Halloween

I doesn't seem like I should be that far behind, but we have too many things happen in a row around here this time of year, so if I'm ever going to keep up, you're all just going to have to put up with a few posts too close together.

Halloween is one of the big markers of the year because Ellie knows that this directly precedes her birthday. So it is super exciting. I had so many projects with the house going on that I decided I wasn't going to really do a lot for making the kids' costumes. I outsourced Charlie's (thanks again, Mom) and Ellie's was supposed to be a super easy, no-sewing project that would have taken less than half an hour. Supposed to be.

She was going to be a pink ninjago (think lego ninja). She was all excited to be this since that's what a bunch of her cousins were going to be. They are all really into this show, and when we visited last summer they all wanted to have Ninjago ("ninja-cago") parties at Grandma's house. Ellie loved it and was totally all about learning spinjitsu and everything. So about five days before Halloween I decided I ought to get her costume together. When I tried to do the hood part (using a long-sleeved t-shirt--I practiced with one she already had before I went and bought a pink one for the ensemble), she sort of panicked. It looked right, but she was a little claustrophobic having everything but her eyes covered. So she started to melt down and didn't want to be ninjago anymore. Soooo, plan B. Then she wanted to be "Super Martian Robot Girl," which is a real character. I'm not making her up. I asked her months ago if she wanted to do this for her costume, mostly because I loved hearing her say "Super Martian Robot Girl." It was all she wanted to be suddenly. So, off to the store to find fabric and figure out how to fashion a costume. To look like this:

No big deal. She's a great character. Other characters in the comic will be in distress because, say, they will be having a dance party and no one is dancing (yikes!). They will whine, "I need Super Martian Robot Girl!" and she comes, declaring, "Here I am to help!" Then she solves everyone's problem by pointing out that no one is dancing because there is no music, gets some awesome music going, and everyone is super excited again. She has a great theme song too.

Yeah, it's okay. No one else knew who Ellie was either.

Charlie was Pocoyo. Charlie looooves Pocoyo. Another obscure cartoon character. This one is very accessible on YouTube, do yourself a favor and find it on there. So charming. Little British baby who lives in this simple world with a duck (Pato) a dog (Lula) an elephant (Elly) and bird (Sleepy Bird) and narrated by Stephen Frye. Charlie adores these little videos. He jumps up and down, talks to them, laughs and is just overjoyed to see these little guys. Ellie likes them too.

No one knew who Charlie was either. But they all appreciated his efforts to say "Trick-or-treat" and "Thank you."

Charlie hates hats, but when he saw that he was Pocoyo, he went with it.

Super Martian Robot Girl also has a mask, but I guess a painted paper plate with large holes cut in it is not as scary as lots of fabric around your mouth. Either way, she kept it on all the time she was in costume.

Pretty excited about the green hair. The gloves and boots are shiny duct tape and velcro.

 Unfortunately, probably the best shot I got of Charlie's full costume.

 Not sure what she's doing here. Possibly a '4' since it's almost her birthday. The green is not as bright in the pictures for some reason.

Just ready to go already. Nice warm fleece costumes for a cold, drizzly Halloween night.

Speaking of bad weather, we found out at the last minute that we were supposed to have costumes for one of the events we went to. Not eager to spend a ton of time or any money on more costumes, this is what we came up with: struck by lightning. Mostly inspired by the old, broken umbrella I found in one of the boxes I recently opened up. To really get the fried look I just washed my hair and did nothing to tame it. Also, no covering the dark circles under my eyes to add to the dark, sooty look. Apparently all my grooming efforts are to try to make me look NOT electrocuted.

Saying Good-bye to Autumn

I've noticed that lately the kids have been living from one countdown to another. It's how their small world stays so exciting, I guess. Some are big events ("____ more days until Grandma and Grandpa come!"), some are small, but still generate big excitement ("_____ more days until we go to the doctor for flu shots!") Whatever milestone, big or small, we can look forward to, getting us out of our routine is exciting for a preschooler and a "tuggler" (toddler in Ellie-speak). A trip to the dollar store is an adventure, and a trip to the "humongous store" (Sam's Club) is epic. There's probably a lesson to be had in living life with so much excitement and optimism about the future. For me, though, it's usually just another enticement to hold over their heads to get them to behave ("Uh-oh. We better brush teeth and get jammies on if we want the baby-sitter to come play tomorrow . . .").

Usually it's Ellie doing most of the countdown. Charlie is pretty content to just be along for the ride most of the time, and gets really enthusiastic for when we tell him it's time to get excited ("Let's goooo!" "Let's go car!" "Let's go dressed!" "Let's go 'side!"). One of the big events for Ellie's countdown this fall (aside from finally getting moved into the house) was a big party for employees of the university and their families. I don't remember the name of the place it was held, but you can imagine the build-up of excitement for this little girl when she heard there would be face painting, pony rides, games, candy, and so much more. Kind of made it hard to keep up the the anticipation for preceding events, like filling prescriptions or going to the post office, I think any opportunity to leave the house is still a pretty big deal for her.

For Ellie, the party lived up to the hype we gave it. Here are a few pictures of our day.

Any baby who wouldn't hold still very well got to be a cat. Charlie rubbed most of his face paint off within about 10 minutes and just looked like he had a dirty face the rest of the time, with a particularly dark smudge just below his nose that we decided was just a charming Charlie Chaplin mustache and nothing more.

 Ellie still talks about how the red canoe was too wobbly and is sure that if we try a green one next time it won't be nearly as wobbly.

 This is (ahem) "fishing." More experienced wranglers in the family, don't mock. Brady was pretty disappointed with this set-up, but there it was.

 Ellie would not touch the fish once it was caught.

  She did amuse herself trying to teach me to use the "hoopla-lupes." Probably the most fun was wandering up the hill to the farm and climbing with her on the straw bails. I think I don't take enough time to just listen to this kid talk, and talk, and talk. I told her about how I used to help on my grandpa's farm, how we had straw bails just like these, how I drove and tractor (which I think all went over her head, especially the part about me having a grandpa), but both of us just rambling together was fine with her. We tend to appreciate these warm-enough autumn days more and more around here, knowing that we're already living on borrowed time from the long cold winter day ahead.

More pictures of the kids not holding still

This time it was okay for the kids to move around in the pictures. That was the point. And the person taking them (Mindy) apparently knows how to deal with that in clean up. And used a real camera. So I guess there's a lesson in that.

As you can see, fall has flung. Is that how the saying goes? At any rate, it's cold and leaves are falling off trees. Anyway, we have already had several visitors to our new house (someday I will post pictures of that). Brady's mom came for a quick visit, and then my parents came and my sister Mindy came all in the same weekend. The kids were delighted and we loved being able to have visitors and people to distract the kids while we tried to get some things set up around the house.

Here are some pictures that Mindy took of the kids playing at the park between sessions of conference. Lots of leaf throwing. It's hard to walk anywhere with Charlie these days because he has to stop and throw leaves in the air. For a long time. (I've been meaning to thank Mindy for teaching him that . . .)

Hope you are all having a lovely Autumn.

Family pictures (but not really)

While we were all dressed up for the wedding, I thought it might be nice to get an updated family picture. So we found a nice spot out of the way before the reception and asked some siblings to help us out. I figured if they just kept shooting, we'd get one that works, right? I think I have well over 100 to choose from. Scrolling through them is like looking through those flip books we used to make in elementary school with stick figures in different position, and when you go fast it looks like they are running or dancing. Only this is the flip book of my children's wiggling and inability to look straight ahead. Eventually someone thought of getting bubbles out to get their attention. That was really helpful. So here's a small sampling. Which one goes on the wall?

Wedding-palooza

Well, we were supposed to move into our house last Friday. But the inspectors from the city who were supposed to come and sign off on everything had apparently already hit their 40 hours for the week and were sent home (new budget thing, I guess). So assuming they come and give the O.K. tomorrow, we will move in tomorrow. So I'm not blogging about house yet. Stay tuned.

I thought I'd take a brief moment of my last few hours before all the craziness begins (again) and try to catch up on the blog. So many posts behind. So here's a bunch of great pictures from Andrew and Margo's wedding in Colorado at the end of July. It was quite a lovely affair with the whole family together. It turned into something of a mini family reunion. We haven't all been together on that side for quite a long time.

The happy couple outside the Denver, Colorado temple. That wedding dress was amazing. Vintage? Retro? I think we'll go with vintage. Either way, you have to hand it to Margo. The girl has style.

Another happy couple outside the temple, with Andrew and Anita. We left the kids at home to be tended. No pulling kids away from fountains, flower beds, etc. Also, note the sunglasses here. Partly, Brady and I are just really cool, so we have to wear sunglasses all the time. But also, it was a very sunny day. Was. Relevant information later. (Also notice how not frizzy my hair is. Yet.)

At the reception, or actually just before. All the siblings together. Like I said, it's not often the whole family gets "in range of one hand grenade," as my grandpa used to put it so poetically. Lots of good times finally watching our kids play together and then staying up way to late talking after they all went to bed.

Waiting for things to get going. The reception was held in Margo's family's back yard. It was beautiful. They put in a wood-fired pizza oven for the event and had it catered by the head chef from Settabellos Pizzaria, our very favorite restaurant to go to when we visit Salt Lake City. (Seriously, so good. I don't think I am over-hyping it when I say this is the pizza we will eat in heaven.)

Before the reception started, Andrew and Margo had a ring ceremony for family who couldn't go to the temple. Margo had a lot of family who came in from different parts of the world, and they wanted to include everyone. I didn't get a picture of her entrance on horseback. Like I said, the girl has style.

 And here are some random pictures of our kids from the reception. Ellie was a bit upset about wearing blue because "red is my favorite color." I told her that she could wear red a different day, but that Margo wanted her to wear blue that day. For a good two weeks or so after that, Ellie kept pointing out when I wasn't wearing blue or when I had pink toenail polish on, "Mommy! Margo wants your toes blue!" It took a while to get out from under blue fashion demands.

 She looked like she came out of a Shirley Temple movie or something.

 She was excited to have a matching dress with her cousin Katelyn. Finding navy blue summer dresses for little girls is hard. I was going to try to make one, but then Jamie found a great deal on these. So, twin cousins!

 Not my kids, but look how cute these two are in this picture. Phoebe and Collin. This would be a great painting (Kari).

Charlie was absolutely enamored with this little dog. I think it was Margo's grandpa's (he's the one performing the ring ceremony in the picture above--hilarious man from South Africa). I think this is the day Charlie learned the word "doggie" and shouted it every chance he got.

 All the guys in the family wore bow ties. Very dapper. I couldn't get over how cute Charlie looked.

 Ellie having a moment with Brady's mom. It was so good for her to get to know all these cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents a bit more.

 Charlie logged some good time on the trampoline. He would live on a trampoline if we let him. That night he cried every time we had to get him off. He gets on and yells "jump! Jump! Ju-u-u-u-mp!" The whole time. Pretty hard to say no to.

Big enough for everyone to enjoy.

That is a marshmallow. Huge. Instead of cake (which they did cut later toward the end of the evening), they had a table set up with all kinds of candy and treats that were all white. White gummy bears even (vanilla flavored). Ellie was in heaven.

 This is a picture someone else got of her later. Didn't know she went back. She seriously had the best time there.

So I mentioned the sunshine earlier, remember? Notice the kind of hazy lighting in all these reception pictures? Yeah, that is not some weird filter on my camera. That was that huge storm moving in. Made it nice and cool before the reception for all the pictures and stuff. Then it started sprinkling lightly at the start. About an hour in, it was pouring. No backup plan. Dream wedding is getting rained on. So they put a tarp over the pizza guys, and then moved everyone into the house. Which was big enough, so it worked out okay.

This is what Ellie's hair did from all the humidity that night. I didn't know Boulder, CO got humid, but her hair was extra curly the whole week we were there. Makes me wonder what it would have been like if we'd stayed in Knoxville. So then she really did look like Shirley Temple.

And one last picture of wet Charlie for good measure. He cried at the window when we had to go inside, and we decided that we had graced that party with our presence long enough. So we took the kids home and put them to bed. 

Apparently it never really rains there, so it was safe planning everything for outside. Never rains, except for that night, and then earlier this month when they were evacuated for flash floods. But other than that . . . Still, just more style and flair, right? And lots of good memories.