Woodland 1st Ward "Trunk or Treat"

We had our annual "Trunk or Treat" and chili cook off tonight. The girls were thrilled to finally get to wear their costumes. We had to beg Aaron to put his on and after being at the activity for about 30 minutes he decided to concede and become Peter Pan (again, for the 2nd year).Brynn as Giselle, from "Enchanted." When she told her ballet teacher what she was going to be, Naomi (her teacher) thought she was Giselle from the ballet. Brynn gave her a funny look when she started talking about Giselle dying and coming back as a ghost.

Brynn has informed me numerous times this month that Halloween is her favorite holiday. I wonder if she will be singing the same tune 2 months from now. We'll see!

I must be 9th months pregnant, because this dress is so impractical, but I let her talk me into it anyway. She has been so excited to wear it, we did have her wear one of Dad's big shirts over it while she ate. I had to hold my breath when she started eating a frosted cupcake from the cake walk without the "bib" on. I had to remind myself, "It's a costume, Amy, not a wedding dress."

Abby was determined to be a cheerleader the second she laid eyes on this costume. It killed her when I told her that we had to wait for it to go on sale. Anxiety kicked in and all she could talk about for days was how worried she was that the costume would be gone when we went back to get it. I told her, "Maybe it will be gone, but it won't be the end of the world." We were able to get our hands on one and she was thrilled.

I had it hidden for weeks and she would say a few times a week. "Mom, can I just LOOK at the costume? I promise I won't wear it...I just want to see what it looks like." We took quite a few peeks and a couple of times I caught her trying it on. I don't know why I was such a stickler? I guess I just wanted it to look nice un til Halloween. I think she will wear it so much now, that it will be thread bare by next year this time.

Aaron tried his first cake walk tonight. He was pretty serious about it.

Look at that focus in his eyes!

Abby helped move him along when he stopped on a favorite picture for a little too long.

And then, he finally won his prize. Hope it was worth it buddy!

Brynn found her twin at the party! It was cute to see her mannerisms as she walked up to tell her friend that they had the same outfit. Brynn was very quiet for the first part of the evening. So serious and not cracking a smile. I love it when she finally warms up to people and her personality comes out. It just takes a little while to crack that shell. I can totally relate.

It was a fun night. We have a two more days packed full of Halloween activities with friends. Luckily Brynn has had school off this week, so things have been more low key around here.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday Brynn!

Brynn turned SEVEN years old this morning at 4:55 a.m. Nearly every morning when she has awoken for the past couple of months, Brynn has been asking, "Is this how early it was when I was born?" To which we always reply, "Nope, it was even earlier." Well this morning I woke up at 4:50 so I could make the trek into Brynn's bedroom at 4:55. I climbed up her bunk and took hold of her hand and said, "Brynn, this is how early it was when you were born." She sleepily opened her eyes and said, "Oh...." Then turned over and went back to sleep. When she woke up a little later at 6:30, she came into the kitchen. I was curious as to whether she was coherent when I woke her at 4:55. She was! And she was so happy to finally know just how early it was when she was born.

We'll celebrate as a family tonight and this weekend, but we celebrated a few days ago with friends. With the arrival of baby #4 just around the corner, this year's party goal was SIMPLICITY! I asked Brynn to write down a list of a few friends and a list of games she would like to play. (Is that mean to make the birthday girl plan her own party?) She loved taking the reigns and it made it easy for me to just follow through with the plan! We had a regular old fashioned birthday party and it turned out pretty fun! We started out with the classic game "Twister."

Then a game of "pin the birthday hat on the birthday girl."
Limbo...complete with festive music!
A couple rounds of the "chicken dance."
A balloon popping game...

Pizza!
Presents....


Pinata!


Candles and Cupcakes!
And then we sent them on their merry way with a small bag of gifts and a balloon! It was simple pie, but more importantly Brynn was thrilled to pieces! She felt celebrated and I didn't feel bushed! A victory for everyone!

Happy Birthday Brynn! We love you!

Apple Hill 2008

We made the trip to Apple Hill on Saturday. They say you won't find Apple Hill on a map, because it's not there, but it's located a little over an hour from where we live. It's officially part of a city called Camino, CA, nestled in the foothills of the Sierras. There are about 50 ranches, Christmas tree farms, wineries, a spa and vineyards. It was a beautiful day. I think we sampled everything you could possibly make or bake with apples over the course of the day.... apples themselves, apple cider, apple donuts, carameled apples, apple cake and of course apple pie...and everything was oh so good!

The temperatures were in the high 70's so it felt a little more fallish than the mid 80's we've had earlier this week. We even saw some trees with fall colored leaves. We enjoyed lots of good old fashioned fun. Petting zoos, pumpkin patches, musical programs, clowns, and magic shows, a tire swing, a pond with real fish (Abby was ticked that we didn't bring a fishing pole).... were just a few of the things the kids loved.

Of course, Aaron's favorite were the tractors all around. Look at that dimple!

Perhaps my favorite picture of the day. This just shows how passionate he was about driving that tractor.

A few of the orchards have trails that connect to each other. We went on a couple of little hikes through the forest with the kids. Abby became a little tired and tuckered out.....
She decided to just "park it" in protest! It's okay Abby, Daddy wears me out sometimes too. It takes lots of energy to keep up with all the energy he has and all he has on his agenda!

In the middle of the day, Aaron fell asleep, so I waited with him in the car (to tell you the truth, I needed a little breather as well) and the girls went with Dad for a little time together.

The pumpkin patch at this particular place was on a hillside. Some of the pumpkins had fallen off the vine and had started to roll down the hill, so Joseph and the girls took the liberty of rolling them the rest of the way down the hillside. Oh boy, the things you get away with when Dad's around. ;)

We finished the day at what must have been the hot spot of Apple Hill...High Hill Ranch, because there were tons of people there. It was huge and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

At the end of the day, we hadn't yet sunk our teeth into even a bite of apple pie, so we decided to get a piece to share. I waited in line for about 30 minutes (doing lots of people watching) while Joseph wandered around with the kids. The kids took the opportunity to persuade him into buying cotton candy, while mom wasn't around. They're no dummies! When I got to the cashier, I realized that they were only selling WHOLE PIES, no pieces at this Pie Porch...I wasn't about to leave after waiting so long....so, we all took a spork and dug in! The first thing Joseph said was, "If any of you fight over who is getting more, you are DONE, because there is way more than enough for everyone! " Their little mouths were too full to fight.....and this lovely pie....was our dinner! YUM!
As you can see, we left Apple Hill covered in dirt! But it was absolutely worth every bit of washing!