Getting Ready for Halloween

Last week we had a fence built in our backyard. Sam and Ella had a wonderful time watching the men build it. Sam sat for hours in his chair reading a book and chatting to Mike the builder. Sam loves knowing how things are made. He loves watching movies about food processing, home building, cooking - anything that describes how something is made. Today he kept asking over and over how houses are built. I tried to answer his question, but he kept asking so I said we'd try to look for a DVD on the topic at the library this week. Ella is not so interested. She has been known to fall asleep in the middle of the day when Sam is watching one of his construction movies! And she doesn't often take a nap.

Sam and Ella having a snack and watching Mike build one of the gates.

We are so happy with our grass green back yard. A big improvement over the ant hill that was there when we first moved in!

The kids are very lucky this year because they will get to wear their Halloween costumes three times. Malcolm, One of Sam's friends, has a Halloween party last Friday night and this week we have a Ward trunk or treat party on Thursday night and then Halloween on Friday night. Sam is Thomas the Tank Engine this year, Ella a Pixie Fairy and Owen is a candy corn. For the Australian's reading this, candy corns are a lolly (candy) that they only have at Halloween. I've including a pic so you know what the real thing looks like. Owen made a very cute candy corn, but would not stay still long enough for me to get a decent shot!

A picture of everyone eating pizza at the party. They all got to add their own toppings. Sam likes his with cheese and poppy seeds!

A couple of additional random shots. About once a week I swap kids with a friend who lives in close by. John is Sam's age and Josh is a few months older than Owen. It's great for everyone. The kids get to play and the Mum's get to do what ever they need to with out kids for a couple of hours! Here they are eating waffles at our place last Thursday.

Sam, Ella and Chris eating popcorn balls as a treat for family home evening tonight. Ella managed to knock the popcorn machine over and then spill the first batch of popcorn all over the floor. Thankfully the second back made it!

Fall Fun

The weather may not yet feel very fall-like to us, but the trees are changing color and there are lots of fall activities around for us to enjoy. Last Thursday we went to a farm with some of our friends from church. We got to see some animals, go on a hayride and enjoy the activities they had set up. A lot different than trips to the farm when I was a kid!

Sam and Ella in the "corn" box (instead of a sand box)
In the corn maze. We didn't last long, a couple of turns are we came back out. Apparently it can take adults 1.5 hours to get through!

Going for a hay ride. It was so hot that day. We were so glade to turn the corner and be in the shade.

Owen driving a tractor. This was Sam's favorite activity of the day as well!
Sam on the jumping pillow with his friend.

Sam about to go down the flying fox. I was so scared. It was quite long and I thought he'd fall, but he did great. Came off with a jolt at the end though. He was too short to reach the landing!

Last week we made cookies for Uncle Bry who is on his mission in Las Vegas. Sam loves making sugar cookies. We decorated these for fall / halloween.

On Saturday we went garage sale shopping. Here are Sam and Ella riding some of their new toys. We came back with so much it felt like Christmas and they have been busy playing with their new toys ever since.

A couple of other random pics from the past few days.....

Owen eating salsa. He gave up on the chips and went to spooning it in instead. He loves anything with a tomato base. We had pizza on the weekend, he loves it but always has to eat the topping first.
The kids playing outside today with water. Chris had ice on his car this morning, but today was bright warm and sunny again.

Potty Humor

On Saturday dinner was running a bit late so we gave the kids a bath before dinner. Chris dressed Owen just in a diaper so he wouldn't get his pj's dirty when he ate his dinner. A few minutes later I see Owen come running through the kitchen butt naked. Chris went looking for the diaper but could not find it. For some reason I looked in the garbage, Owen loves checking out what is in the garbage bin. Sure enough, there it was - with a poop in it!!! He had taken care of the clean up himself! He had pooped, so he took off his diaper and put it in the garbage! And he is only 15 months old! We call Owen our little professor because he is always watching everything we do and copying us.

And to add some more to the potty humor, I have 2 more recent stories - one from Sam and the other from Ella. A couple of weeks ago I sat down at the end of a long day and say "I'm pooped!!". Ella looked at me quizzically and asked "In your underwear Mum??" Ella's had quite a few in her underwear lately but even she was surprised that Mum would do that too! I had to try and explain that it meant that I was really tired while Chris sat on the other side of the table laughing so hard that he had tears.

And from Sam. Sam almost every dinner time has to take a trip to the bathroom midway through the meal. I usually get a call from the bathroom "Come wipe my bottom", not so discretely at the top of his lungs. On this particular evening Sam went off to the bathroom singing "Do as I'm doing. Follow, follow me". Now I'd like to see a room full of primary children follow Sam in that one!!

Below are some pictures from the past week. I don't normally allow Owen and Ella in the bath with their dummies (pacifiers), but Ella had hers in and Owen demanded he have his as well. Ella's is going to the birthday fairy to give to a new baby in a few weeks (hooray!!).

Sam, Ella and Owen eating "second breakfast", like hobbits do. Sam is never hungry first thing and so we have waffles or french toast at 9am. It's Sam's big feed for the day and the other two happily join in!


Here is Sam helping Ella with her jigsaw puzzle. He is such a good big brother. I'll often find him helping Ella and Owen. Today Sam was showing Ella how to use the computer. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo.
On Saturday there were a number of carnivals in the area. It was a bit rainy and so not alot of people showed up. There were jumping castles, face painting, free ice-creams, a magic show, animals. The kids had a great time.

We currently go to church in the afternoon. This is how Chris found Sam and Ella on Sunday morning filling in the time before we went to church...

General Conference

This weekend was General Conference. It's nice to be able to stay home from Church and watch from the comfort of our own chairs. Unfortunately we don't get conference with our cable service, but we were very excited to see that you can now watch conference live on-line again. Our computer is just next to the dinning table so we moved the table out of the way, brought some chairs in and settled in for the afternoon.

I'm always amazed at how well the church uses technology. The first time I watched conference on-line was back in 2001 when I was living in Chicago. I would hook my laptop up to the TV and the audio up to my stereo - it was great!. I was sad to see the on-line viewing option disappear for a couple of years. But I'm glad to see that technology has caught up and it's possible again to watch the sessions live on-line, and much better quality than in the past too.



Here are Owen and Ella taking a break between sessions eating icy-poles (popsicles).

Yesterday we went to a fair at the local Elementary School. Sam was so excited to go to a party at "his school". He won't start school there until next September but he already calls it his school. The kids had a great time - jumping castles, face painting, fairy floss (cotton candy). Unfortunately the camera was not charged up and the only photo we got was one of Sam on one of the jumping castle.

Back on-line

Our computer crashed 2 weeks ago and we only got it back a couple of days ago. Here are some pics of our adventures over the past 2 weeks:

We've enjoyed some yummy food...... Here's Owen eating chips and salsa. It's all about the dipping!

Sam helping to make homemade marshmallows... YUM!

We played at the park

Did some painting...

And took some time out for rest and relaxation..


And I just had to include this picture to show that Owen really does have some hair on his head!