Halloween Fun

*WARNING: Picture overload!

We seemed to spread out the Halloween holiday for a few days this year. It started with the girls and their cousin Abby riding the rides @ one of the roadside pumpkin patches.

Benj carved this at a pumpkin carving party with friends... I watched. Good job babe! ;)

The girls both had costume parties @ school. This is Lexi in class, they had orange snacks. I had a cute video of Ava and her class singing a Halloween song, but I can't get it to upload.
Grandma Diana sent the girls fun stuff from Crate & Barrel to decorate cupcakes. They had a lot of fun making their creations! Thanks Mom! Lexi: An angel

Ava: Tinkerbell minus the wings... she refused to wear them.

Trunk or Treat night Lexi liked cleaning out the pumpkin... Ava, not so much. Benj carved a Tinkerbell pumpkin, it turned out great. Took the kids to Shark Reef where kids in costume got in free and got to trick or treat. Benj has taken the girls several times, but this was my first time there. It's pretty cool. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!! Now we get to gear up for more holidays. :)

I Love Fall!

I know I've said this a lot, but I love autumn. It doesn't last long here in Vegas, so we take what we can get! The weather is finally cooler, I'm watching NFL every Sunday, and Halloween is coming up. Saturday night we took the girls to the atrium @ Bellagio to see the fall scene. The girls especially loved the talking tree. We decided to walk around front and watch the fountain show too. It's been a while since we were down on the strip.
Last night we decorated sugar cookies for FHE... minus Benj. He works at Mountain View Hospital now, and just started there this week. And now he has to commute! It's about a 25 minute drive. It's weird to think of him being far away now and not just across the street @ Southern Hills. :) But we're so proud of all his hard work in his career and supporting us! Happy Fall everyone!

Update

My parents came to town last weekend. It was so much fun having them here! Of course I got zero pictures of the kids with their grandparents... :( But we made the most of our time and after the weekend was up, we were exhausted! Thanks for the great visit Mom & Dad!

On another note- Lexi came home the other day and crashed on the couch. That is not really like her, and yep she was sick. She had a fever. So she stayed home from school yesterday. I cancelled the dentist appointments the girls had and made dr. appts. instead. Thank goodness it was nothing serious (like the dreaded pig flu) and we kept her home today just to be on the safe side. She was devestated though because today was her first field trip. They were going to the orchard to pick a pumpkin. Oh well, they're going on another field trip the week after next. And it's back to school tomorrow!

Also... the weather here has been FANTASTIC!! We had three digit temps on Monday and today the high was supposed to be 78. Aaaaahhhh... I love having the screen door/windows open. The girls were playing in the backyard and wanting to put on their jackets, lol! And I must mention the yummy smell in my house now: the stew cooking in my crockpot. Mmmmmmm... I love Fall!

The Putt Park

Saturday night we decided to head down the street to try out the new miniature golf course. It looks so small from the road, but it is a 18 hole course. It's nothing fancy, but we got in half price for their grand opening. It was dark, so they gave us glow in the dark golf balls. :) This was the first time for the girls miniature golfing. Lexi had a blast, she didn't care about the rules or anything. She just hit that ball as many times as it took to get it in the hole (and sometimes it was many). Ava on the other hand... she was done after hole 1. All in all, it was a fun family activity.

Joy School

Ava started Joy School today! I was really worried that she would freak out when I dropped her off, but nope... she did just fine. She was so excited this morning, she kept asking when we could go. She got to bring show 'n tell and I think she changed her mind 4 different times. Ava ended up bringing her Ariel camera. :) I think this will be great for her socially and of course she is learning too. There are 4 kids in the class, everyone is from church, so she knows the other kids. We rotate houses, and my turn to teach is in a couple weeks... oh joy!

She has such a silly smile! I don't know why, but she wouldn't smile "normal." :)

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day falls at the beginning of the month, therefore Benj had to WORK...ugh. So Sat. I took the girls to the orchard to pick some apples and get some melon. We go every year, but usually during August. We got there and they tell me they had to pick all the apples/fruit so you could only pick vegetables. Ok. So we drive to the vegetable field and start exploring. We only ended up with 4 measely tomatoes (that shriveled up the next day), 3 butternut squash (that I don't even have a clue how to cook), a cantaloupe (which tasted like perfume so I threw it out), and a canary melon (that I have yet to cut into). Yeah, quite a disappointing visit this year... But we made up for it with lunch @ McDonald's and when Benj got home from work, dinner @ Olive Garden. :)


Lexi is carrying the stuffed dog for a project @ school. She was "team player" this week and had to take Top Dog on all her weekend adventures and then write about it in a journal.

Labor Day

Benj only worked half the day, whoo hoo! So late in the afternoon we headed up to one of our favorite spots, Red Rock. We hiked around Calico Springs and then up some more trails to "find a cave." Lexi is always on the look out for a cool cave. It was such an enjoyable evening. The weather is finally getting a little cooler, at least for my morning runs and in the evenings. We grilled steaks for dinner and ate on the patio. Yay for Fall!

These nice people riding the trail stopped and let the girls pet their horses. :)

First Day of First Grade

My first grader woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Apparently, I didn't make her the right breakfast. I made waffles (and by made I mean popping them in the toaster) and cantaloupe. But that is what she wanted last night. I should have known she would change her mind. On to the outfit; she couldn't wait to wear her striped dress. Then it was hair time and THAT is sheer torture... for both her and I! After terrorizing her sister some more, we made it to the school and finally... an attitude change, for the better! Perhaps the rough morning was so I wouldn't be sad to leave her at school ALL DAY. ;)

She survived the first day, loved it and can't wait to go back tomorrow.