Halloween Parade

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Today was the Halloween Parade at the kids' school. They had such a blast wearing their costumes & struttin' their stuff!

Here is Ashley - "Sweetheart Bat"

(that's what it said on the tag but she calls it Bat Girl)

Felicia loves her "Vampire" costume
Nathaniel is "Optimum Prime"

(the leader of the Autobot Transformers)

My cutie pie Ashley in the parade!

Anson as "Dash Incredible"

I think he wanted to be in the parade, too.

(hence the grumpy face) Nathaniel looking back at me so I can snap a quick picture
Beautiful Felicia in the parade
Oh, now he's happy once the parade is over.

All the kids & teachers looked great in their costumes! I love watching the parade! Ben went as Spider-Man and the kids loved it! Ben loves to see the kids get excited & give him "high 5's."

I took pictures of the kids tonight, too, but I'm waiting for my batteries to charge so I can upload them onto my computer. I may have to add them tomorrow since it's getting so late. Can't wait to see everyone's trick-or-treating pictures!! Hope y'all had a FUN Halloween!!!

Chili Cook-Off & Another Halloween Party

On Saturday, our ward (combined w/ another ward) had our Chili Cook-Off at the park in our neighborhood. It was fun! There was lots of chili & tons of treats, including homemade rootbeer & snowcones. There was face-painting, too, but our kids didn't make it to that booth.

Ashley really enjoys swinging now that she can do it herself!

Felicia was excited about the monkey bridge.
She did it w/ her eyes closed! Silly Girl.

She spent most of her time on this bridge.

I don't even know how many times she did it.

Nathaniel had to find a large tree to climb (and he's really good at it).

Ben and Me (he's full from all the chili & treats)

Anson was playing with other little kids on the slide.
He was so fast climbing up the steps to slide over & over!
Ashley was happy to find her friend, Lindsay.

They met at our ward campout.

Nathaniel had to try the monkey bridge just before it was time to leave.

After we left the chili cook off, Ben and I went out to another Halloween Party! We met at a friend's neighbor's house party. We stayed for a while, then we all headed over to Graham Central Station for their big costume party!

Ben (aka Spider-Man) and Trey (aka Ghostbuster) Ben and Me (aka vampire, but I didn't bring my fangs this time)
Trey, Ben, Me, Brian (aka Sparta) & his wife Julie (aka 60s groovy chic)
Brian, Julie, Jason (aka Mexican), Nikki (aka Border Patrol), Me, Ben & Trey
Here we are when we met up at Graham's

Halloween Party

Last night we went to a really FUN Halloween Party! Here are the pictures we took. It was a space/alien theme. So, I went as Princess Leia and Ben was a Stormtrooper. (Felicia took this picture & accidentally cut-off part of it. Oh well, she did pretty good. I mean she's only 8.)
The decorations were fantastic & everyone dressed up. It was great to see everyone's creativity! They also had a big screen outside w/ "Mars Attacks" playing (I love that movie). We only knew a couple people there, so we met tons of new people. Please forgive me cuz I don't remember most of their names. We had a delicious dinner outside and the weather was also great.
Since Ben couldn't sit very well in his costume, I had him go around and take everyone's pictures while they were at their tables. Thank you, Ben!

Here are the hosts - Tyler & Cami. The funny part was that I had recognized Cami's house from pictures I saw on someone's blog, and I hadn't met her before tonight! Such a small world! BTW, her house is beautiful. Dang, I just realized that I didn't get a picture of Molly & Tim (the other half of the party-planners).
Thanks for inviting us, we had a blast! Everyone was so nice & funny!

7 Random Things

Ok, I was tagged by crazymamaof6 (Julie) and now I have to think for a minute...

7 Random things about ME in no particular order:

1. I love chicken, but I prefer the breast meat. I don't really like the dark meat, but will eat it if it's already mixed in like a casserole or something & not plain. I also love turkey, again only the white meat. I don't like steak, but I will eat shredded beef or meat cut in very small bite-size pieces. I do like ground beef, as long as it is really lean (well-that's how I buy it anyway). I do not like pork, except I'll eat ham (cold cuts or the spiral ham we cook at Christmastime). I don't like seafood, except I will eat albacore tuna in tuna salad. I HATE the smell of seafood. I know I'm weird, and have strange exceptions, but that's how I eat it.

2. Dark chocolate is my favorite chocolate, but I also like milk chocolate. My favorite candy bar is Butterfinger. I like to eat all the chocolate off first then eat the crunchy part! I do the same with Reese's Peanut Butter cups, 3 Musketeers, Kit Kats, Mounds & Almond Joy, and I'm trying to think if there are anymore. I do like to suck on whoppers until the chocolate melts off then eat the crunchy center (I do the same w/ Robin Eggs - love those at Easter). Again, I know I'm kinda strange. Oh well.

3. I LOVE peanut butter. Candy, ice cream, sandwiches, etc. As a kid, I used to take a spoonful of peanut butter and eat it or for a special treat, I'd dip the spoonful of pb into chocolate chips so it was kinda like a pb cup. Mmmmm!

4. I hate liars! I do not lie and don't allow my kids to lie either. When they do, they are in trouble until they can tell the truth. I always tell them that if they tell me the truth up front, they will be in less trouble than if I find out later or they have lied & then confess the truth. I just think it's so shady to lie. I mean the truth always comes out!

5. I have had foot surgery on both my feet. Had bunions removed! Ouch! So, on my right foot, I have a nice thin line of a scar (had that one done w/ Felicia was just a baby - Oct 1999). BUT on my left foot, I have a nice big wide puffy scar (had it done a year ago). Yuck! I guess that's what you get for using different doctors, plus I guess I didn't stay off my feet very well this last time & caused my wound to not heal nice & smooth. And, since I was prego w/ Anson, my toe next to my big toe on my left foot has been hurting really bad almost as if it's broken. Had several x-rays and one MRI, and the podiatrist in Texas wanted to operate, but then we moved back to AZ. Again had more x-rays and they can't find anything wrong. So, today I'm having an MRI to see if they can find out what is causing all my pain! Wish me luck!

6. I HATE doing the dishes (includes emptying the dishwasher)! When we were first married, I told Ben that I didn't like doing dishes because I had washed the dishes a lot when I was younger & I helped emptying the dishwasher. LOL :) He believed me very quickly cuz we had a couple times where our sink was full of dirty dishes and no clean ones in the cupboards (remember it was just the two of us and didnt have that many dishes) but it did include pots & pans and cups. Boy we could go thru the cups. I told him if he wanted the dishes done so badly, then he could do them himself. ha ha. He did that a couple times and said NO MORE. We also realized that we didn't need to get a clean cup every day. We would use a cup then rinse it and save it for the next day until it was time to run the dishwasher then we'd put it in there. Dang that really saved us space in the dishwasher & our counters! I have done TONS better! Once in a while, I will wait a day or two to catch up on a few dishes, but never like those other times. I HATE dirty dishes. Now I taught the kids how to wash their own dishes & put them in the dishwasher right away. They also take turns emptying it. I mean, majority of the dishes in there are theirs. They're usually happy to help!

7. If you can't tell from my blog...I have become totally engrossed in digi-scrapping! I LOVE it! I have always loved scrapbooking but never got around to doing very much. I love seeing everyone else's scrapbooks! Now that I have discovered this & learned how to use photoshop (still learning more fun things) and found tons of websites w/ info & scrap designs, I can't stop! I have downloaded tons of freebies & purchased some from online stores. I love to see other's layouts to get ideas for my own. I think it's so FUN to create digi-scrap pages. I recently printed most of mine out & put them into my kids' scrapbooks! I also created one for Ben & Me. My hubby isn't quite as enthusiastic as I am, but I know he likes my layouts & tries to "sound" enthusiastic & interested. Thanks for trying, Honey!

Ok, I guess that wasn't so bad coming up with that many things about myself. I don't usually like to talk about myself, thank goodness I have my kids to discuss. ha ha.

Alright, now I need to tag 7 people.

I tag Jennifer S, Jenny C, Erika, Allison, Jill, Ondria, and Janan!
Now it's your turn!

Rules: Link to the person who tagged you, Share 7 random facts about yourself, Tag 7 other blog friends & leave a comment on their blog with the rules! Have FUN!

Nathaniel...Reading for FUN?

**EDIT** Ok, for those who want to know what the book is called...It's "Is That a DEAD DOG In Your Locker?" by Todd Strasser.

Nathaniel knows how to read very well & likes to read, but only when he wants to. He usually likes the books he picks, but he doesn't always want to just sit & read when he could be outside or doing other fun things. So, imagine my surprise when Nathaniel came home from school, didn't have homework, so he helped put some blankets away (folded & in the linen closet), then he quietly started reading his book. His school just had a book fair and I bought some new books for all the kids. He decided to start one of them for his next book report project. I think he was also surprised at how much he liked this story. I mean the night before, I caught him in bed under a blanket w/ a flashlight just so he could squeeze in another chapter. ha ha. Silly boy! He also brought the book to school so he could show his teacher & was hoping to be able to read when he got his work done. He hasn't behaved this way about reading since 1st grade! Ok, so I just had to "document" this incredible moment:
Nathaniel even told me, "Mom, I've never enjoyed reading a book so much before!" I was so happy! I have been telling him that reading can be fun! I think he finally believes me! YAY!!

Felicia's Field Trip

Felicia's field trip to the Ripirian Reserve was on Wednesday & I went as a chaperone. We had fun together. She had a good time learning about the dinosaurs & birds. And her friends are really sweet. The weather was beautiful & a little windy (I didn't mind the wind, but in a dusty area, the dirt & sand kept getting in our eyes. But we survived.)

Felicia & her friend, Sharon, on the bus on our way to the Ripirian Reserve.

Felicia was tracing the large claw of the meat-eating dinosaur (one type of Raptor).
Felicia was on the "brushing" team to discover the dinosaur fossils.
They did a great job! Look what they found!
Here's more of their discoveries!

Felicia getting ready to go on the bird hike focusing her binoculars.

Felicia and some of her friends! They're so cute!

Felicia & ME!

Nathaniel's Field Trip

I didn't realize I hadn't posted since the beginning of the week. Anyway, we've been busy w/ field trips & car issues this week. The 3rd graders went to the Ripirian Reserve in Gilbert, but there were too many kids, so they had to divide the classes. Only 2 classes went one day, then the other 2 classes another day. So, Nathaniel's class went on Monday & Ben went as a chaperone. I had never heard of this place before, and it's right behind the library at Greenfield & Guadalupe. Well, they tell you about dinosaurs & birds. It's pretty cool. The kids had a good time. And Nathaniel LOVED that Ben got to go with him cuz he's never been on a field trip w/ the kids before. So, I made him take the camera and pretend to be me ("the camera nazi" as he put it) and take lots of pictures. ha ha :) He actually did a really good job! (Thank you, Honey!)

Here are dinosaur "fossils" (no, they're not real but cast from real ones - apparently the kids kept asking over and over) and they got to draw pictures & guess what they were. I think this one was a claw of a large meat-eating dinosaur.

There was a "digging" team & a "brushing" team to discover the dinosaur "fossils."

They gave each kid a pair of binoculars for the bird hike. They got to learn about different kinds of birds & see them from far away using their binoculars.

I guess they had time to play for a few minutes before it was time to leave.

Nathaniel with a couple of his friends.