Halloween

After a LONG Saturday, it was finally time to go trick or treating. Shelby and Taylor were willing to endure some more face paint and hairspray, but Payden would have nothing to do with it, and there was no way I'd do it to Declan . . . too messy. Madison and Ryan decided to head out with us. Madison was a ladybug, and Ryan decided at the last minute (because he was told no trick-or-treating if didn't have a costume) to be a baseball player, which was easily done since he plays baseball each year. We snapped a picture of everyone and headed out.


We decided to go to the houses in our ward, which mainly consists of 2 neighborhoods. We started with our own. Around the corner from the house, the girls started howling to the moon.


Although we hadn't bought a wand for Declan, there was no way he was gonna go without one, so he snatched one of the girls play wands from the toys. I'm sure he'll appreciate this when he gets older. The girls were nice enough to not call him a magical dalmatian, but rather a bobblehead dalmatian since he LOVES to bobble his head around like a bobblehead.


Cynthia was nice enough to let us raid her linen closet for pillowcases. Payden's was about as big as she was, so she kept tripping on it. Since she wouldn't let me hold it, we finally figured out a way for her to carry it without any problems.


My favorite part of their costumes were their tails. When they walked, the tails would wag like a dog's would, and it was toooooo cute!


Declan was getting a bit restless sitting in the wagon, but we found a way to solve that. We gave him a lollipop, and he was a happy boy . . . a rather sticky one, but happy nonetheless.



Finally after lots of trick or treating, we headed home to get into the car and drive to the gated neighborhood in our ward.


There weren't as many houses there, but we scored by getting: freaked out by a man who sat frozen for minutes only to suddenly move and come after everyone, hot cocoa from our Bishop's house, and one house with King size candy bars. We had a great night with LOTS of candy. We quickly headed home to shower Shelby and Taylor and head to bed.


When we returned the night was dark and jack-o'-lanterns looked amazing!




Happy Halloween!!!!

Carving Jack-o'-Lanterns

After the girls got home from school, we FINALLY got around to carving pumpkins. We'd had them for a bit, but never found the time to carve them. The girls have never carved pumpkins before. Tom's always been busy with school, and I found it easier to paint them with the kids, so the girls were excited. We waited until Declan was down for his second nap, and then got started.

Here are the girls pumpkins they chose from the store.




With the pictures taken, it was time to dig in. Tom cut the tops, and we started. You can see another reason we haven't done this before . . . Tom is not a fan of the slime, so we were proud of him for stepping up and doing it despite his uneasiness.


I had the girls give it a try, but eventually it came down to Tom and I to clean them out.


Our nephew Ryan had chosen an intricate dragon design, had poked his holes using his design, and had been completely clueless once he took his design paper off and saw a billion holes scattered everywhere. Fortunately, Tom's an artist and was able to draw the design on the pumpkin over the holes using a sharpie.


Taylor snatched the camera at this point and caught me off guard.


We made sure to save some of the good stuff for later, which the girls thoroughly enjoyed . . .


and discarded the slimey stuff.


We kept all and roasted all of the seeds . . . from 5 pumpkins . . . yeah it was WAY too much, but they were tasty!


Finally, the pumpkins were ready for the carving to begin.


Although we did most of the carving, we let the girls help here and there.




Unfortunately, sharpie isn't permanent on pumpkin, so Tom had to redraw Ryan's dragon again.



Meanwhile, Madison worked hard on her Welcome pumpkin.


After a few hours (and then some for Ryan), the jack-o'-lanterns were done.


Shelby chose a dolphin swimming in the water . . . yeah, she definitely likes girly stuff.


Payden chose The Pumpkin King. Tom was proud of this choice.


Taylor chose her favorite dinosaur, a triceratops, which was fitting.


Oh, and while we were carving, the moon came out . . .


Hahaha!!!! Gotta love it! Anyways, we had fun, and the girls are so thrilled for Halloween to be here.

School Halloween Parade

After 2 years of not being allowed to dress up for Halloween at school, the girls were thrilled that they'd be able to wear their costumes to school. They decided, after some talking with their dad, to be dalmatians . . . and more specifically magical dalmatians. We've made our costumes for a few years now, so Tom and I got to work. You'd be amazed at how difficult it is to find clothing, but fortunately we did find cream. We spotted the clothes, attached some tails, and were ready to go.

Friday morning we got up and got the girls ready, which included costumes, face paint, hair paint, collars, and wands - remember they're magical dalmatians. At 9:30, Tom and Payden headed to school while I stayed with a sleeping Declan, so they could watch the Halloween Parade.

First came Taylor's class. Here's her teacher Mrs. Ericson.


Here's Miss Taylor.


After a few more classes came Shelby's class. Here's her teacher Ms. Lien.


Here's Miss Shelby.


I went in later that day to both of their classes to help with the Halloween parties. It was fun to be able to celebrate at school!

It's Snowing!!!!

It started snowing, so Tom and I grabbed Payden and headed outside - the big girls were out school and Declan was sleeping. This is one of the first times it's snowed, and Payden has never seen or been in snow before, so we were excited for her to see it.


As you can see, she LOVED it. Then when Taylor came home, they couldn't resist going outside to enjoy it. Only problem is they forgot something . . .


These Texas girls are going to have to get used to winter musts now: boots, jacket, and gloves.



After a bit, the snow stopped, but fortunately that night even more came.



We might be Texans, but we are LOVING the snow. We can't wait for more to come!!

Trip to Idaho: Blast Off

Well, Angie and Cynthia returned first, but then we waited and waited and waited. Finally we made plans to go eat and then head over to a fun center called Blast Off where everyone else would join us. As soon as we walked in Blast Off, we saw this climbing wall. Madison and Ryan wanted to do it, so of course Shelby and Taylor had to as well. Now we've been to a park at home that has tower with a climbing wall along the side to get to the top. Taylor got to the top with no problems and continued to do it while we played. Shelby tried and got SCARED!! She never made it to the top. I told the girls that, since we had to pay money for them to climb the climbing wall, they could not chicken out. They HAD to climb it and give it their best. I especially emphasized this to Shelby.

Well, maybe having Madison and Ryan do it first gave Shelby some courage because she was AWESOME!! She didn't quite make it to the top (3/4 of the way there), but she was high. It took her a bit to find her footing at first, so in trying to start, she got off and on the wall a bunch, but once she found her footing, she just kept climbing. I was really proud of her.


What shocked me the most was that Taylor, who's done this before with NO problems, got really scared. She started off just fine, but about halfway just wouldn't go any more. I was proud of both the girls for giving it a good try.


While Shelby and Taylor had been climbing, Declan and Payden were playing in a big area full of balls, tunnels, slides, and whatnot. This was one time I was grateful that Declan, age 14 months, couldn't walk. Because he wasn't a walker, I didn't have to pay for him. Sweet!!! He just played in these balls the whole time anyway.


Payden decided not to play, but rather that it was her job to find all the stray balls and put them back in the ball pit. I had her go in the tunnels for a bit, but that didn't last long at all and soon she was back to picking up loose balls. Funny girl!


Shelby and Taylor had a blast sliding down slides . . .


going down this zip line . . .



and climbing through the tunnels.



While in the ball pit, Declan would "swim" in the balls. It was hilarious!


He then realized how much fun it was to pick up the balls and chuck them out of the pit. The other kids would go out to catch them, and he had a blast playing this game.


He even got to a point that he'd chuck the balls even before he'd stood up.


Here I had finally convinced Payden to try the fun tunnels. Notice the lack of pants . . . she waited too long to go potty and peed her pants. Fortunately her shirt was actually a dress. Potty training . . . such a fun thing!!


Payden climbed up to try sliding down. Unfortunately because her legs were bare, they got a friction burn when she slid down. This really did for her, and she was done.


She was willing to play in the ball pit a bit. Can you see her?


Since we were still waiting and the girls felt they'd explored the tunnel area enough, they came back to the ball pit to play with Declan and Payden.


Finally, the Sprenger boys arrived, and so the big kids headed over to the mini-golf area to play. We took the kids over to the arcade area to play games. Declan LOVED the lights on this game.


Payden had a blast stomping in this game. It was fun watching her try to find the light and stomp on it.


Of course, we had to go drivin' in this truck.


Meanwhile, Shelby tried her hand at the stomping game at a harder level then Payden's.


Dylon had been wearing this headband and decided Declan needed a turn. I love how it shows his bigger, floppy ear.


At some point during the miniature golfing and arcade playing, Tom and Jeremy finally arrived after a long day working on those people's house. After the big kids finished golfing, Tom and they headed into the Laser Tag room, so my kiddos and I headed over to play miniature golf. We let Declan roam around for a bit, and he loved crawling all over the golf course.


We have never taken our kids miniature golfing, and they had difficulties using the club, especially Taylor. I tried and tried and tried to show her how to hold it, but she couldn't quite get it.


By this point it was LATE - somewhere around 10 - so we headed back to the hotel and quickly got the kids to bed. Of course, they were conked out in no time.

The next morning we woke up, got ready, packed up, and headed home. Cyn and Jeremy were going to Mike & Angie's, but I decided to head home because it was Declan's naptime, and I was hoping he'd nap in the car. When we got to Pocatello, Angie called and so we decided to head back to their house. We stayed there and played and talked and enjoyed time with them for awhile until we absolutely had to go in order to make it home in time for bedtime. Of course, Declan ended missing his morning nap; fortunately he did conk out a bit on the way home, but we definitely paid for it that night as he woke up in the middle of the night for a couple of hours because he hadn't got his morning nap. Despite that unpleasantness, we were glad to visit with Mike and Angie and boys one last time. It was a really good weekend and a really good break from reality.