A Tween Twilight Night

Alexis invited a bunch of friends to go with us to watch New Moon. Dave acted like he didn't care whether he went or not, but either he secretly wanted to go or we just hadn't been to the movies in so long, he was up for anything. We filled our mini-van with 5 tween girls and set off, meeting my friend April and 3 boys from our ward at the theater. We had to help the kids buy their tickets, telling the ticket guy the movie and time they wanted - I think this was a first for most of them (a big step in life - getting your own ticket). We got settled and passed out bags of licorice and distributed popcorn from the giant bucket. The audience reactions were the best - the girls swooning over bare chested boys and making awww sounds at the supposed romantic bits. The best was sitting next to April, she cringed at all the action sequences. After the movie, we got all the kids home and Alexis off to sleepover with some friends. Dave and I needed to stop for a quick bite before picking up the little ones from my parents' house. We made a bet to see who got to pick where to eat - whether that Jacob Black kid was 18 or not (it was hard to believe it was Shark Boy under all that muscle). Of course, I correctly guessed he was under 18. Will Dave never learn not to bet against me? It was a fun night, but one of those times you realize your child is slowly become less of a child, so a little sad too.

Halloween 2009 Video

Springs Preserve

Last year we bought a membership to the Springs Preserve. We thought we would use them one last time before they expired. There are a lot of exhibits about Las Vegas, the desert, and ecology.


Seth is working at the food production demonstration.

Inside the garbage truck

Aunt Crysta's Buttermilk Cookies

Seth and I made buttermilk cookies to prep for the Preschool Halloween party. I have been using "Aunt Crysta's" recipe my whole life, anytime we wanted to make cookie cutter cookies. A few years ago, I read my Great Grandmother Ford's life history and she talked about her Aunt Crysta. This recipe must be at least 120 years old. It makes the best cookies. Here are some pictures of Seth baking in the new Lightning McQueen apron he got for his birthday.

Preschool Party

Last Thursday, we had our annual Preschool Halloween Party. This is Seth and I, dressed up for the fun - he really LOVED his wig - can't you tell?

We started off by decorating foam masks with feathers, sequins, and foam shape stickers. The girls were a little more into it than the boys.

Next, we decorated the buttermilk cookies Seth and I had made.

We sang a few songs and did a chant about "Finding Dracula", then we played games - Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin . . .

Drop the Spiders in the Bucket . . .

Hot Potato (with a big spider and the kids had to do a spider dance if the music stopped when they had the spider) . . .

and Halloween BINGO. We ended by me telling the Gustave Ghost story, that my dance teacher used to tell when I was a kid. It was a fun morning.