Cooper's 6th Birthday

Cooper turned 6!! I can't believe it! He is growing up and just won't stop!  He was so excited for his birthday that he couldn't sleep :). He came downstairs at about 5:30 and woke me up to ask if I was going to decorate the house like I do for every birthday. I told him I was going to, yes, but that I hadn't gotten up yet as it was only 5:30.  He scuttled off to bed with a grin and gratefully he did fall back to sleep.  He woke up to streamers and balloons and was smiling from ear to ear all day.

School happened to be cancelled due to cold temperatures and icy roads, so our plans to go to lunch with him and take 26 cupcakes into his class failed.  It was a fun day spending all together, working on lego sets and inviting friends to come share some cupcakes with us.  Then, we celebrated his birthday with a party with Grandma and Grandpa Routsong with pizza, presents, and a three layer stacked Ninjago ninja cake.  He got all sorts of gifts, including lots of spy gear, science experiments, angry birds wii game, and some new clothes.  He was so happy and grateful and cheerful.  I love him to pieces!!!  Happy birthday Coop!!!!

Cooper is Six

Cooper turned 6!! 

Here are some fun things about Cooper at six years old:

1. His favorite food is moms homemade Mac and Cheese.  He is not as picky as he used to be, and really is a great eater, trying new foods often.  He also enjoys oatmeal topped with chocolate chips.

2. His favorite tv show is Ninjago, a ninja lego show with 4 ninjas that constantly are saving the world.  They do this spin, called spinjitsu, which Cooper loves to imitate. He will yell "Ninjaaaaago!"  And spin around and then run off somewhere doing ninja moves. It's pretty awesome!!

3. Cooper is doing excellent in kindergarten.  He is focused and actively learning. His teacher let me know that she arranged the students at desks putting Cooper next to a child with a very hard time focusing, in the hopes that Coopers ambition, listening skills, and ability to focus would help out his friend.  It sounds like it was helping the child.  His teacher does not have enough good things to say about Cooper.  The one that sticks out in my mind though is that "his smile could slay you."  I'm grateful that he is ambitious at school. 

4. Cooper has a passion for the Wii.  He gets himself all worked up when he plays.  The simple games become intensified with his passion.  It is a little bit funny, but also a little overwhelming.  His Wii time has to be limited, but he absolutely loves it.  

5. Cooper's favorite sport is basketball.  He loves to play and he is very good at it.  He is on an Upwards Basketball team right now and he made his first point yesterday!  The basket is really high, and he is so short, that he pretty much felt like he could never really even make points for his team last year.  His arm strength has improved and he has been practicing hard at getting that ball up higher.  And yesterday, his practice paid off.  He made a point for his team.  We are so glad he could do that and he felt so proud of himself.

6. Cooper is best friends with his dog.  He loves Bella so very much.  He will play with her and play with her till she is panting with thirst and loss of energy, but she keeps coming back to him.  They play all different kinds of "fetch" and Bella loves to play with big four square bouncy balls as well as big basketballs.  She catches those big balls with her hands and her nose, then pushes the ball around with her nose till it hits a wall or gets stuck.  She is just as much a player in a game of basketball as any human.  It really is funny to watch!  She also absolutely loves the snow!  She will jump through it and try to dig out her tennis ball in it.  She will chase after snowballs or eat the ones she catches in her mouth.  Cooper loves to play in the snow with her.  He also enjoys building forts for Bella.  She loves to be cozy and snuggle under the blankets.  Coop will snuggle her and want her to sleep in his bed with him.  It is very sweet how much he adores her.

7. Cooper's best friends these days are in his kindergarten class.  He is closest with Easton and Drew and Cameron.  It is so cute because the kids line up in alphabetical order to go to lunch or walk through the hallways.  Right in the center of the line are 3 boys with buzz cut blond hair, all about the same size.  Cameron, Cooper, and Jayce.  And Drew is right in front of them with a dark brown buzz cut.  It's a cute group of boys.  I get to volunteer in his classroom every other Tuesday and so I get to see how they interact and how the teacher teaches.  I really enjoy my time in his classroom and I think he loves it when I come.  His other close friends are from church, Gabe and another Cameron.  He enjoys going to these friends houses often and keeping in touch with them, though they go to different schools.

8.  Cooper's favorite TV show these days is Wild Kratts.  We first heard of the show when Cooper was invited to a birthday party with the Wild Kratts theme.  We had never heard of it before.  The party went all out with outfits for them to wear and live wild animals to touch and hold.  After that, we started seeing the show come on in the mornings during all of our school cancellations this winter.  Now the kids are hooked!  It is such an educational show and the kids learn so much about all different kinds of animals.  The main character brothers turn into cartoon characters and then they get to turn into animals to learn about them.  And the facts they give are always very interesting.  So Cooper is a Wild Kratts fan!

9.  When Cooper grows up, he wants to work for Simplx Security.  He wants to take over the business.  He really has no idea what that means, but that is what he wants for his future at this point in his life.  Nate ordered some small Simplx shirts for the kids recently, and Cooper will wear his to school periodically.  On Career Day, he wore his Simplx shirt too.  Some people have never heard of Simplx, so they are confused when he says he wants to work at Simplx.  Hopefully he explains enough that it is his dad's business.  He loves the employees and enjoys "going to work with them" or distracting them in the office while they are trying to pack up or get things organized.  He has gone to work with Nate a couple of times to do a quick fix for a customer or what not.  He loves being involved in it.  His passion for success is similar to Nate's drive of success.  He would be a great fit for Simplx if his career goals end up going in that direction. 

10.  Cooper is very sweet, kind, and even in tune with the spirit.  He has such a kind, good heart.  He is always thinking about other people's feelings.  Often he will explain why he did something or didn't do something based on how someone else was feeling.  He relies on prayer a lot.  When he feels nervous or unsure, I have always offered to pray with him or for him.  Now, he will ask me, "can we say a prayer?"  or "can you pray for me today? don't forget!"  I think he knows there is strength in prayer and that Heavenly Father is truly aware of him.  It is sweet to see his innocent heart and know that he understands that much, that prayer is important and that it can help him.  I love this boy so much!  Happy Birthday Cooper!!!

Build-a-bear

For Kaylee's third birthday, Grandma and Grandpa in Utah sent her money for Build-A-Bear.  So we got to go to the mall and build a bear of her choice.  Before we got there, she knew she wanted a "pink bear," so that's what we looked for. She found the perfect pink bear and got to stuff it with cotton and put a special heart inside of it. She picked out a tutu for it to wear that is similar to a tutu skirt that Kaylee has too. She got some sunglasses and a headband for it to wear and came up with the name Emy all by herself!  She loves that bear!  She sleeps with her and takes her to Grandma Routsongs overnight. She is very proud that she got to "make" Emy and that makes her bear so special.

Kaylee's 3rd Birthday

Kaylee wanted a Snow White birthday this  year.  So we had a princess Snow White party with Grandma & Grandpa and our family.  I put together a Snow White cake for her and she loved blowing out those candles!  Then she opened her presents.  She got a Baby Alive Doll that actually pees after she drinks her real juice.  She got Caillou books, which she adores!  She reads them over and over and over before nap and bedtime.  She also got a play dough set and has been hard at work with play dough for weeks since her birthday.  That stuff never gets old!!  Happy Birthday our little princess!!

Kaylee Turns Three

Happy Birthday Kaylee!!   Here are some fun things about Kaylee at 3 years old:

1.  Kaylee is our little princess. Right now her favorite is Ariel and the two princesses from the movie "Frozen," Elsa and Ana.  When that movie came out, she watched it a handful of times and she now sings all the songs at the top of her lungs.  It's amazing how she knows all the words!!!  She will dance around and the motions that the princesses do in the movie.  It is adorable!

2. Kaylee loves to work.  She loves to have jobs and responsibilities.  Her dinner chore is to help mom wash the dishes and she just loves it.  She spends most of her time at the sink playing in the water, but she does get the dishes rinsed and she is so proud when she hands me the dishes ready to load in the dishwasher.  We also rearrNged our Saturday chores.  The boys taught Kaylee how to do their old Saturday chores because they got new ones.  She was so excited to be responsible for cleaning out Bella's kennel and picking up the shoes on the garage steps.  It was fun to watch her learn her job and be excited for the responsibility.

3. I have been teaching a simple preschool for Kaylee and four other of her three year old friends on Wednesdays.  This, she has loved.  She will ask every day if it is preschool day and she looks forward to it each week.  We have been doing color themes and will do shapes after that.  Her friends that come are Mia, Rhett, Carter, and McKenza and sometimes McKenzas brother Abryn, and Dawson.  It's a fun little group and they are all so cute.

4. Kaylees best friend these days is Mia.  I babysit Mia three times a week and the two of them have gotten to be such good friends.  They run around the house pretending to be monsters and scaring each other, then they turn around and switch roles and run the other direction.  It's awe fully cute.  They love to have tea parties.  They will cover a kitchen stool with a dish towel for their tablecloth and set out their dishes and play food.  Kaylee has a pitcher that she calls her "happena-oops." We have no idea where she came up with that name, but she really believes it is her happena-oops.  It's really funny.

5. Kaylee is a Daddy's girl of course.  She has him wrapped around his finger just as any little girl in a family full of brothers would.  Daddy loves to take her on dates and she just grins with pleasure when she gets to go with daddy by herself.  Often their "dates" are to Kroger to pick up groceries, but she will always return with a red rose that dAddy got for her.   And she is so proud do that red rose.  She is so lucky to have such a wonderful daddy who loves her so. Dry much!

6. Kaylee has loved the snow!  She loves to wear snow boots and "go stomping in the snow."  She will tromp up the snowy mountains Nate builds with his tractor and slide down them.  She really has enjoyed the snow this winter.

7. Kaylee loves to dress up and wear headbands.  She doesn't like bows as much and will pull them out, but she loves headbands and will keep them on all day.  Her hair is so much like my hair.  It frizzed at the front just like mine and is impossible to take without water or gel to keep it flat.  If she showers at night and her hair is wet, I coil it into a right bun on the top of her head.  She sleeps on it and when she wakes up, she has the most beautiful ringlets.  Her hair is getting so long and gorgeous.

8. Kaylee loves to stay at Grandma Routsong's house in Kendallville.  Grandpa cooks waffles with sausage and syrup for her and Grandma takes her to McDonalds and Walmart.  She loves the artention and spending time with them.  One time when she came back from a 3 day trip she came in the house crying so hard.  I was concerned and tried to find out what the matter was.  She simply did not want to come home a and was mad that she had to.  I couldn't help but laugh at that!

9. Kaylee loves to read books.  We can spend a lot of time reading together.  She prefers to read books to herself on the carpet while I work in the afternoons.  She loves to go to the library and bring books home too.  Her favorite books these days are Caillou stories that she got for her birthday and Curious George books.  

10. Kaylee is very excited for the new baby to come.  She always has lots of questions about the baby, like, "is he squished flat?"  She always catches herself when she bumps my belly and says, "sorry for bumping your baby."  I know she will be a wonderful big sister and this will be an experience for her that will be memorable for her, now that she is old enough.  

Happy Birthday Kaylee!  We love you so much!

Christmas 2013

Christmas Day. What a magical Christmas. Just wonderful!!  On dec 23, Monday, we drove down to Lafayette for Ryan Routsongs baptism. It was a simple, yet special experience. We then spen the night at the Routsongs home to Christmas Eve. The big boys had a slumber party with Ash, Ryan, and Jack in their theater room. Dawson, Kay and I slept in Cassidy's room. Dawson was so sleepy he went right to sleep and slept all night without a stir. An angel baby :). Kaylee and I snuggled and we both slept all night too. I woke in the morning stepped on a sleeping Cooper. He had snuck in in the night and joined us in the room. It just made me smile. I had 3 of my little ones surrounding me and all were peacefully  sleeping. I watched each one and my joy was just overflowing. 

Christmas Eve is the Routsong family traditional celebration. The whole family was there besides Nicks family in Arizona and Grandma Great who was with her sister.  A total of 16 kids, so happy to see each other. After our feast we spent a nice Cristmas testimony meeting, which has become an annual tradition. I had a chance to express my appreciation and love for my Indiana family and for their examples of strength and inspiration to me. Next came presents, one from a cousin and one from grandma to each child. Everyone was smiling when I looked around the room.  The adults then exchanged "our favorite things" in a white elephant form.  It was super enjoyable!

We set out for home and everyone but Dawson slept in the car. Arriving home we ate some pita dinner, wrote up our gifts to Jesus, opened up our Jammie's and watched The Nativity together. We tucked the kids in and let Santa do his magic:)

Christmas morning was completely magical. Everyone was happy! Everyone was smiling, and gracious, and filled with joy. The spirit in our home was one I'll never forget. Pure joy and true happiness being together with the ones we love the very most. The kids all opened their gifts of the same category at the same time till everything under the tree was gone.  They chose to open the Santa sacks last, which was cute. As they got more and more gifts the words that they said were things like, "this is the best day ever!" And "this is the best christmas!"  And that just makes me smile.  All of our efforts to make it that kind of day apparently paid off.  Nate gave me a beautiful silver necklace, and I have him an NIV Bible and a book which holds 4 different bible translations side by side for deeper study. After presents, we ate the breakfast things that they found in their stockings and the kids played with all their new goods all morning and afternoon.

In the late afternoon we met 3 other families at a local assisted living home and we went caroling through the hallways bringing Christmas cheer one last time before the special day was over. The families returned to our house afterward for a Christmas feast. We played christmas charades on the stage, put together a simple nativity scene while reading from Luke 2, and then watched a couple versions of the Nativity to remind us about the true meaning of this day. All of it was magical and memorable. I hope that every Christmas will be as enjoyable as this one:)

Visiting with Santa

While the boys were in school one day, and Nate and had a slow work morning, we took Kaylee and Dawson to the Embassy Theater Festival of Trees.  It is a huge beautiful festival inside such an amazing antique theater that is an heirloom to our city.  There were a few hundred Christmas trees there, all decorated with different themes and creative styles.  The kids enjoyed it!  Santa was there in one area, so we took the Littles to go see him.  He was there with Mrs. Claus.  Both kids were pretty uneasy about the whole idea, but it was fun anyways!  They are such cuties!

Christmas at School

The kids each had classroom Christmas parties and I was able to go spend time with them at their parties.  The parents prepared games and treats and snacks and festive activities for the kids.  Of course it was a blast!  Miss Martzell was Cooper's student teacher for the first half of the school year. She came to the Christmas party for one last visit with her students.  Cooper really enjoyed her!  One of his favorite Christmas party games was when they tied a tissue box around his waist full of jingle bells and he had to dance around until he got them all to fall out.  Fun times!

Cooper's class had been working on learning the entire song, "The 12 Days of Christmas."  Each child (or 2 from each class) was responsible for 1 of the days.  They had the number to hold up high, and they would sing their line when it was their day.  Cooper got Day 1, a partridge in a pear tree.  He knew that entire song by heart by the time school was out for Christmas break.  He sang it loud and clear around the house and he sang it loud when we went caroling too.  

Jaxton's class also had some fun activities.  Jaxton's favorite one involved using a candy cane to stack nuts and bolts.  He has an eye for detail and fine motor skills and loved tackling this contest!  Of course he loved frosting cookies and eating all the sugary sweets too!

 The first graders at Cedarville performed in a Christmas Concert.  Each class prepared several songs and performed them.  Jaxton loves to sing.  He enjoyed himself out there singing and dancing along.  He looked so cute with his spiked hair.  He has been refusing to get it cut!  But when he lets us put gel in it, he looks so handsome.  It was fun watching him with all his little first grade friends!

Thanksgiving 2013

As tradition, we hosted Thanksgiving here at our house for all the Routsong family.  It was also our deadline to finish our basement and home theater room.  Nate had spent hours and hours and working till 3 in the morning this week finishing lights and electrical and flooring.  The fireplace stone was put in the day before thanksgiving as well as all the appliances and the furniture were all delivered.  But it all came together in time for families to arrive Thursday morning.

Grandpa made the turkey and stuffing of course, and everyone else brought dishes to share and it was a marvelous feast!!  Everyone except Nick and Carissa's family came, though they came through face time that evening :). Aunt Marion and Grandma Routsong and Uncle Greg also came.

We began a new family tradition: a Pie Contest.  Everyone was to bring a pie to enter the contest and we would vote to see which pie was the ultimate favorite.  Uncle Greg's fabulous pecan pie won.  The winner of the pie was announced on our new basement theater room stage!!

After the announcement, everyone participated in a number of skits and performances many of which were prepared ahead of time. Some were improvised right then and there by many of the kids.  Jaxton did a magic trick where he turned himself into Cooper.  Nate and I did one where we swore we were so in tune that we could read each others minds by the way we acted.  The audience chose a phrase for Nate to do motions to and I amazingly knew the phrase :).  

After the skits some people headed home and others went off to the movies.  We stayed home with our littles and some of the cousins and just enjoyed the company and the evening.  That night, the Owen family and Mike and Km Routsong family stayed overnight.  The kids all had a blast.  I'm so grateful that we can have so much family nearby and lots of cousins for the kids to love on the Routsong side of the family.  It truly is a remarkable thing to have people that you can love and become closer than friends with because they are extended family.  We cherish the relationships we have in Indiana as well as those in Utah. I'm grateful for those relationships, especially for my kids.  All in all it was a wonderful Thanksgivibg holiday!  

Jaxton's 7th Birthday

Jaxton turned 7!!! Where is the time going!  My little man is just growing up so fast!  We took some cupcakes into his classroom for his birthday, each cupcake was topped with a lego.  His favorite thing :-).  He was very excited to bring in cupcakes.  We had a family party for him on Sunday with Grandma & Grandpa Routsong.  He got packages from the Giraldi's and Grandma & Grandpa Hutchinson in the mail.  Everything he asked for and everything he got was LEGOs!  That's his love right now!  He got so many lego sets and some giant lego idea books.  You can imagine that we didn't see much of him after his birthday.  He has been very busy building and creating with legos.  He also had to have a lego cake, which made me have to get a little bit creative!  Here are some fun things about Jaxton at 7 years old:

1. First and foremost, his favorite thing to do is build with legos.  He is so very creative.  As a little boy, he loved to build with blocks.  He would build cities and amazing creations with regular blocks.  Now, as his fingers are able to work with tiny objects, this has transformed into lego play!  He can follow the directions that are intended for a 14 year old and build amazing things.  Then, he always puts his creation on display somewhere and will never break it down.  So after a while, we actually did kind of run out of legos because all the legos were used up and sitting on display in our upstairs office shelves.  So he picked and chose the ones that were not as important to him and he broke them down to create more.  Really, though, he amazes me at his creativity and focus.

2. Jaxton enjoys soccer as his favorite sport.  He really is very good at soccer.  He is very good with his feet.  He is not afraid to get in the action and steal that ball.  His other favorite activity has been Tae Kwon Do.  He is very good at this as well.  He enjoys advancing by belt and earning level after level.  He loves to succeed at things, and in Tae Kwon Do, he can advance and succeed, and that is exciting to him.  We have taken a break from Tae Kwon Do during school because it gets demanding with practices, but he is currently a camoflauge belt in the Tiny Tiger Program.

3. Jaxton's favorite subject by far is math.  He is a math whiz!  He wants to understand high school math problems!  He understands already so much multiplication and division.  He is not fully able to figure problems on paper, instead, he will do problems in his head.  It's amazing.  Since he is interested so much, I have worked with him a little bit to teach him how to multiply by place value and divide numbers using long division.  Though its a little complicated at his level, he can follow the steps as we work through it together.  Then, he will ask me some random question about the x.  What does the x mean?  And so I proceed to teach him basic algebra, trying to figure out what the x is worth.  He's interested in decimals and has asked what the dot means.  So I have taught him basic info about decimals and fractions of 10.  Further, he wanted to learn fractions, so we drew pizzas of different amounts of slices and worked to discover different fractions as well as adding fractions, or adding the slices of 2 pizzas left to figure how many slices total were left.  He amazes me.  It is amazing!  He is soo soo brilliant!

4. Jaxton is a sweetheart.  He is maturing so much.  I see such maturity in him as he has grown older.  He is definitely not a little boy, but he really is growing up.  We can hang out and talk together in regular conversation, which is so fun.  He is an amazing helper around the house.  Though he'd rather do something else, he is so good at helping out, especially with his little brother and sister.  He also does not like conflict, and so he will avoid it.  He enjoys bugging his little siblings, just like any older brother, but for the most part, he avoids conflict and avoids getting hurt in wrestling matches.

5. Jaxton will say that his favorite food is Mom's homemade mac & cheese.  He would eat it every night.  He also loves bagels for breakfast.  He has never been super picky in his eating as a little kid, but he is getting more and more particular about his food as he gets older.  Which may mean that might end up being a fabulous cook, cooking exactly the way he prefers his food.  He likes to scramble eggs, but won't eat them contentedly if we did not mix them with milk or add cheese to melt over them.  He likes his water cold from the fridge instead of from the faucet.  I usually have him get up and change whatever he needs because I can't cater to 4 different menus :).  And he does, which makes me believe he will be an excellent cook one day.  He also has told me over and over how much he likes noodles.  I understood that he meant pasta with alfredo sauce.  But every time I made that, he said this is not what I mean.  One day when we were pretty much out of most food, and I didn't have the energy to cook up something great, we cooked up ramen noodles.  This, he exclaimed, was what he was talking about!  He apparently absolutely loves ramen noodles!!  Funny boy!

6. Jaxton loves gadgets.  He loves numbers and he loves to be very particular.  So for Christmas we got him a nice watch with a digital clock, timer, alarm, clock, and a few other features.  He wears that thing night and day, taking it off briefly for a shower and that's it.  He has the alarm clock set to wake him at 7am every morning, and on weekends or school cancellations will just turn it off and roll over and go back to sleep.  He loves his watch!  It's also been great helping him understand time and different time frames.  When I say we are leaving in 10 minutes, that is a hard thing for a kid to really know how much time they actually have.  Now, Jaxton has a very good concept of time.  He can watch the minutes go by and understand how much time he has.  It really has been a great thing for him.

7. Jaxton is a very social kid.  He loves to be around other kids and doing fun things in groups.  So we got him into a Cub Scout Tiger Scouts group near our home.  He loves getting all dressed up in his scout uniform and being a part of the group.  They work on projects and earn things also at home and it has been fun for him to earn patches and beads and work towards goals.  He also has been giving our Family Home Morning lessons using his Tiger Scout goals.  It's been a great opportunity for him.  They had a rocket derby and the kids got to build rockets.  Then, they had the classic Pinewood Derby.  This was our first derby, and the car he built was not the fastest car.  He knew it, and he was ok with that.  But when his car got 3rd place on some of the rounds, he was thrilled that it wasn't the slowest.  It turned out to be a great experience and he now has all sorts of ideas for his car next year.

8. Jaxton says he wants to be an engineer when he grows up.  He loves building, he loves numbers, he loves computers and gadgets, and he is so dang smart.  We had to get our old HP computer fixed, and the computer guy gave me back the old broken power supply out of our computer after he had replaced it.  He said the kids would probably love to take it apart and play around with the wires and things.  I had never thought of such a thing, but what a fun activity!!  So, we waited a week or so before playing with it to ensure that it wouldn't send out electrical shocks to the kids, and then Jaxton went to work.  He opened up that thing with screwdrivers of different sizes.  He examined the wires, changed them around, and played with that for a long time.  Nate helped him to rearrange the wires to the fan that was part of the power supply.  They made some kind of electrical circuit and by putting the wires in the right positive and negative places, they made the fan work.  Jaxton was amazed!  He loved it so much!

9. Jaxton loves little kids and babies.  He is so very good with them.  He already is a great little babysitter at home, but he will be an amazing babysitter someday.  He gravitates toward babies.  He will googoo gaga with them in their face and make funny faces at them to get them to smile and laugh.  He is gentle and sweet with babies.  He is great with Dawson too, and if I give him the option, he will choose to play with Dawson.  He will make forts or walls out of boxes or toys and barricade Dawson in his room or in the toyroom so Dawson can't escape and get into things.  And then the two of them will just play.  I love to sneak in and watch them.  Dawson loves the attention.  Kaylee has some friends that come to play sometimes too.  And Jaxton is so good with them.  He loves to take the little girls and build them slides out of table and forts.  Then he will read stories to them and create obstacle courses and games for them to play.  He is so great with little kids!

10.  Jaxton loves to read.  He has excelled at reading so much!  We love to read chapter books aloud to each other, and he is able to read to me too.  It is so much fun.  It is one of my favorite things to do, to read books together.  He got a clip on bed lamp for Christmas and he put a bean bag up on the loft area of his bed.  He will get cozy there and read from his "book box" before bed.  I just can't believe how much he is growing up!

Happy Birthday Jaxton!!!  We love you forever!!!

Halloween 2013

Halloween was a lot of fun this year!! I love Halloween.  I love the childhood joys of the holiday, dressing up, the fun parties, pumpkins, fall time, beautiful weather and scenery.  We always try to figure out what the kids want to be for Halloween way in advance. I enjoy making costumes, too, which takes time.  The boys both settled on ninjas, inspired by Ninjago.  Cooper wanted to be a blue ninja, and Jaxton wanted to be a black one.  We put together their costumes and I think they looked absolutely great!! They loved their costumes.  Kaylee wanted to be Cinderella.  Halloween was quickly approaching and I was running out if time to make this difficult sounding costume.  But after thinking it through, I decided I would regret if I never had another opportunity to make a princess costume for my little girl.  I headed to Joann's and got all the fabric and supplies I needed.  I followed a Pinterest blog of instructions and sewed together the cutest, most fabulous Cinderella princess costume ever, complete with long white gloves and glass (jelly) slippers and blue headband.  I'm a rookie, so there were some things that didnt turn out perfect, but for the most part, it was gorgeous.  I'm so proud if it!  And Kaylee loved it!  Dawson was a skeleton, glow-in-the-dark that is.  He is such a cutie!!

The biggest Halloween event was the church trunk or treat party.  It was a chili cook off and was all decked out with a couple hundred people all dressed up in all sorts of costumes.  The kids had an absolute blast!! Outside they held a trunk or treat for the kids.  The big boys took off and made it 3 or 4 times around the parking lot!! Kaylee and Dawson and I went around almost twice.  At first Kay was a little unsure of what to do.  She got shy and tried to hide her smile when people told her how beautiful she was as Cinderella.  But by the end of the trunk of treat, she was running from car to car as fast as she could go!  Dawson enjoyed all the hustle and bustle and all the interesting faces and outfits.  What a fun night!

On the actual Halloween night it was raining. We got in the car to go to the mall to be indoors, but the rain had stopped biscotti.  We decided to chance it and take the kids to a Grabill neighborhood before it got dark and started to rain again.  The kids all had fun, even Nate and me.  We beat the weather and the kids their bags to the rim with candy candy candy!!  Another Halloween down!   Wonder what next Halloween will bring!