When I grow up...

Kyleigh wants to be a famous singer.
Katelyn wants to be a famous singer.
Ridge wants to be a fireman.

Katelyn's Big Day

 After a crazy friend party Katelyn had the actual big day.  We decided to go along with the flower theme from the party.  Most of the decorations were still up.  We had pancake men for breakfast.  It was a school day so Katelyn begrudgingly went to school on her birthday.  It did make her feel better about it knowing that I was bringing cupcakes for her class.  She wanted the same panther paw cupcakes as last year.  For dinner we had Dorito casserole.  Since we had already made a cake Katelyn decided she wanted crème puffs.  We had a surprise visit from Katelyn's primary teacher, Wendi Bowers.  She brought Katelyn over a little birthday present, which was so sweet of her.  That is the second year she has done that.  I took Kyleigh and Ridge to Goodwill to pick out presents for Katelyn.  Kyleigh scored when she found a big jewelry box that Katelyn loved.  Katelyn had a great birthday.  Happy Birthday to our beautiful, sweet, determined Katelyn!

Katelyns Friend Party

 

 Katelyn turned 7 this year and it was a friend party year!  She decided she wanted a flower party.  We revisited the cut-up flower cake on her request.  She seems to like repeating the things we have already made for her.  It was an afterschool party so we picked up most of the girls from school and walked home.  We had fruit kabobs for a snack.  When they were finished with that they all sat down at the table to paint a flower pot.  We had lots of paint colors and brushes available so they could be creative with their colors.  While those were drying we made flowers out of tissue paper.  We played pin the center on the flower.  The birthday girl was the winner.  We opened presents and ate cake and ice cream.  Then the girls were off running madly through the house playing with the flower wands we had for them.  Happy friend party Katekate!

Halloween 2013

We started off the Halloween season  with a trip to the pumpkin patch/corn maze again this year.  We were a little more prepared  knowing that we would be buying a huge pumpkin from the patch.  We went just a week or so after they opened and there were plenty of pumpkins for us to pick from.  We choose this bad boy, all 155 pounds.  It was pretty difficult for Rusty to carry this thing.  It was not only heavy, but awkward.  It sustained some damage upon loading in the car, but nothing too serious.  It sat on the front porch, along with it's cousin, a 20 pound ghost pumpkin, for a few weeks.  We didn't carve it until just before Halloween.  Rusty had a special plan for carving...the sawzall.  Ridge got to help and we had a few extra kids over to watch the fun.  How many people have seen a pumpkin carved with a saw?  It went really smooth.  Good idea Russ!

 We had a ward trunk or treat this year, so lots of candy at the Cook house.  On Halloween night we took the kids out.  Our trick or treaters were curious George (again), Pocahontas (again), and Belle.  Repeat costumes do not hurt my feelings.  Ridge lasted about 1/2 way before he plopped down in the wagon and declared that he was done.  We asked if he wanted more candy.  He emphatically said, "no, it is time for me to eat my candy."  And that is what he did.  While the other kids trick or treated on he sat and ate and ate.  When we got home he ate some more.  The next morning he ate some more.  He came downstairs, jumped up on the couch next to me and told me his tummy hurt.  Then he projectile vomited all of the candy up, all over me and the couch.  That was fun.

Katelyn was hilarious.  She and a friend ran and ran.  Kyleigh and her friend tried to keep up.  They were out of breath and declared they were too old to keep up with the younger kids.  Aliya was a maniac.  She ran with the best of them.  When she finally plopped happily down in the wagon (pictured below) it took her about 2 minuted to fall fast asleep, hunkered over.  She is the most hilarious all or nothing kid I have ever met.

 And of course, it's not Halloween without the sort.  Holly would allow no such thing.  Late, tired, sugared up, it doesn't  matter.  The sort is a key to Halloween.  I know the guidebooks say to take the candy away, but I just can't do it.  Katelyn and Ridge are done with theirs in a day, maybe two (impressive in it's own right, those are my kids!).  Kyleigh saves hers and still has some left the following Halloween.  She can control her sweet tooth and eat a piece a day while doing her homework (seriously impressive, that is all Rusty).

Happy Halloween.

Trip to Northern Idaho

 We made our second annual fall trek to Northern Idaho to visit Darci, Dan, Alma, and Hadrian.  It was a three-fold trip...hang out, build a wall for Hadrian's new room, and pick/process apples.  Dan's homemade cider press gets the job done when it comes to apple cider.  We came home with a load of apple juice.  Rusty and Dan tore down part of a wall and put up a new one to create a room for Hadrian.  That took a good part of one day, but they got it done.  Darci arranged with some of Dan's family to take the girls on a horseback ride and she also took them to Claires for part of an afternoon.  Needless to say they loved that.  Dan pulled out one of the fancy trains and set it up in the living room one night.  Every single kid was so excited about that train.  Alma was scooting across the track just in time not to get hit by the train.  She thought that was so fun.  We ate a whole bunch of delicious food, including lasagna with homemade noodles (GO DAN!).  We played ticket to ride after the kids went to bed.  That is a new favorite.  We are already looking forward to the third annual trip.  The apples season is a pretty convenient time to go, but boating season may draw us away from apple season.  We shall see.

When we got home we splurged and bought a commercial food dehydrator to dry our apples.  My old snackmaster junior circular dehydrator had about 6 square feet of drying space.  The new one has 52 square feet of drying space.  Some day we hope to be drying all kinds of fruit from the 8 fruit trees we have planted in our backyard.  With the new dehydrator, we cranked out the dehydrated apples.  We didn't make any applesauce this year as we still have plenty from last year.  We did make apple pie filling, much to Rusty's delight.  I love apple season!

Fondue Night

Playing in the Leaves

Kyleigh's New Gun

Kyleigh passed hunter safety this summer.  Rusty told her over a year before that if she saved enough money to pay for half of a gun we would pay for the other half.  She worked so hard to pass the class and had her money ready to go.  Great Job Kyleigh!

Lake Hike

 We took the kids on an early fall hike one warm Saturday.  It was a long drive, but only about a mile hike down to the lake.  We found and caught baby frogs and went fishing.  Ridge looks pretty cute fishing with his dog.  Kyleigh was sure that she could swim from the end a pile of rocks to an island without any help.  She was full of confidence from swim team.  We had to hold her back keep her from taking off without Russ.  I think she forgot to factor in the temperature of the lake.  She made it about halfway to the island.  She was screaming and sucking her breath in the whole way.  We laughed and laughed.  Poor little Katelyn was not feeling well at all.  She lay down on the rocks and slept until we were ready to leave.  We love Saturday adventures.