Happy Halloween

Here is a picture of Princess Nanny (Sarah), Dorothy (Katie), Bedtime Bear (Leah), Bat (Alex), Spider (Caleb), and Optimus Prime (Braydon).

Alex had a Halloween parade at school today. I took my video camera and got it all on film. After the parade they had a class party. Jon, Caleb, Leah, and I all went to his party. We got to watch him interact with all of his friends. Leah and Caleb had fun playing a game with his class too. We were lucky that Jon's boss let him have a little time away from work to come see the fun Halloween celebration at Alex's school.

After a pizza and breadstick dinner Jon took the kids out trick-or-treating while I stayed at home to hand out candy. We only got 4 doorbell's of kids at our house (and one of those doorbells was my own kids!). They all had so much fun trick-or-treating and got lots of candy!

Alex's Final Game

Alex had his final basketball game tonight. His team has really improved since the first game. After the game Jon took us all out to dinner to celebrate. Here is a picture of Alex with his baskeball medal.

Playing With Cousins

Christel (Jon's sister) asked us last night if we could watch her kids while they went on a date. Our kids love playing with their cousins so we were happy to watch them. Alex had a basketball game last night too, so he had 2 extra cheerleaders (Eve and Eden) to cheer him on! They kept yelling, "Go Alex! Go Alex!" It was so cute. They had fun at the basketball game together. Ezra is getting so big. He is 8 months old, but he's going to be walking any day now. I couldn't believe it! He would stand up at the couch and take 1 step forward and then fall down. He's just too little to be walking already! What a quick learner. I loved playing with him and holding him. It was a fun night.

Eden (2 years old), Ezra (8 months old), and Eve (4 years old)

A Trip to Salt Lake

We had our yearly Stake Emergency Preparedness Fair at our Stake Center today. As always, it was very informative. Jon was involved with 2 booths: The emergency communications booth (HAM radio), and the emergency lighting/emergency cooking booth. Jon had to be there early, but I came a little later with the kids. They had booths set up for the kids too. We signed them up and they got to go to 4 or 5 different emergency preparedness booths for kids. They made 72 hour kits, learned about how plants grow, and lots of other safety things. There was even a fire truck and ambulance there for the kids to learn about and explore. Dutch oven lunch was served (made from food storage ingredients). There was a lot of information available there and it's a lot to take in all in one day. We gathered the fliers from most of the booths and we'll read them over later to get more out of it.

After the fair we traveled to Salt Lake to visit with Jon's Oma and Opa Mueller. We picked them up and went to the cemetery to see Jon's two brother's graves. His little brother, Adam, died when he was only a few days old back in 1985. His older brother, Billy, died 2 years ago and he is buried in the same cemetery. His birthday is coming up (November 11th) and we always try to make a trip to the cemetery close to his birthday.

Oma wanted to take us to the Pioneer Memorial Museum. It is a museum located by the State Capitol building. It was very interesting. The main building has 4 floors of displays. Then there is another secondary building with 2 more floors to explore! It was huge! We were there for 2 1/2 hours and still could have spent more time there. It was very exciting for me as we were looking around and I found a case devoted to Mary Flint Call. She is my Great-great-great-great-great grandmother on my maternal grandfathers line. She was married to Anson Call, who is a famous pioneer, and who also has a huge posterity. I happened to be one of those people in his posterity. I'll have to visit this museum again with my mom, grandma and grandpa. I'll remember to NOT take my kids there again. Although they had a lot of fun looking at everything it was so hard for them to keep their hands off of stuff! We finally made a game out of it and told them that if they each kept their hands in their pockets the rest of the time that they'd get a treat at the end. We bought a bag of honey candy on our way out for their reward.

After we ate dinner at Arctic Circle we went back to Oma and Opa's house to visit for a while. The kids saw Oma's PEZ collection, watched some cartoons, looked at her dolls, and overall just had a great time. We always love going to visit them.

Decorating for Halloween

These are the 2 Halloween decorations I made this year. We had a "girl's day" one day last week and my mom and sister in law painted these decorations. After they were dried we stained them to make them look rustic. I think they're cute!

The kids even got to do some painting that day. Alex made the vampire (I still need to have him draw a face on it). Caleb's is the mummy, and Leah painted the witch (with Nanny's help). They were excited to be able to decorate their rooms for halloween.

It's Time for Earrings

So, after we were done at the Discovery Gateway we passed a jewelry store that advertised free ear piercing with the purchase of some earrings. So, being the sporadic kind of person that I am I asked Leah if she wanted to wear "real" earrings and get her ears pierced. She said yes. So we went into the store with Katie.

My mom and the boys waited outside at a table they could watch everything from. When the lady told Leah, "Even if it hurts we'll still have to do the other side" Leah got a little nervous. She said to me, "Mom, I want you to do my earrings." I told her that the other lady was going to do it. She sat really still. They cleaned her ears and put a dot on each of them so we could make sure they would be even. Then in about 10 seconds she had both ears pierced!

The lady was so good who pierced her ears. She went really fast and did a great job. Leah started crying as soon as the first one got done, but she sat really still for the second one too. She was offered a sucker and didn't even want to take one because she was so sad. I took one for her and after she started sucking on it she was done crying about her ears.

Leah had come down with an ear infection the night before and we went to the doctor and she got an antibiotic shot to get rid of the ear infection. So, I decided that it would be the perfect time to get her ears pierced since she was on an antibiotic and there was less of a chance of her ears getting infected. So, the timing was perfect. Leah probably doesn't think so since she got a shot and 2 ears pierced all in one day. Poor kid! She looks really cute with her earrings.

Discovery Gateway

We went to the Discovery Gateway yesterday with my mom, my sister-in-law (Katie), my nephew (Braydon), and my kids. They had so much fun. It's full of kid-sized fun! There's a kid construction zone full of blue prints, cranes, wheel barrows, and lots of foam "bricks". They made every blue print plan!

They have a spot where you can learn about tv broadcasing. This includes a news desk, and a weather forcast screen where the kids can play and see themselves really on tv!

There are so many different things to do there that I can't list them all. It includes a tree house, a real play house, a grocery store, a farm, a climbing wall, a water discovery area, a stage to create a play, animation movie area, firefighting area, mail boxes with post office, illustration area, communication zone, helicopter pad, a balls, blocks, and wind station, radio hosting, music mixing, and a robot area to create your own robot!

We went once before with Jon's aunt Denise and aunt Robin. They really love going there. Here are some pictures from last time we went there in some of the other areas.

An Old Friend

Yvonne Tesch was an exchange student from Germany who came to live with Jon's family during high school. She came back to visit for a few weeks. She, Christel and Alan came over to visit with us on Thursday night. We happened to be having a late night getting the kids to bed, so Yvonne got to meet our kids too! It was fun to visit with her. Here is a picture of Christel and Jon with Yvonne.

Computer Class

Caleb and Leah go to their computer class on Mondays and Wednesdays. They love it. They learn reading, math and science. This is them at their class.

Sports Fans!

Alex had another basketball game tonight. Nanny and Papa came to watch. He did really well playing defense. He's good at blocking the other team's shots and getting rebounds.
After Alex's game, Jon took Leah to the women's volleyball game. She was so excited. She was so happy to dress up in her "cheerleader". She loves to watch Cosmo---from a distance. As soon as Jon went to get her picture taken with him she froze up and was scared of him. So, he went behind her so she didn't realize she was getting a picture taken with him.
She also got to meet a "real" cheerleader. Her name is Katie. She said to Leah, "You must be our cheerleading number #1 fan!" She really is. She loves dressing up like a cheerleader. The sad thing is it will be her last day to dress up in it. It is getting way too small. I heard a few seams pop as I was trying to get it off of her. It says it's a 2-4 size, but I think it fit her the best as a 2 year old. We'll have to get her a bigger size so she can still pretend to be a cheerleader. It was so fun to watch her cheer for Alex at his basketball game too (when she wasn't busy playing with a spare basketball or climbing all over the bleachers).

Decorating Cookies

Yesterday I had a demo at Roberts. I took sugar cookies and decorated them. My mom and I went to girls night out after my demo. When I got home my kids wanted to decorate some cookies too. So, I let them decorate a few. These are the cookies that Caleb and Alex decorated. Alex made the ghost. I was really proud of how well he did stars all over the ghost! Maybe there's a future decorator in him! Caleb also did well following the lines on the football cookie. He loves lots of colors...and lots of frosting!

Soccer, Basketball and a Pizza Party

What a busy day we had yesterday! Caleb's last soccer game was from 5:30-6:30pm. Alex had a basketball game from 6-7pm. After Caleb's game the whole team when to a pizza place to have a pizza party. I took Caleb and Leah to Caleb's game while Jon took Alex to his basketball game. We all met up at the pizza place. I'm glad this was the only day when their schedules overlapped. It would be so crazy to deal with that more than once. Caleb's team did really well. I'm glad he had the team that he did. All the kids got along great and had a lot of fun together. They were all presented with a certificate and a medal for their great efforts in soccer. (Caleb's coach is in the yellow shirt sitting by Alex. Also, notice the soccer cake I made that's sitting in the middle of the table.)

Alex is doing well in basketball too. They are learning man-on-man basketball. They each get a wristband of a different color and they have to gaurd the player on the opposite team with the same color wristband. It hasn't sunk in with some of the kids and we still get a lot of double teaming. They'll learn eventually.

Keep it away from me!

Our family has been passing around a cold for the past few days. It started with Leah and Caleb. They both woke up on Friday with a yucky cough. So, they were on cough medicine. Saturday morning Jon went to Salt Lake with Alex and Caleb. The weather changed for the worse and got really cold. That combined with being around Caleb gave Jon the cold. So, Saturday and Sunday I spent taking care of my sick family. Sunday morning I was the only one who went to church. Alex had said that he was feeling sick too. I don't know if he really was sick, or if he just wanted to stay home like everyone else. Anyway, without anyone bothering me during the meeting, I actually got to listen to the talks! It was so quiet and peaceful, yet I felt like a part of me was missing without my family there. It was almost as if it were TOO peaceful to really enjoy myself. Jon and all 3 kids got blessings and I think it really helped. Jon was able to go to work today and Alex is at school. Caleb's cough is gone and Leah still has a lingering cough. Her coughs always last forever because of the asthma problems she's had. So, we're looking forward to a good week. I hope that the illness doesn't pass on to me. So far so good.