Williams Family: October 2013

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Halloween Party!

Our friends from homeschool decided to have a Halloween party for the kids. I thought it was a great idea and even got to help with one of the crafts! There was always something going on for the kids to do and everyone had a great time! My only complaint was that it was during nap time for my little ones. They held out and did great... even if they crashed once we got in the car to go home ;).

Here are the kids doing a Halloween BINGO game.

Mhari dressed as a princess.

Grant as a ninja

Sandra as a pirate

Lorna little princess

Talmage in his pirate outfit. Notice Lorna climbing the little table in the background

Huge Halloween cookie! It was so yummy!

Witch hat toss

I was in charge of the skeletons. There are ones from q-tips and others that are cursive names . It was a fun craft for kids of all ages ;)

Poor Clark was sooo tired!

Lorna didn't even make it down the street before she was out! So cute!

I'm glad I get to hang out with other families and enjoy our kids together! What a great party!

Trunks and Forests!

Our ward Trunk or Treat was the Saturday before Halloween. It is combined with both wards so there are tons of cars and lots and lots of candy. We spent about a half hour walking the parking lot and loading up on candy! Nathan and Tiffany and family joined us so that is always fun :). There was a chance of rain, but it held off so the trunk or treat wasn't cancelled, thankfully.

Here is Jeff walking along with our band of Pirates!

Mhari and Sandra

Talmage! Instead of a parrot he has a monkey on his shoulder :)

Clark pirate and Lorna the damsel in distress that the pirates have captured!

While walking Lorna found a chair that was just her size so she decided it should be hers. Maybe I should have dressed her as Goldilocks! The little boy, whose chair it was, wasn't very happy and so I helped Lorna leave the chair behind. Silly girl.

After the trunk or treat we headed to a nearby campground to do the Haunted Forest! We did it last year and had such a great time that we wanted to be sure to do it again this year. Jeff drove the truck and the rest of us piled into the back! It was kind of crammed, but we fit. It wasn't too crowded at the campground so the kids had a great time getting scared. Clark and Lorna probably had the hardest time (just trying to not be scared) but they did great. Lorna even fell asleep before we were done. There were zombies, clowns, witches, Frankenstien, Jason, chainsaws, and tons of other scary things! Everyone at the campgrounds did a great job decorating and scaring us!

Nathan even ended up with Lorna for a while.

Right on our last group of campsites it started raining on us. We all got soaked! I was really thankful that the rain held off as long as it did. It was a great time, even with the torrential downpour at the end :)

Boo!

At the Zoo!

With our zoo membership we decided we needed to go to Boo at the Zoo this year! We even went with homeschool friends and had a blast! There were tickets for the booths so the kids got candy and other little give aways. We didn't spend as much time enjoying the animals, but the day was really fun! I think the kids also really liked being in costume :). They are all supposed to be pirates, but I didn't care what they chose to wear to the zoo. Here are some fun photos of our day :)

Mhari and Sandra with an Eagle

There was a band that played called "The Drumming Monkeys." I was sad that they weren't real monkeys. The kids had fun though.

Mhari wanted her picture taken with them too :)

Some of the fun pumpkins that local "celebrities" had decorated for the zoo.

Hanging out and waiting tp meet up with cousins.

We got to talk to some of the zoo keepers at the lion exhibit. The kids had lots of fun questions, as did the adults ;).
Here are Grant and Owen.

Ella and Sandra

We found the bears... but they were napping.

Tiffany shared her cowgirl hat with Lorna. Lorna made a cute cowgirl princess ;)

Boo at the Zoo is a pretty crowded event, but I'm glad we went. I think my kids could visit the zoo every week and have fun ;).

Friday, October 25, 2013

Arrow of Light and Bear

Last night was our pack meeting and Arrow of Light Ceremony for the boys that have moved on to 11 year old scouts. Grant also earned his Bear award! It was a good night. The ceremony was very cool for the Arrow of Light. I think Talmage will remember it for quite a while :).

There was a chief

He painted the boys faces.

The boys gathered together around the campfire. They did an Indian yell once the boys were all done being painted.

Then they crossed over into Boy Scouts.

Talmage and the Chief!

We are so proud of our awesome Scout!

Still Stylin!

I really am surprised how time flies as we get older! I remember waiting forever for holidays and such and now it all happens in a blink of an eye. I guess the best phrase that I use as a mother is that the days can be long but the years are fast!

Well the years really have been fast! For my 19th birthday Jeff bought me this beautiful blue dress. I loved it! I'm sure I wore it as much as I could.

Then we got married, then kids, and extra weight and such. Let's just say this dress is not made for a pregnant or nursing mommy. That put it in the back of the closet for many years. I also wanted a new cover up for it. I finally got around to getting the cover and so it was time to wear my beautiful dress again!

I know I weigh a little more than I used to, but I'm proud to say that after 15 years and 6 kids I rocked my awesome dress again! If feels great to look great! I guess out of all of the time that has passed it's great to know I haven't changed that much ;).

Thursday, October 24, 2013

11 Year old Scouts here we come!

Talmage had his birthday and is now the big 11! It sure doesn't seem like it has been 11 years since our first baby joined our family! Man, crazy how time flies! It also doesn't seem like we have done cubs for 3 years and are now onto Boy Scouts! Talmage sure loves scouting and asked for books, uniform, mess kit, compass, etc for his birthday! The best part was that the 11 year olds had a camp out the night of his birthday! What a great present to get to go camping with the scouts and Daddy!

Here are the boys playing frisbee on the camp out with their leader.

Talmage all ready to use his new compass!

We waited til after the camp out to do the family celebration! We invited family over and had a yummy lasagna dinner, per Talmage's request. He also requested the delicious 4 layer pumpkin cake for his dessert! Talmage has such great taste buds ;).

All ready to light his candles!

Daddy gets to help work the fire :)

I was too slow to get the blowing out... awe well

Present time!
Finger monsters from cousins

new watch

All of his goodies

We love our oldest, first baby boy! He is a great, loving, smart, determined, goal oriented, kid! I can't wait to see all of the awesome things Talmage will accomplish in his life! He will be earning his Arrow of Light this month as well as the Webelos super achiever award! We are so proud of all of his hard work!

Happy Zoo Day!

For Talmage's birthday last week we went to the zoo. That was also a good chance to get season passes... so there will be lots of zoo trips in our future ;). We went with our cousins so it was fun for the kids to have other kids to chase all over the zoo! It was a beautiful cool morning and we even had a light shower when we were finishing up. Talmage wanted a camera for his birthday, but that didn't happen. Instead he was in charge of my camera for the day. He got to take all of the pictures of the animals. He loved it. I had to snag the camera every now and then to be sure we had pictures of the kids too! It was a fun day!

Mhari and Ella