Busy Weekend

   Last Friday the girls' school had their Veteran's Day assembly.  All of the grades sing a song, and the choir which Avery is apart of performs several songs.  Daryl and I went and were not disappointed.  Emery was an especially enthusiastic performer.  Her little song that she sang with the rest of the Kindergartners and first graders had motions.  She was no slouch.  It was a pleasure to see that she was really enjoying herself.  Saturday we went swimming at my parent's place along with my brother and his family.  Emery enjoyed slamming into Adam's stomach while Logan wrapped his arms around his neck from behind. Then Sunday Aimee, Karl, Tyler, Ashley, Thomas, and Ayva came over to have an early Thanksgiving celebration and to acknowledge the slew of November birthdays and the one late October birthday in the family.   

Luke insisted that he help do the mopping

Luke playing with his birthday presents

Luke lined up a number of his cars in his bedroom and then declared there was traffic

Avery is on the second row on the end of the riser

Emery is in the second row on the end with her pink and purple coat on

Baby Benny is up and walking all over.  He walked up to Avery and put his hands on her shoulders.

Avery then wanted to pose with Benny

Logan and Emery having fun with Adam

Logan and Luke spent a lot of time looking at pictures of themselves on the digital picture frame

Tyler was letting everyone dog pile on him

Tyler with Harper and Luke on top, and a helpful Emery caressing his head

Luke was slaying Thomas with his new sword

Ayva was pleased to draw with her birthday markers.

Ayva let out an excited gasp as she opened the pull ups we gave her for birthday and immediately thanked us

Not everyone with a cupcake had a birthday, but they all felt the need to join in the birthday celebration

Ayva with her birthday cupcake

Ayva grabbed Luke and led him up the stairs to play together

Happy Fourth Birthday Luke

   Yesterday Luke turned four years old.  He spent his morning playing at his favorite indoor play place at the mall.  When we got home we wanted to watch television tucked into our bed.  Then per his request we had a pizza dinner.  My parents came over for dinner as well as our ward's sister missionaries.  Luke was super happy to get a bucket truck, a convertible model car, and an Incredibles play set with the Incredi-car.  The rest of the night he played happily with his toys.

 

Luke dressed up for Church last Sunday

Avery with Luke sporting the birthday crown he got in preschool

Riding the octopus at his very indoor play area

Taking it easy watching television in Mom and Dad's bed

Emery, Luke, and Harper

Halloween 2018

   Emery actually was going on day two of missing school due to being sick on Halloween.  She and Luke trick or treated with me and the girls just around our neighborhood before calling it quits for the night.  That suited Avery, Harper and me just fine.  We drove over to the flat neighborhood where it pretty much rains Halloween candy.  After we were done to trick or treating we got some hot chocolate at the Starbucks.  Emery and Luke were already asleep by the time we got home at eight.  Meanwhile it was our worst Halloween ever for trick or treaters at our house.  We only got one group at 9:20 in the evening.  I practically emptied the bowl into the teenage girls' bags. Usually we get three to five trick or treaters at our house.  Also enjoy our visit to Tyler the Monday before Halloween to give him his birthday gift.  It was a pleasure to see him dressed as a tyrannosaurus rex. 

Harper is a cat, Emery is Minnie Mouse, Avery is Princess Zelda, and Luke is Lightning McQueen

We trick or treated at my parents to start our Halloween night off

Tyler eating Daryl

Dax taking it easy on Halloween

Luke being silly at Karl and Aimee's

Ending our Halloween night at the Starbucks

Luke's pumpkin that he insisted have five teeth

Daryl dutifully carving a Minnie Mouse pumpkin for Emery 

Emery's Minnie Mouse pumpkin

Harper's cat pumpkin

Avery's cat pumpkin

Daryl's pumpkin that he carved the inside only so it looked intact from the outside 

Our spooky front door with my shadow

Here's my pumpkin.  I attempted to carve the Southern Cross.

Halloween Party Weekend

  The weekend before Halloween was pretty action packed.  Friday night the girls' wanted to go to their school's Halloween party.  Luke is now to old to be left behind, so the whole family went.  We had dinner, danced, and played games.  Luke and Emery especially enjoyed the music.  Saturday night was our Halloween party at church.  Once again the kids had a blast.  By the time Sunday rolled around we were ready for a quieter day.  Also I was a sap and bought the kids Halloween cookies to decorate earlier in the week.  As if they needed more yummies.

Luke so excited dancing to the Beatles

Avery, Emery, and Harper at the school Halloween party

Daryl and Luke at the school Halloween party

Emery was moving too much for a non-blurry picture

The wolfman was also dancing at the school Halloween party

Luke taking a picture with some Halloween props at our ward Halloween party

Emery taking a picture too at our ward Halloween party

Luke 

Avery

Harper and her cookies

Oh Emery

I found this picture Avery had drawn and was relieved to find that she was merely recreating a scene from the show Are You Afraid of the Dark

Rachel and Daryl Time

   In the middle of October Daryl decided we needed some us time, so he arranged for the children to be taken care of while we spent a couple nights in Seattle.  We stayed at a classy hotel down by the 5th Avenue theater.  Saturday morning we went to Salty's in West Seattle for their amazing brunch.  We did what I like to think of an urban five mile hike up and down Alki beach, and even went by our old home.  We really loved seeing where we used to live.  It is gorgeous.  Since they remodeled the Space Needle we went up to check out the new glass floor and railings.  It's still windy up their, and way too expensive to go up.  While we were waiting for our turn to go up the Space Needle we checked out the Chihuly Glass Garden.  Most of the time we wondered how on earth they got all the glass art there and installed without breaking any of it.  We also went to a couple haunted attractions that evening and generally enjoyed being child free for a little bit. 

Our view from brunch at Salty's

The Olympics from Alki 

Daryl and I at the Chihuly Glass Garden beneath the Space Needle

The mountain was out

At the top of Space Needle

The Space Needle isn't actually that tall

The kids did some crafting while we were gone courtesy of Target's dollar spot