Happy Halloween/Sanhiem

 Happy Halloween 2010!!  Or Happy Sanhiem.  Whichever you choose (Day of the Dead, Devil's Night, etc. . .)  Porter chose to be Harry Potter for his preschool Halloween Party.  He did have Harry Potter glasses but got these "silly" glasses at school and had to sport those for a couple of days.

 This year we chose to blend traditions, and honor our dead.  This may seem weird to some of you, but I've always found a pull to old traditions and this was one I felt strongly about trying to incorporate.  Thankfully we don't have too many to remember.  We tried to stick with Joe and mine grandparents, parents, or aunts/uncles.  I sure hope I didn't forget anyone.  The kids really thought this was cool!!

 All four ready for the trunk or treat.  Porter changed costumes and wanted to be Spiderman for the night. 

 Dan was a cute little red eyed tree frog again.

 Hyrum was some dude from the Clone Wars.  He could tell you exactly.

 Emma is a fairy.  She got to have a Girl Scout Halloween Party last weekend so she got a good use of her costume.

Porter as Spiderman, and I can't even begin to tell you how frustrating it was trying to get him out of that tonight. 

I didn't get any pictures at the trunk or treat, because I was the one handing out candy and it started to downpour just as it was starting, so no pictures from Joe either.  We had a nice time anyway and the kids walked away with quite a bit of candy.  We thank Camp Williams for giving our little Army Brats a great time!!

Pumpkinaze

 Porter's second school field trip was to Pumpkinaze. It was fun for them.

 They were big time posers.

 Dan wanted to ride the "cow."  No, Dan it's a horse. "Oh, oh yeah, Horse."

 They dug in the big corn pit to find candy.

 Then we ran around the maze and Mom nearly broke her ankle, but it was ALOT of fun.

 Meow.

 Then we ate our candy.

 Then tonight we got hair cuts!!

Yup they are Mine!

Porter. . . Yup they are definitely mine!!

Up Logan Canyon

Joe needed to get up to the mountains. And so that's what we did. As you can see, my weekends have been very filled lately, which is why it's taken me so long to play catch up here (seeings as I still have a ton of homework), but family always comes first.

We went up Logan canyon to walk around the Lake which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Mom forgot her jacket at home so she froze but it was still a total blast.
I wanted one with all my kids but Porter wasn't too interested in stopping. Moving kept him relatively warm. Dan had fun finding rocks so that he could chuck them in the water.
Porter gracing me with a pic.
Kiddos under the pine tree.
Hyrum is my photographer. I mainly wanted me and Joe but Emma and Dan had to hedge in on that action.
Even though he was cold and didn't want to stop walking, Porter had so much fun!!
Such a belle girl.
Hyrum had a blast too.
And Dan as cheerful as ever.
All four with the Lake. As you can tell, Porter not so interested in picture taking.

We had so much fun. We definitely have to go back, but this time, I think I'll bring my jacket!!

My Little Girl Scouts

Emma has been attending a special Girl Scouts orientation for the last couple of months and then on the 6th of October she had her investiture ceremony.

She was pinned an official Girl Scout. My little Daisy.
She was so nervous and it was so cute!!! She had her first activity last night with her troop. They went to Black Island Farms and then had a weenie roast. She had so much fun and made a bunch of new little friends. She also brought home a pumpkin that was bigger than her. She's so excited to be starting on this new activity.

St. George

Here's me playing catch up. Good golly I've gotten busy!!! So, let's see. The end of September we went down to St. George again for Isabel's baby blessing. We wanted to go for the blessing as well as getting to see Grandpa George since we couldn't afford to head up to Washington for his 80th birthday bash :(

Between check out time from the hotel and the actual blessing, we had a major time gap. So we took the kids to the park. Dan got to swing like mad, which is his favorite thing in the world to do.
Porter actually went down the slide.
Hyrum wandered and complained that it was too hot. Eventually Joe took him and Emma for a walk while I attempted to do homework (big shocker, I didn't actually get anything done!)
Emma got her first journal and boy was she very proud and very prolific.
Great Grandpa George with his great grandchildren.
Cousins!! Emma is so very happy to have a little girl cousin. She loves them boys, but it sure makes a difference when a girl comes to town!!

Cabin

October 2nd we headed up to the cabin for a family get together, and to celebrate Porter's birthday!
Now there's a moose in there somewhere. There were three just sitting by the driveway as we pulled up. They even wandered through the back while we were inside.
Birds the kids love to try to feed.
Hyrum was trying to build the Parthenon, I believe. He said it was a Greek place he had learned about in school.

September 2010 Reads

So alot read this month--some for me, others for a class on Children's Literature (obviously those are rather short and therefore plentiful). I have to say that there was nothing I read that I didn't enjoy one way or another. However, for the sake of time, I'm not going into much detail. If there is every any question, just let me know. I am happy to answer any questions or field any comments that you may have.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix 870
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince 652
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 759
Author: JK Rowling

A Child's Calendar 30
Author: John Updike
Illust.: Trina Schart Hyman

A Brother's War: Civil War Voices in Verse 31
Author: J. Patrick Lewis

Max's Dragon 32
Author: Kate Banks
Illust: Boris Kulikov

Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The Capture 222
Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The Journey 242
Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The Rescue 194
Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The Siege 198
Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The Shattering 172
Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The Burning 207
Author: Kathryn Lasky

Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Story from China 31
Author: Ed Young

The Egyptian Cinderella 30
Author: Shirley Climo
Illust.: Ruth Heller

Yen Shen: A Cinderella Story from China 29
Author: Ai-Ling Louie
Illust.: Ed Young

Little Red Riding Hood 35
Author: Jerry Pinkney

Glass Slipper, Gold Cinderella: A Worldwide 30
Cinderella
Author: Paul Fleischman
Illust.: Julie Paschkis

My School in the Rain Forest: How Children 31
Attend School Around the World
Author: Margriet Ruurs

The Civil War: 1840s-1890s 79
Author: Roger E. Hernandez

Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex 357
Author: Eoin Coifer

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes 38
Author: Mem Fox
Illust: Helen Oxenbury

Big Wolf and Little Wolf 32
Author: Nadine Brun-Cosme
Illust.: Olivier Tallec

Princess Pig 32
Author: Eileen Spinelli
Illust.: Tim Bowers

Can You Make a Scary Face? 36
Author: Jan Thomas

The Hello, Goodbye Window 30
Author: Norton Jester
Illust.: Chris Raschka

The House in the Night 38
Author: Susan Marie Swanson
Illust.: Beth Krommes

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers 39
Author: Mordicai Gerstein


Total for September 2010: 4,476
Total for 2010: 36,085

Know all these books range in age from Kindergarten on up, and some of them were simply outstanding. Out of all the kids' books, I would have to say that my kids' favorite was "Can You Make a Scary Face?" It's an AWESOME book to read aloud (I'd say from ages 2-6). It's very interactive. All of them were great and if your interested for your own kids just give me a shout out. Happy Reading!!