More of Halloween

Although Halloween is not my favorite "holiday", it did turn out to be a pleasant night for trick or treating. Of course, being armed with bug spray and only walking 2 blocks before returning home helped. Here are the costumes:

Princess 1:

Princess 2 (Cinderella):

Anakin Skywalker with flashing lightsaber:

One last coat of bug spray:

Ready to go:

Halloween pumpkin

Since I couldn't fit into any other costumes this year, I decided to squeeze into an orange shirt and just be a sort of pumpkin. Most comfortable costume I've worn yet!

Just the girls

While big brother's at school...

Just the boys

Dad and Big B spent last weekend on a father-son camping excursion! Brendan absolutely loved having dad all to himself. Here are some highlights:

Playing with lots of other boys around the cooking fire:

Throwing things into the fire:


Fishing on the muddy shore:

Look closely to see the bait of choice (a fruit snack):



The "just finished setting up our tent" shot:

Lucky boys!

Looks like fall

This post is for my sister who requested some pictures of our fall displays. Although it appears to be cool and crisp, Houston temperatures still average in the 80s (maybe 70s on a cool day). Don't let the orange and brown fool you... about this time of year I get excited to pull out the sweaters and scarves, but alas I remember that it's still shorts and sandals weather. It did feel a bit strange to arrange pumpkins on my front porch in flip flops and a light t-shirt. At least hurricane season is coming to a close!

House full of little ones

Last weekend our good friends had to leave town suddenly for a family funeral and needed a place for thier cute children to stay. We gladly accepted! It really was so much fun and gave me some practice for having four children in the house soon. Here are some highlights of the Columbus Day weekend...

The boys acting out missionary role plays for family home evening:

I quickly learned that it's much easier to do things in assembly line fashion with so many mouths to feed and teeth to brush. Here was our dinner one night (homemade pizza by request). I just pretended I worked in a cafeteria and spooned the grub by section onto each plate. I decided against the hairnet but did sport a lovely apron during cafeteria hours.

The boys had a reading contest and tried to read a Magic Tree House book as fast as possible. They both finished their books in about 45 minutes!

The girls were quite thrilled to decorate Halloween cupcakes:

Here's the shot just before leaving for church on Sunday morning after the shoe & sock assembly line:

Brendan mentioned that he really enjoyed the feeling of having a brother for the weekend. They are all just so adorable I couldn't help but enjoy myself in their company. Thanks Paces!

Food storage thoughts

For those preparing for a hurricane or other natural disaster, I highly recommend almond milk! My entire family preferred it much more than the boxed or powdered milk I have stored. And since it's non-dairy, it doesn't even need to be refrigerated! I will definitely stock up on this for Houston's next big disaster; apparently they occur almost annually here.

Michael also requested a food storage supply of nutella - it seems that loss of power causes major chocolate cravings at our house. Don't forget the pretzels!