a good message

thanks eliza!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYhDhiojBPA

hulse halloween

this is chester the racoon, from the Kissing Hand book. ella gets to bring him home from school for the week, because she is the star of the week. she wanted me to take lots and lots of pictures of her with chester. unfortunately ella has taken ill over the weekend, so i'm not sure how exciting chester's week will be.
friday night we went to the trunk or treat at church. our friends met up with us there and played games and trunk or treated.

friday afternoon was aftie's school party. here she is with her fun teacher dressed as cruella deville. he's a super-fun teacher who plays music in the classroom sometimes, which the kids totally love.
ella had her class party that morning, but i was unable to attend because i'm not a room mom for her class. but i secretly peeked my head in to get a quick look...and all looked well and fun and ella looked so cute in her blue fairy/pixie costume.
saturday, we planned to play with our friends. but ella wasn't feeling great and their family had been sick all week as well. so, we felt very sad but made the best of a lazy day at home together.

one important thing about halloween, was that aftie made part of her own costume. we saw a cat costume in the pottery barn kids catalog. part of the costume was a cute black skirt. aftie decided she'd like to make her own skirt. luckily, marmee was coming for a visit and could help aftie with the details of measuring, etc. but aft did all the sewing! way to go little sewing lady! the skirt turned out very well and she looked like a sweet little kitty.

pumpkin carving

ella's creepy pumpkin
scooping the guts

afton didn't want to touch the insides with bare hands

ella and her new pet kitty. meow.

a tag for my dad

this is a tag from tara, but i'm doing it because my dad commented on my lack of blogging!

Five North American Cities in Which I'd Seriously Consider Living:
1. NYC, NY
2. boulder, co
3. toronto, ca
4. east aurora, ny
5. monterey, ca

Five Songs to Which I Know all the Words:
1. the opening song from christmas vacation
2. "sisters" from white christmas
3. vacation -go gos
4. " "
5. " "

Five Foods I'd Wish to Have in Unlimited Quantities on a Desert Island:
1. pepperidge farm cookies
2. veggie burritos from taco time
3. kung pao shrimp
4. peanut butter
5. apples

Five Chores I Should Be Doing Right Now Instead of Blogging:
1. nothing, it's sunday
2.
3.
4.
5.

Five Childhood Friends I'd Love to See Again:
1. Neisha Hepworth
2. Kotie Mitchell
3. Natalie Boettcher
4.
5.

Now, five friends to tag (but please play even if you aren't tagged, and then let me know!):
1. Megan
2. kara
3. christi
4.
5.

quote

“Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.”
―Phyllis Diller

a quote i could not agree with more!

new artwork

aftie is a big fan of the daisy meadows fairy books. there are jewel fairies, rainbow fairies, holiday fairies, etc, etc, etc. shown above is her interpretation of the petal fairies. so cute!
aftie has drawn ella's halloween costume (blue fairy) and written instructions regarding hair, makeup, shoes, etc to be worn with the costume.

below is afton's cat costume and instructions. i had to break the bad news to her today regarding the cat treat bag from pottery barn kids. sold out. not a happy girl.

annual trip to the great pumpkin farm

every year we make a trip to the great pumpkin farm in clarence.

every year we take pictures with the pumpkins.

but not every year do we get to have our marmee, auntie meg and cousin taylor with us!

poor tay wasn't feeling 100%, but by the end of the visit, she had cheered up considerably.

we had a great time with marmee and the girls throughout the week.

we did puzzles.

we went shopping.

we had baking projects.

we stayed up late.

we had our toenails done.

we had lots of yummy dinners out.

we had a super fun time.

we love our idaho family! even the ones that couldn't visit us!