Halloween Pics, Finally

 L's class had a Halloween party the Friday before Halloween. This is her class in their cute costumes - even her teachers dressed up!

 T loved being a pig and getting all the candy! I can't get him to smile normally though, if he sees a camera, he does this silly face! This costume is funny because his nickname is Hammy!

 E was a tiger for Halloween. She had lots of fun but only wanted to show you 1 piece of candy. At her school they had a costume parade -- I had no idea it was such a big deal! All the kids marched around the entire school and through a maze of chairs in the auditorium to show off their costumes, and parents and grandparents packed every available space! It was lots of fun to see all the costumes and E's excitement.

 Well, if you noticed L was a tiger at her school party, she changed her mind and wanted to be a butterfly princess for Halloween. It is so difficult to get masks and crowns and all that fun head gear to fit with her glasses and processor, and she gets frustrated. I'll have to remember that for next year - nothing on her face but paint!

J was a little lion. He borrowed L's candy bucket for this photo and was so excited, we almost had unwrapped candy before all was said and done. He's so fast!
All in all Halloween was a success. We went to a trunk-or-treat (in the rain) and a super fun Halloween party with some friends, were home by 7pm, the kids were in bed at their normal time, and then M and I huddled in the front room without the lights on and watched a movie. We didn't answer the door even once! (I know, we're bad, but we gave all the treats away at the trunk-or-treat, and once it hits 8pm, kids should be home anyway!) As you can see from the family pic on the blog, M was a polynesian something, and I was 'Betty Crocker.'

J found a Marker!

 Today I left J on the floor and went to change the laundry. When I came back he was so happy and proud of what he had found! His hands, mouth, cheeks and chin, tongue, everything was blue! Even the floor had two bright blue spots - I don't even know where he found the little stamp that did all this damage, I've never seen it before. I'm guessing that it was carried in by one of his older sisters, who are always getting little trinkets like that from school!

Here is the video of L telling about the 3 pigs. I'm no master in the video editing department, so be patient with my lack of skills, but enjoy her cute rendition of this popular story! Also, she doesn't remember how it ends, so the video just kind of stops. Just a warning!

Kick, Throw, Catch and Hit!

L has been working on using her listening skills a lot lately, and we've most recently used them to learn about action words. So, here is a short video of her listening, repeating what she heard, and then doing the action! I did not use my hands (sign language) to help her, and had the ball obscuring my mouth, so she had to really listen to get it. It's pretty exciting!

T Praying

This has been the highlight of  my day for the past week.  It is seriously the cutest thing ever to see T sign and pray with his sweet voice! I hope this isn't sacreligious, but it is just so special!

More About My HomeTown

Ok, this is not so much about my hometown as it is the home I grew up in.  It isn't fancy, but now that I have kids of my own, I see how wonderful it truly is.  First of all, it is not on a busy street, as my current townhouse is.  It is at the end of a road in a tiny town, two blocks from Main Street (anything is two blocks from Main Street there), and in the back yard there is a small creek, and field after field after field after field.  The neighbors are close, but you can't hear when they drive into their yard. 

There are two huge pine trees in front of the house that provides plenty of privacy, and all of the ancient cottonwood trees give shade and shelter from the sun.  You can see part of the yard, at least the part on the West side of the house, and some of the front yard.  Perhaps the yard, or the space outside, is my favorite part.  When we were visiting there, E kept saying, "I feel so free at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I can go in and come out of the house as much as I want. I can play outside all day without you checking on me."  (though I do watch out the windows to be sure she's fine)

Then, there is this amazingly huge back yard, with the creek just beyond it and the fields all over the place. I remember exploring through the fields, following the ditches and creek and picking asparagus there.  Believe it or not, I didn't know you could buy asparagus until I was 20years old! My parents have a great 'crop' that yields so much, and they don't have to pay for it or fight anyone for it because it is on their land! This is a shot kiddy-corner from their back porch. You can see the corral, and many of the fields! We pick asparagus in a field more to the east of this picture.

And there's no way to forget the back yard. There are these awesome hills for riding bikes and rolling down inside tubes in the Summer.  A slip-and-slide was also a favorite thing way back when.  And in the winter, you wouldn't believe the jumps and other crazy things that were built on those two hills! The best part is they are literally just off the steps from the back door.  This next photo is of the length of the back portion of the yard.  I was standing near the corral for this picture, so you can see just how far it goes! I remember when the pine tree was planted and it was only a few inches tall!

My Hometown

Well, after spending more than a week at my parents' house, I became nostalgic and decided to take several pictures and tell a little about where I grew up every once in a while here.  It all started because I helped my dad mow his huge lawn (it takes an hour on the riding lawn mower, and about an hour and  a half of trimming), and then watched him as he watched my three nubbins jump on the trampoline. As I looked around at the place I grew up and knew best, it felt important to write somethings down. 

First of all, I want to show the burn pile. This is a place way behind our house in between the fields and a creek, where my dad stashes all the branches that fall from the trees and the grass clippings (he even lets the neighbors put their grass clippings in there!) and once or twice a year, depending on the tree carnage, he burns it.  I remember as a teenager begging him to burn it so I could invite my friends over for a bonfire. It never happened. He always seemed to burn it when I wasn't around, so I've honestly never seen the huge fire that happens. This spring my family spent several hours helping to clean up the old orchard, and we pretty much built this burn pile in one day.

The trees that surround my parents house are huge HUGE HuGe HUGE. They are so old that when there is any kind of wind, we hurry to move all the cars down the hill behind the house so when the branches fall there is no vehicular damage.  On Tuesday morning of this week I went to get in my parents' van and found a branch about 4 inches in diameter and 3 feet long that landed just behind the car.  And, on Monday we saw a massive branch that fell down while we were celebrating the 4th of July that morning. It was probably 2 feet in diameter and 30 or more feet long. No major damage there, though!

I hope you enjoy seeing these photos and learning about the place I still call home.