Costume Preview

Tonight I hope to get better shots all done up and ready. (Plus individuals.) These were taken before the treasure hunt at a local shopping center on Saturday.

 The shot just made me laugh because it was so horrible all around.

 After obtaining all their loot.

 Today we worked on Luke's pumpkin. He was squeamish about the guts and I love him enough to get involved.

 Mallory's bat mobile. (She licked the roof and smeared it. Don't ask why, there are no words.)

 Luke's HULK pumpkin, phase 2.

I know this is a random shot, but I was proud of my spooky play dough; gray with gold glitter.

Have a fun and safe night. More to come.

My field trip

Anneke wanted to post about her field trip. She has been so excited for weeks about it. My friend drove her and took some pictures that she shared with me. That means that you have visuals for her commentary.

 The first thing was wait at the tables for our tour guide. When the tour guide got there we talked about apple cider. Then we went to the pumpkin patch.

 This is a pic of us on the hay ride. 
 Madison really liked sitting by me.

It was really fun. We got apple cider.
The bottles were small. I rode with the Branskes. We also got donuts.

"The Awesomest Author in the World"

Wednesday Marcus was able to meet his favorite author. The title is actually a quote from my boy about Brandon Mull.

Before we went we wanted to get The Beyonders to sign for Marcus and the 5th Fablehaven for Carlye. There was a huge gap where his books should have been. We got the last title by him for my niece's Christmas present. We were kind of bummed. (When we got there people had full sets of his books and had never even read them. It was nice for him but quite frustrating for us.)

We arrived early to get good seats and hence a good place in line. They presented Brandon Mull with a key to the city of Henderson. He said that it was the first time he got a key to a city and thought it only happened in the movies. He talked a bit about what he was up to and I texted Cari a play by play until we got distracted. One of the guys in charge of the event happens to be a friend. He was trying to get us up front, which he did for Marcus. But, while trying to work this out I missed a lot. :( He is going to do a sequel series to Fablehaven called Wyrmroost in 3ish years. He has one more Candy Shop War book besides the one coming about next week and one more Beyonders due out in March. He is working on a "super secret collaborative project" and another one I missed. After all that they awarded some students a copy of his new book. He had convinced his publisher to let him do it for the art winners. Marcus was in agony. You can see the book to his right in front of the lady. He was so tempted to grab it.

 The man in charge, Bud Cranor, had our Candy Shop Wars book signed special for us at a dinner he had with Brandon. Apparently at this dinner he talked about Marcus and his Fablehaven birthday party. So, when Marcus went up there Bud said, "Tell him you are the boy that did the party." It was really neat. Then Marcus caught a ride and left for Cub Scouts.

Despite getting there early they started the line in a weird spot so 2 hours later we made it to the front of the line. Andy's mantra of the night was "I love my niece" because no one else cared, really. Anneke, Luke and especially Mo didn't really know who he was. Marcus already got his favorite book signed. (Incidentally, it reminded me of "Long walk, part of gift.") We were very tired by the time we got there. Poor guy. He was so nice despite the time and long line behind us.

 Anneke asked what his favorite color was. "Blue, most of the time." Then he asked hers and how to pronounce her name. Andy had him sign a card for Marcus to slip into Candy Shop Wars 2 next week. He mentioned that his niece, Carlye, was from Texas. Mull wanted to get to Texas this book tour but it didn't work out.

 Luke was very nervous and would not pose for the picture. Mr. Mull told him, "Stranger Danger. Good job." It was a fun experience in the end.

I know that was long, but I wanted to have the memory for another time. 

My week

Even though i technically have 3 weeks, she is acting like a two year old already. *sigh*

 I could not get her to smile because she knew she had been naughty and felt bad. (Those socks were red. Just giving some perspective.)

 Anneke is such a good helper and was reading to her sister while I made dinner.

 Our borrowed ghetto toddler bed. The crib mattress we have is too small so there is a gap at the other end. Not really safe, but neither is climbing out of the crib. Not sure which is best.

 Waiting for Brandon Mull. Someone is super excited, can you tell? (The event will be a separate post.)

 New playground. My monkey loved it.

 The handful herself. It's a good thing she is sweet and cute.

Fun with Daddy

My children call our Friday outings "Fun with Daddy". We tend to do a lot of the same things, though. We went to visit the Bellagio Gardens. 

 (Mallory had my hair in her hand, that is why I have my head tilted back.)

 We also visited the worlds largest chocolate fountain. It was behind glass and not as amazing at it would seem. 

Yep, not the best as far as our Friday adventures, but we made some memories.

Mallory is causing me some grief lately. She is turning into a 2 year old. Within the last few days she has started biting. Not just a here-let-me-get-your-attention-nibble but a CHOMP. She broke the skin on Luke's back and he has a bruise around it. But, that is the thing. She only really bites Luke. I am not usually paying attention at the moment of impact, but I wonder if he is doing something to provoke her. Regardless, she has spent a lot of time in time out. Not sure what to do. It is one of the worst , most difficult learned behaviors to overcome in a toddler.

Plus, yesterday she climbed out of her crib after nap. This morning she did it when she woke up. Then, this afternoon she climbed out 5 times while I tried to get her stay down. I ended up resting next to her. It took 45 minutes for her to go to sleep. NOT FUN! She was such a good sleeper. Now I am in the market for a toddler bed. Anyone have one on hand? I gave mine to my sister and never got it back.

Our weekend

Thursday Mallory had the flu. It was awful. She was sick for 4 hours pretty consistently and dry heaving at the end. So sad. Friday she appeared fine but was not totally up to snuff.

We had tickets to Batman Live and by the evening everyone was fine. Yay!

Mal and I are the only ones without Batman shirts.

 The background is a bat symbol shaped screen that changed with the scenes.

 Gotham City

 Marcus, Bradley and Luke

 Mallory liked walking up and down the stairs and shaking the seats before and during intermission. During the show she hid in Andy's or my shoulder. My arm was numb after the show due to this. ;)

 Anneke, Madison, Marshall, Stacie and Damon. (Thanks for the fun night Morris family!)

Yesterday afternoon Anneke got sick, then Luke, followed closely by Marcus. Same thing. 4 hours of being sick then just feeling like yuck. Oh, and Mal decided to taste dishwashing gel. We kept her up for an hour observation after calling Poison Control. Nice. It was not a fun night. Today we have taken it easy on our tummies. Andy and I are hoping the flu bug skips over us.

Since it is General Conference weekend we were trying a new thing to get the kids to listen. Key word snacks. When one of the chosen words is said the kids get the snack. After every talk we would check the tally and collect snacks. The children chose the key words and the snacks to go with them.
Prophet - wafer cookies
Scripture (quoted or reference to a book) - Angry bird crackers
Temple - Twizzler
Prayer - M&M's
Family - Butterscotch disks
Jesus Christ - Reese's pieces
Revelation - animal crackers
Holy Ghost - gummy worms
Heavenly Father - Reese's Cups
Next time we will use grapes, carrots, etc. too. That was a lot of junk and we kind of lost our taste for it after a few talks. I have a friend that chose just one session to do it. Hope your weekend was better than ours, even though ours was not too bad all in all. Conference was great!