Our October

The kids had their first-ever Awards Assembly this month. Bree received a Perfect Attendance Award, and Mason made the Principle's List for straight A's (a common achievement among kindergarteners). Bree was very proud as she stood up when her name was called.

10/18/13

We carved pumpkins, and the kids sketched out several drafts before we cut into them.

10/26/13

The jack-o-lanterns lasted a whole three days in our warm autumn weather before rotting to mush. Sadly, I did not get any photos of them.

Our Ward Halloween Party and Trunk-r-Treat was fun, and even though it was crowded, and the food line was insanely long, the green screen photo made the evening worth it.

Lincoln looked adorable in his Zero costume.

Everyone commented on how awesome our costumes were...and two or three people even knew who we were supposed to be!

We had a little Halloween Dinner Party on Halloween night, and I invited a bunch of our neighbors. We had TONS of food.

Aside from my family, only two people showed up. Sigh. That's what I get from trying to advance our neighbors from acquaintance status to friend status. But we had fun anyway.

And my brother's family won the prize for cutest costumes.

Happy Halloween indeed.

Autumn is...

Sweaters, scarves and boots. Even if the weather is still in the upper 80s. Incidentally, I knitted myself a scarf with some Sashay yarn I found for $1.00. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Looks kinda like this:

Wardrobe changeovers for the kids. The hand-me-down bins open up, we sort through items that might still fit from last year, and we scan the clearance aisles to stock up for next year.

Fall cleaning. The cat hair from the previous homeowners is officially gone. From the window sills anyway. Thank you Chad.

Halloween decorations.

Homemade pumpkin doughnuts, pumpkin cake, and pumpkin cookies. And I can now say with certainty: a can of pumpkin plus a box of spice cake mix does not equal amazing cookies.  Edible, sure, but not amazing. The doughnuts and the cake, however? Drool.

The first hot chocolate of the season. Sadly, I did not get a picture of this event, but I found this photo from a 2007 blog post. Recently I couldn't get my beloved Cafe-Motion to work, but Chad was able to fix it! They just don't make them anymore. No, really--they actually don't. Please don't die, little motor...I don't know what I'd do without you!

Fran's Caramel Corn. Soft and heavenly.

Directions:
Boil:
2 full packed cups brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup butter
Add:
1 can sweetened condensed milk (I totally made my own with powdered milk!)
Bring to boil stirring constantly, cook to soft ball stage.
Pour over 3 gallons popped corn (1 1/3 cups kernels)

And while we were at it, we made caramel apples. The dipped slices weren't a success...the caramel liquified and slid off. They were still delicious, and the kids had fun decorating them.

Whole caramel apples were more successful, even though the caramel sagged a little overnight. They still made decent gifts for the kids' teachers, though. And I felt like such a super mom, I was almost envious of myself.

Okay, bring on the cooler weather. We are so ready.

Fall Break in Las Vegas

During the kids' Fall Break from school we were able to visit Chad's family in Las Vegas. One of the main highlights of the trip was the Discovery Children's Museum. We had been to the old Children's Museum, but this new one was bigger and better. Chad chased Bree and Mason around (they spent a ton of time in the three-story play structure), and Fran and Jim and I hung out with Lincoln and Trust in the little kids' area. Lincoln was in heaven.

Mason lost his first tooth while we were there. Luckily the Tooth Fairy found us. Now he and Bree have matching smiles.

We also visited Chad's cousin Curtis and his family. The kids played a little (Cal was loving on Lincoln--so adorable) before we headed out for some shopping at Town Square (Amber is an awesome shopping buddy).

 

A weekend of General Conference rounded out the visit. The weather was chilly and glorious; it felt like fall had officially arrived. And we said goodbye to the house Fran and Jim have lived in for so many years, since they'll be moving soon. The next time we visit, it will be to their new place! Hopefully that time won't be too far off.