Happy Halloween!

Halloween was a lesson in extreme weather this year, from a windstorm on Friday to downpours on Saturday. Friday afternoon the kids and I joined Amy and her kiddos for a rockstar circuit through downtown. Why rockstar? You'll see...

Mitch opted for a pirate this year (reprising his role 3 years ago) and Shannon was Queen Elsa of Arendelle. 

Facial hair was a must for this scallywag!

She took her role of royalty seriously, using lots of "your majesty" and trying to curtsy.

The downtown trick-or-treating can be a nightmare with 100s of people. But Amy and I were rockstars because it took us 25 minutes to do the route, and we were nearly the first ones there so there weren't lines or masses of people. Later when I drove by, it was a nightmare of bodies crushed together in a gluttonous, greedy hoard. It was nice to get our greed out of the way without the crowds!

Pretty cute little crew!

The pirate is now sporting vampire teeth and Elsa lost an earring (which she never noticed!).

Saturday morning Shan and I went to the pumpkin patch. Mitch had been on Thursday with his class and he selected a huge pumpkin. How'd you get it to the bus, I asked. "Mom, here's a hint: it's round - like a tire". He rolled it. Shannon also picked a huge pumpkin, and enjoyed some mom-only time at the patch. Curiously, we didn't have to carve them this year! If you're counting, that's one less mess in the garage...

Saturday they went to 8 houses for the first time. It was raining A LOT so they were happy to come home to a hot bathtub. Whew - happy to be done with this holiday for the year! Happy Halloween!

Our Weekend

We had a fun and busy weekend!

Nina came over Friday and we went to the movies - lots of giggles there. Saturday we did our second annual Very Poplar Run at the Boardman tree farm. Beautiful place and fun to run with my friend.

While Bryan and Dave worked on the kitchen, we took the kiddos to the partk. Ava and Phoenix joined us for the afternoon and these four were happy together.

Story time with Nina is always a hit.

And Bryan slaved away on the tile. Whew - is it November yet?

Uncle Bob's Graduation

Uncle Bob went home to Jesus last month and his friends and family celebrated his life this weekend. Bob considered death to be a heavenly graduation and what a wonderful welcome he must have received!

Bryan and I flew to Scottsdale on Thursday night, leaving the children with their Allstot grandparents. 

We enjoyed lots of time with family. Here we played a wild game of Heads Up, with Dianne in the hot seat. Everyone is acting out "vomiting", which she did guess right!

There were lots of little kids around, including Toby. We enjoyed playing with them, and were relieved to have time without parenting duties to enjoy with family.

Saturday's ceremony was wonderful; well-attended, full of powerful music, and including thoughtful messages from Alecia, Michelle, Joy and Dianne. Bob was so loved and respected and his life was truly a witness to his love of Jesus. He is already missed.

In our absence, the kids ran their grandparents ragged! They dressed up, went to parks, rode scooters, watched Homecoming football and fireworks, 

  and carved some serious pumpkins!

Grandpa and Grama Pobst joined in the fun, too. 

We had a special weekend and are once again reminded of just how blessed we are with a wonderful family. Love to all!

Mid-Week Fall Fest

This October weather is amazing - mid-70s, no wind, and just beautiful. We took the kiddos up to Country Mercantile's fall festival tonight to enjoy the fun without weekend masses.
It was a successful night!

They raced through the hay maze,

climbed hay pyramids,

posed for me,

let us pose, petted farm animals, loved the bounce house,

piloted their own planes,

which was cool because they could control the up and down movement, 

and loved the roller coaster! Mitch declared, "That was incredible!"

Fun to have time to squeeze in some family before we drown in other school events. Happy October!