Goodyear Halloween

Yesterday Dan took off for Tucson with a few friends for a football game. I was left with two boys who wanted to go to the city Halloween party. The boys wanted to be superheroes so I just bought their costumes at a second hand store (because I'm cheap, I'll admit!) They didn't come with masks so I did a little face painting. We had lots of comments on their cool masks and on Macey's wonder woman costume. Dan had the camera on his man trip, so these are from my phone; hence, why they are not great images and I don't have any of Macey.

the 23rd

This has been a busy day so far. We started off with an awards assembly at Alex's school. I love Alex and want to be supportive, but really, do I need to go down there when he gets a paper for perfect attendance? I really could have given him a high five when he brought the paper home. If he makes it to the end of the year with perfect attendance, then bring me on down to school and I'll take the kid to Chuck E Cheese for a reward! Oh well, Congrats to going to school everyday and not getting sick .

Ryan, Macey and I then went to Wal-Mart to finish our Halloween costumes. I didn't get everything I needed but I did get a flu shot. Huh, now you can do everything at Wal-Mart!We did round out the rest of our costumes at Party City and Hobby Lobby. Oh, man I can't wait to take pictures of Dan so you can see what I've come up with.

We then trekked to Macey's Dr. She is 2 months today! And 10 pounds. Yikes, that is a lot of breast milk! Dairy free breast milk, no less. (She is allergic to cow's milk, hence my diet change.) She is an all new baby now that she has a much less upset tummy.

Once we picked up Alex from school, we went and got a friend and went to the park. We are now home and I'm wondering what I can make for dinner that is milk, cheese or sour cream free. Not a lot. At least not a lot besides what I've already had this week.

New Moon

You all know I did not care for the Twilight movie, but I am excited once again to see Meyer's characters put into action. I am excited because there is a new director, and so, therefore hope for better special effects and hopefully better acting! Also, I am hoping that at least some of the emotion and enjoyment from the books can be captured on film (so I can get a fix in 1.5 hrs instead of 12!)
So, if you are interested in watching New Moon with me and my book group girls, we are going on Sat, Nov 21 at 10am. We are going to the Harkins on 99th. See ya there!

Fry's field trip

Ryan's preschool had a field trip to the grocery store. Alex got to come because he was still on vacation. This nice lady took these children all around the grocery store talking about healthy food and the different sections of the store. Look at this sweet boy. This is why he is still alive after he does wild, unthinkable things!

OK, the same boy wearing a hair net. He had to wear this so he could go 'behind the scenes.' He went in the freezer by the deli. They got cookies, juice, apple slices and chicken nuggets to try.

Lining up at the register.

Taking turns scanning at the register.

The ultimate parting gift: balloons!

I'm sure the employees were glad to see our loud bunch exit! It was a fun trip to the store with friends.

Mesa Temple

During the summer I took the boys to the Natural History Museum in downtown Mesa. Later I was kicking myself for not driving a couple blocks over to show them the temple. So, on the way home from the Frassas I made a point of taking the kids to walk the grounds. I really like this picture of Alex. He enjoyed the model of Jerusalem in the Visitor's Center.

Macey's first trip to the temple. Yeah, she slept through it.

Why is Ryan snapping? Who knows. He was sure looking cool for this photo though. Oh, and if you were on the grounds and saw him gently splashing in every pool of water (or sprinkler) he could find, I hope you weren't offended.

I have a picture of this statue with the creation behind it up in the boys room. It sort of goes with the other space objects decorating their room. I think Alex thought it was cool to see a replica here.

Frassa

Dan's grandparents (the Frassas) live in Mesa. They hadn't seen our newest family member, so I took the children over during fall break.

The boys came running when they saw the camera was in use!

Grandma had this cute ceramic jack-o-lantern on the table. The boys begged her to light it and then Alex took this picture.

The kids with their great-grandparents.

Thank you Grandma for a delicious lunch (the boys love making pigs in a blanket at Grandma's) and a fun time.

Tuscon

Here is a picture of Macey and me before going down to Tucson for our short vacation. While in Tucson, June, Alyssa, the kids and I went to the children's museum. We stayed for 2 hours. The boys had a great time touching everything!

Ryan on the rock wall that Alex wouldn't climb.

The boys love RockBand. This weekend Dan rented Beatles RockBand. The big 'kids' all loved it because we knew the words. The little kids liked it because there is a no fail option so they could bang on the drums all they wanted without messing up the song. Alex is very good on the drums, and he likes to sing too.

Dan is a video game pro. He went straight to the expert levels on the new game and would get 90%! I can't even do easy on the guitar. I am a medium drummer and a hard singer. Although, how hard can singing be; all you have to do is read the words!

The first grade has given up on teaching time and money, so I felt like I should teach Alex how to tell time over fall break. It was a breeze. He figured it out in one day! He also mastered another task in 24 hours... tying his shoes. He has never had laced tennis shoes, but this time we went ahead and went for it. He got discouraged, but kept practicing and now he can tie his tennis and dress shoes! Good work buddy.

Here is Ryan being jealous of Alex, so I took a picture of his foot. What a nut!

An updated picture of our little lady. She has almost out grown her newborn dresses. She is a starving lady these days. A healthy hungry hippo!

Conference Weekend

This conference weekend we watched the sessions from home. We let the boys be free for all the sessions except Sunday morning. After Dan came home from Priesthood we played a little 'Pass the Pig.' The boys love to play this game. If you haven't played before, you roll two pigs and you get points depending on how they land. The goal is to earn 100 points. You can pass and keep your points or keep rolling with the risk of losing it all. The boys love to get to 90 and then lose it all. There is much yelling at our house during this fun game.

In between Sunday sessions we went and fed the ducks at Estrella Mountain Ranch. It was very windy! The boys were disappointed that we didn't play at the park. But Alex starts his 2 week break today so we'll have lots of time to go to the park.

Below are pictures of Macey's room. I made this butterfly mobile. I copied it from the Pottery Barn catalogue. That one was $80 and mine was less than $5. Thanks to Vanessa Campbell for helping me with making the butterflies.

I made the bedding for Macey's bed. I love this fabric! I had planned to do an all white set, but Dan said that was too boring. This fabric certainly isn't boring!

I haven't finished decorating, and I could use some friendly advice if you have any ideas on how to bring it together better. Over the changing table (not shown) I'm going to hang a mirror and paint butterflies on the wall. Well, I might do vinyl butterflies, but we'll see where the budget is at when I get to that part of the room.

Alex is number 2 on the white team. His coach is a tough guy. He is really teaching these boys how to play. When Dan coached we wanted the kids to be able to dribble and shoot. Now they are learning offense and defense. It is a little intense for 6 years olds, but the are doing it so I guess it isn't!

After the first game coach said that Alex was a great player, he just needs to be bigger. He'll always need to be bigger! Well, until he hits 25 at least.

This and That

When Dan came home from his week long trip, I had the boys make this poster and we went to the airport. Our airport has cell phone lots where you can sit in your car and wait for your person to call when they are ready. They have a large screen that lists the status of the arriving flights. It is truly fabulous! We generally take this route when picking up Dan but I thought it would be fun for the boys to actually go inside and wait. Next time I'm loading the car with friends and balloons so Dan can really be embarrassed. I think I'll do it when he is only gone overnight!

Here is Ryan notorious for getting out of bed. We find him on the floor a lot. On this night he stayed in bed at least!

Here is our pretty baby. She still mostly sleeps. I am anticipating her smiles any day now.