought me her blankets and says, "Nigh Night." 

She was actually begging to take a nap!  SOOO NICE!! 

Fall Break

For Fall Break Carter wanted to go camping.  Jason and I didn't think camping with Mila would be very fun, so we decided to have a backyard campout.  We roasted hot dogs over a "campfire" and made smores.  When Carter found out that we were going to have a fire he says, "I'll be right back." and runs in the house... He came out with this mask and a piece of hose from the play vacuum.  He thought he was a real fireman.

The kids' hotdogs turned out VERY BURNT, so I made them some in the microwave after their fun with the roasting.

This is a picture of Mila's big bump and bruise on her forehead.  She fell on the cement at my sister's house a couple of hours earlier.  She was fine but it sounded horrible...

Once we had our beds all made we took turns telling ghost stories.  I let each of the kids tell their story and then I told them one.  When I was half way into it, Carter says, "OK, stop. I'm really getting scared."  It was pretty funny.

Fireman Carter putting the fire out.  The fire was his highlight of the night, so I promised that we would use our homemade fire pit more this winter.

It turned out to be a pretty eventful night...Jason stayed in the house with Mila and I camped out with Carter and Leah.  We were in our beds and the kids were both asleep by 8:30. At about 9:30 Schnef Farms had their weekend fireworks for their Chili Festival and every dog in the neighborhood was barking.  Then at about 10:30 it started sprinkling.  I went in and got Jason to come out and help me put the rain cover over the tent.  It only rained for about 15 minutes, but it was just enough to get everything wet.  Then the wind really picked up.  It was moving our tent so much and making so much noise that I just could not get to sleep.  Finally at about 3:30 I told the kids that I was going to sleep on the couch.  Not long after I went in they were in too.  It was really fun while it lasted though.  Maybe we'll do it again in the spring, or heck, maybe we'll actually take them camping...

Graham County Fair and Parade:

We haven't been to the Fair since Leah was about 18 months old, so we decided to take a long weekend and go to our nephews' football game, parade, and big ol' fair.  The kids loved it!  Carter and Leah were the perfect age to ride rides and really enjoy it.  Mila...not so much.

Here's Carter and Jason on the Farris wheel.  Carter and Leah both were big talkers before we went to the fair that they were going to ride on the Farris wheel, but as soon as we started to get in line to ride it they both said that they didn't want to.  We pretty much forced them to go and their faces were priceless when we were headed to the top...They were both pretty much holding on for their lives...

Carter actually did a few rides that I thought were a little too much for him, but once he got off he loved 'em.

Leah's favorite was the slide. 

Here's Carter wishing for a Polaris Ranger...

Neither one of them had ever seen cotton up close, so Carter was pretty excited to be able to touch it and then wanted his picture with it.  I guess growing up in Thatcher and seeing it everyday, you don't think twice about it.

It was a really fun weekend and we were able to see a lot people that we hadn't seen in years. Hopefully we'll be able to go again next year so Mila can enjoy it too.

Carter stayed in Safford for his last week of Fall Break to spend time with Grandma and Papa Nelson and all of his cousins.  He had so much fun as usual.  They really seemed to keep him occupied doing the boy things that he loves to do. They took him hunting, paintball shooting, fishing, and also played baseball with Aunt Cindy's baseball team.  Their neighbor even had a bon fire to burn tree branches and Carter thought that he was the security for the fire.  I was told that he even locked up his cousins in the old chicken pen.

We went with my sister's family to the park to hit some baseballs.  Mila had more fun going for rides on their golf cart and seeing all of the neighborhood dogs out for walks.

Here's Mila with her newfound toy...the mop bucket.  She loves for Carter to push her up and down the driveway.  (Notice her cup of ice...she doesn't go very far without it.)

And here is a picture of our new "pet".  This frog has been in our yard for over a month and poops on my front porch EVERYDAY!  I'm soooo sick of him.  One day I found Mila picking up the poop, so I have to make sure that I squirt it off before she gets to it.  Anyone want a frog???

Today was a really rough day for me...I don't know if it was just that the kids were bored, or what, but they fought non-stop today.  I don't think I got anything accomplished because I was a referee on overtime today. 

Although Fall Break was fun, I can't wait to get back to our normal schedule on Monday.