the treats

And here is what all that hard work was all about. The haul-

Now we get to eat it all-right?

Making some important trades of the treats.

Ava shares the wealth

Now put the kids to bed so Josh and I can pick out our faves from the pile. Only one bit-O-Honey this year, I was sad.

trick or treating

Here we are getting ready to go out on Halloween. somehow my pictures got put in here backwards, so this one was supposed to be last, but here are me an Ava getting ready to go into the haunted house (which we determined ten minutes later, was a mistake-that cute smile was gone) So our neighbors do a really elaborate haunted house every year, which people come to from far and wide. Last year it was really fun. This year it was really scary. Ally and her friends and Luke and Ava all came out with tear stained faces.

Here is Ally, calming down.

And Luke with Pa-pa, still feeling scared. He would not go to any doors to trick or treat that were even remotely scary or had sounds. Even for candy.

Here we were right before the haunted house. I think all of the girls cried. At least the ones that went through.

and here are my little candy lovers ready to go and get some.

par-tay

This was the Halloween for parties. We were worn out before the trick-or-treating even started. but a good worn out. Here is Luke and his friend Ryan having pizza before heading out to hit the streets. (Luke is the Ninja. He started out as a ghost with a sheet over his head, but it got kindof in the way of him and getting to the candy.)

Okay, my friend went to so much work making holiday goodies for her daughters birthday party earlier that day, that I just had to include some of her hard work. Rice Krispy fingers, cheese fingers with red pepper nails, deviled egg ghosts, witch hats, and Oreo spiders. This is not even all, there wer hot dog worms, spider ice cubes, caramel apples, caramel popcorn, sugar cookies to decorate, and a pumkin cupcake cake. It took her two days to make and about twenty minutes to eat.

The kids had friends over the night before Halloween to hang out and have fun.

Here we are decorating sugar cookies at the birthday party. I don;t even think any of these kids are mine, sorry.

And Ally's class party. Ally is the third one from the left in a bat shirt and blue jeans.

two unrelated items on the same post

Well, this week I had an awesome find at the neighborhood garage sale, 3 scooters, one for $3, one for $2 and one for $.50. We had been wanting to get Luke one anyways, since both he and Ally are not proficient on the bikes, and kindof refuse to try. The were a big hit. It turns out the one for 50 cents handlebars won't come up and it does not turn very well, (you get what you pay for) but it is the perfect size for Ava. The kids have spent the last few days scooting all over the cul de sac. They of course had to show grandpa when he came this weekend. I think grandpa might have strained a few back muscles while taking Ava around. But she loved it, and it saved my back for a little while.

And of course Luke's buddies wanted to scoot when they came over on Monday. And so far no really bad crashes (knock on wood)

So Luke wants to be a ghost for Halloween. Today I have been trying to figure out how to make a ghost that will not frustrate the guy by falling off, or the eye holes moving. I will enlist the help of grandma this weekend. But Luke's friends wanted to help out, so they walked around making ghost sounds. They look pretty good, don;t they? Luke is the one on the far right. And here they are, the men (and ladies) behind the masks. Oh, by the way, we are pretty excited for Halloween around here.

the party

Well, because Josh was not here to tell me how to reset the flash on the birthday pictures, some of these are a little blurry, but Ally had a super fun party on Saturday, after a not super fun time of cleaning and baking. But she and her friends had a great time, and now I can rest easy that another birthday week (ours always seem to last that long) is over and was a success! The girls decorated their own trick-or treat boxes, then we headed upstairs, where they would trick-or-treat at each door, and behind each one was a game or craft, with treat.
Ally and Ava enjoying some tasty ghost cupcakes and ice cream.
Fuzzy again, but here is the group of girls.

And the big hit of the night-glow sticks from the dollar section at Target. I love you glow sticks.

Happy Birthday Ally

My baby girl turned 7 today (sob). the festivities started last week with the newest addition to grandma and pa-pa's growing petting zoo. This is Hannah Montana Wester, the dog, which because a memeber of the family once papa was foolish enough to bring over the neighbors pup that they were giving away, and ask the kids if they should keep it. Now ally feels like she has a dog (a lifelong ambition of hers) and it lives at grandma and papa's under their care. A gift for all of us. (My Ally is the brown-haired one in case some of you don;t know)
Speaking of hair, this is Ally;s new grownup haircut she got today for her birthday. It is an A cut she calls it. Here are a couple of more views of it, my friend Jaime did it, and it turned out darling. She looks so big. Ally spent the majority of today on the phone, thank you to all family and friends that thought of her and called her up, she recieved so many gifts and phonoe calls today, it made her feel so popular. These shots are only a week older than the one above with the pup. Doesn't she look grown up already?
Here's all the cute stuff in the back of the 'do.
Grandma Gail is so thoughtful and sweet, and took Ally shopping for a new outfit to wear to school on her birthday. I didn;t know how to turn this picture upright, but here she is head to toe in Hannah Montana wear-shoes, pants, shirt, sweatshirt, hat and purse. She even got new underoos, (not Hannah Montana however). She felt so special today at school. We went in to her class and sang to her and handed out gift bags.
And the fun never ends, Ally is having freinds over all day tomorrow, and a party with 11 of her firends on Saturday night (Hannah Montana themed-see a pattern here anywhere?) So My saturday will be spent with 12 girls doing crafts, dancing, dressing up and watching Hannah Montana Videos. I can't wait. Or maybe I can. Thanks again to all of you who remembered Ally and made her day so special. And steele and Trisha, please figure out soon how to freeze time, this can;t keep happening. Way too fast.

The Campbell are coming!

As soon as we got back from our fun San Francisco vacation, we were so lucky to have our other cousing come to visit us! These kids were like peas and carrots, carrots and peas. It was 5 days of uninterrupted fun! (although my kids bedtimes were shot completely, and we suffered the first week of school because of it) Here are Luke and Lucy, Ally and Sophie. I do really think that there was not even one little spat with these guys, they were just in heaven the whole time. I am so gald that Jackie decided to be a brave little momma and fly out with them this year
Aaaahhh cousins and sleepover together, what could be funner. Here they are all lounging on Ally;s bed.

And then jumping on Ally;s bed. They took turns putting on jumping shows for each other. And again, were very good about it, not one fuss.
Cousin Roman also came for Friday and Saturday, here he is enjoying a popsicle with the kids. I think it was Sohpie's job to push the swing-love how much she is enjoying that popsicle. We took the kids swimming, to the park, boating, and riding four wheelers, but I only had pictures mostly of the bed-jumping part, so that is what we have here. Maybe Jackie will be so nice as to email me some of the other pics-she was so good about taking them early and often. Jackie?
It was so fun to see them though, what a blessing to have such great family on both sides!

san francisco

Our big trip this summer was driving as a family to San Francisco to visit Cale and Hailey. Despite my trepidation on taking a 12 hour car trip with the kids, it actually was quite pleasant, probably due to the fact that Josh's parents took Luke in their car with them, and Ava was sick, so she just rode mellowly along, with a diaper change needed almost every hour. Some stomach bug, I guess, but pleasant driving. So twelve hours, and six outfits (Ava again) later, we arrived. I cannot even begin to tell all the fun things we did, saw the city, redwood forest, coast, swimming in the pool at the condo where we stayed, catching up with old friends. It was lovely. Here is the whole family at the coast. Despite my aversion to cold wind, it was actually quite pleasant weather-wise, and extremely beautiful and mysterious what with the fog and the water and the dark rocks.

This here is Josh's favorite picture of the kids. They found a few treasures and loved running in the sand. Notice Ava like a little hermit crab off at the back left side. This was how most of her vacation was, due to not feeling well, poor thing. Just taking a back seat and enjoying from afar. She (along with us all) really enjoyed Golden Gate Park. there was this really cool carousel that the kids could ride for 50 cents. It was refreshing for once to not be charged an arm and a leg for entertainment for the kids. Way to go Golden Gate!
At the kids playground part of the park, there was this amazing slide for the kids to ride down on a piece of cardboard. Look at that cavegirl go!

And here we all are at the end of the day, Josh, his brother Nick, his dad and mom, Cale and hailey in the front with their little Kira in the pink, and me holding Ava-Luke ann Ally in the middle. The drive home was not quite as fun as the drive there, but then again, we had all the ruffians then and Ava was back in full swing. We made it though, and can;t wait to go back.

more of summer

Oh where has the summer gone? We have done a lot of fun things this summer, and sadly, have taken pictures of almost none of them. The kids have taken a couple of swim lesson sessions, and Ally and Luke are great swimmers now. We have been boating a lot at Black Canyon, playing with friends friends and more friends, and staying busy between the park and pet watching and camps to learn to cheer and cook and do crafts. And then of course lots of practicing this at home. Oh, and ice cream, snow cones, popsicles, if it is tasty and cold, we have eaten it this summer. Our bedtimes have also really relaxed, which is kindof nice when all the kids sleep in. We love Idaho summers with the warm weather and it doesn;t get dark until well after 10. Here is Ally at her cheer camp, the one in the pink shirt. She loved it. she is a little cheerleader in her heart.
Our stake asked everyone to turn off the TV and movies and video games for a month. So we have been spending a lot of time on bike rides and reading stories and walks and playing games with each other. It has actually been really great. We have one week left to go, but really do not miss having the TV on. We had gotten to where it was just in the background most of the day some days. We have not been perfect, but a couple of times our sanity was worth a half hour of Blue's clues. Just to stop the crying.
We went downtown to the Twilight Criterium, like we do almost every year, can you see the bikers int he background? They are there, just going so fast that you can hardly tell. Just a blur. We scored big at the free Power bar booth, the kids were really excited until they tasted them. Not so good as they look. We will add them to our food storage I guess. the kids favorite thing was the free little clicker they give you to cheer on the bikers.
And my kids have managed to adopt another dog, at least for the week. We love babysitting dogs. We get enjoyment, and then we send them home when we have had enough. One thing I have learned about dogs though, the bigger the dog, the bigger the poo. And this last dog was pretty bid. Can you tell which one is the real dog? Luke made a bed on the floor of Ally's room so he could sleep with the dog, Aubrey was her name.
and what is summer without enjoying an ice cream sandwich at a slip n slide party? Ava liked the ice cream way more than the slip n slide.

Gonna party like it's my birthday!

Well, little Ava Pearl has turned two. We kept telling her it was her birthday, and she would say "birthday" but she didn;t really know what birthdays were all about, se we had to show her. I took her to King's to help shop for her present.

She loved the Princesses and dolls, but she picked out exactly what I thought she would, a Doodle writer that you can erase. She is a budding artist, and can color for hours, well not really, but it entertains her for a long time.
And this is what she really wanted-CANDY!!!! But she did not get it due to the fact that i noticed two little cavities on her back teeth earlier that morning and made her first dentist appointment. Yikes!
Then we went downtown to the Boise Co-Op a fun grocery store that has little carts for the kids, and tasty gelato, mmmmm our favorite. Ally's friend Sydney came along, Ava wanted to hold her hand the whole time.

And here we are with our little carts. The kids each picked out an organic fruit leather and put it in their own respective carts. But then they got a little wild and were causing traffic jams in the Co-Op, so we had to get them out of there. From there, we took a picnic to the Foothills Learning Center in the Boise foothills where a story teller was talking about bugs.

And then home for the best part, decorating cupcakes and opening the presents. the kids each got a pair of star goggles since they are so into swimming now and can go underwater without plugging their noses (I can't). And Ava of course just wants whatever the other two have. The kids licked the frosting off of their cupcakes, and we went to bed. It was a nice birthday, I hope another couple go by before Ava realizes that she needs friends to come to it. She is such a darling girl, and we are so happy to have her in our family. And we can't believe that she is two. Happy Birthday little Avesie.

Summer!!!

So Ally graduated from kindergarten last week. She is sad to not be in school anymore, she had the best teacher and such a great class with so many friendsshe absolutely loved kindy. I am so proud of her, she has learned to read and did such a great job, she can hardly wait for first grade. But she did have summer to look forward to, and one of Ally and Luke's main needs this summer was a slip n slide. So I bought them one...
And it remained just like this, in the box for over a week while we checked the weather every day to see if it was warm enough for the slip n slide. Luke would get up in the morning, and ask if it was warm enough today. One day there were black clouds in the sky, and he said "Oh man, I woke up and saw black clouds." The weather here has just been weird, not near as bad as some parts of the country, but definitely too cold for summer lovin' kids like mine...
But then today, after a long long wait, summer has arrived. The slip and slide made its way out of the box and on to our lawn. The jump house came out to visit too, and some popsicles made their way over.
And the kids had their friends over and are outside right now, as I write, slippin' and slidin' in the sun. Until the slip n slide breaks. It does not look very sturdy. But so far so good.
Ava and her friend Sophie are not too sure about getting wet, so they are cruisin' instead. We love summer!!!