Some of my trick-or-treaters. (I don't have pictures of Buddy because he didn't decide until today what to be, and then he went to a friend's house for trick-or-treating and a sleep-over.)

Bug was a bat, for the 3rd year in a row. Mister was a cat, and Lemur changed his mind from Batman to a cat, so we talked him into being a "cat-bat". Missy was a clown, and this was the third night this week I did her clown make-up. The first time was for trunk-or-treat, then she had a Halloween party last night (which this picture is from--she was a "scary" clown), and then tonight for trick-or-treating. The kids had a blast, though the little ones pooped out early--which really isn't a bad thing--means less candy in the house.

Today I went to the next quilting class. I got the borders sewn on (though not during class--I just got the basics of sewing borders on and then did them at home).

It's so fun to see how it turns out. I almost wish I had done the smaller border as the "focus" print (where I have the stripe), and the green as the smaller border, since it is a dark color. But, I really like how it turned out, and then next step, I think, is actually quilting it. The back of the quilt will be the solid blue from the rail fence block.

I'll post pictures of Missy's when I get it done. I'm still working on it, since Halloween interrupted my sewing.

cousins

Leaves

Waterfall

I mis-labeled this video as playing in the leaves. It is really Waterfall Canyon. Missy took this video.

Haircuts

This weekend, while visiting Auntie hair-dresser, we took advantage of her and got some fabulous haircuts. Here is Missy before:

Her aunt talked her into bangs. I've always loved Misy with bangs, but she rarely lets me cut them. The last time she had bangs like this was the summer before 2nd grade.

And here's the big shocker: we got Buddy into the chair for a haircut. He was very reluctant. This picture was taken after she had cut his sides and back. (Look how much hair is already on his on his shoulders.) We told him long hair is out and the cool kids have short cuts...and that his aunt knows because she just came from Florida--where things are happenin'.

WoW! I still can't believe he let her take so much off! He looks awesome! Look at those eyes!
We had fun for a few minutes in the middle of the haircut. He also had a sweet full mohawk for a moment.

Mister also got a haircut--a "scissor-snip," because he doesn't like the clippers. I didn't get photos of him, though.

Autumn

Cousins playing in the leaves

Blue room

This week we got new blinds in Missy's room and the little boy's room. I wanted to paint in the boy's room, because it really needed it. I was wanting to paint another coat of the yellow they have had since they were babies. I picked that color, and I still love it. It's such a warm, sunshiney color. But they did NOT want yellow. They wanted blue. Here are a couple of pictures of the yellow:

Lemur in his PJs. Notice the one foot out and one foot in. Classic Lemur quirk. I don't know why he always does this, but it's how he prefers to wear his PJs.
And here's a picture of the blue. I like the blue (though not as much as the yellow)--but it is such a cool color. And seems so much darker. Oh, well. It's their room. I was sad to cover up the yellow, but I guess that's what happens when they grow up and form their own opinions!
I have to put a plug in for the kind of paint we used. It was "green", as in environmentally friendly. It came in a post-consumer recycled plastic bucket, and had no VOCs. Which stands for volatile organic compounds. In other words, it has virtually no fumes going on and has no "emissions" when dry. Very neat. The boys slept in the room the same day I painted. There wasn't a huge variety in color choices, and it was slightly more pricey, but the coverage was even better than I got with the yellow.

Can't figure it out...

It should be no surprise to anyone who knows me that I am pretty computer illiterate. I blunder my way through most things I try to do (like getting this blog started, or getting onto facebook). But I'm having a hard time figuring out how to post comments on others' blogs without my profile picture. If anyone knows how to do this, please enlighten me!

(FYI I've already gone into "settings" and from there to "comments" and clicked "no" on "display profile picture." It still posts my picture.)

More things kids say...

This morning when I was getting Lemur and Mister dressed for the day, Lemur was laughing that Mister has a bum.

I said "You have one, too!"

To which he replied, "No, I don't!"

So, I pinched his buns and said "What is this, then?"

"Crabby-patties!" was the answer.

Obviously, we watch too much Spongebob at our house.

Hiking

On Friday, since the kids were out of school for UEA, we thought it would be fun to hike to Waterfall Canyon. We weren't sure how far Lemur and Mister would be able to make it, and it would have been easier/shorter if we had known where we were going. There were a couple of confusing signs, and we ended up on the "scenic" trail. (In this case "scenic" translates to "much longer, with a nice view". Although, the regular route is just as pretty--we took it on the way back down. How can it not be when you're in the mountains overlooking the city?)

Anyway, we hiked the long way in. By the time we got close--to a little bridge where we took the picture that is now the title photo--I was thinking the little ones would be ready to head back down. But, the big ones were excited and wanted to go on. So, onward and upward. Or "tallyhoe", as they kept saying. Though it was "teddyhoe" until I corrected them. Upward is the best description, though, as it was nearly straight up and very rocky. I was impressed with Lemur's climbing abilities. (Ben had taken Mister on ahead.)

Finally, we made it to the top. I was exhausted. And out of water. The trickling stream mocked my thirst. So, with thoughts of speaking in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday in the back of my mind, I tried my hardest to give myself giardia by drinking the water that was flowing over the rocks. It was very thirst-quenching. And despite drinking a whole water-bottle of it, I didn't get sick. (Yet.)


Going back down over those steep rocks was a bit scary. At that point, I had Mister with me, and he kept saying over and over "I wish there was a short-cut to our car" and "I'm never hiking again, this mountain is scary". I was quite nervous going down, too, but we made it. And the non-scenic route was much, much shorter! Now we know for next time.

New suit

Bug in his new suit. (Buddy got his first suit last winter, and since then, Bug has been saying he wants a suit, too. Yesterday we finally got him one. He looks sharp, doesn't he?)
Mister can't resist getting in on a photo whenever he sees the camera. He looks not-so-sharp with his shirt tails hanging out. Still handsome, though. (Me? Biased?)

One more

I was going to wait to put this one together, but I went ahead and did it anyway. It took all of about 2 minutes of it being on the floor for the cat to claim a spot on it. I was trying to figure out my stripes--I had them going the wrong way on the last row so I had to unpick that whole row. Anyway, you get the idea, even though it's not complete in this picture.

Tagged

I was tagged by my SIL. I'm to post the 4th picture from my 4th album. My computer recently crashed and I don't have very many pictures on it. Anyway, I've already posted that picture (it was of my snow-covered birch trees), so here's a random one that got downloaded from my camera. One of Missy's good friends got ahold of my camera and (evidently) took a self-portrait.

I'm tagging:

Lisa

Kristin

Christina

Hollie

Airplanes

We've lived here for 4 years now, and I still look up whenever I hear airplanes passing. Most often it's an F-14, or A-10, or something like that. (I don't know if those are the correct letters and/or numbers. All I know for sure is they're really, very fast and I can't tell one from another--especially when they're roaring by so fast that by the time you hear them they're already just a dot in the sky.) This plane though flies over less often, and it's usually very low and very slow--that's why I managed to get a picture of it. I love hearing the sound of freedom--though it took some getting used to when we first moved here. Living here is almost like having my own private air show in my back yard.

Coaching

Last year I coached Missy's volleyball team. (It's okay to laugh here.) We actually won a game or two, and the girls had fun. This year, I was pleased to NOT be asked to coach. They have a real coach this time--she played in high school (or college, or both ?) so she is much better at helping the girls know what to do. On Monday they won their game and everyone played so well. Today, the coach was out of town, so I agreed to fill in for her. The girls came SO close to winning--both teams had each won a set and we came close in the third, 12 to 15. It was a disappointment. On Saturday they have a clinic, then one more game before the tournament. Missy really loves playing, and she's improving; and she says she wants to play in Jr. High next year. I can't help but be relieved that her season is nearly over. (One less thing we have to run to.)

Buddy's football season ended (whew!), and they lost their tournament game last night. He had lots of fun, though, and they won several games.

Bug's soccer continues until the end of October, though I don't know what they're going to do by then because it's already starting to get dark by the end of their games...not to mention freezing cold. His team is pretty good, too, although Bug needs to keep his mind in the game more, be a little more aggressive, and a bit faster. He can really run fast when he tries.

Lemur and Mister

Tonight at Bug's soccer game, Lemur and Mister were playing on the swings. Lemur could get himself going, but Mister was having a harder time. Lemur lent him a hand...well, as much as a 3-year-old can.

Top

I'm getting a bit ahead of the group. I went to the 1st day-time class (as well as the 1st night-class), where I cut strips, started stitching them together, and got instructions on making the blocks. This next step is one I did without instruction. I'm just too excited to do it to put it away for a couple more weeks--I love seeing it come together. I have to put it aside now, though, because I don't know how wide to make the borders. I might finish Buddy's, but I'm thinking I'll probably save that for the next class. Of course, Kaden keeps asking when he'll get his. Patience, my dear!

October Snow

This is what we woke up to this morning:

Lemur playing in the snow--yes, in his church clothes. I drilled him about not stepping into it and getting his pant-legs wet. He listened pretty well, I think.

Mister wondering if he should make a snow-angel. (He didn't...he was pretty good about staying dry, too.)

My poor Japanese maple. Buddy tried to shake as much snow off as he could. Of course, none of the trees had lost any leaves, so I hope there's not any damage to them.

My weeping river birch trees.

I'm not ready for winter to start so soon. We had such a long, snowy winter last year that I am NOT looking forward to shoveling snow again. Ben's promised me a snow-blower this year--a real one, not me.

Blocks

I started cutting and sewing yesterday, and today I finished all of Buddy's rail fence blocks. It's exciting to see progress like this: 12 blocks.

Today I was on such a roll that I cut out Missy's, too, and got all of her blocks pieced together. I ignored my messy house for the day, but, hey, look at all the sewing I got done!

Quilts

There are some very talented quilters in my ward. One of them has been kind enough to start a quilting group through Relief Society for anyone interested. I've always aspired to be a quilter, so it was exciting to go to our first class and then go shopping. We are going to make a throw, and see it through to completion--which means it won't just be a quilt top when we're done. It will be a real, quilted, binded quilt.

I thought I'd start with a quilt for Buddy, since he's technically my first born (by 4 minutes). So, off to the fabric store to be overwhelmed! I went to a little quilt shop, which is (unfortunately) going out of business and had all their stuff 40% off. There wasn't a huge selection, but I found this beautiful fabric (on the left in the picture). So, I got stuff for this quilt, which will (obviously) be for Missy. I left my "specs" home, so I wasn't sure how much to buy, but made some pretty good guesses.

Still wanting to get some fabric for Buddy (he had chosen reds and blues), I went to a different store--which wasn't having a sale, by the way. There was tons of really cute fabric there, though, and this is what I came away with. I can't wait to get started and I'll be sure to post my progress.

DYK...

DYK (did you know) that Stride gum can be chewed with the wrapper on and the wrapper dissolves?

My kids informed me of this interesting bit of information. I've not popped a piece of unwrapped gum in my mouth before, but I've watched them do it. I did try to suck on the wrapper, without chewing it into the gum with no results. Apparently you have to chew it into the gum for it to work. Weird, huh?

(If you have your own bit of unimportant DYK info, share it with everyone in the comments. ;)

Technical problems

Do you ever think that you have a cursed touch--that everything you touch breaks or malfunctions in some way? Well, I have this problem with computers. I've never owned a computer that has worked right.

It started when Ben was in school, we bought a computer, and right out of the box it wouldn't work. Something about the motherboard not interfacing with the something or other.

Next, we bought another one that broke down so the disc drive didn't work.

Then, we thought we'd go with a laptop--a Gateway. Nothing we downloaded to it worked--games and instant messengers, for instance. And, it will turn off at any given time with no warning.

So, we decided we'd get a new laptop (a Dell with Windows Vista--grrr), and that computer freezes up. It stays on, but it freezes, so you have to turn it off and re-boot it.

Well, on Monday, as I was downloading a recommended update (sound familiar, Kristin?) the dumb thing froze. Now it won't start at all. It attempts a repair, but never goes anywhere.

Needless to say, I know that when it comes to computers, I am cursed. It is not possible for me to own a computer that works right.

Which leads me to put in a plug for shutterfly.com. This is a website where you can upload all your pictures. You can share them with others. You can order prints. You can make all sorts of neat things--like Christmas cards. And it's free--except for the print ordering. But they give you 50 free prints for signing up. It's awesome. I'm not so worried that my computer is crashed now, because I had already put all (or nearly all) my pictures from that computer onto my shutterfly account. Now, whenever I put my memory card from my camera into my computer, I always upload my pictures, so they're stored somewhere besides my computer(s) which are bound to break down sooner or later. Sooner, if you're me.

Halloween . . . 2002

I've been going through old digital photos of the kids. Here are some of Halloween, 2002. Missy was a witch, Buddy was a ghost, and Bug was the cutest bat you've ever seen.

It's pictures like this that make me realize how fast time goes. They all have such baby faces.

This bat costume is my favorite costume I've ever found, or made, for my kids. The ears on the hood are so cute.

Here, Missy is in Buddy's ghost costume, and Buddy is in Missy's witch costume. The date on this picture is Oct. 26. They played dress-up in their costumes for days before Halloween.