Halloween Fun

If you would have asked me at the beginning of the month what my boys wanted to be for Halloween, I would have told you a frog and a LEGO guy. But this is what we ended up with:

We were at the store looking for frog costumes when Hunter saw "Star Wars guys" costumes and decided he would be a Star Wars guy for Halloween. He chose Yoda, which was a perfect fit for his small stature. He has been wearing his costume all week. When Tanner saw that part of Hunter's costume was a light saber, he quickly changed his mind to being Luke Skywalker-he wanted a light saber too! And I was happy that I did not have to make a LEGO man mask!

The boys had a great time being their respective Star Wars guys, being in the Halloween Parade and trunk or treating at church, and going trick or treating around the neighborhood tonight. As I am typing this, I am still waiting for Ladd and Luke Skywalker to return home from their extended trick or treating trip!

Halloween Parade at Church:
Yoda and Luke,

Dead Skateboarder (Jace) and Cute Kitty (Maci)

Peri the dead Disco dude and her friend the Ladybug.

On Friday we had a Halloween Science Spectacular for school. Each child was to present some kind of science activity that would go along with Halloween. We learned how to make Gak, make invisible ink,

learned about molecules,

and lots of other fun things.

Tanner taught the kids about nocturnal animals and we played an echolocation game that the kids enjoyed.

It was a fun and educational way to celebrate a fun holiday!

Happy Halloween from the Hoyals!

Jedi in Training

Are you brave enough to face this guy?

How about after a little Jedi Training?

This young Padowan is ready to take on the Dark Side!

Lego Mania

How do you keep 8 boys happily occupied for two hours?

LEGOS of course!

Earlier this week Tanner informed me he was going to have a Lego Club meeting at our house and he was going to be in charge. He said he would plan it all and clean the house to get ready for it. When I asked what he was planning to do at this meeting he replied, "Play LEGOS with my friends, eat pizza, and drink lemonade." So, the meeting was planned for Saturday and friends were invited. The only thing I changed about his original plan was to limit the guest list to 6 down from the 15 kids on Tanner's first list. The kids had fun and enjoyed eating the pizza and lemonade.

The kids huddled around our laptop to see the short LEGO movies on LEGO.com. They thought they were hilarious.

Jace's 1-2-3 creation:

Tanner's ultimate police station:

Hunter got to join the Club as well!

After all the kids left, Tanner said, "I am so glad a planned that meeting. It was sooo much fun."

Tall Tales

To finish off our Frontierland unit for school, we studied American Tall Tales! What fun stories to read! We had a "Logging Camp" at our house where we learned what life might have been like at a real logging camp, like the ones Paul Bunyan worked on.

Here are the some of the little lumberjacks eating their logger's lunch.

We also took a field trip to Riley's Apple Farm at Los Rios Rancho in Oak Glen, where Johnny Appleseed took us on a tour of the Apple Orchards...

We also got to make fresh pressed apple cider, Delicious!

At the end of our tour, we saw how apples are sorted, cleaned, and packaged. Then, we each got to eat an apple fresh from the tree! Yum-o!

So, we are now qualified Frontiersmen and will be starting a new unit next week! Fun times!

The Nightly Routine

I’m so glad when daddy comes home,
Glad as I can be;
Clap my hands and shout for joy,
Then climb upon his knee,
Put my arms around his neck,
Hug him tight like this,
Pat his cheeks, then give him what?
A great big kiss.
(from LDS Primary songbook)

Then, the sword fights begin!

Santa Barbara Trip

Last week we took an overnighter trip to Santa Barbara. It was fun to get out of the routine for a night in the middle of the week.

Playing in the hotel room

We went to a Wharf and had lunch. Tanner was a little worried about the fact that we were over water and the only thing holding us up was "old wood" but seeing the sea lions and dolphins swimming made it worth it.

We also went to the Santa Barbara Zoo. We got to see the lions roaring because they knew their dinner was coming. My favorite part were the leopards that were play fighting, it reminded me of two boys I know... It was a fun trip to a beautiful zoo!

Giraffes

Condors

My Little Hatchlings!

Birthday Boys

Last weekend, we had all our family over to celebrate Hunter and Ladd's birthdays. I always think we'll just have a small family gathering for cake and ice cream. Well, "small" and "family" should never be in the same sentence around here. And then I figure since we are having so many people I better have more than just cake and ice cream for them to eat. So, it ends up being a party no matter how much I try to say we are not having a party this year! We had close to 30 people here for our small gathering!

My mom's famous cake for this year was a motorcycle!

It tasted as good as it looked!Opening presents...

And playing with those presents!

The adults enjoyed trying to solve all the problems of the world (or at least our small part of the world) while the kids ran and played and screamed loud screams of joy!

So much for my quiet evening of cake and ice cream!