The Haunted Gingerbread House

I bought a Wilton Haunted Gingerbread House to decorate with the kids. Last year we did Christmas Gingerbread Houses and I thought they would like the spooky version. But they take so long to do right and we lack patience in our family (at least the kids and I do). When you put the walls together you are supposed to wait 1 hour to let the icing set up before putting the roof on. When you do it correctly, it takes about 3-4 hours ot glueing and then waiting before you can put candy on. Anyway, Bryan helped me glue the house together Tuesday night and then tonight I let the kids decorate it. I didn't want to mix up the black frosting to decorate, so we did it all in orange, but I think it turned out cute. Ethan just wants to eat it, but Courtney got her fill of the candy while we were trying to decorate it. She really likes black licorice jelly beans. Now I have to keep Ethan away from it until Halloween so it doesn't eat it!

Carving Pumpkins

Bryan had mutual tonight and the kids have been begging to carve their pumpkins. We couldn't think of another night when we wouldn't be busy, so I helped them carve pumpkins. It actually wasn't so bad. We had the two pumpkins sitting outside on the porch for a couple of days and today they were right in the direct sun. When I cut the first one open, it was really warm inside. I think that made it easier for me to get all the seeds out because it wasn't as hard as I had remembered, or as messy. Then Ethan drew faces on the pumpkins and I cut them while Courtney cut up a piece of paper (I don't know why, don't ask!). On Ethan's pumpkin he drew a tooth hanging down and when I cut it the tooth ended up a bit loose. Ethan thought this was so cool because it's in the same place of the smile as his loose tooth! He told me he is going to pull his tooth on Halloween, and I think it's ready to come out!

When we finished, I got out my lilac scented tea lights (the only tea lights I could find in our house) and we went outside to light them. They looked great, although it was still light.

So now we have jack-o-lanterns!

Scriptures

Yesterday it clicked with Ethan that if he concentrates he can read the scriptures without too much of a problem. During Sacrament Meeting he was reading away and it kept him pretty quiet. Ethan loves to go home teaching with Bryan. After Church, Ethan sat down and read his scriptures, getting a verse ready to share with the family they would be visiting that night. It was so cute. Bryan said at the home of the family Ethan read 1 Nephi 3:7 to them and that was their lesson. He even marked it with red pen in his little missionary scriptures.

During Family Home Evening, he had to be the one to share the scripture. It was so neat to see it all click with him. Now he is so excited about reading that he reads while eating breakfast! I love it! The funny thing about it is that now Courtney thinks she can read scriptures too.

Last night she opened up the Book of Mormon (upside down) and began reading. There was an "and it came to pass" in there along with a "and the Lamanites were the bad guys" along with something about a mermaid. She always ends he scripture reading with the Pledge of Allegiance. It's pretty hilarious!!

Here's a video of Ethan reading. There's one of Courtney too, but she isn't speaking English (she has her own pretend language).

Crazy Party Saturday!

This was a crazy Saturday! Ethan had a soccer game at 9 a.m. We loaded up and went to Dixie State to the soccer field. We went to the field we thought we were supposed to be on and the boys started to warm up. Another team showed up and told us that we were on the wrong field. So we moved to the next field over, thinking we may have been mistaken. The game started and our boys were playing great. They scored 3 goals by the middle of the second quarter. Then another coach came up and told us that we were playing his team and that we needed to leave. (Forget the fact that he was 20 minutes late and only had 3 players ready to go.) So we took our boys onto an empty field and let them finish the game by playing with each other. They had a blast.

Then, while I went shopping, Bryan took the kids to the park and then to his office so they could change into their costumes. There was a Halloween pottery party at Brushfire Pottery. I took the kids to the party while Bryan went shopping. The kids got lunch, a piece to paint (Ethan did a shark and Courtney did a fish), and a tile each. They loved it!



When we were finished with the pottery, we went home for a couple of hours to hang out before we went to a dance party at the Ivins City Recreation building. Courtney's dance teacher was giving the party and she really wanted to go but she wanted Ethan to come to. It was hilarious! Ethan wasn't too into dancing (I think he was tired!) but he did do a few games with them. Courtney was all out. They did the hokey-pokey, macarena, the electric slide and some other dances. She partied hard for 1 1/2 hours!

Here are some photos!

Big Scoop

Last night was Santa Clara Elementary night at Big Scoop. St. George is home to Blue Bunny ice cream. There is a factory that makes it just outside of town. A few years ago, they opened a large ice cream parlor and called it Blue Bunny. The kids loved to go there, but not enough because last year the parlor had to shut down because of lack of funds. A few of the employees took matters into their own hands and opened a smaller ice cream shop/deli/pizza place down the street and are selling Blue Bunny ice cream and calling it Big Scoop. In order to get the word out that they are there, they partnered up with the schools to do a fund raising night. The teachers sign up for a time to be the waiters/waitresses and the school gets 100% of tips made and 10% of all sales during the fund raiser. Last night was our school's night so we went to support it.

We went at 6 p.m. (right when it started) because Ethan's teacher would be serving during that time. There were only a few other families there when we arrived. My parents also showed up to help support his school. Ethan had birthday cake ice cream (his all time favorite) and so did Courtney. I had some vanilla and Bryan attempted to order mint chocolate chip...it was out...so he tried chocolate chip...it was out...so he tried Bunny Tracks...and they had it! By the time we had eaten, paid and were leaving, the place was PACKED. There is outdoor seating and that was completely filled also. It was great to see Ethan greet all of his school friends and see how excited he was to see his teacher. And it's great that so much money comes back to the school. I'm sure everyone was generous with their tips because that was 100% return.

Anyway, here are some photos of the ice cream bonanza!

Cool Park

I took Ethan and Courtney to the coolest park today. It has been UEA/Fall Break this past Thursday and Friday so we have been playing around. Yesterday we painted pottery and today we went to a park and then out to lunch (bribery to get Courtney to go to the Kids Care at the gym).

Courtney and I found the park a few weeks ago and we couldn't wait to take Ethan. Everything is a little off, but in a really cool way. I should have taken video of it to show what I mean, but I'll try to explain it.

It's built with a huge retaining wall on one side that has been made to look like a rock wall. The kids can climb that, get to the top and take the stairs back down into the pit (I heard more than one parent saying that was a lawsuit waiting to happen because there isn't a fence to stop someone at the top from falling into the pit). There's a little kids play area that has climbing things and slides. It also has a teeter-totter that's normal. But then you get into the big kids stuff. The swing is just a big teeter-totter that flies you up in the air. I put pictures of Ethan and Courtney on it. It's the most fun if the weights are balanced between the two people. The swing doesn't just go back and forth, but it goes up and down too depending on how the other person shifts their weight. It was great.

There's also a twisty pole that has a seat on it. Courtney liked this one and it was hilarious because she got REALLY dizzy and tried to run when she jumped off it. She fell flat on her face and kept trying to get up and run. She was giggling pretty hard (we had to make a bathroom run after that one). What you do is sit on the seat that straddles the bar and then you twist yourself around. It's pretty fun.

There's a lot of other fun things to do at the park and it was crowded with people today. The last time we went, Courtney and I had the place to ourselves, so this was a big change. Ethan said this is the only park he ever wants to go to again. It was pretty fun and I even climbed on some of the contraptions.

Eagle Ethan

Ever since Andrew's Court of Honor on Saturday, Ethan has been anxious to be an Eagle Scout. When we returned home from Denver, we were cleaning up and putting things away when Ethan saw the invitation to the Court of Honor. He promptly grabbed scissors and cut out the badge on the front. Then he asked me to find him a pin so he could pin it on. I love how he looks up to his uncles and aunts and what great examples they are to him. Now, if we can only keep him that excited until he gets to be a Cub Scout, then we'll be in business!