Arrrrr Matey!

For Halloween this year, Pierscen asked repeatedly to be the
"longest catepiller ever." He wanted all four of us to be connected into one costume. Um... no. Creative. But no. However, I couldn't talk him out of it. I went to a second hand store here and found the most adorable pirate costume for Devry. I really wanted to get it, but didn't know what to do for P since I thought it would be fun to have them match. He said no to the pirate idea until I found a genuine Jake and the Neverland Pirate costume. I would have to make the boot covers, sword and bandanna, but when he saw the the Jake costume he was ecstatic. He loves Jake. 

I had never made boot covers before and quite frankly, they were not easy. They were a pain in the rear, but I conquered! And look how cute it turned out! This boy was so dang happy!!! 

And check out this Pirate beauty! Isn't so adorable?! Eek! I have never been so excited for Halloween before. 

These pictures below were what happened when I turned the camera around to selfie mode. She really liked what she saw. :)

Enjoy the picture overload!

Pierscen's preschool had a really fun Halloween party. Devry and I were also able to attend. They had a great time. 

Lastly we had a really amazing ward Halloween party. I've honestly never had so much fun at a ward party before. I decided last minute that I could indeed pull off a costume for me and Ryan with limited resources and time. 

We were Issy and Cubby! How cute are we?! Hahaha. I don't typically dress up for Halloween. I'm kind of lame like that. But dressing up as a family was a blast. Ryan was a good sport about it.

P and his pal Sidney:

They had an actual DJ there dressed as a vampire with these fun fake fire chandelier lights. The kids had a blast dancing!

Following the dance we did trunk or treating in the parking lot. It was a lot of fun!

The next day my family did their annual pumpkin carving contest. This year the theme was animals. We had kind of forgotten about it, so we didn't have much prep time. This was the best I could come up with. Thank goodness we still had the pumpkins from the Pumpkin patch field trip at the beginning of the month. 

Halloween rolled around and I did my best to have some fun with the food. We did spider pancakes with ghost and bananas. 

Lunch was peanut butter pumpkin sandwich.  

Things went downhill for dinner. Lame attempt at hotdog mummies. I've done them before and they looked a lot better, but I think I deserve some credit for attempting to be festive. 

After dinner we met up with friends to go trick or treating. It was kind of a stressful event as kids kept running ahead of parents and at one point we had a bunch of kids with us and no other parents in sight. But hey, everyone had a great time. By the end Pierscen was completely uninterested in trick or treating any more and was more than fine with just going home. They had plenty of treats anyway. 

It was a really great, memorable Halloween. 

Random Happenings Oct 2016

I don't know if it was starting school or what, but Pierscen's art work has really improved. I love seeing his stuff. Below is the story of the the three little pigs, including the picture of the wolf. I hate the draw attention to it, but I did have to ask what that part was between the wolf's legs. Yup. He was just trying to draw him anatomically correct. Bahahaha! And yes, he turned that gem into his teachers because  he drew it on the back of his homework. 

Artwork for one usually means artwork for all. And some are just more "involved" than others. Hehe. 

P and I were reading a Curious George book about making apple cider and at the end of the book it had this cute little idea: 

Easy and super fun. Below is a great little game we got him through the book order. It teaches them all sorts of different words and helps with him sounding things out and figuring out if it is a word or not. 

Lastly, and almost complete rendition of Twinkle Twinkle. He is really good at playing things by ear. Or, if you play something for him once and help him figure it out, he will memorize it on the spot. He has learned Ode to Joy, the first couple of measures of Fur Elise, and the chorus to Hold to the Rod. It's awesome, and terrifying. Teaching him will be both easy and challenging. But I love this smart little guy! 

When Cousins Come Callin'

Once upon a time, Necia told me that she was thinking of coming to visit in October. I told her we would love to have her, but I honestly didn't know how realistic it would be. Their lives are super busy and it takes a lot of time to get down here. However, one Thursday afternoon, Nec called me and asked again if this was a possibility, and if so, they would be there the next day. I said absolutely! Still in a little bit of disbelief, I got to work cleaning up the house, prepping food, and making sure we had enough places for people to sleep. She would be bringing her four, plus a family friend. 

They made incredible time and were here Friday afternoon by 3:30. I still don't know how they made it that fast. Haha. I sent Ryan to the park with all the kids, minus Dev while I finished up dinner and chatted with Necia. Since we had visitors, we decided to try out this authentic New Mexican pork recipe that had three ingredients: red Hatch chili peppers, water, and garlic. It was good, but we almost died. It was so spicy! And we didn't even use the full amount of chilies it told us to. Holy cow. Baby steps, guys. Baby steps. I think we need to aclimate to the love of chilies as much as the weather! Wow!

After dinner, everyone was pretty tired, so we all headed to our corners of the house. Necia was on the air mattress in the office, the boys were on the couches, the girls were in Pierscen's room - one on the bed, one on an air mattress, and hilarious as it was, Issy decided to make her bed out of a box. We had sleeping pads and plenty of blankets, but she opted for the box. Hahaha. We kept Pierscen in our room because he had a cough and was struggling a bit with his breathing again. 

Case and point: here is Pierscen receiving a breathing treatment while falling asleep standing up. Having cousins come to play is exhausting. Haha

The next morning we kept to tradition and headed to the church to help clean. We tried to lure the girls there with the promise of cute boys, but it didn't work. Deiderik and Issy were good sports and came to help. It went really fast and I think they enjoyed helping. 

Following church cleaning, we went to Pierscen's last soccer game. It was entertaining as always. And he loved having family there to cheer him on. 

After that we headed to The Three Sisters to hike. This is the same volcano we hiked earlier in the year, but when it's gorgeous weather but none of the pools are open any more, you've got to do something active!

Little Miss Dev was exhausted and missed the return trip - again. Haha. 

From there we headed over to A Park Above. Ryan really wanted to walk over (about 20 min walk), but he was largely vetoed as we had just finished hiking. So instead we decided to race - Ryan on his bike and us in the car. The car may be capable of going faster, but it's not as direct. Ryan beat us by a long shot. Well that and the place was insanely packed. We had to leave to go find parking at a nearby apartment complex, which I'm sure technically wasn't the best place to park, but what can you do?

Everyone had a great time. Devry really latched on to Deiderik. She just adores him! He was a little unsure of it. Probably not used to a little person wanting to be with him 24/7, but he was really sweet about it. 

We did dinner and another early bed night after the park. 

The following morning was Sunday, so off we went. Had to get a picture of these pretty ladies in their matching dresses. 

After church we drove to the cemetery so Necia's family could spend time at Bill and Sarah's graves. None of the kids have been there before and Necia hasn't been back since they were buried almost 10 years ago. It was a difficult, but beautiful experience. We spent a few minutes with them while they placed the flowers, then gave them some time alone. 

Deiderik and Issy were not born when they passed away, but Issy has had some really amazing spiritual experiences where the veil has been very thin. I think this experience at the graves was the most tender for her. She knelt over the grave crying and wiping the tears off the headstone. It was very sweet. 

After the cemetery, we went to find petroglyphs. I had posted pictures of the ones we found when Ryan's parents were here and Necia and crew really wanted to see them in person and come up with stories on what they meant. 

Everyone had a really great time climbing the rocks and searching for new petroglyphs. 

We ended the evening playing games and eating lots of gummy bears. :)

I am so grateful they came to visit. We had an incredible time and we loved spending time with them. I know Albuquerque isn't the hottest vacation destination, but I promise there's plenty to do. Come visit!