Halloween 2015....a couple of thiefs

Last Halloween J and T asked to be burglars for Halloween this year.

Thank goodness they didn't change their mind cause they made some pretty great looking burglars if I do say so myself.

I even got in on the black and white stripes and joined their band of bandits!

Last weekend they attended their school Trick or Treat Night...

I love that T has his "pose" and his scowl in every single photo...this kid knows burglars...

This past week we attended the ward Trunk or Treat and found a couple of other thieving bandits...

And finally Halloween actually arrived....

This was the "before" photo and I really wish I had the "after" photo because we trick-or-treated in utter downpour!!!  So much so that the kids only did half of the neighborhood (if that) before they declared they just wanted to be done.  They were soaked to the bone!  And so were their bags of candy...turns out pillowcases do not make good candy bags on wet nights because candy wrappers are more paper than you realize until you soak them and then you discover it the hard (messy) way.

And my favorite shot this season is this particular thief with his missing front teeth....best year ever to be a burglar with that mug shot!

already thinking about Christmas

 Last night T lost his second top front tooth and so he has been left with the cute 1st grade gap.

It only took him about 24 hours before he said, "mom there is a song about wishing for two front teeth for Christmas and that is just what I need this year" 

October Randomness

Here are the random photos on my phone that pretty much sum up the past month...

My boys are always reading...

always.....

T's lego friends joined us for general conference (who says we aren't missionaries?)...

I joined T on a field trip to see the play "Piggie and Elephant" in Portland...

J informed me that he dislikes weekends because he misses school...

J's poem about himself...

T's self portrait and description of himself...

This spider on my front porch was huge and gross and I'm sure it is poisonous...

K, J, T and I attended the West Coast Pumpkin Regatta...yes they are paddling pumpkins!

C putting his best "face" forward during Fear Factor with the YM/YW...

A little note (that I can't seem to turn) from J who has become quite the love bug as of late...hugs and notes and "thanks" have become his specialty.

and that is a wrap for October!

Our little Garden

I love the looks of garden beds and was thrilled this past spring when Rich determined that garden beds were just what we needed as we began re-landscaping our yard.

I thought that with that declaration I would be stuck learning to make garden beds (because I am kind of the "handy man" of the family)...imagine my surprise when my husband took that project on as his own.  Not only did he DO it - he did it well!  He has been a closet handy-man all this time, just letting me think he couldn't do it so he didn't have to!  

He is so busted!

Rich worked with C for much of the box building...teaching C some of the basics of woodworking.  I loved watching them work together side-by-side.

We completed the boxes and put them on the side of the house in a spot that hadn't been used for anything else and was really just an eyesore.

Rich topped the boxes with boards to finish them off and the kids and I moved river rock from other areas of the yard to create a really nice garden area.

We planted the gardens and enjoyed watching them grow all summer long.

The tomatoes obviously took off!!!

Not so much on the broccoli or cauliflower or anything much else actually :)

And then this afternoon I watched as C turned over the garden in preparation for the rains and winter weather.  The season completed.

Until next summer......

Fish Hatchery, Bonneville Dam & Eagle Creek

 I was able to join J yesterday on his 3rd grade Salmon Field Trip (only in Oregon!).

I found it fascinating - because when I was in 3rd grade I never had a salmon unit.

We began by going to a Fish Hatchery where they spawn the salmon to then release into local creeks. 

Then we went to the Bonneville Dam to see the salmon ladders and to find out how the dam was created with the salmon in mind and how the salmon are able to get past the dam when they go out to the ocean as well as when they return.  We also watched the salmon as they passed the counting window and learned how to tell the difference between wild salmon and hatchery salmon.

Then we went to Eagle Creek to see salmon in a wild habitat - where we witnessed spawning occurring as well as the kids were able to get hands on with dissected salmon.

All of the stops were in the Columbia River Gorge.  I am constantly amazed at the beauty of Oregon and the gorge is beauty taken to the next level!

It was a great day and my favorite part was when Jake told me "thanks" for coming and snuggled his head onto my lap on the drive back in an attempt to fall asleep.

 

  

 

 

Volleyball is OVER

It is hard to believe that K's freshman volleyball season is already over!

Volleyball started the week before school started and it has consisted of daily after-school practice, two games a week and three weekend tournaments.  

On game days K generally would not get home until 9:00 p.m. and that is when she would BEGIN her homework!  Needless to say, K has put SO many hours into volleyball and I could not be more proud of her as she has managed the volleyball, on top of the homework, on top of early morning seminary.  What a commitment.  What a girl!

And through it all I have loved watching K's team play!  They made huge improvements over the course of the season as they have learned to work hard and work together.

I have particularly loved watching K play as she is just "cool and collected" out there!  I even had another mother comment on how calm K always seems to be.

At the beginning of the season K's coach gave her the "assignment" to be a team leader and help the girls stay positive.  K did a great job being that leader and served as one of the team captains for the season.  Not only was she a good leader in attitude, she was a great player overall.....by the end of the season K was the only player on the team that never rotated out.

(I wish I had better photos but volleyball gyms are not photo friendly and most photos are blurry so you take what you can get)

K had lots of supportive fans.

I wish I had taken a picture of "her" fan section last week.

At one particular game there was her parents, her brothers, her brother's friend, our old bishop and his wife, her seminary teacher, and two of her YW leaders.  

Love that they were all there cheering her on!

(there is one other girl on the team that is LDS and this same fan base was cheering on her as well)

But I DID get a picture of this favorite fan of K's!

Rich's new scooter

Over four years ago Rich bought himself a little scooter to "scoot" around town on.

He loved it for a couple of years but then it needed a tune-up, and then another, and then another.  By the time we moved last summer it was no longer really running and it has been parked in our garage for over a year, with the engine in pieces all around it for the past few months.

Time to be done with the scooter so momma sold it on craigslist.

Bye bye scooter!

In the meantime, Rich has been missing his little scooter and really missing the cheap transportation it provided.

So he thought about getting a hybrid car but just couldn't commit.

And then he heard more about electric car options.

And my husband got excited!

Excited enough to get himself a four door "scooter" - a little Nissan Leaf that allows him to "scoot" around with the perk of being able to take passengers and without getting wet in the rain.

And as much as K wishes that this story ended with us giving her her dad's Toyota Camry, we sold that car to a teenager whose parents love her much more than we love K :)

(just kidding K)

We are truly LOVING our little electric car!

Loving it so much that I'm ready to buy one for myself as well as one for that teenage daughter of ours!

Thankful for GREAT friends!

As I was sorting photos I could not help but notice the number of photos I have of T and his cute group of buddies.  He has the best little group of friends and I am so glad that, despite them being split up into different classes this year, they are sticking together and staying good friends.

The "group" is T, Jack, Liam and Hayden (and Kate quite frequently)

they run together...

catch bugs together...

play at the park together...

help each other tie their shoes...

and cheer on the high school football team together!