Fall Fun

Alan took the day off work yesterday, so he volunteered to help at the first grade Thanksgiving feast.

They chopped vegetables to make soup.

When the soup was done, the class divided into Pilgrims and Indians and ate their feast of soup, juice, bread and pumpkin pie.

The younger girls had a half day, so we decided to enjoy the last day of sunshine and take a bike ride along the river path. (It is pouring rain today)
The fall leaves were beautiful.
We stopped at a playground and let the kids play before we turned around to head home.
For some reason I didn't take any pictures of us on our bikes yesterday, but here are some from summer time.
We found a great deal on a trailer at a garage sale, so we were able to start going on long rides again.
Emily really needs a new bike, but luckily for her Lani will probably get a new one for her birthday...so there will be one to hand down! (Poor middle girl) :)
Alan has to use my bike or borrow one, because he ruined the back wheel on his bike giving Emily a ride in the baby seat. He got it fixed, and ruined it again. Sigh.... we will probably give him a new one for Christmas. Anyway, it was a beautiful fall day and I'm glad we were able to enjoy it together!

Primary Program 2009

We had our Primary program today. Since I couldn't take pictures at church, I took pictures of the girls when we got home. They did a great job!
Emilyanne accompanied the Primary and a small singing group on the piano for the song "Happy Family" She did very well!
Elisabeth sang "Happy Family" in Japanese with a group of kids from her school.
Leilani was one of the narrators (which she has been looking forward to since she turned 8)
We were very proud of them. It was a little sad for me too, because this was Leilani's last Primary program - she will go into Young Women in March!!! I also can't believe that Benjamin is going to be a Sunbeam next year. Yikes! Where does time go?


This didn't turn out great, but I filmed Emily playing the piano while Elisabeth sang "Happy Family" in Japanese so we could capture the moment.

Halloween 2009

Trunk or Treat
Our ward had a fun Trunk or Treat party. We ate hot dogs, nachos and hot apple cider
They had fun games and a pinata.
They also had Trunk or Treating - which the kids loved!

School Activities
I was really sick the week before Halloween, so Alan ran to school on his lunch hour and took pictures of the kids in the costume parade.
It is the first year I have missed this, and I was sad not to be there. But I was really glad to get pictures!! (Emily could not seem to make up her mind which costume to wear this year)
Benjamin had his first Halloween activities at school, and he was very excited about the ghost he made (we hung it up in his room) and the trick or treating they did.

Halloween Day
On Halloween day, we took the kids to Toys R Us for the costume parade and trick or treating. They got Lego cars, coloring pages, crayons and some candy.
When they got home, Alan helped the kids carve their pumpkins. He missed out on this last year because he was in Missouri.
Elisabeth decided to color on her pumpkin instead of carve it.
Emily designed her pumpkin and carved most of it herself.
Leilani also designed her pumpkin herself, but had a little help from Dad with all the carving. Hers definitely had the most carving!
The finished products were very cute!
When it was getting dark, the kids got dressed and went over to Grandma's house to meet up with their cousins for trick or treating. Alan was nice enough to miss the football game and take the kids out because I was still not feeling that great.
It started raining, so we broke out the umbrellas to keep them dry. Luckily the rain was on again off again showers, so they didn't get too wet. When they finished trick or treating, we all went to Grandma's house for our traditional cider and donuts. It was a fun Halloween, and we were glad to have Alan here with us this year.

2009 Pumpkin Patch Trip

We went to Thistledown farm for our annual family pumpkin patch trip.
It was muddy, but it was sunny and not too cold.
The kids were excited to find their own pumpkins.




We had a fun time. The kids really liked the wagon ride too. We were pulled by a tractor on the way out and pulled by horses on the way back.

Kim and I also took the kids on our traditional walk through the corn maze, but it took a little longer this year. For some reason we seemed to get lost more often :)