Long time

It has been so long since I have posted that my blog is all messed up. i am going to try to fix it.

TJ and Brody's Birhdays

It's fun having TJ and Brody's birthdays so close together, but it does make things a little crazy for me. Brody's birthday was so busy that I didn't have a moment to get any pictures. Brody had a marshmallow gun war for his party. TJ had learned to make marshmallow shooters in scouts, and he helped me make them for his Brody's friends. They had a fun time ambushing and shooting each other. After his friends left, the boys had a fun little shopping trip with Grandma LeDuc. That night Brody had a request. He wanted a whole box of Costco orange chicken just for himself. He wanted plenty of leftovers so he could have orange chicken the rest of the week. For TJ's party, he had a Drama party. We played games that he learned in his Drama troupe, we ate pizza and we watched a movie. One thing that Brody and TJ have really enjoyed doing together lately, is ripsticking (it is kind of like skateboarding). They got a little ramp for their birthdays and have had a great time working on tricks and taping each other as they show off their skills. They have been really sweet to teach Trey, and he gets out there with them and they spend hours outside playing. I love to see them spend time together. They are really growing up. They are such great boys. They are wonderful examples to their younger siblings. They help me out so much! I don't know what I would do without them! I love you TJ and Brody!

Heritage Square

I got a little behind in my posts, but I still wanted to include them. The kids earned some coupons from their summer reading program, so we went on a little outing. Grandma and Grandpa LeDuc went with us, and we had a great afternoon. However, we did have one little problem. Alyssa got lost. We were frantic looking for her, and we couldn't figure out how she evaded 3 adults. But all was fine. She just didn't leave the arcade. A really nice employee stayed with her and gave her a sucker. After, the other kids said, "The next time we go there, we want to get lost too, so we can get a sucker!"

Halloween

Halloween started for us on Friday. I got to help with Brody's school party, and got to visit Trey in his class too. The kids were so excited to show their friends their costumes and have a little party! Then, we came home and hurried to decorate the back of our car for our ward party. We had a trunk-or-treat which the kids go around to every one's car and get candy, and then we headed inside the church for a little dinner and games. TJ got to help the young men put on a game this year, and he loved that. They did the donut on a string game. Our neighbors, my sister and my niece and my parents came. We had a blast! Brody really bugged me about decorating our trunk this year (we usually don't decorate it) but it really paid off because we won a gift certificate to Chili's for a prize! Score! Then on Saturday the boys went trick-or-treating with Travis and my dad, and the girls, my mom and I, stayed in to give candy to the people who came to our house. The girls thought this was so great. Whenever the doorbell rang, they would rush to the door, pick out a candy, and then put it in the kids' bags. If there were a lot of kids at the door at once, it took them a few minutes to get the candy and (one by one) and put it into each bag. They thought they were big stuff! Just in case you're wondering, TJ was a carrot, Brody was Harry Potter, Trey was Mickey Mouse, Lyssa was Minnie Mouse, Charli was Hannah Montana, and Travis and I were people from India. Anyway, we missed all of you who weren't here, and can hardly wait to check out your blogs so we can see everyone else in their costumes!

Two Snow Days

So we got our first blizzard of the winter! Over 2 feet of snow. It was so much fun. School actually got cancelled and we didn't have to really go anywhere so we got to decorate our houses and just play in the snow! We have a small hill next to our house, so sledding is very convenient! The kids spent so much time out there- I couldn't believe it. I could hardly stand the cold just taking a few pictures, but they didn't mind a bit. They'd go out there for an hour or so, come in, get warm, and then head back out. The boys made snow forts, had snow wars with the neighbor kids, and made ramps for sledding. Look at one of the pictures at the bottom. See how much snow we got on our pumpkins that we carved 2 days before that? And the pumpkins are even under the porch! I wish we could have more storms like that!

Decorating Halloween Haunted Houses

Grandma and Grandpa Hall sent us a great surprise! They sent us the supplies to make Haunted Halloween houses (since they couldn't make them with us). What a great idea! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa! The kids had such a great time making the houses, and the timing was perfect because we ended up having a snow day.