Fun with Trick or Treating

Our neighborhood puts on a great Halloween. A lot of the houses are decorated to the nines, some even too scary for Luke. The people are great and have a good time with the kids. So here is a glimpse at our Trick or Treat adventure last night. Enjoy.

Jackson looks a little worried about that kid behind him.

This is kind of dark but you can see Liam's hesitancy at going near this guy. Actually he did this with everyone. He gave himself a wide 3 feet of safety space, but always said thank you.

I loved this! Some woman even decorated her lawn ornaments!

Savanna found her long lost side kick...a dog dressed as a princess. People crack me up!

This skull in someones yard shook when you'd walk by so Jackson decided to use his wand to put a spell on it.

I think what I loved most about last night is the camaraderie that was going on in the neighborhood. People that we never see during the rest of the year act like you're family. It makes you feel like you belong. I love to people watch and what a great time of year to do it! It was fun to see some houses that would get together with all their neighbors and hand out candy together in one driveway, some had fires going in fire pits, everyone was having a great time and there was a real family atmosphere. We had a great time!

Halloween and the Freedom of Choice

Wow, what a Halloween. We haven't had this much drama in I don't know how long! It all started about the middle of September when I innocently asked, "What do you guys want to be for Halloween this year?" The responses I received were reasonable enough, Harry Potter, Ballerina, Superman and oh ya Liam didn't respond but just wait, he's got drama too. I'm thinking, great Harry Potter should be easy enough, we have a ballerina costume and Luke was Superman last year. Boy was I wrong!

Jackson - The only problem he had was that his Harry Potter glasses kept breaking. So I really can't complain. Let's move on.

Luke - I decided to ask a friend if we could borrow her son's Harry Potter costume and it turned out that she also had one of those muscle Superman costumes. Great, I'm thinking Luke will love that. Wrong, he wouldn't go near it, wouldn't even try it on. Even with all my cajoling and I'm a real cajoler he just kept saying "No, it's too big". So, he wore his homemade costume from last year, fine, I can handle that.

Liam - Liam was a little tricky. I didn't think I had an old costume his size so I decided he would make the cutest little vampire. We'd slick back his hair, put a cape on him...here in lies the problem. After much searching a friend lent me the cutest little cape and I didn't' even have to make it! And of course, you guessed it, he wouldn't keep it on for anything! So he went in the skeleton costume I made for Luke when he was only 7 months old. Go figure, he was a big kid.

Savanna - OK, last but not least my lovely queen of drama. Savanna went through four costumes this year. The ballerina was never worn, for the church party she was Dora the Explorer, the school party got Snow White and as seen from the picture below, Trick or Treat was honored with Sleeping Beauty (all of which we already owned). Why you may ask. I believe it stems from DNA or her amazing skills of observation. Yes that's right, I take full responsibility. I was a very indecisive child and although I have learned to work with this trait it has carried over to a degree into adulthood. From the day of the church party every time I asked "What are you going to be?" I have heard," I don't knooooow, I have too many choices." I wish you could hear the voice. With every Halloween event we went through it again culminating in hysterics. On Halloween night it didn't help having Jackson screaming from the front door, "Come on, let's go!" Threatening to leave her home didn't help, it just took the hysterics to a whole new level. I finally had to say, "if you can't make your own choice I will have to make it for you." Then put the costume on her through lots of tears. She never fought me though, I wonder if she wanted me to decide for her, who knows. Anyway all's well that ends well. Once we got out the door, we had a great time and the kids got a great haul. So here's to Halloween and the freedom of choice, but maybe not too many.

Sleeping Partners

I know your mind might be heading a certain direction with a title like this, reel it in we are about to go another direction. For about two weeks my three year old has been crawling into our bed every night. This is a new thing for me, none of my other kids have done this and it's kind of getting on my nerves. For one thing, we have a queen bed and it wasn't built for three. He's squishing me. Then there is the occasional kick, not to mention that he has had a cough and keeps waking me up with his hacking. You might be thinking, "Why don't you just put him back in his bed?" Well, he's real sneaky. I don't know he's there 'till he's there. The annoyances mentioned above aren't bad enough to really full on wake me up just be this thing in my subconscious that interrupts my sleep. Then I wake up and say "Okay, this has to stop." So I decided I'd tackle this head on. I'll just ask him why he's coming in and then maybe we can fix the problem. Maybe he's getting cold or having a bad dream. I asked this morning and the answer took me completely by surprise.

Me: Luke, why are you coming in mommy's bed at night?
Luke: Cause I just wuv you.

Talk about melt your heart! Now what?! I could nip this in the bud so he's not doing it at age 10 or maybe clean up my bedroom floor and put a sleeping bag down for him oooooor send him to Mark's side of the bed....I like that idea!

Anyone know a Lawyer?

I have a question and any input would be helpful. After spending 20 or so minutes waiting for someone to help me in the fabrics department at Wal-Mart...(Grrrrr), I purchased some military themed fabric I intend to make into a quilt and then hopefully, sell. I returned home and while showing it to my husband noticed on the selvage (edge of the fabric) was printed the following statement: THE LOGOS APPEARING ON THIS FABRIC ARE PROTECTED TRADEMARKS OF AIR FORCE. THIS PRODUCT IS INTENDED FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. ANY UNAUTHORIZED USE IS PROHIBITED.

After finding the company's website I found that indeed this meant I was not to resell anything made from this fabric. So here's the question...Do they have any legal right to say this? I bought it, shouldn't I be able to do with it what I want? I'm a third party, can they tell me what I can do with my fabric? I can understand not making physical changes to the logos and then selling it, but I'm not doing that. Is this legal? I don't want to be dishonest, and won't sell it if it is. I bought another military fabric with the same logo but designed differently from another company and no such statement was on it. What do you think? Any suggestions?

Banjo Boy

Here's Liam jamming to one of our favorites from Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand.

Conference Quotables from the Chapins

Our family thoroughly enjoyed General Conference this weekend. It's such a great time to take a break from the world and reflect on our lives, where we are and where we're going. Along with this came some great quotes from my darling family I thought I'd share.

In response to Elder Scott's comment on the speed of light Jackson said, "Wow, that's faster than a cheetah!"

After spending the Saturday afternoon session at the Merrell's, Savanna came downstairs the next morning and said, "I want a table full of snacks like at Ben's house."

As we watched the Tabernacle Choir sing Jackson mused, "I wonder why the boys sit separate from the girls." After a lengthy explanation from me about different ranges of voices and the need to sit near people that sing similar to you he exclaimed, "I know another reason. So the boys can't talk to their girlfriends."

As one of the Sunday sessions started Savanna informed us to "Let me know when Pres. Hinckley comes, he's my favorite."

And my personal favorite, from by dear husband. At the conclusion of Sister Beck's talk on the duties and responsibilities of mothers I said "Wow, that was a wake up call." and Mark replied, "Ya...it's about time the women got a talk like that!"

Hope you enjoyed the last two days as much as we did!

"Dad, are you watching Veggie Tales?"

Does anyone but me have a hard time being consistant with Sunday rules? I'm constantly finding myself making exceptions for rules that have been set. It's got to be confusing for the kids. For the longest time our TV rules were the worst because sometimes we'd say Disney was ok and then we'd decide to have no TV then it would change again. It's the same thing with what is allowed during Sacrament meeting. Maybe my kids are just getting too smart. They are calling me on stuff now, "Mom, you let me bring Spiderman last week why can't I color in my Spiderman coloring book this week?" I just want to be consistant so I don't have to keep changing and broadening the rules. I just want a Sunday that's seperate from the world as much as possible and that's tricky.
Slowly we have set down certain non-negotiable rules, (This is just what works for us, I don't want anyone to think I would judge how their family does it. We're all different with different needs.) like we don't play with friends on Sunday, it's a family day and TV is ok as long as it's nature shows, church movies, AFV or Veggie Tales. We've been pretty good on those, we're still working on what's appropriate at church.
Yesterday I was hit over the head with how closely our kids watch us. After the kids were in bed Mark went downstairs to watch some short films he had checked out from the library. He got caught when Savanna came down and said "Dad, are you watching Veggie Tales?" Ouch! I guess that's when I realized that consistancy starts with me. We set the rules and the example. If we can't follow our our own rules how can we expect the kids to. They learn so much from us. They mimic everything we do. So where does that leave me? Still trying to come up with the perfect yet realistic Sabbath day for our family. I suppose that's what it's all about, live and learn.