Halloween at the Smith's

Above is the pumpkin with Smith's lit up. All the kids in their costumes with their pumpkins also. We missed our oldest girl Kenzie. She had fun in AZ with her cousin though. Amanda met Ursula on the street. The lady came across the street to say high. She asked Amanda if she could sing any of the songs for her and Amanda said "No, you will take my voice!" She definately knows the story....the lady just laughed and laughed. She really did do a great job on her costume. It looked really neat in person. Amanda thought she was great but she was not going to sing for her....

Halloween 09 evening...

Every year the front street shuts down for two hours and the kids get to go to the stores and trick or treat down main street. They loved it....Jake took a while adjusting to so many people. He wasn't wanting candy bad enought to venture into the crowds but we got him adjusted by the time it was over. I think Amanda had the best time. Mike and Kaylin got to go in a haunted house. I think they had fun but it was definately perfect for Jake to Amanda's age.

Halloween 09 morning...

The kids enjoyed carving the pumpkins this year. Kaylin made a puppy. Mike made a scary face and Kaylin thought of use carving Smith's into the big one. Finally, Amanda did her pumpkin and we cut it out. Next it is Dress up time!

New grease monkey in the family...

Kaylin loves going outside with Darrel and working on the vehicles. He enjoys it because some one to help him and set out there and talk to... This last week Darrel had to change out the brakes and so she went out to help him. She did have on gloves but forgot to take them off when she scratched her face. So far she has learned how to change brakes, change out lifters, and fill all the fluids. She should be set by the time she learns to drive.

Mike's room...

Well, since Jake is with Amanda, Mike gets his own room. he is excited and enjoying it. We hung up some of his models that him and Darrel have put together. He can't wait to decorate his new room.

New home

Well, hopefully all is going to go through with the house. Every one seems to think it will not be a problem and we should be in the house November 20th. I wanted to make it through Halloween and then we will start packing this next week for the move. Everyone is excited and it is a really nice house. It is on an acre lot and very nicely developed.

Christmas early....

Granny and papa sent their christmas gift early this year. the kids are liking this getting christmas in the summer. this year they got a computer for all of them to use for school. The older ones love this. We set up screens for everyone and all. Amanda is still learning to use it but she is all excited that she was included. Jake thinks he can use it but is not quite old enough yet. They will get great use out of it though and it even has a perfect place for it at the new house.

Summer at grannies....

This summer we went to see ganny and Mackenzie made a blanket for granny for her to use at her doctor appointments. She made it all on her own and then they enjoyed tacking it together. The younger ones enjoyed the cupcakes and all the candles.

New room...

Amanda and Jake are now sharing a room since Jake is out of the crib finally! They are enjoying it because she likes Dora and he likes Diego. I think in the new house we will decorate with dora and diego and they will love it. We also weeded through the toys and got rid of the last of the baby toys so they are enjoying sharing pretend and other items.

Amanda has gotten so big and she says the funniest things some times. Here she is wearing her crown and says this is a picture of her with her crown on and she is standing next to her daddy. The horse is at granny's park over the summer.

My little one...

Jake is getting big. I don't have a little baby any more. Now is favorite this to say is "I do it..." It is hard for me to remember that he needs to learn these things now that he is old enough. This week on Tuesday he even sat the table for everyone. I think that is what made me realize he is getting so big.

Forgot the picture...

Extras...

Well, school is back in and so are the extra curricular items. Kenzie and Kaylin are in Girl Scouts this year again and Mackenzie decided to do Maramba again. We had a discussion as usual about why she couldn't do it all. She wanted that plus chorus. I reminded her of the two extra curricular limit (I only let them to two because since there are three of them I am helping with 6 extra activities total) She still didn't get it I don't think, but she decided on Maramba again. Kaylin is doing Choir and loving it. She has a beautiful voice. Mike is doing Cub scouts again and enjoying it. I am the Committe Chair person for Cub Scouts. I find that I like it better and they do to when I am involved in the things they do. Mike decided a week ago he wants to play football but I think it is too late this year. We will have to see about next year or maybe he will want to do soccer again. They do that sport pretty much year round here. The Girls/Boy and the Scouts take up a lot of our time because their troops are so involved. Here are pictures of the girls at the beach where they volunteered to clean up the beach. It was very windy and cold. Mike even went because he had service hours to do for the community. It was fun and they had coco afterwards. I think they are looking forward to the corn maze the most. Luckily they do it the day before Mackenzie leaves.

School is back in...

Well, it has been busy since we got back from AZ. We debated homeschooling Kaylin and having her watch the little ones this year part time while I worked part time and made some money. We decided that this was not such a good idea and Kaylin needed to be in school with her friends but that since I was not working for one more year that we needed to find a house to buy (instead of renting) and to buy on the other side of the sound (right now Darrel is paying $600 in ferry fees) in addition to gas and the travel time (almost 2 hours). This means that this year we will be moving (which I really don't want to do to the kids either). I don't remember it being this hard to find a home in AZ when we bought ours but I guess since we had it built that may be why.

The kids all loved their new cloths from Aunt Missy and Granny. They all got more than necessary and Kaylin I think appreciated hers the most! I hope mom and Melissa realized this. She loves her new cloths. I think this is the first time she has had more than two new full outfits ever. She has always had hamidowns or a new top or two or jeans or two but never them all. Here is a picture of her in a Jacket that mom got her. She loves it as you can tell from the pictures.