Where did the Time go?

Emmy is Sweet Sixteen. She woke up and drove us to her seminary class. I can believe she can drive. I made her a photo album with over a hundred pictures in it from when she was younger. She has so much personality and is so loved. She enjoyed gifts and friends remembering her birthday and had some cake with Rah Rah and Papa after a family dinner of steak, mashed potatoes and salad. It is fun to be the one in charge of what we eat for dinner. Emmy loved her batman snow hat, a homemade BYU pillow case from Rah Rah, and a great yellowcard watch from Bri.

Emmy is excited to keep celebrating this milestone with a party here at the house on Monday, a day off of school for Veteran's Day and a possible trip to a Yellowcard concert in San Francisco at the end of this month.  I'm so glad we have Emmy, she is so smart, beautiful, funny, and great. Time is passing by so quickly, but I'm grateful for all the wonderful memories of watching her grow these sixteen great years.

Icky Squishy

Halloween snuck up on us this year. We carved our pumpkins and lit them as the trick or treaters were coming. Celia want to be a mad scientist, but since we have tutoring during the mad scientist class at her school, Allie brought a fun mad scientist project. We made gak, but called it fairy guts lol. They had fun squishing their hands in it and carving pumpkins as well. Emmy was a monster, and Spencer was Indiana Jones for dressing up. We enjoyed visiting with Rah Rah and baking pumpkin seeds that night. We trick or treated around our neighborhood. Emmy went with her friend Kaitlyn and we noticed it started to pour rain, Emmy had umbrellas and wasn't soaked thankfully.

I had book group the next night and we talked about the book Dracula. It was a great time and we had candy corn puddings, a great idea I got from Dawn:)  I can't believe it is November already. Hurricane Sandy hit and there are a lot of relief efforts going for that. We are doing Genealogy for our Relief Society extra meeting this month. It is fascinating how easy it is to find and take names to the temple these days compared to years past. It is very exciting. Big things coming up for us next week are; voting for the next President of the United States, Emmy turns sixteen and we have a pivotal IEP for Spencer at school. It is busy, but we are blessed.

Pre-Halloween festivities

 I had Joseph take a sunset picture for me with my camera as we drove to our Ward Halloween party.

Halloween Party time. This holiday seems pretty celebrated these days. So many adults were dressed up at our ward Halloween party. They went all out for the activity, almost like how Christmas is such a celebration. We loved the haunted house and the various carnival games. We were missing Emmy, she usually does all the games with Celia, but she was in Lake Tahoe having a fun time at a young women's retreat.  Joseph was so sweet. We went to decorate a room at church to pass out candy in and he offered to help with the set up of the party. He wanted to stay there until it was time to start. I love how he is so helpful. Celia too was setting up chairs and helping me to do various things to prepare. We did go home in time to find Celia's fairy costume she got for her birthday that I have been searching for for weeks. We also found my viking hat and Joseph found a cape to wear.   Spence and Bri came by the party too and I loved seeing how happy Spencer was, he just loves decorations and holidays. He was giving me kisses, I'm glad I get credit for the good things too and not just for whenever things aren't just how he likes, he he.

Halloween Band Concert

Joseph had his First Band Concert for Chilton Middle School. Since they are a brand new school their band teacher comes from a nearby school for one period a day. She is great and the kids are learning very quickly.  The concert was a fundraiser party and all the band members dressed up and played in their Halloween costumes. Joseph was ghost rider and flipped his mask up to play his trumpet.

Joseph seems to have a talent for the trumpet and happily he is learning that practice makes perfect. He pulls it out and practices every chance he gets. It makes me so happy to hear that rather than some Netflix T.V. shows showing on the kindle fire. Kids have entertainment at their fingertips so easily, I love the practice of learning to make music, its a talent and Joseph has it. I missed all of the concerts I've been to for Emmy. The band families became familiar to me. Here there was no one in the room of 300Plus people other than Joseph that i knew. He was great and I loved his little smirk for accomplishing a great thing. He played in Jazz band and in concert band. I think he played around 7 songs. We celebrated after with some fries and Ice cream. I wonder while celebratory food is so bad for you? Lol. That's a subject for another post.:)

A trip down South

Celia and Joesph wanted to swim even though it wasn't swimming weather.

Trunk or Treat with the Cousins.

  

20 Year High School Reunion 

I'm glad I decided to go visit down south and see the family. We had a great time on Saturday relaxing, Joe and Celia swimming in the pool, shopping at the Korean Market, Yummy chicken Bento there, swinging by the Citadel, and seeing Tanya. The Grandparents took the kids to a Halloween party at church. Celia won a ribbon for more original costume. She was a pterodactyl, we  had that costume form years ago. I'm glad she could use it. They went with Addison and Kieran too. I went to my 20th High School reunion. It was small, but it made it nice. We pulled a bunch of table together and talked about our lives and reminisced of earlier years. One friend there was Huntington's disease. She had her caregiver bring her, in a wheel chair, and it really set the tone of the night to just talk with her and others and be real. I wasn't the only on with a Special needs child, and we seem to all enjoy each others' company very much. It was a lovely time, I'm glad I went. The ride two and from L.A. was nice and short 7 hours each way. That is a record for me, in my van I drive more slowly and we tend to stop a lot. Bri and I were counting all the cars I've driven that road in. It has been at least a half a dozen. We got to have a little vanilla roll cake early for my mom's birthday and it seemed as decked out as any other major Holiday there. My parents spoiled me and it was great to have a quick trip. Emmy took her PSAT on Saturday and had a temple trip with the youth on Friday so she missed the trip, but we will catch her next time. It was nice for Joseph to be with the cousins without his Big Sister who all the attention falls on. It was a fun time.~

The Younger Ones and Celebrating.

Celia and Joseph didn't have school today due to a teacher inservice. We had a great time going to Goodwill looking for Halloween costume pieces and heading over to the pumpkin patch.I can't believe how my children are growing.They allhave some many memories of past holidays. I'm glad they are still humoring me my celebrating nature. It is beautiful and crisp today around 64 degrees.We finally got out of the 100 degree temperatures. Joseph picked up this leather jacket at Goodwill so he can be the Ghostrider for Halloween. We are loooking forward to visitng my Mom for her birthday, the kids attending an early Halloween party with cousins, and me attending my 20 year High School reunion. Let the celebrating begin!