Off to Never Never Land!!

We were a theme this year for Halloween - Peter Pan! We had the crocodile, Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, and Wendy. All of the costumes were homemade (from the thrift store 25 cent day) accept the wings and the crocodile head. The kids had fun with their costumes :). Daddy got to be Captain Hook and Mommy was the mother in the beginning of the movie.

Friday night we went to the ward trunk or treat party. The kids got warmed up again for trick or treating. Mhari was good at putting her bucket up and waiting for the candy to be put in (not sure that she said "trick or treat").

For Halloween we went around the neighborhood trick or treating. We went down our street and visited a few friends houses - one that was a haunted house, no nightmares either. Their buckets were really full by the end of the night!


All ready to go!



Tinkerbell's wings :)




Captain Hook - so fearsome I know :). The trick or treaters had to get by him to get the candy :).




At the trunk or treat.



When we got home from trick or treating the moon was so beautiful Jeff decided to get the telescope down to get a better look.

It was a nice way to end the evening :).

We hope everyone else had a great holiday!!

Making Faces!

The kids had a great time making jack-o-lanterns last night! The girls had little pumpkins that they decorated and the boys got to draw their faces and help clean out the pumpkins to be our jack-o-lanterns (the parents handled the knives).

The boys were really helpful and wanted to do as much cleaning out of the pumpkin as they could. I had Sandra start helping pick out the pumpkin seeds so we could roast them. She figured out really quick that they are slimy and she didn't want to do that. Such a girl. Mhari had no problem playing with the seeds - "helping" put them in the bowl. It was a nice night, and we even ended up with two pumpkin faces!

Drawing the faces.

Grant's all done! The pumpkin is supposed to be smiling. Talmage thinks he looks scary. I think he could look like he's crying... what do you think?

Daddy was a good sport and helped Talmage with the huge pumpkin! His knife wasn't working very well either, but it worked out in the end!

Here are the finished pumpkins. If you look close at the little ones you can see the drawing the girls did to decorate them. I have a plan for the little ones (dinner experiment) and the others will go out tomorrow for Halloween! It's fun to see the kids creativity, or actually ability to participate with the tradition :).

Counter Project

So we have been having a few family requests to post about our countertop that I (Jeff) have been constructing. It is not fully completed but I decided to post some "progress" photos. It is constructed out of 2 3/4in 4x8 sheets of plywood that I have glued and screwed together. I then trimmed them down to size: about 3x7 or so. The top surface is birch and the side trim is pine.

This counter is to replace the bar counter in our kitchen and will be about 8 inches longer and 3 inches wider. This will allow us to have people sit up to the counter if we need and to give us more work space. We have grown tired of the old butcher block cheap stuff. We have only applied one coat of polyurethane but a few more coats are up coming.

It is not perfect but in all, I think it turned out really well so far. I don't think I can make too many mistakes with polyurethane so all should be clean sailing from here on out.

Visiting fun!

While Grandma and Grandpa were in town we went to the Botanical Gardens. We usually visit the zoo together, but Grandma thought the gardens would be fun (and we just went to the zoo). This time we saw the Japanese Gardens! They were beautiful! There were lots of pictures, but I'm just sharing a few :).

The kids in front of a cool statue thing.

There are lots of these poses... looking at the water, and trying not to fall in (Grandma was going to have a heart attack watching them try to fall). They got to feed the huge monster fish too. They loved that!

Me and the kids. Jeff and his dad were at home doing projects so it was a Mommy and Grandma activity!

Mhari got a tricycle from Grandma and Grandpa. She was feeling left out since all the other kids have bikes.

Jeff visiting with his parents and grilling dinner. I'm glad that even with Jeff's busy schedule he had time to hang out and enjoy spending time with his parents.

We have a great time when family or friends come to visit! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for driving forever to hang out for a few days!!

Change

Jeff's parents recently visited for Talmage's birthday. When they come there are usually several house projects that get accomplished. Not this time though. The plan was to have it be a nice visiting weekend with no projects :). Let's just say that with Jeff's desire for projects and adding in his father, who is willing to help out while Jeff is occupied with school or other such things, they found a project to do in the short time they were here.

It was a pretty quick project and just some room rearranging, but I love it all!

We have some planter shelves in our living area that have never had anything done with them. Jeff and his dad got boards to create a real shelf (instead of a top of a wall) and then trim to accent it and make it look like part of the house decor originally. They did a great job. Once the first one was done (between the living room and kitchen) Jeff's mom and I decided on a project for our other shelf area above the couch. That one was pretty easy too. Jeff's dad finished that one up on Monday while Jeff was at school and I finished the last little painting this weekend so it's all done!

The last night they were here we were sitting in the living room and talking about rearranging. With all the talk we found an idea we liked and with the extra movers to help out it got done quite quickly! Now I have a more open area, but still a nice place for sitting.... Let's just get to the pictures :).

We moved the piano across to the opposite wall, by the long couch. It fits well under the Scottish blanket. I was also able to move my rocker out to the living room!




Here you can see the love seat that is now on the red by the fireplace - so the two couches are across from each other. It creates a nice sitting space.



Once the shelf was finished I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to go on it. With the rearranging I pulled out some of the stuff in my hutch and this is what we came up with (I know you can't se everything, but you get the idea).




We really enjoy looking at our blue vases. They are so beautiful with the light behind them - they glow!

Here is the open area on the opposite side. Jeff and his dad made a shorter shelf and we were able to put up a village in that space. It turned out well. Jeff's dad finished the trim work. He did a great job!

It is really nice to feel like my home is getting finalized. Some projects might never get done, but now those empty spaces feel completed :).

Super to be 7!

My handsome boy turned 7 on Sunday! He had been so excited for his birthday (can't you tell!). It was a fun weekend. Grandma and Grandpa Williams came to celebrate with us. Talmage received new scriptures as a gift (since he's reading every night). He got that present in the morning before church.


He had a great day.


Later that day he helped me decorate his birthday cake. My friend Shannon lent me her volcano/dress cake pan so we got creative this year :). Talmage really enjoyed putting the dinosaurs on the volcano and trying to help them run from the lava!


It may not be a masterpiece, but it was perfect Talmage!



We had a nice evening together as a family and opened presents. Talmage got a lot of books, and some other fun things (he loves to read).

That night when he was in bed I asked him if he had a good birthday and he said yes it was great! What a sweet kid! He is such a great help and blessing to our family! He is so smart, thoughtful, kind, and loving. We just love Talmage! Happy Birthday!!!

Family trip to the Zoo!

Last Saturday we made it out to the zoo as a family. Jeff has only been with us a few times at the zoo so it was a treat to be together enjoying the beautiful Fort Worth Zoo! It was a nice cold overcast day - perfect for being outside for several hours! We had a lot of fun and the kids really loved seeing all of the animals. 

This was also Mhari's first time being old enough to enjoy the animals. She had a great time! It was a nice relaxed day and all the kids got to spend lots of time with/looking at the animals!

They had fun seeing if Jeff was taller than the elephants, getting the birds to get on the stick, watching the penguins, all the wild cats, seeing the animals in the petting zoo - petting an armadillo, and even petting sea creatures (I'm sure they would add more to this list!). By the time we were done the girls had zonked out! We had a great time spending time together and enjoying the zoo!