Halloween

Halloween is always crazy.  This year was no exception.  Maysen and Stockton didn't dress up to go to school.  Jorja and Preston did.  Jorja was a little worried that she would be the only one in a costume, but there were lots of people dressed up.  Jorja was a dragon like she was last year.  Preston was Emolga, like he was in Kindergarten.  It was nice that the weather was so comfortable.  Love that for Halloween!  I went and watched Preston's Halloween parade.  Weird to only have one child in it.  Preston's principal is a lot of fun.  He always dresses up and has the teachers dress in a theme.  There was a different principal right before we moved here.  I guess she wouldn't allow any of the teachers to dress up for Halloween.  When Principal Robinson came, his first Halloween was shortly after he took over.  He dressed in a full Tin Man costume.  So many of my friends have told me how awesome it was. Anyway, I didn't get a good picture this year, but Principal Robinson dressed as Captain Hook.

Principal Robinson ~ Captain Hook

All of the teachers were pirates.  I didn't think about taking their picture until Mrs. Hogenson had already walked past me.

Mrs. Hogenson ~ pirate

 Mrs. Chung ~ pirate

 Preston ~ Emolga

 I think Blake is funny in this one.  He is the zombie.

Preston was so adorable.  After he saw me he waited for his classmates to get ahead of him.  Then he took off like a rocket ship with his wings outstretched and yelled, "Emolga!"  He had such a serious look on his face.  My friends and I laughed so hard.  He is so funny!

As soon as I saw Preston I took off.  I am trying to get ready for our trip to France tomorrow.  So much to do!  I ended up shopping a lot longer than I thought I would, but it needed to be done.  I hate shopping.  I also dropped the car off at the shop.  We are going to have it worked on while we are in France.

Matt and Sam came up to our house to go trick-or-treating with Anne. Maysen decided she wanted to go around with them and threw on a costume really quick.  I wish this picture wasn't blurry, because I really like it!  I think Maysen had a great time.  I'm so glad they came and spent Halloween with her!

Maysen ~ wizard

Jorja painted her own face.  She didn't have it painted for school. Dallin came over and she went trick-or-treating with him.  They took Preston and Max around for awhile.  I went with them when it started to get quite dark.

Jorja ~ dragon

(she was much happier than she looks in this picture!)

 Preston ~ Emoga

 Preston, Jorja & Anne, Maysen

 Preston, Jorja & Anne, Max, Maysen

 Jorja & Anne

Everyone had a great Halloween except Stockton.  He came home from school not feeling well.  He went over to Isaac's house, but he didn't stay long.  He was back by about 8:00 and went straight to bed.  Poor guy.

Getting Euros

I got to watch Anne today!  She was so funny.  She grabbed the phone and put it up to her ear.  I swear she said, "Hello" and "ya".  So funny!

Anne

I took Anne and met Mike for lunch.  We went downtown to get some Euros and we ate at Kneaders.  Great day!

I really wanted to go to Lagoon today, but it didn't work out.  Jorja really wanted to pick up her birthday party paintings.  She loved them and is so anxious to hand them out.  She will have to wait for awhile. No way am I running her to all these houses on Halloween!  The next day Mike and I are headed to France, so she will have to wait until we are back.

Heather at Lunch

Mike went to lunch with his friends and ran into Heather!  Lucky!

Heather

Stockton had an orthodontist appointment today.  He gets his braces off on his next appointment!  Yay!  December 11th will be a wonderful day!

Where's Waldo

Today was Jorja's first official activity.  It was Where's Waldo at the church.  My kids don't really like this activity, but it will never go away because we get such a great turnout.  I was really annoyed with this priest named Andrew though.  They had the priests all stand up front and they put laurels with them.  They put Maysen with Andrew.  As soon as she got there he said, "I'm not going to play" and he walked away.  I was so mad.  That is not a nice thing to do to anyone, but especially not to someone who doesn't have any friends.  Maysen was annoyed because she thought she was on Nicholas' team.  She really wanted to be on his team.  She is extremely impressed with how he can go so long without talking.

Lots of As

Maysen and Stockton didn't have school today.  First quarter finished on Friday.  Stockton got straight As.  Maysen did too with the exception of math.  She was .16% away from an A.  Dang it!  Still, super awesome report cards.  When the grades were final, Stockton looked at me, let out a breath and said, "Fifteen more to go!"  Good luck Stockton!

Jorja's 12th Birthday

Jorja is 12!  Yay!  We opened presents in the morning.  Here are a few of them.

Dragon topper she got at Great Wolf Lodge

 Frog towel she got at Lake Powell

 A whale from Preston

 A Great Wolf Lodge medallion from Maysen

 Notice the progression of Preston's jealousy

 Jorja & Maysen ~ Jorja loved it!

Stockton made Jorja a super nice gift, but it wasn't finished today.  He told her it was in the mail but it wasn't coming because it is Sunday. Jorja's main present is a heated mattress pad.  She has been begging for a new one.  Hers has not been working well.  We told her she could pick out the one she wanted.

Jorja also got to come into Young Womens today!  I was a little bit excited about that!  The entire beehive class always goes and gets the new beehive from primary.  We got to get Jorja today!  The primary sang Happy Birthday to her and then we sang the welcome song.  We sing to the tune of the Hello song in primary.  The Young Women sing 'Hello' and the primary does the echo except they sing 'Good-bye'.  It is really cute.  It was so much fun getting her today.  I would have taken a picture, but I left my phone home.  Maysen then got to introduce Jorja to the Young Women.  She did such a cute job.  It will be so fun to have both my girls in here with me!  Happy happy day!

I taught the lesson today.  I decided to do my dad's 'Uno without any rules' lesson.  Then I talked to them about how they are in their 'tithing years'.  Elder Holland came and spoke in Georgia when we lived there. He talked about how President Hinckley lived until he was 95 and worked until the Thursday before he died.  If we rounded his life to 100 for easy math sake, what would tithing be on our time?  10 years.  Elder Holland asked us to give 10 years of our life completely to the Lord.  He said, "And I'll tell you the years I want.  I want the years from 12-22. Those are the years where you will make the most critical decisions of your life."  I loved that.  I now have three kids in their tithing years. Yikes!

As we were walking home from church Mike got a phone call.  The stake president wanted to meet with us within the next half hour.  Oh boy.  We were already on a tight schedule, so Jorja ended up making her own birthday dinner.  She wanted fish and potatoes.  She probably liked doing that anyway, at least I hope so!  We met with President Hunt and President Blood.  Still makes me laugh every time I hear their names together.  They asked Mike to be the new Stake Computer Specialist.  I think that is right.  I would ask him, but he is asleep.  We got a new counselor in our bishopric.  Brother Clark.  He had this position for the last 17 years.  I wonder if Mike will have it that long?

We came home and had dinner and cake and then headed to the Trost's for their annual pumpkin carving party.  Jorja's pumpkin was so cute! She carved the Young Womens' torch in it!  She got a necklace with this picture in her welcome bag.  She then put balloons with each of the value colors around it.  Adorable!  I am glad she is excited for this adventure!

 Jorja

 The outline of her torch

 Pretty darn cute

 My 12 year old Porge

Jorja's Birthday Party

Let's just pretend that I'm not super behind on this blog.  Let's pretend that it isn't 3:00 in the morning in France.  I can not sleep and thought that this would be the best time to upload pictures.  I'm guessing not many people are using the free wifi right now.  Anyway, this way I get to look at my beautiful baby girl and remember such a happy time of her life.

Jorja has been so excited about her birthday party.  We let the kids have a party on their even numbered birthday.  Unless we can convince them to take the fifty bucks.  Jorja decided on a Color Me Mine take home party.  It turned out great and was so easy!  I laughed when I remembered Mallory's party a week ago.  12 year olds are definitely not as high maintenance as 4 year olds!  Jorja pretty much planned everything today.  All of her friends seemed to have a great time.  The best part of the day was how happy it made Jorja.  I can't believe she turns 12 tomorrow!

 Jazzie

 Jorja

 New friend Robyn

 Audrey

 Natalie

 New friend Audrey

 Ashley

 New friend Shayla

 Ella

 Jazzie

 Dallin

 Olivia

 Cold Stone cake - yellow cake with mint ice-cream

colored candle flames

 Jorja

 Audrey, Nat, Shayla, Jorja, Jazzie, Olivia, Ella, Ashley, Audrey

 They wanted a mirror picture....this is the best I got

 Several of the creations

 Preston painted his dragon after the party

 Jorja with her stack of frogs

Whew!  I'm exhausted!  I am so glad we can claim today as a success! Everything fell into place.  Jorja started the day really early.  Jacqui took Jorja and Maysen to Kneeders for breakfast.  That is what we have been doing as a birthday gift for Young Womens' this year.  We thought it would mix up the girls and have them hang out with people they don't usually end up being with, having the birthday months together. Maysen and Jorja are the only October birthdays!  Haha!  At first I was assigned October until we realized I could take them out at any time. Jacqui texted me and said how much she loved being around them and how much love they showed toward each other.  Yay!