Halloween 2010

Halloween this year was pretty much a week long event for us...and we loved it! The whole thing started out the Sunday before Halloween when we were invited to make Spooky Pops with the Dixons. For any who don't know, Spooky Pops are an annual tradition for the Dixon clan. We have been fortunate to join them for most of our married life. A Spooky Pop is a caramel sucker that you make scary candy faces in. The kids love them. They decorate the faces with all different kinds of candy and then Grandma Janet pours the candy over the top. Then, yum, yum, yum you get to eat them when they cool.

The kids got really creative this year, especially Ellen. She had a vision for each and every one of hers. They were also pretty good about not eating the candy for the faces. (That is a rule or else everyone eats all the candy and there is none for the Spooky Pops.) Levi, of course, didn't follow that rule very well. He didn't care about decorating a face, he just wanted to eat the candy.

Trevor did pretty well making his faces as well. He also pulled out a little of the behavior that made us worry that he had autism and insisted on lining up his candy. It was cute and made us feel like Connor was kind of there with us so we took a picture.

Our next outing for Halloween came on Friday. I was in charge of Ellen's Halloween party for her Kindergarten class. We decorated cupcakes, played Halloween Bingo, did an art project, and the highlight of the party was Halloween Plinko. Eric and Audra made a "Plinko" board this summer for the boys birthday parties and I borrowed it. ("Plinko" like the game on the Price is Right. It is the one where the game piece bounces its way down the board and lands in a slot.) Our Halloween Plinko included things such as "Walk like a Zombie," "Cackle like a Witch," "Bounce like a Bat"...etc. The kindergarten loved it.

That night was our ward's Trunk or Treat. It ended up being really warm for us and was the perfect night. The event was very well attended as well so our kids were able to score some good candy. Ellen went as Snow White, Trevor as a Ghost and Levi as a Dog.

Levi loved getting his nose colored. He sat so still and patient for us to blacken his nose. We tried to send him out trick-or-treating the trunks, but he was reluctant to leave my side. So he mostly just stayed by me and ate our candy.

Braiden and Maggie and Renee joined us that night. Braiden was Peter Pan and Maggie was Tinker Bell. Ellen decided to take Braiden out to all of the cars so that Maggie and Renee could stay with us.

Isn't she the cutest little TinkerBell ever?

Our Trunk-or-Treat ended with a ward Chili Cookoff. I entered a recipe that I got from Renee a couple of years ago and won 2nd place. That's right, I rock!

Saturday we started the celebrating with Ellen's School Carnival. I ran one of the game stations with our Halloween Plinko Board and Landon took the kids around to all of the activities. They had a blast. Then there was Pizza and treats in the school cafeteria with "The Munsters" showing on a projection screen.

Saturday night we went up to Annie and Jason's house for dinner and trick-or-treating. They were excited to get to trick-or-treat with Jaycee and the other kids. The picture is of Trevor, Ellen, Jaycee, and Uncle John's girlfriend's kids.

The Dixon clan did a Hocus Pocus theme. Jaycee and Annie were cute little witches and Jason kept getting cat calls all night out on the street.

My costume got it's idea from Levi's. I hadn't really planned on dressing up, but Ellen insisted that I come up with something. I finally told her I was going to go as Levi's dog owner when this idea hit us. I decided to go as a Paris Hilton type who carries their little dogs around in their purse.

This picture was the only one we got of Landon all night and you can't really see it well, but he went as a circa 1980's professional wrestler. He shaved his face to have a big handlebar mustache and wore his bandanna and rolled up sleeves. He would have carried a folding chair around as a prop except he knew he would end up with a kid in his arms all night instead. He looked great.

Our friends the Olsen's came up and joined us that evening and we trick-or-treated with them. Ellen went out on a long haul with Jaycee and the older kids and did really well keeping up and was extremely proud of her stash when she got back. The boys were happier to stay more local. In fact, after only a couple of culde sacs Trevor told me, "Mom, let's be done and go to Aunt Annie's and eat the candy." It was a really fun night.

On Sunday we stayed at home and decided to pass out the candy. It was our first year ever doing it and the kids thoroughly enjoyed it. They worked out a whole system so that they could all help. Trevor would open the door, Ellen would pass out the candy, and Levi would close the door. Really this was the perfect Halloween for us. We got to enjoy all aspects of the holiday and didn't feel too stressed to do any of it. Yipee for Halloween!!!! The plans have already begun for next year.

Jack-O-Lantern

The pumpkin carving was left to me this year as Katie was at a Gateway Center Board meeting for the both of us. We decided to down size this year and only carve one pumpkin rather than one for each. This saved me from another long night of carving four pumpkins on my own after everyone petered out. Another improvement this year was bringing the pumpkin inside at least a day before the deed so our hands wouldn't freeze. Its all a learning process. The kids were all excited as we began, but Trevor's enthusiasm died pretty quickly as he figured out that his job was to dig out the pumpkin's innards. He kept saying, "This is gross," and "Ewww, I don't like this."

The funny part was that he had a parrot on his shoulder. Levi was sitting in the same chair as Trevor and was repeating eveything that he said. Levi, however, was not grossed out by the pumpkin despite the words he kept repeating. It was very cute and went on for almost 20 minutes. The kids started loosing interest after a little while and finished out the night watching "It's Grinch Night" as a Halloweeny movie. All in all a very fun evening.

Rest In Pieces

Our faithful van finally gave up the ghost. One day while getting off the freeway to go to work the car started shaking. We limped it along for a couple of weeks trying to figure out what it was before we finally gave in and took it to the mechanics for a diagnosis. They called us back the next day and gave us the bad news. It had a dead cylinder. Our options were to either replace the engine or get a new van.

We got our Sienna 4 years ago from Landon's parents. They gave us an extremely good deal and it was a very generous gift. Since then it was driven for two years for my courier route putting 80 plus miles on it a day. It also served as our only vehicle for 3 years. It had over 200,00 miles on it.

Landon got in one really good wreck in it where we had to replace the axle and a couple of little fender benders, one which left the front driver's side of the bumper crumpled and a broken headlight. Two years ago the driver's side door handle started having some troubles and then finally broke. You had to open the door from the inside. The door panel on the driver's side back door would occasionally come off and you would have to pound on it to get the door open. One of the seat belts in the back didn't work. The windshield was getting to the point of barely being able to see out of it.

You get the picture...it was a very good van and treated us well, but we thought it best to let it Rest in Pieces.

This is our new van. A 2003 Chevy Venture. It is an 8 passenger which is nice and is an extended body. It too has some of the little idiosyncrasies that come with used vehicles, but we liked the price and we are loving the van. So, welcome to the family little van. I hope you do as well for us as our last one.

Young Love

This is Rachel....

She is one of our babysitters, and happens to be Trevor's favorite. Landon and I decided to do a big night out on the town and called around to find babysitters. Rachel had only babysat for us once before, but she did a fantastic job. So, we called her up and she came on over. While we were prepping for her to come I told the kids who was going to care for them and Trevor exclaimed,

"Rachel...I LOVE RACHEL!"

Trevor has liked our other babysitters before, but really he always felt very indifferent to them. He didn't have problems with any of them, but he didn't really favor them either. Rachel, he favors. When Rachel got here she hadn't had dinner so she ate with the kids. Trevor said the prayer and blessed Rachel about 4 times. (Not an exaggeration.) When we got home from the date we found him draped all over her where it looked he had been for most of the night. For days following the babysitting he would tell us how much fun he had with Rachel.

Trevor has a crush on Rachel. When he sees her at church he gets shy now and asks every now and again when she will get to come back. I guess Landon and I better plan another date.

Look What Has Made Our Lives Easier

I got this idea off of another friend's blog. She was having some trouble getting her kids to listen and do the right thing. Someone commented on it that they do Good Deed's Charts at their house and I thought we would try it. It has been great!

Ellen has always done really well with charts so she has taken to this like a pro. The other two are coming along as well. When Landon or I see them do a "good deed" they can earn a sticker. When their chart is filled up they get to pick a prize out of our prize bucket.

It has been great! We classify a good deed as something that they do without being asked, if they do something the first time we ask them, or if we just see them playing nice with each other. The kids really enjoy earning the stickers and I often find Ellen asking me what good deed she could do that day. (Mostly we like her to just try to see the need instead of asking, but sometimes anything will do for me.) It has really motivated them to listen a little better and it has been nice for Landon and I to notice all of the good things our kids do instead of just the bad. I would suggest them to everyone.

Babysitting the Porters

I have been watching these kiddos for a couple of months now, but realized that I have not really mentioned them in the blog. Since they have become a big part of our lives lately I figured that I should remedy that.

Braiden and Maggie come to our house 4 days a week while Renee is in school. They are with us for most of the day when they are here sometimes leaving a little early in the afternoons, but mostly just hanging out with us all day. Renee and I have always swapped babysitting so Braiden and Trevor have never really known a time when they haven't gotten to play with each other at least once a week if not more. But having them this much time has taken the relationship of these kids to a new level.

We have always joked that Braiden and Trevor act more like brothers than cousins. Mostly because they love to play with each other, but end up fighting with one another as well. While that is still the case, the fighting has become a less pronounced part of their relationship. They have started to have some really good make believe together. My favorite as of late has been when one will play the Grinch while the other is Max. They take turns back and forth so that one of them isn't always ordering the other around.

Maggie and Levi are much a different pair than their brothers. Levi is smitten with Maggie and they play very well together. At least as well as 1 year olds can, which means they only fight when they both want the same toy, and that actually doesn't happen very often. Levi is always very concerned that Maggie has her things, her Binky, her sippie, and will make a very dedicated effort to give them to her. That means that often you will find her shoving Maggie's Binky in her face. This doesn't usually make Maggie cry, she will just try to help him find the right part of her face while still protecting the rest of her.

Ellen fits well with both groups of kids. She is often the ring leader of the make believe when she gets home from school. She also has become a big helper with the babies. It helps immensely that Maggie is so tiny, but Ella really can pack her just about anywhere and does a good job entertaining the two little ones. She likes the fact that she can babysit them when Mommy is in the house.

With all of this fun I have to admit has come some stress as well. As I'm sure many of you Mom's out there can imagine I have increased the number of kids I have each day almost by two. It makes going places interesting. We have to start loading up about 10 minutes early to take Ellen to school and then pick her up again....I spend a lot of time tromping around the back of the van trying to get everyone buckled in. The mess has also increased. About every 1 1/2 hours I have to go through the whole house and pick up the toys and return them to the bedrooms to their positions. If I don't do this the toys just continue to scatter throughout the house and it takes longer at the end of the day to put them away. (Not to mention that my house is tiny and there is nowhere for these toys to get spread to except my front room and kitchen where we continue to walk on them all day.) I have not built up the courage to go to the store with all five of them except in the occasional emergency so that means that my time without the Porter children is usually spent running errands. But despite all of that, I am still glad that they are here.

I am glad that my kids have such a strong bond with their cousins and get so excited every morning when they arrive. I love that they ask where they are all weekend long. I pray that these bonds will hold strong for their entire lives so that no matter what life brings us they may always know that they have a friend.

We love you Maggie and Braiden!

Princess She Wrote

Ellen has really gotten into writing books lately. She has authored several, but I thought that I would share a couple of my favorites. She told Grandma Ladwig that she wanted to sell the books. When Grandma asked how much she could buy one for Ellen replied, "You can just have one Grandma." What a generous little girl she is. It is good to know that she will remember who is really important when she is famous one day. Enjoy!

The Princess' Rescuers

The Pumpkin Princess

Fruit of my Labors

Sadly to say, this is all that is left of my garden. I struggled getting my garden planted early and ended up not getting it done until the first week of July. By then it was much to hot for pretty much everything I had planted. I did have some stuff start to grow up but after we got Ripley he quickly finished pretty much everything off. So, what do I have to show for the fruits of my labor. The fruit.

My plum tree did great and I juiced them and turned most of it into jelly. My tomatoes have fared fairly well as well as the raspberry plants that have transplanted themselves into my garden from my neighbors. I vow to do better next year, but for this year I will just enjoy the fruits that I was able to get.

A Hunting We Will Go

Now, I don't usually go for the blogging thing. I love to read what my wife writes, but don't contribute on a regular basis. Of course, she didn't go hunting so she doesn't have the first hand experience. I had the opportunity to go on my first deer hunt this year with my dad and though we didn't bring home that big trophy buck, we had a good time. We didn't put in for any draw hunts this year so it was mostly just trying to find places without people around that took the most time. We spent most of our time up Inman Canyon east of Inkom, but also did a little hunting up Blackrock Canyon just outside Pocatello. Being so close to home was nice, especially as we got rained out our first day in Inman. We came home that evening to dry out and get a warm night's sleep. I still had to attend my class on Tuesday, so that ate up a little more of our time. But Tuesday night we were back up the canyon again. I could go on about the missed shots or our not full knowledge of mule deer behavior and best hunting methods, but suffice it to say that our hunting improved throughout the week and (hopefully) will produce better results next year. Years ago, when my dad was my age, he would go hunting with my Uncle Mark to the south end of Bear Lake. He's already started planning where we will be going next year on the north side. I'm looking forward to it and planning on filling the rest of the time by calling coyotes. Should be fun.

Levi Lloyd Christmas

My Levi man, is so stinking cute! He has the sweetest little personality and is oh so adorable. But lately he has been reminding us of someone who is not quite as cute...

Lloyd Christmas

Okay, so it is really just his smile. During conference Levi was taking a bath. He was playing around and standing up when all of a sudden he slipped. He smacked his mouth on the side of the tub and ended up with a seriously bleeding mouth. He let me get close enough to notice that his teeth were bleeding, but I wasn't able to get much more of a look. He had been tired already so after we got him cleaned up he went straght down for a nap.

When he woke up I was able to get a better inspection and found that he had chipped both of his front teeth. And yes, it has left his smile looking a little like Lloyd Christmas. Oh, well...at least they are baby teeth. So, for now, we will enjoy our Levi Lloyd Christmas smile.