Halloween 2012

We've had a really good Halloween week.  I always LOVE this holiday.  It's kind of the beginning of the celebrating season for me. although the amount of candy that is transported into and out of this house is becoming obscene!  I'm hoping to find some way to make it all mysteriously disappear after a couple of days.

This is what we started the night with. 

...and this is what it looks like now.

but they all brought in quite a haul.  Candy Trading is my favorite part!

Flowering Buttercup didn't actually trick or treat this year, but she dressed up as a mouse for our church party last Saturday night...and she's eating Cheetos!  

(hee hee...idk why I thought that was so funny.)

Spell Girl and her BFF were matching pandas.  Homemade costumes are the best!!

June's cute friends in the neighborhood.

June's friend MADE this super cute iPad t-shirt!

Some of our neighbors get really into Halloween.

...so Mack found some stuff in my Halloween buckets and decided to do a little decorating, too.  These used to be our bushes.  Now they are a home to three happy plastic spiders.  

cute trick-or-treaters

Mack the Ninja

Two ninjas and a zombie with a baseball bat...hmmm...???  

The best part of the night was knowing that even though all of our kids were sprinkled around the neighborhood, they were safe and happy having fun with their friends.  I love this place we live in and the people who surround us.  We have the best neighbors and our kids have awesome friends!  

Flashback Tuesday

I have fewer kids these days who are trick or treating.  But as I looked through some of the Halloween pictures from past years I thought I should share some of my favorites...

ATLANTA 2002

I love that Mack is way too busy heading out the door (with his blankie) to stop for a picture!

MENDON 2005

MENDON 2006

Isn't this the cutest little pitiful lion EVER??

MENDON 2007

MENDON 2008

MENDON 2009

and this is my all time favorite Halloween picture...

 CALIFORNIA 1973

...I'm not sure if I hated that witch costume or if I was just getting into my character.  (I'm not really the "getting into character" type, so I think I might have been irritated about the whole witch thing.)  But how cute was that little homemade black costume?  If only I had appreciated my mom's talents when they were available.

Happy (almost) Halloween!

Missionaries

OK, you know what??

I NEVER watch the videos that people pin on Pinterest (because sometimes you don't really know what you're going to get AND because if I do know what I'm going to get, it's usually going to make me cry.)

I HATE country music.

...and if I were to somehow have a lapse in consciousness and accidentally watch a video that was called LDS Missionaries Coming Home, I certainly would come to my senses before posting it on my blog.

ugh...

But I'm all things missionary-ish for some reason lately and I LOVED this video...Country music and all, so here it is.  I dare you to watch this and not cry.  

I'm so grateful for the missionaries and their parents who sacrifice so much for so long to bring the gospel to the rest of the world.  What an amazing church we belong to!

Notes from Church

My friend, Renae always writes a little spiritual quote in her Sunday blog post.  I love that idea.  I may have to make Notes from Church a weekly post.  There are always such great things that I want to remember...

“Grace shall be as your day”—what an interesting phrase. We have all sung it hundreds of times, but have we stopped to consider what it means? “Grace shall be as your day”: grace shall be like a day. As dark as night may become, we can always count on the sun coming up. As dark as our trials, sins, and mistakes may appear, we can always have confidence in the grace of Jesus Christ. Do we earn a sunrise? No. Do we have to be worthy of a chance to begin again? No. We just have to accept these blessings and take advantage of them. As sure as each brand-new day, grace—the enabling power of Jesus Christ—is constant. Faithful pioneers knew they were not alone. The task ahead of them was never as great as the power behind them."   Brad Wilcox, His Grace is Sufficient

"I do not know who in this vast audience today may need to hear the message of forgiveness inherent in this parable, but however late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel  you have made or talents you think you don't have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have NOT traveled beyond the reach of divine love.  It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ's atonement shines."  Jeffrey R. Holland. Laborers in the Vineyard

I have a deeply personal and abiding testimony of the power of the Atonement to change hearts, to fix relationships, to resolve situations, and to bring hope back where there once was none.  I am so grateful for the amazing power of the Atonement in my own life and for a Savior who provided the one and only way to find true joy and peace in this life.    

High Five for Friday

I keep trying really hard to slow down this crazy, frantic pace we've been keeping lately, but I'm having a hard time.  Are the weeks flying by as quickly for you as they are for me? 

Here's the scoop on what we did this week...

1.  Song of the Week

2.  Cattle Drive

Sometimes when you live in Texas, you run into herds of cattle when you're just driving down the street on your way to Target.  :)

I love these giant animals so much.  There is a special place in my heart reserved for longhorns.  

It actually wasn't an accident that I happened to be in the middle of the right parking lot at the right time to catch this cattle drive.

This beautiful girl is one of June's good friends and our neighbor.  She rode in the horse drill team that led the cattle to their new home for the next few weeks.  They do this every year to kick off the Texas Stampede in Allen.  (That's a big rodeo.)  

It was so much fun to watch my cute little neighbor.  Every time I see these girls do something neat and amazing it makes me weepy.  I love seeing them grow up and find their talents. 

3.  Birthday Traditions

Donuts for breakfast!  These always get me in trouble but I love them as much as the kids do.  Maybe more...

Pictures all over the kitchen.  We just started this last month for Flowering Buttercup's party, but I loved it so much, I did it again this week for Spell Girl's birthday.  It's so much fun to look through all those old pictures and even more fun to watch the kids reminisce while they're getting breakfast in the morning.  Food and memories...they're tightly linked, don't you think?  

4.  Colder Weather

The temperature here gradually dropped from a very balmy 80 degrees to a chilly 48 (although with the wind blowing at the baseball game last night, it felt a heck of a lot colder than 48!!)  I like when the weather hovers around the 50s and 60s.  Anything lower than 40s is way too cold for me anymore.  I'm such a wimp.

5.  New Boots!!

Colder weather = boots and sweaters and leggings.  
I've been looking for a pair of riding boots FOREVER...well, at least for a few weeks.  And I finally found some cute ones.  These aren't actually riding boots.  The tag said "motorcycle boots" so I think that makes me instantly cool, don't you?
It's so hard to see the color in this picture that I took in my bathroom with my phone, and you can't feel the delicious suedy-ness of these, but trust me...they're beautiful.  These boots have just completed my life (well, at least my week.)


Hope you've had a great week, and that your weekend is wonderful!!  

Fourteen

Today is my perfect little Spell Girl's 14th birthday.  I know I always say this in every birthday post I write, but I cannot believe that 14 years have passed since we added this little cutie to our family.  Spell Girl was born in a little hospital in Enumclaw, WA on October 25, 1998 at 6:34am.  She was the only baby born there that day, and she was so beautiful that the entire staff spent all 48 hours of our stay falling all over themselves to see her.  Her eyes were bright blue until she was about 4 years old and then they settled into the beautiful hazel color that they are now.   

Spell is different than the rest of our kids.  She's much more like the Scout Master than like me.  She is the peacemaker in our home...always.  She resists the contention and sarcastic comments that the rest of us occasionally give into.  She is always the one to calm the storms.   Thank goodness there is one in every family.  With all of the big personalities in our home, it's such a blessing to have one who is content to be still and quiet.

I carved out the entire day today to take her wherever she wanted to go...lunch, shopping, the library, whatever...  
I offered to let her stay home from school or at least get out early.  But she wasn't interested.  She was pretty excited about being at school on her actual birthday.  So, instead of a play day, she asked if I would bring Chick-fil-A for lunch and if I would make her a sign saying she was 14.  Oh, the simple things that make this girl happy.  That's so much like the Scout Master, too.

I'm so grateful for a thoughtful, compassionate, brilliant, talented 14 year old in our family.  

Happy Birthday, Spell Girl

Snake Hunter

Evidently when you look like this...

 and packs of rugged boys call you "Scout Master"...

...people assume you are qualified for all things adventurous, exciting, and potentially life threatening.

Last night around 10pm we got a call from a neighbor.

"We seem to have a snake in our house and I'm a chicken.  I've trapped it under a bucket, but I can't pick it up.  Can you please come over and get it?  My wife is on the kitchen counter and won't get down until someone gets this thing out of our house."

The Scout Master isn't particularly fond of snakes, but apparently his inner Boy Scout took over and he agreed to go over and rescue our neighbor and his family from their slithery intruder.

"By the way," said the neighbor, "it's about 12-18 inches long, so you might want to bring a shovel just in case you feel like you need to cut it's head off." 

Serious???

Luckily I was already comfortably in my jammies, so I had a really good excuse not to accompany my husband on his rescue mission.  But even if I had been fully dressed and already wearing shoes, the words "12-18 inches long" would have kept me at home.   My fearless June, though, overheard the conversation and ever-ready for an adventure, hopped into the Jeep carrying the shovel.  

I waited anxiously (and safely) on the couch while they were gone...and I might have Googled to see if King Cobras were indigenous to Texas.  They're not.

15 minutes later, June came into the house carrying a bucket.  

"You better not have a dead python in there!"

"Mommy, look at it."

I got as far away as I could and craned my neck expecting to see a vicious, slimy thing wriggling around in that bucket.  

Wanna see it??

wait...let me magnify it for you...

:)

I'm grateful that I live in a house with a fearless husband (and daughter) and that I can now add "snake hunter" to his very long list of talents.