Duck!!

A while back we had a duck that would come around almost every day. At first we thought it was so cute... the kids would look out the window and see the duck waiting, and they would run to get it some bread.

Here is Jim with the kids, throwing bread to the duck

Zoie and duck Aidan , Nolan and duck

happily feeding the duck...

After a while though it became, well....less than cute. This duck would not go away. And for some reason it thought our porch was its personal toilet. After getting to the point where we had to hose down our front porch almost every day, the question became, how do we get rid of this silly thing?

We stopped feeding it and eventually it got a clue, although not before leaving us some more parting gifts. I decided to spare everyone by not taking pictures of that detail.

Fun Halloween crafts

I decided to get crafty this year and make some of our Halloween decor, and save some major bucks while I was at it. After seeing some super cute Halloween stuff at Pottery Barn Kids (which I definitely could not afford) I decided to try to make my own, and suprisingly they turned out pretty well.

Here is the picture from the pottery barn catalog (I really liked the advent calendar on the wall, and the trick-or-treat bunting, so that is what I copied)

And here are my versions

Advent calendar
a close up

And my bunting

I couldn't hang them together since I have a TV on top of that buffet. Over all I was super pleased with how they turned out, obviously not the same as the originals but for the price, totally worth it. I saved $47 on the advent, and I think just over $20 on the bunting. Oh yeah!

Something new

I decided to take a break from posting stuff thats 2 months old and post something recent. What?!? Recent?? You may have thought I didn't know the meaning of the the word, but check it, these pics are only 3 days old!

On Friday, Nolan and Aidan's school had their annual Fall Festival. For some reason, we never go to stuff like this, so this year I wanted to. Even when I realized we had the primary program practice that night also. So, we went to the Fall Festival from 4:30 to 6 then rushed over to the church to get everything ready for the practice at 6:30. It was a very busy day, but worth it, the kids loved it.

The kids got their hair sprayed with colors, Aidan got red, Nolan got green and orange, and Zoie got pink (of course)

Here is Aidan playing baseball, there was this cool 4-sided sports blow up. On the baseball side, the ball would float from air coming out of a hole and the kids could hit the floating ball.

Nolan playing baseball

Nolan shooting hoops

Zoie in one of the bounce houses, I love her hair in this one.

This is hard to see, but I managed to get all three kids on the bouce house at once. Nolan is at the very top of the bounce house (in the middle) and Zoie is at the bottom of the bounce house (also in the middle) and Aidan is to the left of Zoie (laying down).

Sleeping zoie, plus one

He he, it's been awhile since I have posted pictures of Zoie sleeping, and this one is kind of funny. She was taking a bath after a trip to the beach, and when I went to check on her, this is what I found. I have no idea how she could sleep in the tub, but whatever. (By the way this is not as dangerous as it sounds. There is only about an inch of water in the tub.)

It's always zoie who falls asleep in weird places, so we were very suprised to find Aidan asleep on the bathroom floor of our hotel room last time we were in Orlando. I think he was mad about having to take a bath and fell asleep during a tantrum.

When I found him he was completely naked, so I was nice and covered him with a towel before I took a pic. These pictures will be perfect for blackmailing them when they are older. Ha ha

This one doesn't really go with the others but it is too funny not to include. This time it's not that she is in a weird place, it's that she has a bear on her head. Why? Not a clue.

First day of school

We got back from Utah on Sunday night and school started Tuesday, so we didn't really have much time to recover. Especially since, we had two open houses on Monday and I found out Aidan didn't have a school. Somehow when I signed him up for open enrollment (to try to get into the school that we live near) he was dropped from his old school and registered nowhere. Nice!

So on Monday I also had to drive to Largo to the school assignment office and wait to be seen by an administrater. I am happy to report that it was worth it, because not only did I get Aidan registered, he was assigned to Ozona Elementary which is the school we wanted and where Nolan was assigned. Yea!

Here are the boys on the first day

Here is Zoie on her first day of VPK (voluntary pre-kindergarten) or preschool as most people refer to it. We were running late so I didn't get a picture of her before school, and of course once we got home she spilled on herself. But I still wanted a picture to document the day and what she wore.He she is looking a little cuter on the second day of school, before any spills thank goodness.All the kids are loving their schools, especially Zoie, so I am very relieved. I wasn't sure what to expect with the boys starting at a new school for the second time this year and Zoie going for the first time ever, but it all turned out good.

Utah, part 3 - The wedding

I think most of you know but in case you didn't, the main reason we flew out to Utah with the whole fam was for a wedding. But not just any wedding, my Mom's wedding. Yes, my Mom got remarried, and it was so great that we were able to be there for it.

Here is a picture from my Mom's bachelorette breakfast. It was not really a bachelorette party but we wanted to do something to celebrate with just the girls before the wedding. Unfortunately since it was very last minute, not everyone could be there, but it was still fun. I didn't get a picture until after someone had already left, I tell you something was wrong with my brain on this trip. In this picture is (clockwise from top) Alexis, Mindy (Mark's wife), Julie, Francia (mom's sister), and Mom.

Here is my Mom with John right before the wedding. They are standing by the cake that my sister-in-law Julie and I stayed up all night making. Seriously, who knew how hard it is to make a wedding cake. Many props go out to my Mom for all the many wedding cakes she has made so beautifully throughout the years. Ours could have used some serious help, but I thought it wasn't too bad for us never having made a wedding cake before.

This is the shelter where the reception took place. There was a booming spanish party going on in the shelter next to ours, which made for some fun background noise.

Here is the gazebo where the ceremony was, behind it you can see the other two shelters.

This is the table decorations we did. We kept it very simple. We also added the curtains to the shelter and the gazebo which I think dressed it up a bit.

Here is the ceremony taking place. My oldest brother Todd was a witness, along with one of John's sons. They were married by John's bishop who is also his son.

Kevin and Livia and their adorable new baby, Aspen.

Zoie and her cousin, Addison (Darin's daughter)

Aidan, Nolan and Gabe (Darin's son)Darin's baby, HaleyThe newlyweds. So cute. It was such a pretty place and I love the mountains in the background.

Here is my whole family with my Mom and John.

And this is my mom's kids and john kids all together. It's a little weird that I have a step dad and step brothers and a sister now. Too bad we all live so far apart and won't really ever see each other.

It was a beautiful wedding and we are so happy for my Mom and her new husband John. We wish them the very best in their new life together and can't wait to see them (and everyone else) again!

Utah, part 2- Salt Lake and more...

Sooooo many pictures. It takes forever to upload them all... But here is the second group of pics from our trip. We drove down to meet Jim's cousin Emily and her family for breakfast one morning (once again didn't get any pictures... what is wrong with me?). On the way back to Ogden we decided to stop in Salt Lake and go see temple square because the kids had never been, and Nolan wanted to see the temple that took 40 years to build.

So here are the kids at the visitors center. This was always my favorite statue when I was a kid, maybe because you have to go up (or run up) a long curved ramp to get to it. he he

Here is Zoie throwing a fit on the floor because she does not want to go all the way back up the ramp to take a picture with the boys.
Aidan, Zoie and Nolan in front of the cool temple doors

This picture turned out neat

You can't tell, but this picture is me and the kids in front of the temple. Jim is standing across the fountain so that he could get the whole temple in the pic.

Later that night we went to my brother Kevin's house so that we could meet his new baby. My kids were excited that they have ANOTHER cousin! It's amazing to them, all these cousins.

Kevin and his wife Livia have the cutest dog, but I was kind of worried how my kids would react. They are not used to dogs and Aidan will often run screaming if one comes near him. But they all did really well. Nolan and Zoie played with Maddie (the dog) and Aidan even touched her once. It was a miracle.

It just so happened that my Dad was in Utah at the same time as we were for a family reunion, so we even got to see him. It worked out so well. My Dad and I spent a few hours shopping and then went over to my aunt and uncle's house so the kids could see him and also swim in the pool.

Here is my aunt Joyce, my uncle Norman, and my Dad.

Nolan jumping off the diving board

Aidan jumping off the diving board

Super fun! We had a great time visiting with everyone, and a special thanks to my aunt and uncle for feeding us and letting the kids play in the pool. It was great!

Only one more round of Utah pics, I promise... up next, the wedding.

Trip to Utah! part 1

About 2 weeks after my Mom left Florida, we flew out to Utah. I was super excited because the last time we all went to Utah together was when Zoie was a baby. We were able to spend a week there and we saw almost my whole family (except Mark of course, since he's overseas). We had a great time. These pictures are in backwards order. I tried to switch them around but my computer wasn't cooperating.
A few nights after we got into Ogden, we went with my brother Todd and his kids to see a movie in the park. It was fun and the weather was so nice at night. The movie was Area 51, which I didn't realize my kids had already seen, but it was free so who cares, right?

Here is Zoie posing with one the the many horses that are scattered around downtown Ogden. She liked this one because it was pink with flowers and had gem stones all around it. She called it the princess horse. Here is Nolan packing up after the movie ended.

My niece, Alexis, and nephew, Ryker

My brother Todd, with his oldest son Grayson

My Mom lives really close to the Ogden River Parkway, so on Sunday after church we drove over there and walked down to the river. The kids all thought it was super neat, but the water was freezing. Everything was fine until Zoie fell in, then it was time to go.

Here are the boys posing

All of us playing in the water (before Zoie fell in)

When we first flew into Salt Lake we drove over to see my brother Darin and his family since they live close to the airport. From his house, he can see 3 temples. This is one of them, it is the Oquirrh Hills temple. So pretty...

I don't know why I didn't get any pics of Darin or his family at their house, but we had fun. We barbequed and the kids played kickball in the backyard. My kids loved playing with their cousins, since they hardly ever get to see them and they don't have any on Jim's side of the family.

Here is Zoie on the plane ride out.

And here is the boys. We lucked out on the first flight because we all got to sit in the same row, unfortunately that didn't happen again and we were split up for all our other flights. (Jim with the boys and me with Zoie)

More to come....