Good bye October...

I can't believe October is over! The first two weeks of the month were filled with sickness and the second half was filled with plenty of activities to keep us busy.

Here is Connor making carmel apples. The kids wanted to make these over fall break but since they had fevers and coughs we decided to make them when everyone was feeling better. By the time everyone was feeling better it was time to go back to school and any other activities we had going on (cheer, baseball, play practice, parent teacher conferences, etc...). So the kids decided that they would just make them in shifts. Connor and I made some one day and well, the girls still haven't made theirs...

In Phoenix, you can't carve your pumpkin too early because they turn into mush in about a week. Connor's was pretty moldy in 4 days. That's what happens when the temps are still in the 80's and 90's. We didn't even put them outside this year. Connor woke up yesterday and wondered who put dryer lint in his pumpkin (he had never seen mold before). Like the carmel apples, the kids carved their pumpkins whenever they found some free time to do so. Connor carved his first and Cassie carved hers (with some help from a little friend) a couple days later. Courtney's pumpkin still sits waiting to be carved...

This year our church had an event for the community. It was called Salsa. It was called "Salsa" because people were supposed to bring their homemade salsa for everyone to sample but it was more like a carnival (with lots of homemade salsa). We had a petting zoo, a train, a couple bouncy houses, a huge slide, swings, a blow up obstacle course, a tye dying station, video games, carnival games, burgers, hot dogs, snow cones, cotton candy, popcorn, face painting, crafts and a skate team that did skateboard tricks! We had over 1800 people at the event. It was so awesome to be able to do this for the community. We haven't done this type of event ever! The best part...it was free! People were blown away that we didn't charge anything. We heard nothing but positive feedback. Our whole family volunteered (Patrick put in about 10hours that day). It was neat to watch our kids work with the guest. Courtney worked the tye dye station, Cassie worked in video games and carnival games, I did registration and carnival games, Connor helped me a little but he had friends from his baseball team there so he hung out with them for most of the day and Patrick was helping all over the place. It was great that Joel, Mary and their family as well as mom, Edward, his grandson, Avery and his (niece?) Maya came too. Since I was "working" that day, I didn't take many pictures. Most of the pictures were taken before the event started...

After Salsa, we went home to rest for about 30 mins and then it was time to head out to meet some friends for pizza and Trick or Treating. The kids were pretty tired form Salsa but they managed to visit houses for a couple hours. Cassie was a teen Minnie Mouse, Connor was Mario and Courtney was Underdog. Courtney was going to be "tinker bell" but she left part of her costume at school. For cheer camp they had a super hero day and were supposed to make a super hero costume. Courtney came up with Underdog. The morning of Halloween she decided that would work for a Halloween costume. She was invited to a Halloween party but decided not to go. She was just going to hang out at home but we talked her into hanging out with us. I think she was glad she did! Connor and I had to dress up for Awana. I was a hair dresser (you can't really tell in the picture) and he was Mario...