I was so lucky to have Omi come to visit for a week to do Family History. We set up again in my living room with all the gear we needed and then got to work. We had scanned in tons of photos before, but we hadn't tagged them. We uploaded them to familysearch.org and then tagged who was in the photo. We did more than 100 photos and 25 documents. And now you may all see them by going to familysearch.org because they are YOUR relatives, too! It was really fun to go over things, hear stories from mom, and feel like I am accomplishing something with family history! Mom and I had a great time as well, Costco shopping and just hanging out.
The next week Bren and Aidan didn't have school so we took the opportunity to go play. We went to the new aquarium and loved it. There is an area that has birds that just fly around the whole area (funny because it is an aquarium... but still fun). Then we went to the curiosity museum and it is such a cool place. There are several different rooms with themes and we didn't get to even half of them. One is like a giant jungle gym--ropes, slides, etc. They spent a lot of time there. Then there is a room with water/wind, etc. We spent time in the outdoor kids garden as well.
Brennan started a Karate class at the local rec center. He is pretty much adorable. He is always showing us his cool kicks and tricks. He has also all of the sudden really taken a great interest in the piano and is mastering his Let's Play Music songs--and even going ahead in the book. Daily I find him tinkering around on the piano. I love his happy face! He got to go on a "date with dad" and he chose a movie (Dolphin Tale 2) and then out to ice cream. He is looking forward to his "date with mom" next month.
Scott also took Weston on a date--they went to a movie as well and out to dinner (we have tons of "free kids meal" coupons from school awards, etc, and are trying to use them all before they expire). He is done with soccer for the season and just did wonderful, of course. He has been doing a lot of writing for school and wrote a book report on the book "Deathwatch" which I made him read. I had read it when I was in 5th grade (actually Mr. Hathaway read it to the class) and I knew Weston would enjoy it. He also had an assignment to cook a meal using three types of cooking methods (convection, conduction and radiation). He made spaghetti noodles (convection), meat and sauce (convection) and garlic toast (radiation).
I took Aidan on a date to Sizzler and then to the curiosity museum to the special Ropes Course. I don't know what I was thinking. I totally freaked out! I did the first walk and then seized up! He freaked out, too, but the worker guy came and helped him. I just sat back and talked with the worker girl (pretending like I was just giving Aidan a chance to master it on his own, but really it was because I was way too scared to go out again!). The worker girl (Jenny) was actually really sweet and I gave her number to my brother in law to ask her out (hopefully he does...). In any case, Aidan and I had a grand time. He is a sweet and special boy.
I took Elise to a cute little princess party at the library. Elsa came and read a story and took photos with the kids. I am so glad to get a lot of use out of that princess dress! And of course that is what she dressed up as for Halloween. Whenever anyone said something about her being a princess, she said, "I'm pink Elsa". At least she wasn't like the 2,000 other blue Elsa's in the neighborhood... ;)
Brennan was the cowboy this year and loved it! He went trick or treating with his friend Luke and Luke's dad. I took Elise and her friend Halle. They both lasted about an hour and of course got more candy than they ever need. These ages are so much fun!
Aidan dressed as a zombie. He went with a bunch of boys (and a dad of one of them) and came back with FIVE POUNDS of candy!! What? And boy he is happy (best Halloween ever!). Weston went with his friends as well dressed as Westley from the Princess Bride. He came up with the idea and it was a perfect idea! He looked great. Time is winding down for him to be able to go trick or treating, so it was fun for him to be able to go with his friends --no parents...
We have been talking about doing this for awhile, but this year we finally made a spook alley. I remember that we had done this when I was a kid and it was so fun, so I told Aidan and Brennan and they recruited some friends to help out. I was the welcome witch--as people came down our outside basement stairs, I would let them in in groups of 2 or 3 and then direct them where to go. We had a bunch of huge cardboard boxes and we made them into a big long tunnel. We added a little flashing light into it and Brennan would reach his hands in one of the cracks and grab the kids as they crawled through. Then, as they came out, we had Luke scaring them with a ghost which was an old bed sheet with a ball for a head. We tied a rope around the neck and then looped that over a pipe in the ceiling. Luke would pull the rope up and down so the ghost was moving around. Aidan was dressed as a zombie hiding in the corner. Sometimes he was in one of those boingy IKEA tunnels and would pop his head out of it. Then the kids would move to the bottom of the inside stairs where we had hung a black sheet in the doorway. Lincoln (backdoor neighbor) was dressed as a scary dude and would pop out of it as they turned the corner and yell "This is the end of it for you" or words to that effect. Then the kids proceeded up the stairs and through a black curtain and onto our garage where they met two beautiful princesses (Elise and Halle) and received a cookie. We had people come anytime in a two hour period (too long... The kids were don't helping after an hour or so...) on the afternoon of Halloween. We probably had 30 kids come, and several went through quite a few times. Although I didn't think it was too scary, there were 4-5 kids that were too scared to go through in the dark, so we would turn on the light for them. I thought it was really fun and cool, and I think the kids really enjoyed it as well.
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