Ryanne's 5th Birthday Party

I am not a cake maker. Ryanne wanted chocolate with chocolate in the bundt pan so that's what I did. It ended up looking like a giant donut but the kids didn't seem to mind. ;)

We went to the salon to get toe nails and finger nails painted. The girls LOVED IT!!!

I have to tell you about Ryanne. As you know, she has never met a stranger. She talks all the time. haha! So, nothing was different here. She talked to this poor woman the entire time. She would move and see what others were doing which would make the girl get a little paint on Ryanne's skin then Ryanne would turn back around and tell you, "You'll have to get that off my skin." The gal would respond, "You're going to have to stop moving so I don't paint your skin." haha! I felt so bad for the poor gal but she did awesome!

They gave each of the girls jolly ranchers and little shoes to wear out so they didn't mess up their nails. They had to cut them down to size for them though. LOL! Not bad for $24 for all four of them. =o)

After the nails we were all hungry so off to Chick fil a we went for food and play. Hooray!! This lasted for about an hour and a half.

Then, on to our house! The girls changed into jammies, sang Happy Birthday to Ryanne, opened gifts then ate cake. We also had popcorn, fresh pineapple and cucumber strips (I was trying to balance out the junk food). They watched a movie for about 30 minutes and then they were done and played. They played hard. Once girls were started to get hurt I had them settle down for about 20 minutes of the movie and then off to play again. By that time, moms started showing up to get them. I think they had fun. I hope they did. Ryanne loved it! It was an almost sleepover except the girls went to bed an somewhat descent hours (around 9pm). Ryanne and I had fun!! Oh, during all this, Paul and Collin were camping with the scouts. Paul has pics from that so I'll have to post those later. 

Fall Festival - SCVCS

SCVCS had another field trip for us. YAY!!! LOVE field trips. This one was done by Clemson University agricultural group.

Playing in the hay stack! I'm so glad my children were able to jump off the haystack into more hay. I have never been able to do that and it looked like so much fun in movies.

The playground was a maze of hay-bales and tunnels. So cool!

Our first booth was to learn about corn and all that corn is used in and the history of corn and such. Then, we got to go through the corn maze. We were told to let the children lead. Collin decided to lead the first group through. He was not the oldest. The oldest was about two heads taller than Collin but Collin led anyways and the other children followed. The parents followed them. Of course, Collin ran through the maze so we had to run to keep up with them. I didn't want them lost in the maze w/o us. haha! But, Collin led us right out. He didn't make a single wrong turn. He said it was easy b/c he could tell which parts of the trail were walked on the most. There was only one tricky part where they had to make a decision.... right or left. He said he had no clue but all the other kids were waiting for him to choose so he went right. We all followed and he led out straight out the maze. LOL! The other group that didn't manage to keep up with my running son got so lost that the people in charge of that area had to go in and get them. LOL! I was proud of Collin for being such a great leader. :)

The next booth was about pumpkins. It was pretty cool. They made pretend GIANT pumpkin pie all together. It was funny. The lady who led the group used to be a kindergarten teacher and it was obvious in the way so spoke to the kids. She didn't lose their attention for a second. 

At the end of this section they got their own pumpkin seeds in a ziploc bag with a wet cotton ball to grow (ours just started molding so we trashed it but it sounded cool). See the boy with blue jacket right in front of the camera here. He was the one I was talking about who had Collin leading.... along with all these other children. hehe!

Time for the "hay-ride". There was no hay but, whatever. This was an informative ride. The guy in the front was telling us about all the things they do there and learn and was teaching the kids about the different plants growing and experiments they do there.

Bamboo!

After the hay ride we went to the Children's Garden which was SUPER COOL!!!! This was a human sized bird house so the kids could see what it would be like to live in a bird house.

Eeyore in Pooh's Garden

Old MacDonald's Farm... cutest thing ever!

They also had Mr.McGregor's Garden and all kinds of things. I just loved how they did a play area based off children's literature. Isn't that awesome!!!???? The correct answer is YES!!!

Randomness - Halloween/Parks/Cubscouts

No, Collin is not in cubscouts yet. He could be a tiger scout but the church doesn't start until wolves so he has another year. But... one of my favorite responsibilities I have in primary is working with the cubscout program. This means that I get to bring Collin with me to pack meetings and occasionally I take the kids to den meetings as well. Collin got to bob for apples for the first time.

It took him a while but eventually he did get an apple. YAY!! It was hard b/c he is missing two of his four front teeth. haha!

He has finally gotten pumping down. Hooray!! So, when we go to the park he can normally be found on the swings. It's nice not have to push him constantly. I can just sit back and watch him swing while I try to keep up with Ryanne.

Trunk or treat at church. I was one of the people in charge of the fall carnival so I didn't get a lot of pictures b/c I pretty much just turned my children loose in the church while I handled other responsibilities. There were lots of carnival games, food, and a spook alley. Of course, there was trunk or treating at the end. There were about 270 people at this thing. I was so tired when it was over. LOL! But, it turned out really awesome and the kids had a blast so it was all worth it!!

Feast of the Dead!! So, instead of going trick or treating Halloween night (b/c the kids get enough candy from trunk or treating) we have a Feast of the Dead. Basically... we eat lots of food and watch a Halloween movie. Here are the "mummy-dogs" the kids made. hehe! 

And Frog Eyed Salad!!!

Our adorable pumpkin went on sale Halloween day for $1.99 so we got him. He was HUGE!! Ryanne drew the eyes and Collin drew the nose and mouth. I cut, of course. Didn't he turn out cute? I had to trash him Friday and it was so sad. He had turned into a slimy mess but he really was cute and here's the proof!

Time Out For Women

I snagged this from a friend's blog. ;) I had the opportunity to go to Time Out For Women this year. YAY!! :)

I have never gone to TOFW before so this was pretty exciting for me! It was also the first time I've been away from my kids on an overnighter. Oh!! It was tough but I survived and they survived and Paul cleaned the house. haha!

While I was there, I found something that I haven't seen in years and I'm pretty sure my children have NEVER seen one. I had to take a picture with it so I could show it to my children one day.

 Yes!! It was an actual payphone!!! How exciting is that? We picked it up and heard a REAL dial tone too. It was crazy!! A real, working payphone!! :) haha!

Anyways... moving on to the more important things....

Jericho Road was singing. It was really funny b/c they were pretty much a Mormon Boy Band. Seriously! It was hilarious! :) They were good, boy band style. ;)

There were some incredible speakers there too. I'm FB friends with one of them and she and I have even sent messages to each other. I felt special. ;) haha!

It was so much fun going with other ladies from my ward and sharing a hotel room and just experiencing that sisterhood. Everything about the trip was amazing except the ride home. My sugar got all wonky from not eating right while I was there. Blek! So, the trip home was a bit miserable but I made it and got everything worked out. =o) Next year it's going to be even closer to me... only an hour away so I'm excited for that one!

Historical Character Breakfast

So, Collin's school, SCVCS, had a Historical Character Breakfast at Chick fil a.... yes, completely free for us. YAY!! :) We got free CFA breakfast. Love it! The kids went dressed as something from history. I had a knight and a pirate. :) But, before they went, I made them do lapbooks.

Showing off their lapbooks. :)

Making butter with Mrs. Huiet. She read them a book about cows and milk first and then they did this.

There was another table where they read a book (I missed the story though) then they did a science experiment. They had to estimate how many drops of water could fit on a penny and then test it. Fun stuff!!