HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Leo the Lion

Superman. Johnny's first costume in 3 years!! :)

Kyla our beautiful fairy.

Johnny and his buddy at the trunk or treat.

Sir Arrow Sparkles Seamons

We have a new addition to our family, his name is Sir Arrow Sparkles Seamons. If you are Johnny you call him Arrow. If you are Kyla you call him Sparkles. Technically Sparkles was a b-day present for Kyla but he is our one and only family pet so we all helped name him.

We thought about getting a cat, Kyla's first choice of pet, but decided we are in the turtle stage of pet ownership. He stays put, he can fend for himself when we are out of town, and his mess is contained. We will work our way up to a cat or dog, when the kids can help take care of the pet.

The kids think he is the coolest thing. The other day Kyla told us all about how she was training Sparkles. Turtle training is a tough business...

This is Sparkles home, up and out of tiny hands reach.

First Cut!

I LOVE Leo's long hair, even his mullet! I trimmed the back once so the mullet wasn't so mullety but that is the only hair cut he has had... until today. Steve has been bugging me for awhile to cut his hair, I finally gave in. Leo is growing up, he isn't a baby anymore. Well he is still my baby but not a baby baby... Aren't they always our babies!

One last picture of his LONG hair.

Handsome Guy! He was really good for the haircut and held still for me. I shouldn't admit that, I'll have no excuse if it is a bad cut... :)

Leo is growing up and it is so fun to watch! He is such a sweet boy!

monsters, monkeys and messes

MONSTERS! The silly kind with googlie eyes, not the scary kind. We made monsters for our M week. Ky and John LOVED it! It did require some sewing on my part but somehow I managed... They want to take their monsters everywhere and show everyone how cool they are.

While we were at it I made some too. The sewing machine quit when I was almost done with the third one, it just isn't used to working so hard. It is having a time out under the stairs to cool off.

Another day we made some monkey puppets. I was super impressed with Johnny on this one, he cut the body out all by himself and wanted to help me cut out the other pieces, he usually just asks me to do his cutting. Go Johnny with your scissor skills!

We had some music time one day and sang 5 little monkeys, they sang with their puppets and thought it was fun. I thought it would be a good time to talk about subtraction, "how many are left when one monkey falls off," kind of thing. So after the first verse I asked the question and was all geared up for teaching, then Kyla popped out with "4." She did the whole song, subtracting one each time. I know, not too complicated but still I was impressed.

Not sure why everything has to go on their heads to take a picture... :)

Yes, we have a lot of fun with our projects but man do we make a MESS!

full of it

"Where's Kyla?" -Mom

"She went to get dressed." -Johnny

"But, she didn't finish her oatmeal." -Mom

"Her's full of it." -Johnny

Sometimes, Johnny, sometimes... :)

FALL

Fall is here and I LOVE IT! We drove up the canyon on Sunday to admire the beautiful colors of the fall trees. Mostly Aspen but a few others in the mix.

Leo wanted to hold a leaf like the big kids, he kept blowing on it, like it was a candle... funny boy.

We sure live in a pretty place!

BOO

Leo is a blanket kind of kid, he loves his blanket! The great thing for me is that it can be just about any blanket... no searching for the blanket at bedtime, any one will do. He also loves to play peek-a-boo. Lately he has been walking around with his blanket over his head playing peek-a-boo, on the go.

Where's Leo?

BOO!! There he is!! Our cute HAPPY boy!

3

"What makes the fff sound?"

"F"

"Oh... 3 starts with F!" -Johnny

Johnny Boy says most of his th sounds as f's... So yeah, free starts with f. But I think you mean three and that is a th... It is really cute when he says things like "fank you!" But it does make learning to spell tricky.

Cousins

My Sister and her family were in Sedona for vacation this week, lucky us Sedona is just down the hill from us. We went and played in the sun and water with them. The kids all had so much fun together!

Leo's wrinkly nose smile.



Johnny was "surfing" like this for hours!



I loved this pic of Coulten, so funny!



Kyla was in heaven, she loved having all her cousins visit Arizona!

Seriously fun times in the water!


I love the extended summer we have here by just driving down the mountain an hour!

W W W What's happening dude?

It was a week for the wonderful letter W! We had some serious fun, I am actually a little surprised by how much fun I am having with it all.

One day we made watches and talked about how to tell time. Ky and John have been talking about time ever since, I love it!

Of course we made a few witches, here are the finger puppet ones we made.



And how about worms for a snack. Johnny wasn't too sure about the slimy worm chilling in a mud cup...

Ky didn't have the same reservations... she dug right in!

Some friendly whales also made an appearance.

Steve keeps reminding me to look for a preschool for Ky, but we have so much fun with her home that I keep forgetting...

School

We have some big changes at our house...

Kyla started kindergarten this fall at 4 years old, a month before she turned 5, "early entry." She did a kindergarten readiness assessment last spring and the district gave the recommendation for her to go to school this year.

She went to school and really loved it, at first... The week after her birthday she started saying she didn't want to go to school or ride the bus. When we asked why, she said she just wanted to stay with mom. Not normal for our outgoing, I need social stimulation girl. The first day of nursery, I opened the door and she ran in and never looked back...

So when we met with her teacher the end of that week and she recommended Kyla wait a year and start kindergarten next year, we went with that. Reality? OK fine, after a couple days of tears and discussion we made the decision. Tears, because we had made the decision already to send her and it was a tough one to make, then to realize we were wrong... WHAT?! I know, shocked us too. And discussion because her teacher told us it was our decision, Ky could stay in school if we wanted her to. But did we want to send her to school if she really didn't want to go and didn't have to... in the end we decided, no.

We have been looking for a preschool for Kyla but it is almost two months into the year and that means they are all full. We are on some waiting lists and still looking for more options.

SO while I have all my kiddies home we thought we would do some extra fun stuff together. This week has been all about the letter P. How can you not with all the fun PUMPKIN things to do?!

We read books about Princesses, Pigs and Posh Puppies while resting on Pillows for morning reading time.

It was another, hunt for the binky day, they just love that corner when the crib is pulled out!

Cute Pumpkins! We cut the faces out of foam and attached them with Velcro, we made a couple sets of faces so they can change them, like Mr. Potato Head. Oh and the perfectly shaped and sized pumpkins... they're fake.

Of course, we had to make pumpkin shaped sugar cookies. These are special though... we have SO MANY sweets in our house right now that I couldn't bring myself to make a gigantic batch of sugar cookies, so... we recycled my BIG birthday cookie... we cut the pumpkin shapes out of it, added some orange frosting and sprinkles and ta da Pumpkin sugar cookies!

See we even had a lesson on recycling, Flagstaff is rubbing off on me.

Mmmm, frosting!

Kyla was upset when we first talked to her about not going to school this year but she has been totally fine since then.

I am excited about the extra time I have with Kyla and find myself wondering, why I even wanted to send her to school this year anyway... I guess we did learn a few things. :)

SCOTLAND

Sir Walter Scott Monument.

Stairs in Walter Monument, claustrophobia!!

Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle

That is a lot of bag pipes! It was awesome!

Beave's awesome parallel parking!

Football, Scotland style.

William Wallace Monument

Stirling Castle

I loved the sign on this boy scout building, "Quarreling is Taboo." I'm getting one.

Stirling Castle

Cemetery at St. Andrews, I loved how it was on the coast.

Jeanne and I at the St. Andrews Castle ruins.

Beach at St. Andrews, birth place of golf.

Awesome tree at a quaint little church along the road.

Inside that quaint little church.

Fish and chips at the "best chip shop in Scotland", Anstruther.

St. Andrews Cathedral ruins, it has actually been ruins for 600+ years...

Glamis Castle, where the Queen Mother grew up.

Aberoath Abbey

Just some cool bridges, one train, one cars.

My FAVORITE castle, Dunotar.

Dunotar

Oreo Cows! Regular and double stuff.

The black sheep.

This guy cracked me up... He is my kind of eater, shortest distance between food and mouth, means more food, faster! :)

Another funny... the "elderly crossing" signs.

Cathedral in Glasgow.

Outside the Cathedral in Glasgow.

The Necropolis, one of Scotland's more famous cemeteries.

Museum in Glasgow. I have an irrational fear of birds OK?!

CRAZY BIRDS!

Glengary Castle, the castle we stayed in one night.

Glengary is on a tay, or maybe it is a firth, no, it is a loch... anyway, body of water... cool pic in the morning fog.

Glengary after the fog lifted.

The ruins of Glengary Castle.

Eileen Donen Castle, made famous by the movie The Highlander, or so they say.

Steve thought this sign was hilarious.

Lighthouse... name unknown... to me... I'll look it up... someday... it is on the Isle of Skye. Gorgeous!

Fountain and Castle back in Edinburgh.

Clock made with living flowers... just cool.

Out of time... Maybe I'll put some more pictures up, or maybe you'll just have to trust me that is was amazing and beautiful!