Halloween 2009 (better late than never, right?)

I get that Halloween was over a week ago, but LIFE IS BUSY, people! I know, I know....everyone's busy. I get it. (Okay, no excuses)

Here are a few pictures of what my kids finally decided to be:

Eric got together with a group of friends and went as the characters from The Wizard of Oz. Some of the boys didn't really dress us, but Eric was the Scarecrow. One of the other Mom's sewed straw in his sleeves (since I can barely sew on a button). We borrowed the shirt and the hat from my Dad. He looked pretty cute. (I'm not biased, though, I promise).....

Here's his group of friends. (And P.S. Aren't these kids a little too old to go trick or treating? :) They actually mostly just "hung out" and got a little candy in the meantime......a likely story).

This is Brandon, even though you can't see his face. You'll just have to take my word for it. He actually went with a couple of friends this year too. I only had my 3 youngest with me. Sad days!

Here's Dallin. He put together his own costume this year. Some kind of a Ninja....all in black. He was pretty proud of what he was wearing. (Do you think he has a fixation with black?).....nah, I don't think so.

OKay, now as I'm looking at these costumes....THREE of my children were all in black! (Maybe I'm the one with the fixation).....

Here is Kyle, in true phantom style. This costume was a little too big for him, but he HAD to wear it. Out of all my children, this is the costume that "fit" the kid the best (personality wise)....a little frightening, isn't it? :)



And little Jacob was Spiderman, of course, complete with mask and gloves. He's so stinkin' cute!

Without the mask.....

Overall, the night was a huge success, complete with loads and loads of way too much candy. The night was so warm, and perfect weather for trick-or-treating. We all had a good time!

Ziggy!

Well, we have a new addition to our family. And I didn't have to go through labor to get him here (AND YES, IT'S ANOTHER BOY)......This one I chose on purpose, actually. So I guess I'm becoming partial after all....

WE GOT A NEW DOG! Only this one is a puppy!! He is a mini Schnauzer and his name is Ziggy. He is almost 5 months old and he's a sweetheart!

We've looked for a while, off and on, not sure if we were ready for another dog, since our sweet little Odie passed away nearly 4 months ago. When I saw Ziggy advertised on ksl.com, I wondered if he might be the one we've been waiting for.

We've had him for a week (tomorrow) and he is the sweetest little guy. He has his own little personality, of course, and we're still getting used to him, but he fits in quite well and we all adore him.

He has some funny little quirks too. He squats to pee (can I use that word?) and if I remember correctly, shouldn't male dogs lift their leg when doing such activities? What does that say about him, do you think? I don't care, actually, it's just funny to see. That makes him extra special and unique, doesn't it?

He doesn't run.....well, okay, I take that back. He can definitely RUN, but when he starts out, he actually bounces or BOUNDS, like a deer or a bunny. It is so cute. I swear I want to change his name to Bounder or Prancer. (But we like the name Ziggy, so I think we'll keep it).

When he wags his tail (which is nearly non-existent), his whole little bum shakes. It's so funny. Talk about body language! :) And he tries to chase his tail too, which is hilarious, since there's hardly anything there.

He follows me around the house all day long. If I go to the next room, he's right there next to me. If I'm typing on the computer, like now, he's laying at my feet, waiting until I get up to leave. When I actually do have to leave, he whines and cries. Poor guy. I do have to leave on occasion, and I always try and reassure him, then when I return, he greets me with open (paws?)....what a cutie!

So there he is. We're excited to get to know him even more and looking forward to a bright future with him as part of our family for many years to come.

P.S. I'm his favorite.....was there ever any doubt? :)

My Son, the Hottie!

Eric attended his second regional stake dance last weekend. He requested that I buy him a black, buttoned-down dress shirt for the occasion. Eric doesn't make many such requests, so I consented to try and find him one. Apparently that's the "in" thing right now.....

I found a wrinkle-free, VanHeusen shirt at Ross's for 12.99. AWESOME deal! The night of the dance, one of his friends came over and the minute he walked past me, I could smell cologne. This spurred a variety of topics of converstion between the kids and myself.....starting with whether or not Eric wanted to wear cologne. "What cologne? I don't have any cologne? Why would I wear that?" So we got out a bunch of different kinds from Todd and tested them. I was the tester....because I'M the girl! In the end, he chose my favorite, Elsha!! From there, his friend brought up the topic of zits and I suggested ways to cover them up. I whipped out my foundation and my tinted Clearasil (yes, sadly, I'm still an avid user at 40), and we worked on a few. Eric was a little annoyed that I hadn't ever mentioned any of these tips to him before. Well, he's never asked! (Sorry, son). It was a fun time for me, listening to he and his friend talk about girls (okay, mostly the friend talked about girls), but it was still cool.

When Eric came out all dressed in his black attire and purple tie, I said, "Wow, you look HOT!" To which Todd replied, "Did you just call our son 'HOT'?" I admit it.....I did! And he DID look hot! So why not say it? :)

Here is his picture......

See what I mean? After the dance, he came home and declared that he danced EVERY SINGLE SLOW DANCE of the evening......and exclaimed, "Why would I dance the fast ones? That's just boring!" Hhmmmmm......should I be worried?

They had a good time and it was great to see him so excited!

Harvesting

See these pumpkins?

We grew them. (And by "we" I mostly mean Todd). They came out of our garden. All four of them. It's the first year "we" have grown pumpkins. It was really easy (for me, at least)....

Not bad, eh?

Decisions.......Decisions......

Is it possible to be more than one thing on Halloween? It's so hard to decide when you have two full boxes of costumes collected through the years.....

Spiderman?

Power Ranger?

Homemade Ninja costume complete with ninja star?

Blind-folded regular person, trying to explain to Mom who he really wants to be? (Some character I've never heard of before)......and by the way, even though he can't see, "it's okay, Mom. I don't need to." (crazy!)

Some scary phantom of sorts?

Spongebob?

(Okay, Jacob had this on, but took it off before I could get a picture). Luckily, no one really wants to be him....

A Wizard?

Darth Vader?

And the list goes on and on. Maybe the kids will change during recesses.......the little cuties!