Halloween Fun 2014

We took a Saturday to do some decorating. Annabelle made this out of 2x4s: Very cute!

Jonah decorated our front door. I love it!

We hosted a Halloween party with friends. We had a whole list of fun games to play!

Here we are taking a bite out of hanging apples.

Same idea, with mini donuts.

This one was a worm pie eating contest. Too funny! (gummy worms buried in whipped cream on a plate)

Mummify your buddy contest. This is Finn all wrapped up.

Olivia cat:

Annabelle dressed Samantha as a mummy:

Mummy Sage:

Mummy Daddy:

You can see it got a little wild.

Some other games we played were pumpkin bowling, pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern, musical chairs with Monster Mash, zombie tag, Don't Eat Pete, Roll a Skeleton, Halloween Bingo, Halloween charades, and barnyard game with spooky characters.

I think this party was a success!

Halloween day the kids took costumes to school for their Halloween parade/party at the end of the day. Annabelle was disappointed that the Jr High does not do Halloween parties; no costumes, no parades. 

Finneas got to wear his costume all of preschool. They walked as a class to the accounting business next door and trick-or-treated there. I tried to join the class for games, but Finn didn't seem to want me following him around. 

After preschool, Finn enjoyed hammering nails, screws, and random things into a pumpkin. This entertained him for hours.

Finally time for trick-or-treating! Grace is a Native American. Jonah is a knight.

Finneas is Batman. Olivia is a cat.

Pumpkin Patch 2014

Jonah's 11th Birthday

On Jonah's actual birthday, we had nothing special planned. We were busy with homework, chores, and music lessons as normal. I didn't even plan a favorite meal. So we decided to do something special. I took the kids to Molly's cupcakes and let them all pick out a gourmet, filled cupcake. Wow, richness! We loved the hanging seats and deliciousness.

Jonah wanted to invite friends over and just play games. He asked them to bring nerf guns. Jonah set out all kinds of obstacles, and the boys had a nerf gun war.

Lucas Forbes, Rob Gerot, Jonah, Sage Marks

General Conference Weekend

The weekend before the general sessions was the Woman's Broadcast. Ages 8 and up were invited to attend. What a neat experience to be able to take two of my girls with me to join a congregation of women. We met as a stake in Washington, IA for service projects and dinner beforehand. Our group sang primary songs at a nursing home. The girls had fun playing together. Wonderful experience!

Mary Wilde, Grace Hallam, Ellie Wood, Emma Wilde, Brooklyn Melessa, Sanah Mills

Friday evening we participated in the ward MultiCultural Event at the church. Various countries were represented by different people either from that country or familiar with it. I did a display about Brazil, and made brigadeiros (like little fudge balls) to taste.  The kids had fun learning about the different cultures and tasting foods from around the world!

Saturday was the start of General Conference. Annabelle created "conference cash" and a "conference concessions stand." We all could earn conference cash by sitting quietly, listening, taking notes, and cleaning up in between sessions. We could use our cash to buy thing from the concessions stand, such as stickers, teddy grahams, funny straws, candy bracelets, fruit cups, candy, or warm fuzzies added to the warm fuzzy jar.

This was a great incentive!! The kids were eager to watch  conference so they could have a chance to earn cash and buy things. Even Finn. He had pictures of the apostles, and every time a new face came on TV he found his matching picture.

Annabelle ran the conference concessions stand. She did a great job. And the kids all loved it. In between sessions I told the kids that every 10 things they put away, they would earn 1 conference buck. Most of them picked up more than 100 items! A few of them memorized the apostles in order to earn 4 bucks.

We all went to the pool Saturday night for Deanna's birthday party. Fun!

Sunday in between sessions we met Ezra in Des Moines to join the Carters on a 1-mile walk to support Down Syndrome (their daughter has down syndrome). We enjoyed a chilly walk and visit with friends. We felt good about showing support to good friends.

Wonderful talks!! I loved Elder Scott's: family prayer should be a non-negotiable priority. Likewise for scripture study, FHE and temple attendance. I also loved Elder Holland's talk about taking care of the poor, and doing what we can to help no matter our circumstances.

After general conference ended, we had another cleanup time. By then there was not much left to buy, except for stickers no one wanted and warm fuzzies! So they worked hard this time to earn cash to buy warm fuzzies to fill the warm fuzzy jar. And they sure stuffed it full! That means they have earned an outing to the pumpkin patch!