Halloween Fun

I was able to go the school and help with the Halloween parties and see the girls in the annual parade. I love the parades in elementary school and I love seeing my girls have some of these same experiences.

 The girls really look forward to carving pumpkins every year. I love that they can mostly carve and design all on their own now. I am never one to skip a creative project!

Random Things Of Late

 We always drive through the mountains when the leaves begin to change although we were a little disappointed with the leaves this year. It wasn't nearly as pretty as years past but it is never a bad day in the mountains.

 Practicing her babysitting skills on Baby Pixie while I supervise.

 Building bottle rockets in the backyard with friends A and  T

 The school has a fun run every year as a fundraiser. I tried to convince Red Fish to just do a portion since she had big casts on her legs but she insisted on doing the whole route. We were the last ones back to the school but she made it. Two of her friends stuck with her the whole way. Red Fish is the most determined kid that I know. She doesn't let anything stop her.

My awesome sister in law M.E. came and ran with New Fish. New Fish is turning into a little speed demon and was one of the first kids finished with the run. She didn't stop the entire time. Thing 2 who I am now going to start calling Doodle was in a stroller with us.

 One of our most recent outings was to the Aquarium with my friend Lovely L and her kids. Red Fish is of course- holding baby S. She loves little kids.

This Year's "Boo"fet

 For the last few years we have had a spooky Halloween dinner. Some years are bigger than others. This year we had friends over and I did not get any pictures with our friends but I did get some pictures of the food.

Thunderstorm and Fairy Princess

I really enjoy figuring out Halloween costumes with my kiddos. This year we wanted to reuse New Fish's dance costume from her recital so she decided to add wings and a crown to make herself a fairy princess. Red Fish had a vision of being a thunderstorm. This took some serious thinking. I tried to make her a tutu with raindrops and my mom sewed her a unitard that looked like electrical activity. Then we added lights and even had sound effects. It was probably the biggest effort I have made on a costume yet. It was very fun to make her vision come true because she has had a lot to deal with lately.

We went to my mother in law's Halloween concert and trunk or treat and it was the perfect venue to test out the new costumes.

Witches Breakfast

One of my friends got a batch of tickets for moms and daughters in my neighborhood to attend the witches breakfast. The girls and I had a blast dressing up and seeing all of the witches and decorations. They put on a great show and we had fun dressing up. We LOVE Halloween.

Reflections

Today was the reflections assembly. Total domination at reflections for these two kiddos. Red Fish won awards of excellence (moves on to the next level) for Film , Photography and Dance and awards of merit for (like 2nd place but doesn't move on) for visual art. New Fish won awards of excellence for dance and literature and awards of merit for photography, film and visual art

Sunday Is Baking Day

These two have been baking up a storm lately. I'm not much of a baker and have never been very interested but they have always liked to try out new recipes. They got a new cookbook a few weeks ago and they have been baking all kinds of new things. I have to just walk away and let them do it themselves (other than putting it in the oven) because the mess makes me a little crazy. Best if I don't watch and just let them do their thing.

Fall Break

 How cute are her freckles? Fall break=hiking. Red Fish  started out with her AFOs on (her braces) but they were too uncomfortable- she isn't used to them yet. So we switched them out for regular shoes. Tess, Tate and Adrian were there (some of her best friends in the neighborhood.) We had a lovely picnic and the kids played on the rocks and in the woods. Near perfect day.

AFOs

 These are Red Fish's new AFOs (Ankle/foot orthotics) She got to design them herself so they are very colorful and have horses and rainbows on them. She is pretty excited about the way they look. This is going to be a bit of an intense journey to get her through these foot problems. The casting was rough even though she had such a great attitude the whole time. We aren't sure how many months she will be wearing the AFOs. She does have skeletal bunions that we are going to have to address. Her doctor at Shriner's Orthopedic Hospital wants to do surgery in six months to a year to try and stop the bunions before they get really bad. Full on bunion surgery would be really horrible so we hope to avoid that by surgically altering her growth plates in her feet. Her ankle cord has really improved and now she just has to retrain herself on the way she walks. The great thing about the AFOs is that she can remove them to play soccer, swim or do any activity that they are too cumbersome for. I continue to be amazed by how well she has handled all of this. She has a great attitude and she knows that she can do hard things.

She was not pleased with the shoe options. They aren't nearly as spiffy as the AFOs she designed so we at least got her some more colorful shoelaces. If we put anything in a bright color it makes Red Fish happy.

Scriptorian

She is working hard trying to decipher the scriptures.

Last Day On The Boat For The Season

Conference Weekend

 Spent the weekend up at the Lake House again for conference. There were Halloween art projects, baking, jammies and a family birthday party.

 Decorating Daddy when he fell asleep.

 The general craziness during conference.

Symphony Gala

We went on a Mommy/Daughter date to the symphony 75th anniversary gala to see Lang Lang perform. He is an amazing pianist. Red Fish's piano teacher got us tickets at the last minute. Red Fish loved seeing all of the really fancy people in their ball gowns and getting to try all of the food. She is a very adventurous eater. She loves to try new things. She felt very grown up because there weren't a lot of kids there and she was so good sitting through the entire symphony. We had only been to the family concert series of the symphony before which is shorter and more kid friendly so it was a big deal that she is old enough and mature enough to go to a concert that is such a big deal. I was really proud of her and we had so much fun.

Another Cast

Some of Asia's casts