7 years ago...

Seven years ago today Tarl and I went on a walk. He stopped us under a street lamp and gave me a hug. He told me a poem (that he wrote himself) and the last lines were, 'Deborah Michelle, will you marry me?'. Pretty fun day to get engaged! I love you babe.

October Thirty First

I dont know if my kids could have been more excited. Kalyana's been screaming and dancing around all day. I think some of our love for the holiday has definitely rubbed off on her. Last year I stayed home and heard all the oo's and ah's as everyone came over so this year Tarl got to stay home and pass out candy and hear the praise of all his hard work. I took the kids out and even Tyce got to tag along this year.

We had the Johnsons over for our traditional dinner of chili and cornbread and then they came along with us out to get candy. After we did up and down our street we stopped off at the house to drop off the boys and then I took the girls up to another neighborhood (that was more into the spirit by actually having their porch lights on).

(A little explanation on my pumpkin. I taped him all up and then sprayed him down with glow-in-the-dark stuff so that I could add him to our black light area. He turned out great!) This year we also got hay bales and corn stalks to add to our house. I loved the complete look!



(This pic is from my sister Heidi. My girls with their cousin Austin.) The video below is a little treat for all those interested in Tarl's craziness. He used Liquid Latex on his face to create scars, bruises and open soars. Then he painted it all up. (Oh and if you're wondering, that bubbling sound you hear is the remains of our dried ice that Tarl decided to throw into the toilet.)

Haunting in the Halls

This morning was Kalyana's big Kindergarten Halloween party. Since the rest of the school does their parade after lunch the AM kindergarten gets to do theirs all by themselves. So all of us moms and dads followed the class around as they went from room to room showing off their fun costumes. The best class photo I could get was all the kids lined up to go outside for recess. The kids had a good time playing all their games. They had ghost bowling, haunted house bean bag toss, number bingo, pin the nose on the jack o lantern and a few other games. I was also in charge of a center. Mrs. A had me take an individual photo of each of the kids. They turned out pretty good.

Makayla had a great time getting to play in the classroom (her favorite part is the kitchen area) and she LOVED getting to go to recess with the rest of the kids. She just ran around like she was a part of it all.

Just a quick blurb of the kids on their parade.

A little Trunk or a little Treat

Tonight was our wards' Halloween Trunk or Treat. This was after the kids got to do a parade across the stage. It's pretty funny to see some kids striking a pose and others walking fast with their head down.

(Kalyana and her friend Kate) The activities comittee did such a great job on the party! We had soups and bread for dinner and then afterwards they had a cupcake walk, coloring station, and story time. They asked me a few weeks ago to be in charge of pictures so I threw together a little scene and took pictures of all the families. I decided I'm not very good at portraits but I still enjoy it so hopefully people don't mind too much.

And of course at the end we had the Trunk or Treat. I was so excited because this year they actually told people to decorate their trunks for a contest. Our neighbors (who did a Haunted Forest Theme) and us both got the top prize. They looked SO much better in the dark. Our neighbor had strobe lights and we had glow sticks, fog machine, glowing eyes and music. My parents and my sisters family came to enjoy the evening with us. (Which was SO nice to have the extra help since I was taking pictures all evening and Tarl was generally stopped to talk to everyone about his costume.) These last few pictures are from my sister Heidi. Thanks sis.

Kid News

Kalyana: Reading so well lately! I talked to her teacher last week who told me her reading level right now is equivelant with the bottom of the first grade. To pass Kindergarten they have them know 30 site words and she said last week when they tested her Kaly was at 27. Pretty good for a few months into Kindergarten.

Makayla: Is doing okay with potty training. She even wakes up in the middle of the night to go. When she doesnt have distractions she does good but since the day is made up of distractions we're still working our way through it. No biggie. I am a firm believer that the parents can do all they want but the kids will be ready when they're ready. This doesnt mean we still dont try certain methods but we're all happy with were things are at. I think we did a great deal of learning with Kaly.

Makayla is having a hard time falling asleep at night and often roams around her room or the upstairs until she's so tired she just konks out.

Tyce: Another tooth, lots of scrapes and is stinkin cute. I'm still not liking the bald head though. In fact random strangers in the grocery store, doctors office, and friends at church have made several comments about his size and capabilities because now he looks like he's 7 months old and can walk around. At least if anything it makes a fun story now. He's really 15 months. Yes my husband really did shave his head while I was out of town.

Lately he's been falling and bumping into everything. I think it has something to do with his teeth coming in. Maybe his equilibrium has been thrown off. In any case, click on the picture to 'enbiggen' it (as Tarl would say), to get the full effect of his catastrophe's this week.

Primary Program 2008

Today we had our annual primary program at church. Since Tarl and I are teachers we got to participate as well, however since we didn't have anyone to watch our other two little ones Tarl sat with them and I sat with the class up on stage. Is it silly that I'm an adult and that still makes me a tad nervous.

Kalyana did an awesome job. Once I get my act together (hopefully tomorrow) I'm going to videotape her little part. She's had it memorized for over two months now. She amazes me! We got a cd of their songs that the girls listened to when they went to bed so even Makayla knows most of them. Kalyana was right up in the front row and I got so many compliments on how well behaved she was and how people were impressed with her memorizing her part. Proud mama, yesiree.

Family & Candy

My aunt Lisa and uncle Kelly threw a little Halloween party for the extended family yesterday. I wasn't able to go but Tarl took the kids and it sounded like they all had a fun time. Tarl was the only adult to get into the spirit of the holiday and all of our kids were dressed up so our family was well represented (c'mon extended family, whats up!?).

My mom told me that Kalyana was acting a bit shy and Tyce was a bit scared of the crowd of people first but Makayla had a great time. I was told the adults all went and stood behind doors so the kids could go around trick-or-treating. The girls came home with a pretty good loot. (My mom took and sent me these great pictures. Thanks Mom!!!)

PTA Mom

I am now a PTA mom!!! Can I just tell you how fun it is to be involved in the school? I love it!! This week is Red Ribbon Week and the PTA had all sorts of activities and contests for the kids. I got to go in a couple times this week to help with lunch time activities.

Another nice bonus (I didn't anticipate), friends! After we were all done I was chatting with Denita (the mom I worked with to set up the Kindergarten classroom) & Ali and three other ladies came over to join us and Ali introduced me to the two I didn't know and we stood there and talked for like 15 minutes. It was totally fun. We were joking about how all PTA meetings (especially impromptu ones like this) should be held at local restaurants. I'm looking forward to helping out more during the year and getting to know these fun ladies better!

Worm?

One year ago today I made a goal to read 50 books in 52 weeks. At my six month mark I hit my goal and I aimed for a new on of 100 books in 52 weeks.

Here are my stats as I was going along.

Date Started: October 22, 2007
Book Count: 17 (As of Dec 31, 2007-end of year)
Book Count: 26 (As of January 22, 2008--3 month mark & over 1/2 my goal!)
Book Count: 50 (As of April 17, 2008)
**50 Book Challenge** Succeeded on: April 17, 2008 @ 4:45pm (a few days shy of the 6 month mark)
Book Count: 68 (As of June 22, 2008-- 8 months in)
Book Count: 75 (As of July 16, 2008--75 books in a little under 9 months)
Book Count: 83 (As of August 22, 2008--17 books left with 2 months to go!)
Book Count: 91 (As of Sept 22, 2008--1 month to go!!!)
***Book Count: 100!!!! (As of Oct 10, 2008, 50 weeks)***
Current Book Count: 106 (As of Oct 21, 2008)

I read 106 books in one year!!

Virginia Travels

More pictures of our trip to Viriginia to visit my sister Heather.

I got the rest of the pictures from our trip off my moms camera today and wanted to add them. I'll probably go back through and add them to the right days with explanations but I wanted to get them up so I could see and share them.