Happy Halloween!

I got individuals of each of them tonight.  They all got WAY too much candy!!

I love Olaf peeking through the window!

Carving the pumpkin

I love when PC is home during the holidays! He carved the pumpkin and I just baked the seeds. It was so nice.  And we love our "Jack"-o-lantern. 

Trunk or Treat

We did a Frozen theme for the kids' costumes this year.  Tink made her Elsa dress as a project for Personal Progress. It turned out beautifully, and I was so proud of her.  She even won best costume for the youth!

I made Sven for Goofy and Kristoff for Bucko.  We bought Minnie's Anna costume, but I made the cape.  And I made Shortcake's Olaf costume.  They turned out great, I thought.  PC decided we should do a couple's theme, so we dressed as Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox.  It was fun to actually have costumes all done and ready this year!

This next one is at the house before we left. It's a bit fuzzy, but you can see the girls dresses a little better.  And I love how Goofy is crouching down to be the reindeer he was dressed as!  I'll have to take individual pictures on Halloween night, but at least you can see their excitement!

Teenager in the House!

It finally happened....Tink turned 13!  She is growing into such a beautiful and accomplished young lady.  I worked hard to finish the scarf I knitted for her, and I was able to finish it in time!  We got her a coat, slippers, and a robe--all things she needed, and she was so happy to get!

Camping

We went camping again last week during fall break.  We went up in the mountains and were able to convince Nana, Papa, and Johnny to go with us.  It got pretty cold that night, though (mid-20's), and I don't think they will camp again with us unless it's in the middle of summer!

 It was absolutely gorgeous up there, though.  The rocks were SO big!

 I was trying to get Shortcake to take a nap!  Silly girl!

 This time, we were able to go paddle boating.  We had so much fun! The girls had the faster boat though!!  Tink did all the work!

 Minnie fell asleep in the boat.  It was very relaxing and the sun felt so good!

 Bucko learned the hard way how not to get out of a boat.  It was up next to the dock, but no one was holding on to it.  He has one foot on the dock and one on the boat, and ended up falling straight into the water.  Boy, was he scared! The water was really cold!  We got him in dry clothes really quick, but the poor guy didn't have any extra shoes.  He ended up wearing PC's so he just clunked around the campsite.

 Shortcake fell asleep with Dad in the hammock that night.

 Papa brought an old flag that had gotten ripped up pretty badly.  We did a little "ceremony" for it and burned it properly in the fire. It was so cold that night, though, we couldn't wait to get to bed.  I think I turned in with the kids before 8:00 pm!

 We heard wolves early the next morning.  When we went for a short hike, we found their prints.  Can you see the claws?

 Shortcake didn't want to turn around. She just kept on going!  (That is Pikes Peak straight ahead, just to put things in perspective.)

 She loved her hiking stick.  It doesn't get much cuter than that!  (She was so funny too, because she would put the stick between her legs like she was riding a broomstick and then try to run like that!)

Even though it was cold at night, the weather during the days were gorgeous.  We had a wonderful time. And the food was amazing!  We did chicken quesadillas for lunch, when we arrived, then soups for dinner.  For breakfast, we had pancakes, eggs, and bacon with orange juice and hot chocolate! Yum!

Shortcake

 This little girl brings so much joy into our lives.  She just cracks us up so much.  Just look at that mischievous look on her face! She makes everyone happier because she is a part of our family.

 She loves going to the park.  She thinks she is such a big girl and likes to swing in the big swings sometimes too.

 I've been working on her Olaf costume.  It's not finished yet, but she looks SO cute in it!

 She had her first taste of cotton candy at the Golden Corral.

And sometimes she just wears herself out.  Actually, sleeping has been going much better for her.  We have stuck to a nighttime routine and she is doing beautifully.  Her nap time has also improved with her night sleeping.  One thing we just love about all this is that she gets so cuddly when she is ready for a nap.  She wraps her arms around your neck and just gives the sweetest hugs. Then she pulls back, still with her arms around your neck, and gives kisses.  So sweet and just melts our hearts!  At bedtime, we've been using our red lights on our headlamps.  We lay with her on her bed and talk to her for a bit, then she goes to sleep. She starts to get cranky right before bedtime and if you ask her if she wants to look at the right light, she laughs her little laugh of agreement. (She doesn't often nod her head, it's usually just this little giggle that lets us know we understand her.)

Excitement

 We had a bit of excitement on Tuesday night (actually early Wednesday morning, a little after 2 a.m.).  I woke to a very annoying beeping sound.  PC said he had heard a noise earlier that had woken him, but he wasn't sure what the beeping sound was.  It definitely wasn't a fire alarm, but I thought maybe it was the CO detector in the basement.  As I got up to go check it out, though, I realized it was coming from the kitchen.  My first thought was that someone had accidentally set a timer on the microwave.  When I got to the kitchen, however, I quickly realized it was the stove.  It read "ERR" and just kept beeping. I tried to stop it, but no matter what I did, it would not stop.  Then I realized that all the appliances were reading "12:00."  We had electricity now, but I thought something was weird.  Then we heard this really loud popping sound.  PC and I both thought it was coming from the garage.  He thought the springs were breaking loose, and my first thought was someone was trying to break into the house.  The next thing I see are these flashes of light coming from the backyard.  They were coming from the side of the house where we have no windows, so I couldn't get a good look, but it looked like the neighbors were doing fireworks!  I couldn't figure out what was going on.  Finally, I got a good look out the boys bedroom window.  This is what I saw:

 I immediately called 911 and told them that my neighbor's house was on fire.  (I wish I could have gotten a better picture, or at least to show how it was sparking like crazy fireworks.)  In my 2 a.m., not fully awake state, I still thought it was a break-in. I thought someone was using fireworks to set up against their house to get in.  I know it makes no sense whatsoever, but oh well.  It was an electric fire and all our neighbors were outside and aware of it.  The dad was spraying it, trying to keep it from spreading.  The firetrucks arrived really quickly (one of the many blessing of having a fire station really close by!) and they soon had it in hand.  Unfortunately, with three firetrucks in our front yard with their lights going on, we didn't get much sleep until they left.  They were there until after 5:00 am.  The boys had it the worst because their windows were facing it so well.  The girls, however, slept through the entire thing. They had no idea that anything had happened.

The next day, we talked with the neighbors.  They lost a lot, especially due to smoke damage and will be staying in a hotel for the next few weeks while their home is restored.  We were just really glad that no one was hurt and it wasn't worse than it was.

Cross Country

Tink was convinced by her best friend's sister to run cross country.  She was hard to convince, but decided to go ahead and do it.  She had fun because her friend was there with her. They have gotten to know each other better and that is good.  I think she benefited from being on a school team as well. It develops school pride and a sense of belonging that I just don't think you can get from anything else.  (Growing up in a small town where sports is pretty much everything, I guess certain things will always stick with me.)  She improved her time at every meet and we were very proud of her.

 I absolutely love this picture of her brothers giving her a congratulatory hug.