School Halloween Parties/ Trunk or Treat

Eve and Sterling have many fun activities at school. The school makes a big effort to create fun things for the kids to look forward to. I was able to help with Eve's class party, which she states "is fair because I went to Sterling's field trip" but not hers.

Making Mummies



Eve and her close friend Jane





This is the craft that I led, Tootsie Roll Spiders.



I did sneak away to see how Sterling was doing in his class.

He was happy with all the treats. I don't know if they had games or crafts but it was great for him.


The girls on the playground after school.



In the evening our ward hosted their annual Trick or Trunk activity.

This year Eve wanted to be Hermione from Harry Potter. Sterling chose to be an astronaut (thanks my friend Terri for offering her son's cool costume.) Sheri of course was a little lady bug. We enjoyed bringing a some neighbor friends along with us.



Eve and Hallie both dressed as Hermione. Thanks to Matt O. for his amazing woodworking skills and generosity in making Eve's wand!



I love the cake walk! It was always my favorite.



Face Painting.



Our close friend Josh dressed up as Harry Potter. I couldn't resist getting them in a pic together.


On Halloween night we went to the annual town parade. It was fun but I sure missed the traditional door to door experience! However, we have more than enough candy! We will just be happy with the unique memories of this year.

Sheri's Halloween Program

Sheri's preschool had a little Halloween program during the week before Halloween. Each class got to parade into the little auditorium and after the parade each got time on stage to sing a song or two or recite a poem. The final song included all the classes and the kids did little hand movements to "A spooky walk" song/narration. It was soooo cute and fun to watch.





Happy Halloween!

Go Kids!

Eve and Sterling were excited to report at the end of September that they were each selected as Student of the Month for their class. A mom is always glad to hear that school is going well! It is also nice that the kids get the positive reinforcement. I also got great reports at parent/teacher conferences for both kids. Yay for good experiences at school!

Crazy Hair Day

Today is Crazy Hair day at school. It is part of a week long promotion about staying away from drugs. I thought it would be fun to share a pic.

Girl's Getaway

This past weekend Kristen and I were able to go to Chicago for a girl's weekend out. We decided to drive up to Chicago since it wasn't too far away and I had never been there. Kristen did most of the planning and so I credit her with the success of the trip. Neither of us felt pressure to rush around and cram in activities. We were happy to have a leisurely, relaxed time.

We left Friday morning (Oct 21)- Thanks Matt O. for being on kid duty since there was no school. We drove up to Bloomington and stopped for lunch at the Olive Garden. It was delicious and relaxing. Then we continued on our way up to Chicago. We went to the temple first. I thought it was very beautiful. One really neat aspect is that inside the temple you can look up through a glass portion of the ceiling and see the top of the spire above you. Of course the grounds and the inside were both very beautiful!







After the temple we checked into the hotel and then hopped across the street to check out IKEA since I hadn't ever shopped there. We got a few small miscellaneous things and then went to dinner at a restaurant famous for their cheese stuffed crust. It was again very good and nice not to have to make, serve, or clean up dinner! Then it was back to the hotel where we each had our own queen sized bed. We were very comfortable.

Saturday morning, following a breakfast at the hotel, we purchased all day passes for Chicago transit. We were able to use the train and buses all day whenever we needed them. It was very handy! We rode the train into Chicago and started out at the Field Museum of Natural History. We enjoyed a special exhibit about chocolate as well as an African exhibit. We could have spent all day there but we had other things we wanted to see.





After the museum we went to see "the Bean." About.com says this about it:

" Cloud Gate -- referred to by locals as "The Bean", for obvious reasons -- is a public sculpture by talented British artist Anish Kapoor. Cloud Gate weighs in at over 110-tons, and is 66 feet long and 33 feet high. "The Bean" was created using a huge number of individual stainless steel plates -- Cloud Gate's seamless surface is the result of thousands of hours of polishing.

The sculpture has the appearance of a giant drop of liquid mercury, and the mirrored surface offers an amazing reflection of the city skyline, even more breathtaking on a bright, clear day. Visitors can walk underneath the Cloud Gate, which is surprisingly concave. Kids especially enjoy the fun house mirror effect that this creates."

Here are some fun pics we got:









Here are some pics surrounding Millenium Park:





Then we headed to Navy Pier. It had a very pretty, fun, al fresco feel. We enjoyed famous Chicago style popcorn and walked the pier.












After Navy Pier we went to dinner at Frontera Grill, a Mexican restaurant with more authentic style food. We were very lucky to get a table in the bar area by chance since there was a 2 hour wait. I enjoyed the fresh flavors in a new combination that I hadn't ever experienced.

Then we headed to the Magnificent Mile where shops line the streets for blocks . We enjoyed window shopping and stepping into a few chocolate shops :)


This is a portion of an old water tower now made into an art museum found among the shops.


Here is a pic of our train experience.


Sunday morning we relaxed, had breakfast, and talked. After check out we headed south to visit Kristen's Mom and Aunt Sue. We enjoyed talking and we even had the chance to ride her horses. It truly was the most beautiful setting. It was warm with a nice breeze and it was such a beautiful late afternoon/dusk time of day. After riding we enjoyed a delicious dinner of roast, mashed potatoes (some of the best I've had), parsnips, carrots, onions, spaghetti squash, bread, etc. Comfort Food! I felt very spoiled!

We headed home arriving around 9PM. Matt was so wonderful! He had the house all clean and most of the kids were tucked into bed. All I had to do was kiss them goodnight! Happy to oblige! I definately love to kiss my kids! I am glad they had a chance to miss me a little :) And to end a perfect evening I was able to have a little one on one time with Matthew. A perfect ending to an awesome weekend!

Thanks to my wonderful Kristen, and our wonderful husbands for making it possible!