Happy Halloween!

Finally I am getting around to posting Halloween! Only a week late... oh well! We did have a great Halloween! The Saturday before Halloween we went to our ward trunk-or-treat with our neighbor/friend Brett and his son Ryder. Halle really wanted to be Belle, Donovin was none other than BATMAN! And Ryder was Buzz Lightyear! There were a lot of fun games and treats for the kids. The funniest of them all had to be the donut on a string game. Halle was REALLY good at it and devoured two or three donuts in record time, Donovin had a little more trouble deciding how to get the donut in his mouth without using his hands. As a result, he ended up with powdered sugar all over his Bat mask. He just grabbed it and stuffed it in his mouth after that. It was hillarious to watch though. After an hour of games we went outside to do some trunk-or-treating!


Thursday night we decided to carve some pumpkins. Halle really wanted to make a jack-o-lantern, so we helped her do that. Tyler made a great Batman pumpkin, and Vinny and I painted a lumpy, bumpy witch pumpkin.

Halloween day was exciting as well. Tyler dressed-up for work as Dwight Schrute from The Office (our favorite show!). He won first prize at work for the best costume. He said it was because he didn't break character once during the day. What he won?.... A giant bobble head Stewy doll from Family Guy. Wahoo!!! Halle had school, and they did not celebrate the holiday at all, which I think is a good thing. There is no point in trying to teach kids when they are in costumes and high on sugar. After she got home we went to the local rec center for a super hero Halloween party. Halle won third place in the costume contest! She could not have been more excited! Donovin got to get his picture taken next to Batman, the highlight of his life so far. Halle decided to be Wonder Woman for this party because it was all Super Hero based.

After that, we came home and had a "spooky" dinner of mummy dogs, eyeball crackers, tomato soup and vampire blood (thanks Kim for the recipes on your About.com site!) Halle wasn't so sure about the food. I guess it really grossed her out. We got ready to go trick-or-treating and went with our friend Fraya who was a beautiful little Jasmine. We went around the neighborhood behind us right by Halle's school. We were out till about 8:30, then came back to our place and all the kids watched the original King Kong (1933 version), and a couple of Simpson's Tree House of Horror episodes. They ate candy, popcorn and then went to bed, or tried at least.

Fire safety day!

It was fire safety day at the Fox lot! Tyler really wanted me to bring Donovin to see the big fire truck and meet real live fire fighters and Smokey the Bear. Halle wanted to go, but she was in school :(. Oh well, maybe next year. Vinny had a great time. He was a little awe struck at the size of the fire truck. The firemen were really nice and showed him all of the neat tools on the truck. He of course had to wear his fireman suit, and everyone there (especially the ladies) thought he was the cutest thing in the world (which of course he is)!






He liked the boots for a second, but then he really wanted to get out of them!





The firemen take this ginormous truck out an average of six times a day! And they keep it so clean. Those are real wood ladders and they use them every day. Can you guess the advantage of wood over aluminum?
Two reasons:
1- wood does not conduct heat like aluminum, it does not get hot the whole length of the ladder
2- it is easier to see defects in the wood ladders and repair them before it causes an injury.

Kidspace!

On Tuesday Halle had an "unassigned" day at school meaning they had no school, why? I still don't know, but they have those frequently throughout the year. I think it was a Jewish holiday. Anyway, we went to an awesome kids museum in Pasadena with some friends from the ward and Fraya (Halle's little freind from next door.) We had a blast! It was SOOOOO hot though! It was the first of October and 100 degrees! But the kids stayed nice and cool playing in the water. It is the closest our children will get to playing in a mountain stream being the city dwellers that we are. There is a little rock water fall that the kids love to climb up and down and at the bottom is a big pool that they can play in. At the top is a water fall and pool and water wheel. We spent the majority of the day there, although, as you will see there was a lot to do inside as well. The majority of the indoor exhibits are bugs! Donovin loved going into the dark room and looking at the spiders, beetles, and cockroaches in their cages.... UGH! Bugs are not my thing, but he loved it. They also have a colony of bees that you can observe through glass. Very interesing, but there are a lot of bees around outside as a result and unfortunatly, Eric got stung on the arm by one. A worker got the stinger out with her name badge (do not try to pull a stinger out, use a credit card or something else hard that you can just scrape it off with) and he did not even cry. What a trooper. At least we know he is not allergic.



Fraya, Olivia and Halle having a ball giggling together and being girls!




Eric and Donovin, two of the cutest little guys in the world!




Any time we go anywhere Donovin has to have his "tocts"- crocs, "yite mean a teen"- Lightning McQueen sunglasses, and his hat. He will not leave the house without them. I think he likes wearing the hat especially because he knows that means I am not going to do his hair.



Olivia climbing out of the ant hill. I don't think Halle ever tried this because she said it was too dark and scary.

Doing better

I knew it would happen sooner than later. Halle came home from school happy every day this week. She says that she listened to her teacher better and talked to her freinds less, so her teacher did not have to scold her as much, and that made them both happier! She still says that it is hard, but she does not have emotional break downs anymore. I'm sure the year will still be full of ups and downs, but for right now things are looking brighter for our little first grader! Thanks to everyone for your comments and encouragement and advise. I am going to try potty training with Vinny FOR REALS this time! I have "tried" two times in the past, but after cleaning up 6 accidnets in a three hour period two days in a row, I just felt like being lazy and giving up and trying again later. That was about a month ago, so I think we will start Monday, and hopefully I can stick with it! At least we have wood floors. Now I just have to worry about all of the furniture.

Struggles

So, Halle started school about two weeks ago. She does not like it very much at the moment. She misses Kindergarten and her teacher from last year, who was absolutely fabulous. She says her teacher this year is mean and she yells a lot. I have talked with her teacher, and she seems nice, but can come across as a little harsh. I feel so bad for Halle because she LOVED school last year, and now she comes home grumpy every day. She will often just break down and cry and cry. She says that first grade is so hard and she has a hard time paying attention for a long period of time. I feel so bad for the poor emotional girl. She is doing very well academically. All the homework she brings home is no problem for her and she is reading very well. I guess she will just have to keep getting used to her new environment. If anyone has any suggestions, I would be happy to take them :) It is so different to have to deal with theses types of problems.

I haven't posted pictures for a long time, so here are some random ones from the summer...

On Halle's last night of freedom before school started we had a slumber party and movie night on the living room floor. It was so much fun! I ended up in my bed at about 1 am because I wasn't too comfortable. Tyler came in around 4. We watched movies, had snacks and had a great time together!

At Home Craziness

Since we got back from Utah, I still don't feel like life is back to normal yet. We ended up driving home to California with Tyler's parents instead of flying home. We had a great time with them and saw a lot of neat things. After we got back to being just us again, we had to seriously decide what we were going to do for the income deficit we are in when our savings runs out this month. We had discussed it quite a bit before we left for vacation and came up with about six different options that would work, each of course had its pros and cons. After weighing the options and praying and praying and praying about the decision we decided that me going back to work would be the best for our family right now. I have been trying to get a job as a medical transcriptinist since October of last year, but the company I was going to work for didn't have work for me until now. A couple of times I thought it was going to finally work out, but then it would fall through, so I gave up in July and decided to spend the 300 dollars and send in my application for my LPN California licensure. Wouldn't you guess that a week after I sent in my application and made arrangements to get recertified in CPR so I could start working I got a call from the medical transcription company to start work the next day. I was in shock! I should know by now that Heavenly Father does things on his time and not ours. He wants to give us what we need, but we have to be willing to accept it on his terms. So, I started work last Monday and am very happy with the way things are going. I am probably still going to have to work a day or two at a nursing home for right now, but that will be okay. I miss being a nurse and am excited to get back into it.

I have the greatest kids! Last week when I was glued to the computer all day every day trying to get my new job figured out they entertained themselves and eachother so well. They have been playing together all week. Halle has been the greatest helper to me and plays so well with Donovin. She loves to help me clean and that has really helped me this week too. She does dishes, makes beds (as best she can anyway) picks up and helps me clean the bathroom. The poor things didn't leave the house for like three days, and handled it all really well. Things are already getting much easier as far as my job goes, so I don't think this week will be nearly as rough. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to work from home and not have to leave my kids.

It's been a little over a year now since Tyler left to come to California in search of "the dream". It's so strange to look back and remember what our lives were like a year ago. So much has happened and so much has changed. We are not the same as individuals, and we are not the same little family we were a year ago. So many people think we're crazy for being here and having to struggle so much, but as I've said before, we wouldn't trade this experience for anyting else in the world. Tyler and I gained our testimonies by going through those trials. I can't fully put into words what exactly happened to us. I just know that we have been through our own little refiner's fire (with a lot of other fires to come in the future I'm sure) and we are more dedicated to the gospel and to eachother than we ever have been before. Struggling keeps us humble, and apparently we need to be kept humble a lot, but I've also never been happier, and our family and faith has never been stronger. We have grown so much and continue to grow here in ways we couldn't anywhere else.

Anyway, sorry for the LONG post, but I just wanted to express my feelings a little and say how grateful I am for this answer to our prayers even though the timing seemed all wrong to me at first. I can see now that it has worked out for the best just as it always does, because Heavenly Father knows what we need and when we need it.


Oh yeah, one more thing. I know it's been almost a MONTH ago... yikes, but we did feel the Los Angeles earthquake on the 28th of July. It was about 11:40 am and I was just on my way out the door with the kids to go to the police station to get my fingerprints done for my application. I got to the car and the kids all buckled in and remembered I should probably bring some documents with me from inside. I knew exactly where they were and it would only take a minute. What's the worst that could happen? So, I went inside, leaving my kids in the car, (I know... I am a STUPID, AWFUL, HORRIBLE mother), and called Tyler because I couldn't find the key I needed to get into the drawer we keep all that kind of stuff in. So, I'm talking to Tyler and all of a sudden he says, "Oh my gosh! It's an earthquake." My heart froze. I felt a surge of heat run through my body and I was running out the door screaming "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" My neighbor probably thought I was seriously mental. I felt the floor shaking at first, but then I didn't notice anymore as I was running out of the apartment and to the garage where I had stupidly left my precious children to be crushed to death in the car. I don't know how long the shaking lasted. It was over by the time I got to the car. Halle was really frightened, and said that she thought it was a robber shaking the car, but Vinny was just sitting there sucking his thumb like nothing had happened. Nothing was knocked down, or over or even off the walls. There was virtually no damage done to anything in the whole city, so we were very, very blessed. I freaked out so much because I thought this had to be "The Big One", and I was expecting all the madness and mayhem and destruction you see in the movies. Well, at least I learned a lesson and will never leave my kids alone in the car again, even if it is in my own garage! You never know what may happen. I called Tyler back when we got back in the house and he said his building was still swaying about 20 minutes later, but every one was all right. It was a scary experience, and I hope we never have to deal with a bigger one, but the odds are against us on that. It also made us realize that we have some more preparing to do to get ourselves ready when the big one hits.

LiKe PeAs In A pOd!

I never considered myself a "country girl" or considered Newton "country", but after being away for a while I've realized you don't get much more country that this! I love it though. It's so nice to have nice fresh air and beautiful mountain views everywhere you look. Also, it's SO QUIET there! Besides the cows and goats and dogs there's really no other noises. Another thing I love is picking home grown vegetables and enjoying them at your dinner table just minutes later. Is anything more delicious? My mom's peas were ready for the pickin' so we took the kids out with us and had a pea picking fest!

Halle and Carson were super helpers and cooperated very well together. They were having a competition with me to see who could fill up their bowl the fastest.











Carley and Alivia gettin in on the pea picking extravaganza!




Then it's time to shell the peas. It's like my mom said, "It we had to live on our crop of peas, we'd starve!" You don't get many peas for all your labor, but it's fun just to sit around and visit while you shell, and shell, and shell and shell some more peas.



Kjeaton helped out by keepin us entertained and riding the tractor sprinkler.


Carson and Halle very dedicated to the shelling of the peas.