Halloween!

This year for Halloween I put in as little effort as possible, as usual.  I am definitely not that mother that stays up till all hours of the night sewing Halloween costumes. I AM that mother who scrounges yard sales and clearance racks for cheap costumes, however, which is why I told my kids to go pick out of our large array of get ups.  Luckily, my children are fairly still easy to please.  Quinn was a skunk, which every child of mine has been as a baby. Love this costume. Edyn was a chicken and made awesome screaming chicken noises "bwack, bwack!!"  Lucy wore her Ariel dress and wig that she received for her birthday this year and completed the ensemble with her choice of bows for her hair.  Isak really wanted to be Minecraft Steve (thank-you half off Wal-Mart clearance) and we just made his pick axe diamond sword. Which in the picture is of course backwards so you can't even see it.

Our trunk or treat at the church was Halloween night as well so we started there and then perused some nearby streets.

Oh and Kevin and I decided on Halloween we should dress up as well, haha, for the first time ever.  I donned Isak's batman mask and cat tail and Kevin wore his dryasabone and the creeper face.  We are definitely not coordinated but we had fun!  Please notice Edyn's mismatched socks and Quinn's feet hanging out in this picture.

Of course within 20 minutes Isak realized he could hardly see with the box on his head and it quickly became his trick or treat bucket instead. Lucy also ripped off her wig and just wore her dress.  All in all, the three of them did great going door to door and even Edyn had a pretty good handle on what to do and what to say.

And don't worry, I've already found Wal-Mart's 75% off costumes for next year! Hahaha.

Playing with Quinn

 Isak and Lucy made Quinn a baby boat out of the laundry basket and stuck him in it. They thought it was so funny and Quinners didn't mind too much either.  Isak loves to carry him around the house and play with him and get him out of his crib.  It is so nice having a child old enough to be of some serious help with it comes to baby number four.

 After Halloween every year, the kids always request that I make their pumpkins "throw up". They think it is hilarious.  So this year we tried red wine and rice vinegar as well as white along with food coloring and baking soda.  The red actually made the best reaction.  It smelled horrible, the kids thought it was awesome.

 I took some pictures of the Quinn and Edyn today out in the leaves. Quinn is 7 months old.
He has one tooth on the bottom of his mouth and is pretty much the happiest baby ever.  He loves to eat and loves his mom and dad and siblings more than anyone.  He can sit up by himself but has no interest in trying to go anywhere which I am more than okay with.  He tolerates Edyn pretty well and she can make him laugh more than I can.  He babbles all day long and yells when he's unhappy but is easily contented. He reminds me so much of baby Isak in his looks and like Lucy in his temperament.  We sure love this sweet boy in our family!

 Edyn is 2 1/2 years old, she will be 3 in January. Recently potty trained she is definitely the fire cracker in our house and gives me a run for my money.  She also makes me laugh on a daily basis and has a lot of sass to her.  She likes to pretend she is a dog quite often, especially at the store, and if she gets in trouble will often resort to barking then whimpering like a dog.  If you don't do what she says the first time, she will repeat it in a loud, demonic sounding voice.  It's quite lovely.  She loves animals of all kinds, especially cats and likes to chase the cats at Isak's piano teacher's house while he has lessons. She also loves her nana's kitties and follows them around talking to them often.  She is very cuddly and likes to curl up in my lap and tell me, "I yuv you mommy!". Very sweet.  Her other favorite thing to do is bug Isak and Lucy and get a reaction out of them, which isn't hard, and then laugh and run away.  She is usually the first one up every morning and she bursts into our room yelling "wake up! wake up! What are you doing?!" She also high knee runs down our hardwood hallway so its impossible to ignore her.  She is already giving me gray hair, but we all love our little Edyn.

Princess Ball

 The girls got to go to the princess ball with Kevin this year. The Distinguished Young Women program uses this event as a fundraiser and the girls also got to ride in a horse drawn Cinderella carriage. Which is all Edyn has been able to talk about since she got home.  This was Lucy's third year going with Kevin and Edyn's first. Lucy has been counting down the days all week, she was so excited.

 Kevin said they had a great time and although Edyn made him carry her around everywhere, Lucy eagerly participated in all the dance instruction.

August Family Visits

 My sister and brother came to visit in August. I was pretty excited, my sister hasn't been up here in three years. They drove over from Wisconsin and made record time. We hadn't seen them since last July when we made the drive over that way.  It was so much fun getting to see her kids and letting them spend time with their cousins. Even if they all did get sick for a day or two while they were visiting, we magically never got it!  We spent a day at the aquatic center Moses Lake and went to Scootney lake one evening and went swimming.  Valerie and I ran almost everyday she was here and it was so nice having someone to run with.  We tye dyed shirts and head scarves with the kids and also had a Zucchini iron chef bake off.

 The kids loved playing on our bouncy pool slide and on our trampoline.

 Valerie got to meet Quinn for the first time and so did Aaron.

 Maddie and Martin were nice enough to play with Isak and Lucy who are 3-5 years their junior.

 Tye dyeing was a lot of fun, even with stained hands. Isak and Lucy loved their finished shirts.

 Uncle Aaron as always was the favorite as he was always willing to build legos and let the kids jump all over him.

 Sprinkler under the trampoline equals hours of entertainment. We also lit a fire in our fire pit and did hot dogs and smores.

 Below is Valerie and Aaron preparing for the bake-off. Valerie made a very good frittata dish and Aaron creatively did a "smoothini" he called it but it was essentially a zuchinii smoothie which was actually pretty good.  My dad made zuchinni bread and I made some failed zucchini cookies.

 We had votes on who won but since I didnt win I didnt' pay attention...like the fancy parsley in aaron's drinks? Maybe he won.

We attempted some pictures of 8 of the grandkids but Edyn wasn't in a real picture loving mood. Fancy that.

Also, this picture of Quinn is funny. This is half the reason I have kids. To dress them up and make them to ridiculous things because its adorable.

Back to School

 Oh the first day of school. Lucy is starting Kindergarten! (bless her teacher) Isak is starting second grade.  They are pretty excited. Isak knows quite a few of the kids in his class from last year and Lucy knows a few of the kids in her class as well.  Isak started last Thursday and Lucy starts today.

 Edyn is staying home with me and Quinn and it is sure to be entertaining around here. It is always bittersweet to see the end of summer and have school start again.  Excited for them but a little sad they won't be around during the day.  Don't worry, the sadness only lasts till they get home and start fighting then I am good for another day!

Gilbert Reunion

 The third weekend of July Kevin's family had a reuinon down in Kamiah Idaho for his Gilbert side.  It had been about 6 years since we had one of those and it was fun to see everyone.  We had a cute one bedroom cabin that was perfect for our family and had a little kitchenette and pull out couch.  The place we stayed also had a swimming pool that was on depth of 3-4 feet all the way across.  It was perfect for our kids and they could touch the whole time.

 We floated the river on a Saturday morning and it was so much fun.  Kevin and I took Isak and Lucy with us and floated the Snake river with his family.  The river was calm and super low, Isak got out quite a few times and ran around.  It took us about 2 1/2 hours to float it and it was fun to float from person to person and catch up.

 There were some chickens kept at this place we stayed at as well and Edyn's favorite thing to do was to visit them and feed them.  Whenever we were eating or doing anything she would always try to run off to "feed the chickens!".

                                       Isak and Lucy posing for me in front of our cabin.

 Isak and Lucy spent a lot of time in the pool swimming.

 Our family in front of our cabin.  We also attempted a dam tour while here of the Orofino dam which funny enough, my grandpa actually worked on.  Edyn vomited on the windy road up to the dam and did the dam tour shirtless. Quinn started screaming his head off once we were in side that the gate and walking up to the dam so I turned around with him and Lucy followed me (endurance isn' t her strong point).  Since I was exiting from inside the gate a dam employee had to escort me and my screaming baby back. Lucy wanted to turn back around halfway back but I told her know at which point she also had a meltdown.  The poor dam employee, I bet he was so glad when he got rid of us.

Lucy can never, ever pose normally. This is her and her glow stick necklaces.

                                        Edyn at her happy place, feeding her beloved chickens.

In the evenings we played games and this was a pretty fun one called reverse charades.  My kids really liked playing it too and it was nice that it was easy for all ages to play.  We had a great time and it was nice to see family for an occasion that was happy and not a funeral!