Happy Halloween

Melanie dressed as Cleopatra

Her class will perform the "Temple and Tombs" program soon all about Egypt, so this costume will get used again.

 In class, waiting to march in the Halloween parade.

 Her last elementary school Halloween parade.  She wouldn't let me miss it.

 A last minute costume for Graig.  You can't see but he is wearing Warren's cowboy boots.

 Warren said he was the only one dressed up for Halloween at work.

 The ghosts were out on Halloween night at our house and small children skipped knocking on our door.

Pumpkin Carving

Saturday night it was time for the kids to get creative with their pumpkins...

 Tyler carved his pumpkin in honor of his Halloween Costume... His Jack-o-Lantern is the Phantom of the Opera.

 Melanie carved her pumpkin at her friend Brina's house.  They printed off patterns from the internet and used fancy carving knives. Melanie carved a dog into her pumpkin all by herself.

Crazy Hair Day

It is red ribbon week (drug awareness) at Sego Lilly Elementary this week.  Yesterday was hat day and today is crazy hair day.  Melanie has admired this hair style for several years but this has been the first year she has long enough hair to pull it off.  Her hair is pulled up in a ponytail around a paper cup.  Before she left for school she was complaining that it is pretty uncomfortable so I don't expect her to come home with the same hairstyle.

Phantom of the Opera

Golden Living had a Halloween party for their residents and families.  Tyler had the day off school (UEA) so he decided to go to work with Warren in the morning so he could help the staff get ready for the party and so he could "make Rhoda's organ sing".  He is playing Phantom of the Opera music with his orchestra at school and decided to be the Phantom for Halloween.  He found a simple version of the Phantom theme song for piano on the internet and learned it so he could play it on Rhoda's organ.  Rhoda is a resident at Golden Living who has been telling Warren she really wants someone to come and play her organ for her.  Lots of residents wandered in and out of Rhoda's room as Tyler's played his concert.

 Melanie participated in the cake walk

 The decorations for the party were really creative and cute.

Tyler is a Life Scout

Tyler was awarded the rank of Life Scout by his scout leaders, Brother Jones and Brother Colledge at his month's court of honor.  He also earned his Citizenship in the World  and Family Life merit badges.  Eagle Scout here we come!

Creative Halloween Decorating

Warren and the kids decided that it would be cool to mound up the cut grass on the front lawn to look like fresh graves.  They even painted tomb stones and tried to make it look like there are arms coming out of the graves.  Just goes to show that everything is a potential craft project around here, even grass clippings.

Graig's Date

Around the table clockwise:  Graig, Matt, Kim, and Rebekah

Graig has been trying to schedule a second date with Rebekah, from orchestra, for several weeks now.  He has known her since he started playing the violin and they have  lot in common.  When I asked what exactly they have in common besides violin he said, "we both have crazy personalities".  It is really hard work to get a double date together, especially at the last minute.  Graig got his friend Matt to agree to double with him but Matt had a hard time finding an available girl on such short notice.  Luckily Kim agreed to go on the date after she finished with her soccer game.  The plan was to go to Jump on It (a warehouse full of trampolines) for an hour and then come over to our house for peach cobbler, ice cream and games.  Graig was the driver.  When he got to Rebekah's house to pick her up he ran inside with the release forms required by Jump on It and locked the keys in the car.  That gave him lots of time to talk with (get interviewed by) Rebekah's mom, Denise, while he waited for Warren and I to drive to Pleasant Grove and unlock the car for him.   Denise has also known Graig since he was six years old because she teaches at all of the institutes Graig has attended.  Graig agreed to bring Denise some peach cobbler if Denise would extent Rebekah's curfew.  Despite the rocky start, Graig said that it was a really fun night.

Bottom Braces

Dr. Brown put Tyler's bottom braces on his teeth.  He has been pretty sore but he is a good sport about it.  I made him a smoothie for dinner.  Two days later we were having soup for dinner and so I ground up Tyler's soup in the blender.  Warren says they call that a "mechanical diet" at his work.  Tyler didn't like that so much.