Trick or Treat!

Ready to go Trick or Treating...

The kids all loved trick or treating and it was great to have a nice, warm Halloween night this year. Carter thought trick or treating was totally cool and couldn't believe people kept handing him candy. He was totally happy to wear a ridiculous one piece roar costume (he's not a big fan) as long as people were giving him candy. He was amazed by the whole event. I took the kids trick or treating for the first time ever (I'm usually the one at home passing out the candy) and it was great fun to get to walk around and chat with friends. The girls got to go around with their friends (Brianna, Amber, and Lizzie) for the first time and Kelsie said that made it the best Halloween ever! They lasted for over 2 hours of trick or treating (even outlasting the older neighbor kids) and didn't want to stop there. Needless to say we are going to need to freeze Halloween candy to break out later. They got TONS.

Halloween 2009

A Fairy

A witch

A Roar!

He's a dragon or a dinosaur...take your pick. All that matters is he can "roar" and scare us and he actually put the costume on!

A few people have been suprised to see this boy wearing a "roar" costume. The truth is he wasn't too taken with the idea. He kept telling us that he "hates the roar" and "I hate the costume" but when he figured out that people would give him candy when he wore it...well he decided that being a roar wasn't so bad after all! He loved scaring us with his scary "roar" and he even smiled. :)

Trip to the Zoo

This was Carter's first trip to the zoo and he loved all the animals. He was talking to them and saying "hi" and "bye" to each one. Kelsie also loved it--she loves all animals and wants to be a vet when she grows up. Emily wasn't so interested in the animals. She refused to get out of the stroller and told me that the animals "all stink"! She was only interested in getting to the playground to play. I'm not much of a zoo person myself, but I loved seeing all the new baby animals that have recently been born. We saw a baby elephant, baby giraffe, and a baby monkey. They were so adorable. I could have spent the whole day watching the baby elephant roll a ball around with his trunk. It was really fun!

Preschool Field Trip to the Fire Station

Explanation by John

Here is John's comment/explanation on why he "yells" at the TV during sporting events (in reference to Sept. post). I decided I better publish his comment on the blog to really explain him...

For the record...When I yell at the T.V., especially when I'm watching a sporting event of a team that I support and cheer on, I create a very real current of energy (positive or negative) that is transmitted from my home through the TV/satelite/transmitting stations etc to the area of broadcast. This energy is very real. Very Tangible. It is both felt and heard by the participants - in this situation coaches and players.

I believe that the home viewer "X" factor is very real in sporting events. As such, I will continue to support my team by relaying energy to my team using this very effective medium.

Go Cougars!

P.S. Obviously this only works while watching live TV.

Roar Jammies

Carter has something against sleeper jammies with feet...especially his dinosaur pair. As he so kindly tells us every night, "I hate the roars." We probably shouldn't torment him like this but we ask him every night if he wants to wear his roar jammies because we love to hear his response. He's got a lot of strong opinions (especially for a 1 year old) and he lets us know just how he feels about things around here. He keeps us all laughing.

Note: I've showed Carter this video a couple of times this day. He doesn't seem to recognize himself as the baby in the video and refers to himself as "the baby". He keeps telling me "the baby hates the roars." I guess now he feels like there's another baby out there who really understands him.

September

o September came and went and we are back in the swing of our scheduled life. I've started teaching preschool again and I'm loving my little class this year. They are fun kids and I'm enjoying having older kids this year. Kandace is nice enough to babysit my wild boy while I teach preschool and her son comes to my preschool. Carter loves having his cousin Ashtyn come to play and can hardly contain his excitement. He runs to the door saying "come on Ashey" and they are off and playing. They are so cute...and they talk about each other constantly! It's so fun to have cousins close in age.

John is enjoying his favorite season...BYU football. (I promise....it's a season for him). It is especially fun that Carter loves football and loves to watch the games with his dad. Carter is very serious about his football and tells me all the time, "Watch football TV". He also says "Go Cougars" when he sees the logo or a cougar. John couldn't be happier or prouder. It's his dream come true. I have to admit that I am even enjoying this football season more this year. It's a hoot to watch Carter repeating everything John says and yelling at the T.V.

Side note: The girls are a little concerned that dad (and now Carter) "yell" at the T.V. Kelsie talked to him about it and said, "Dad do you know they can't hear you when your yelling? When you yell it doesn't mean they will win." Thanks for the reminder Kels!

Kelsie is liking 2nd grade and I'm starting to feel better about her class. She gets to do lots of cool writing/special projects in her class. She is loving all the projects. One day she told me that "in her class they don't really do any work, they just write stories and do fun stuff." I couldn't have been happier to hear those words. I believe that the mark of a truly great teacher is one who can teach young children without making them feel like they are really working...because they go about it in such a fun way.

Emily loves her preschool and talks about it constantly. One night she was lying in bed watching Kelsie read and got upset and said, "How old was Kelsie when she learned to read." I told her 5. Emily said, "Well, I want to learn to read now." I told her she was only 4 though. She said, " I know. I want to learn to read tonight." (She is just a little competitive.) So I am starting reading lessons with her and she loves it. She is past ready to learn to read, but I'd been putting it off for some time because I didn't want her to be too bored in school next year. Right now her hang up is that she doesn't want to go through all the steps. She chooses the hardest book she can find and wants to read that one. Gotta love her ambition!

Lastly, here our some pictures of our "stray" cat. He'd been wandering the neighborhood for some time and would walk right in our house. We all fell in love with him. Well, most of us...John is coming around. :) He is the nicest, cuddliest cat I have ever seen and I'm totally in love with him. It's been fun to have a kitty, even if it's only when he chooses to come around. We're trying to figure out if he has a home, cause if not, I want him.