13 days of Halloween Part 1

I've loved changing this tradition to enjoying 13 fun fall activities with the family throughout the month of October. I used to celebrate this by starting on the 18th and having a special activity each of the 13 days leading to Halloween, but it soon became too crazy to be enjoyable. This way works for me and we have a lot of fun in October!

Day 1: Fall Carnival at the school. This year's theme was Super Heroes! Each of the kids had a cape made from Mrs. Sandra at Pre-school Musical (Jackson got his updated to fit since he's grown so tall from his pre-school days). I made matching masks and wah-la! Children transformed to Heroes before our eyes! The kids have been into star wars lately and Zoey got to meet R2D2.

Day 2: Date with Eli to Hee Haw farms. We went for  a hayride, corn maze and picked a pumpkin from the patch. He found the biggest one there! 

 Day 3: I went on a field trip with Jackson's class to the farm country. Great day to be with him and his class. The weather has been beautiful!

Day 4: Spider web park. This park is up by Cabbellas, but worth the drive. It has a lot of fun unique playground equipment and the kids love it! I like to take them in the fall for the spider web! It fits the theme for the month and it's great doing things that don't revolve around sugar and dead people! 

 Day 5: Book, books and books! My kids have always loved our nightly reading at bedtime routine. We have a few fun holiday favorites that get put away with the decorations and only come out for the month, so they feel like new again. Sometimes I add to that stock, like this year. Each kid got a new fall reading book and loved it!! Some books even came with a surprise set of Halloween stickers! wahoo!

Day 6: Mom's craft night! Yippee! I spent an evening out with some crafty ladies making this cute sign for our front porch. The saying fits pretty well with our family! And cupcakes for dessert. Yum!

Day 7: Movie and Popcorn with Friends! We watched Hotel Transylvania, which the kids enjoyed watching twice. A fun Halloween flick.

Day 8: Sugar cookies with Friends! We had a new family move into the ward and we invited them over for sugar cookie making and decorating. It was great for Zoey and Calvin to meet and make new friends, plus eating cookie dough and frosting is not such a bad idea either! I think the kids got more sprinkles and frosting than cookie ON their cookie...but oh well. Live and have fun.

Day 9: Playing in the leaves! We've had some beautiful fall weather lately that is soon to be changing this week! I'm glad we've had plenty of time to enjoy the warm autumn sun and the colorful leaves while it was here. This proves you don't have to go far to have fun!

Calvin and his Bike

Calvin refused to ride his bike with the older kids all summer long. I took the effort to try to teach him how to pedal a few times, but he'd get so frustrated with it. Brian traveled a lot this summer and didn't have time to spend with him on it. Just recently however things have clicked. He has figured it out, and if I ever wonder where he is, all I need to do is look for his bike. He constantly wants to ride. I've taken him out to a  few fun parks. I want him to have a lot of opportunities before the winter to get his pedaling skills down! It's been fun to see him try and keep up with the older kids and to watch his legs go go go! He's getting so good! Now it's time to take the training wheels off! Lol! 

Fall Happenings

We seem to constantly be going, going, going. It's a busy but fun time if life. Here's some things we've been up to that don't need a long post to each event, but I wanted to make sure they made it into our printed family journal at the end of the year...

Brian has gone on a few fishing trips and has taken turns with the boys. Surprisingly, he catches fish with them playing around the river! They always have a good time and are proud of there catches!

 We survived another year of canning season! We busted our about 100 jars of applesauce, another 90 of peaches and pears (mostly peaches), about 50 jars of tomatoes, and soon we'll be doing grapes. We spent a month getting our food storage up to date and beefing up our 3 month and 2 year supplies. It was a huge project!

The kids have held a few produce stands a bake sales. They are learning the lesson of hard work, talking with adults, and dealing with money. They get excited about their efforts! When they come asking me to buy stuff, and I tell them that if they want it, they have to buy it...then this is our solution to that problem. They have purchased their own scooters, extra toys they "had to have", and things from the school carnival.

 I went on a solo hike on Timpanogos. I rode the lift up to arrowhead summit at Sundance and hiked (bushwhacked) my own trail up to the top of the tree line along the ridge seen of the first picture. I hoped to get t o the summit, but that's as far as I could make it on my own without climbing gear, It was pretty cliffy and exposed and I didn't want to risk a search and rescue event. This hike was an effort for me to get some personal reflection done without interruption from others. It was a neat experience. Brian and I have made several trips to the temple as we contemplate the next phase of our lives.

I've been helping a the school with different events. It's fun to help out my kids' classes. The teachers are amazing. I have a great supportive hubby and mom who watch the younger kids so that i can be a help at the school on occasion.

look closely for the hawk flying over Jackson's head! 

 We've gone on some family hikes and drives to see fall leaves. Cascade and Sundance have been favorites.

 Brian pointing out Provo Peak to Zoey..her favorite mountain which she called Provo Pink because of the pink sunrises on snowy mornings in the winter. It's beautiful.

 Brian pointing out Utah Lake which Calvin calls "the tall lake"

That's the three oldest kids riding solo not he lift! 

I was the mean mom one day when I took all the kids to an immunization clinic to get flu shots. They were not happy with me! Jackson did fine. But it was a struggle with all the others. I got them a cookie from kneaders afterwards.

Brian visited Gettysburg momentarily while on a business trip. We want to go back!

 Zoey has had the chance to take care of Hootie, the class mascot from 1st grade. It was a big privilege for her and Hootie has come on many family adventures. We had an FHE in the park this week and Hootie joined us. Jackson came up with the activity (fire), Eli was in charge of treats
(s'mores) and I thought a quick lesson on the light of Christ.