What's new . . . phone pic uploads

For Rhett's birthday, back in October, Summer drew this warning sign for Rhett, then she taped it on the post by our front door. It was warning Rhett that when he entered, she would be hiding behind the front door with a squirt gun and she'd squirt him. Hence, the "Do not entr."

 This was a late-start morning, and Summer was doing the monkey bars before the neighbor girls arrived to walk to school with her. The clouds were incredible, so I got a shot of it all.

Pip and Basil have been doing a lot together lately. This is the first time I've actually seen them break away from the older two to do their own thing. Usually it's all four playing, or all four fighting, but every once in a while now, the two older play, and the two younger wander off together to do something else. I love watching the interactions.

 I love these sticks that Claire's school has. Summer wrote her name with them when she was in preschool, and now here is Claire. So creative!

Grandpa Barney came to visit us. We loved it! I thought this picture was so sweet and tender. Basil was already asleep, and Grandpa was looking at books with the girls. 

Our first snow! This is what they woke up to.

Summer's first grade class was focusing on nonfiction reading and writing. This was a piece they had to write. Each student picked something they knew about, then wrote three things about it. Some chose jellyfish, sharks, soccer, cooking, etc. Guess what Summer chose??? I love it!!!

 And here again is Pip and Basil. Basil was sucking on a candy necklace, letting Pyper bite some from it too. Love it!

And . . . I got my hair cut!

Wow. I had Claire take a picture of it before the cut. It's so long! I love long hair, but it's been feeling heavy lately, so I've wanted a change.

And here's the after picture--all curled up. It's just a little below my shoulders, but when it's curled, it sits right on top. I really like it. It's still thick--something I'll never be able to change, but I like the new look. 

Rhett flew out to Georgia for some work, and when he got there, he realized one of the guys he needed to talk to lived in Florida. So the client in Georgia sent Rhett to Florida in the client's private jet.

Rhett got to be co-pilot. How cool!

Love these girls!

Happy Halloween!

This year, Halloween was a WEEK full of festivities. We had the ward party, dad's work party, Summer's school party, and then THE BIG NIGHT of trick-or-treating.

It was exhausting.

But SOOOO much fun. 

Summer wanted to be a peacock. (A HUGE thank you to my mom and sister for helping me put this costume together. I think it turned out great!)

Claire wanted to be Elsa from Frozen. 

Pyper had a cute little skeleton outfit, but came busting out with our dress up Rosetta costume on, so she was Rosetta, the flower fairy this year.

And Basil was a spider (five bucks from Walgreens!).

This was when I told Basil we were going to go trick-or-treating.

Just kidding. She had no idea what that even meant. But she learned quick!

I think I got a few extra pictures of Summer, just because I was pretty proud of how well the costume turned out.

By Friday afternoon, I was so beat from the festivities that I was about ready to put the kids to bed at 3:30. But how could we pass up getting to use our AWESOME reversible halloween and easter bags? I'd been wanting to make some healthy dinner in preparation for the sugar rush, but was too exhausted, so I did the next best thing and threw a pot of Bean and Bacon soup on the stove. We had that and apple slices for dinner when Rhett got home, then headed out to complete our week.

Trying for a group shot . . .

 At about the third house, Basil learned how to say "trick-or-treat." It was hilarious. As soon as the door would open, she would yell the words, then push and shove her way to the front to grab handfuls  of candy. Most people let her take as much as she wanted, just because it was so stinkin' cute. I think her bag is much heavier than the other girls'!

 

The first few years of Halloween, we'd give the girls a few pieces of candy each day so there wasn't a sugar overload (while Rhett and I snacked on it when they were sleeping . . .). Then one year, we just laid it all out there on the table and let them eat it all. This year, it's a little different. We are letting the girls be in charge of their own candy, but when I say they need to stop, then they need to stop. We've talked about how our bodies give us clues when we need to stop as well, so we don't feel sick (which has happened twice already with Summer, and it's only the morning of November 1st!). If I notice the girls snacking when I've already said they need to stop, that's when I'll take the candy away, and they lose their chance of being in charge of it.

So they are snacking and munching--and they get to--until Monday evening when Kidds Dental does the candy buy back where the girls will take their candy and exchange it for money. Then all the candy is shipped to the troops overseas.

We'll see how it goes this year.
Hope everyone had a fun celebration!