Halloween this year was a blast! I decided that I wanted to decorate early this year, for some reason I'm just in a festive mood. Sean, on the other hand, wouldn't let me put up decorations until it was at least October. (I just wanted to do it the weekend before, so not a huge difference). Then we all got sick (well except for super-immune Connor) and it wasn't a little cold or flu, it was the dreaded H1N1! (dramatic...dun, dun, dunnn) Well we all survived. The irony of it all was I'm not so paranoid about getting vaccines and the week we all caught it was the week I was planning on getting the family vaccinated. Oh well, we suffered anyway and we've all survived. The girls recovered just in time to make it to the short week of school (one day that was all celebration). Their school had a "Character Day" instead of a costume day with all of the limits of schools these days. So kids were allowed to pick out a character of a book. Connor opted out, Aubrey picked Pinkalicious and Alli picked Splat the Cat. Apparently I do read to them enough because each girl picked their own character and I was proud. After having been through 5 years of school Halloween celebrations, this year was by far my favorite. Sometimes kids don't dress up at all (which is a big bummer) and other years they are allowed to dress up but there is a book of limitations. This year the idea was so simple but I thought it was the best because it made the kids think about the books they read and they get to become a character for the day. Love It! Of course Connor is too cool to dress up, but we did have a couple of good conversations about who he could be. We usually get our butts to a real pumpkin patch and do the whole sh'bang but since I was sick until Thursday, that didn't happen. We got our pumpkins at the store, I was bummed but the kids were just happy to be getting pumpkins to carve. I also found out on Friday that there was a 'trunk or treat' party at the church and of course there was no way around that so I threw together some cheap $1 store decorations (a black table cloth and 2 ghost buckets, and battery candles) bought some dry ice and voila! instant trunk decor. The kids had a blast and our trunk was a hit, and we ran out of treats! Olivia learned to say "trick or treat" which was ADORABLE! Olivia was a Candy Corn (yep, again), Alli was a witch, Aubrey was a genie and Connor was Megatron (Transformers). Halloween day the kids were wired, of course, no less is expected. Finally the time came to get ready and visit grandma, Connor and Aubrey caught the trick or treating bug and couldn't get enough. They trick or treated in grandmas neighborhood and then again in our friends neighborhood needless to say we are left with way too much candy. I must say that sometimes I am pleasantly surprised at the behavior of my kiddos. They knew from the very beginning they would only get to keep 5 pieces of candy for themselves but they had an amazing attitude from beginning to end. It was all about having fun for them and that made it fun to watch them and be with them. We played games with some friends, taking advantage of the extra hour to have some fun for ourselves! Overall, it was a great day!
This Thanksgiving was fabulous! We had my cousins, Aunt and Uncle out for dinner. My 4 cousins, Miles, Cassie, DJ and Mitzi all go to BYU so I try to have them out once a month for a family dinner. When I heard that Auntie M and Uncle Goomba were going to be in town from Eureka California, I insisted they come for dinner. They didn't know how much I love to cook a good turkey so they were a bit hesitant as they didn't want to over stress their favorite niece. In the end I got my way and out they came. We were also graced by the presence of my beautiful cousin Cassies steady, Justin. It was a pleasant dinner and while we waited for the second car full of guests, Aubrey and Alli knew just what to do. I bet DJ and Miles were especially grateful they took the "short"cut this time. The girls wanted to do "fingernail makeovers!" as Alli so 
observantly renamed painting nails. To be quite honest I was very glad that there were two new victims...ahem, I mean...clients. When Cass showed off her pretty fingers at dinner I had quite a laughing fit. When Sean explained that it wasn't as nearly as hilarious as I found it to be, I had to explain that it is when you have been a participant to the earnest efforts of our well meaning 6 year old who actually paints entire fingers, not just the nail, in bright red paint, It is that funny. Cass and Mitz were very good sports they didn't cringe, complain and even expressed gratitude for their new found beauty and that's just one reason why they are so loved! I suppose there really is nothing to complain about when the only thing that goes wrong is that the turkey is done early. But we wrapped it up tight and let the bird rest while everyone arrived. It truly was lovely and one of my most favorite 
Thanksgivings in recent memory.
and happy!
