Haunted Halloween Castle

On Conference Sunday we had the Huff's over for breakfast and to watch General Conference with us. In between sessions we had the kids decorate a Haunted Castle for Halloween. It's like a gingerbread house at Christmas time, but instead of gingerbread, it's chocolate. The boys really liked it and got very creative. I'm not sure if they had more fun decorating or eating the candy. Especially Kyle! He's so goofy. They all thought the Castle turned out pretty good. We love doing holiday activities!!

Our Little Artist

Spencer receiving his first place medalAll the winners holding their posters(Spencer's all the way to the left)
Spencer showing me his new medal
A couple weeks ago Spencer's school held a poster contest for the students. Entering a poster was optional. Spencer decided he wanted to do it. Each child who entered chose to draw a picture about either being "safe, respectful or responsible". Spencer chose to go with "respectful". He had a lot of fun and made his picture very colorful. He drew his teacher and some of the students in his class being respectful while walking quietly in line. His school held an assembly to announce the winners. Spencer was actually home from school that day with strep throat. His teacher called me at home and told me he was one of the winners and that if Spencer was feeling up to it, she thought he might like to be there. Of course I wanted to take him and watch too. He was feeling fine that afternoon and had been on antibiotics for almost 24 hours, so we went. Each grade had a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner. Spencer was so excited when they announced his poster had won FIRST PLACE out of all 3 first grade classes! He was very happy and wore his medal ALL DAY! Afterwards he told me "I'm so excited I got the GOLD MEDAL! I can't believe I won"!! That night was "Back to School Night" and we got to see his picture hanging in the hallway. Great job Spencer!!

Deedee

I'm a couple days late on this post but I still wanted to do it. Five years ago (on Oct. 3rd) my sweet grandma passed away from a very unexpected heart attack. She was only 68 years old and the most wonderful woman I know(along with my mother). She touched so many lives in the most amazing way and if you ever met her there was not one negative thing to be said about her. We called her Deedee. Five years have passed, and I still get extremely choked up everytime I think of or talk about her and especially see a picture of her. I will always be grateful to her for being the example that she was. Her family was her life. She started so many awesome traditions in our family from the time she was married to my grandpa (she was 16 years old then). We still carry out those many traditions big or small and have since started new ones. We miss her so much and it breaks my heart that my children won't be able to have the experiences with her that I was so fortunate to have. I talk about her with both of my children (Spencer was 2 when she died and remembers her pretty well) quite often.

Deedee loved little children. This was one of her specialties in life. She wrote this poem for all her married grandchildren one year. When ever I'm having an off day with my kids I try to pull out this poem and read it.

TO MY GRANDCHILDREN

One day your house will be without

A little girls giggle or a young boys shout

There'll be no scuff marks on the floor

Small finger prints you'll see no more

You'll realize then each day was short

And be sorry for those times you were out of sorts

The best things in this life will be

Those happy times in your memory

So enjoy each day of your childrens life

And be prepared for those times of strife

Treasure the things they do and say

Praying always that they won't stray

Remember THESE are the days you will long for

To hear little children at your door....

I wish you much happiness in your loving endeavor to be parents

Deedee Dec. 2000

I hope this poem touches all of you as much as it does me. Being a mother is the greatest calling I have in life and I'm so lucky to have such wonderful children. They are my greatest blessings. Thank you Deedee for being the example you still are to me. We miss you!!!

Tagged Twice

I've been tagged twice...once a while ago and a second time just this week, so I thought I'd better get on it. The first tag...

Husband Tag:

1. What's his name? Tyler

2. How many years have we been married? 8 years

3. How long did you date? Officially...about 5 months

4. How old is he? 29 (30 in December)

5. Who eats more? He does

6. Who said "I Love You" first? He did

7. Who is taller? Tyler, by a couple inches

8. Who sings better? We can both carry a tune...probably me I guess

9. Who is smarter? It depends on the situation

10. Who does the laundry? Me. Although Tyler is not opposed if I ask him to do it

11. Who pays the bills? He makes the money...I do the paper work

12. Who mows the lawn? Tyler does. I've NEVER mowed a lawn before!

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Right now I do

14. Who cooks dinner? We both do at times...I usually do but he enjoys it more.

15. Who drives? Both of us

16. Who is more stubborn? Definitely me

17. Who kissed who first? It was mutual

18. Who asked who out first? Tyler

19. Who proposed? Tyler

20. Who has more friends? Probably me

21. Who is more sensitive? Me

22. Who has more siblings? Tyler(He has 3 brothers & 1 sister. I have 2 sisters)

23. Who wears the pants? Tyler pretends he does

24. Is he handy around the house? Yes

25. His hobbies or favorite activities. Cooking, golf and spending time with family

I tag...Kristina, Malea, Shawny and Colleen


Now my second tag...


One Word Tag:

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your significant other? Tyler
3. Your hair? annoying
4. Your mother? compassionate
5. Your father? physical
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? forgetful
8. Your favorite drink? chocolate-milk
9. Your dream/goal? stability
10. The room you’re in? family
11. Your hobby? many
12. Your fear? sharks!!!
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? comfortable
14. What you’re not? tan
15. Muffins? Bran
16. One of your wish list items? Disneyland
1 7. Where you grew up? Oregon
18. The last thing you did? Read
19. What are you wearing? yogas
20. Favorite gadget? DVR
21. Your pets? none
22. Your computer? convenient
23. Your mood? happy
24. Missing someone? Deedee
25. Your car? Mazda
26. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
27. Favorite store? Maurices
28. Like someone? children
29. Your favorite color? pink
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? memories

I tag...Marcee, Holly, Steph and Shalyse

Kyle's 3rd Birthday

Kyle blowing out the candle on his birthday doughnut

Kyle listening to his gramma sing "Happy Birthday" to him that morning with a big smile on his face. Marcee and the boys also called and sang to him that morning. (Spencer also received these musical phone calls. They both loved it).

Kyle's family party

We already had this leap pad but it broke months ago. He was very happy to get another one. Look at that SMILE!

A Goofy hat from Disneyland...what a surprise!

My dad always writes on all our family birthday cakes. Doesn't he do a great job?

Kyle loves when we sing to him. "Happy Birthday to You" is one of his favorite songs.

Make A Wish

My grandpa makes home made ice-cream for every birthday party. Kyle loves yellow and asked for yellow ice-cream, and since Baaba(grandpa)thinks you should get what you want on your birthday, he was up to the challenge and made yellow. The flavor was lemon...it was GOOD! Kyle also asked for cookie, so Baaba made Cookies and Cream...a favorite among this family as well. Thank you Baaba!!

Kyle's new scooter. He's been wanting a scooter like Spencer for a while so he was very excited.

Kyle's birthday was a lot of fun. He chose the Curious George theme and I thought this was perfect because I think Kyle IS Curious George! His friend party was a little easier to plan for me because he's a lot younger than Spencer and there weren't as many kids. I think we had about 10 little ones. We had lunch, played a game, then ended on a pinata and presents. They also just had fun playing outside on the toys. As Kyle's birthday got closer, he said he wanted a yellow birthday, yellow presents and yellow cake. I decorated with yellow balloons and bananas and made yellow cupcakes with yellow frosting. He was very happy with that. I had a lot of fun planning these birthday parties but I sure am glad to be done until next year!

Spencer's 7th Birthday

Our traditional "Doughnut Birthday Breakfast"

Every year we get doughnuts for breakfast on the boys' birthdays.

A couple of little chocolate lovers.

Spencer dancing to his favorite birthday song.

Kyle and I dropped of balloons for Spencer at school. He was very surprised and excited.

Spencer's family party

Spencer was very surprised to get a new bike. He was not expecting it at all.

Pizza Party Decor'

Spencer's birthday came and went very quickly. He chose to have a "pizza party" months ago. We had so much fun preparing and planning for it. He loves everything he got and had a great birthday.

Spencer and Kyle dancing to our favorite birthday song. We listen to it ALL DAY on each of our birthdays.

We had Spencer's friend party after school the day before his actual birthday. We had the kids all decorate their own pizza dough(made ahead of time by Tyler. I think he made about 17 or 18 pizzas). I had all kinds of toppings for them to choose from. We cooked them all at the party so they could eat some before they went home. This was a lot of work but the kids all had a blast doing it. Stephanie made things a lot easier on me by taking Kyle during the party, and both my sisters were a huge help with the party before, during and after. Thanks you guys! We also played a pizza game and had a pinata. Spencer loved his pizza party....note to self....next year, try to limit the attendance to 10 kids instead of 16!! We survived.