Cameron has been taking piano lessons for about 5 months now and is quite proud of his accomplishments. He was NOT nervous at all for the recital and was actually looking forward to it. He played his pieces perfectly, and was so cute doing it.
Dallin tried something a bit more complicated this year. It's a howling wolf, in case you can't tell (yes, it was one of those traced patterns). 
Can you tell which is Leon and which is the Jack-o-Lantern?
Cameron designed and cut his own pumpkin this year - he was so proud and I think it's super cute.
Landon also wanted one of the traced patterns, so guess who got to carve his pumpkin - yup - me.
Jayden went the traditional route, too, and designed and carved his own. I think I'm partial to the kid-made pumpkins rather than the fancy patterned ones (don't tell Dallin).
Since Halloween was on Sunday, we had a couple of days for celebrating. We started Friday off with the Kindergarten party - good times. Landon's teacher is such a good sport to dress up like that - I like her. (Oh, and the Egyptian princess next to Landon has a crush on him - it's cute.)
After the Kindergarten party it was time for the much-anticipated school costume parade.
Later that afternoon it was another class party - 5th grade. The 5th graders planned their own games and activities, so it's their own fault that this doughnut game ended with a lot of sticky hair - gross!
Saturday there was a neighborhood party (no pics of that) and trick-or-treating in the evening. Halloween is one of my least favorite holidays, but trick-or-treating makes up for it. I love walking around the neighborhood, running into other parents, and seeing the pure joy on kids' faces as they collect their loot. Jayden wanted to be "Willy Wonka" this year, which wasn't all that easy to come by, but we did pretty well. (The kids at school thought he was the "Mad Hatter", though. Hmm.)
Cameron knew far enough in advance that he wanted to be a "Storm Trooper" and I was able to watch for a good deal on his costume - much better than trying to make one. Landon's "Darth Vader" wasn't too hard to pull off, though. As I thought about it, we had 3 Star Wars characters and Willy Wonka - almost a theme but not quite.
Of course, Halloween wouldn't be what it is without all of the candy. I'd say they got a fair amount - gotta love it.
Landon really wanted to help and loved climbing the ladders as long as I'd "hold" it for him.
Of course, it's not ALL work. There is plenty of playing going on, too. Cameron and Landon instantly found these old hobby horses and a squirt gun and did what boys do best - play good guys and bad guys.
After a while I noticed that several kids were missing and found them in the house raiding Great-Grandma's candy and treats. Caught ya'!
When rounding the kids up for lunch, this is what I found in the "scary" room. Apparently, THIS generation isn't as timid as OUR's.
Lunch:
And, of course, no trip to Great-Grandma's house (or anyone's house where Uncle Dave happens to be) would be complete without a heated game of some sort. The kids ran, and ran, and ran. They both fell asleep on the drive home - so worn out!
Roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Or, should I say "charred" marshmallows.
The mountains were still hanging on to their last bit of color, the weather was perfect, and we all had a blast. 
Our cucumber plant was prolific, so I made bread and butter pickles.
We've decided that 4 tomato plants is FAR too many. We've had fresh tomatoes in as many dinners as we can, and I sauced and froze the rest.
This goes without saying, but our zucchini plant was also prolific. At one point I thought for sure we were growing a Volkswagon back there, but it turned out to just be the biggest zucchini in history. I've made zucchini bread (of course), chocolate zucchini bread, zucchini in just about every dinner, and grated and froze the rest.
Our grapes must be an early variety since they come on in August. We've had to fight the birds for them every year so this year we put a net over them to hoard them for ourselves. The juice is quite yummy.
I think the apricots were the first to hit. Our apricot tree died last year, but one of my neighbors had plenty to spare. Apricot jam is one of my kids' favorites, so I was happy to be able to make some this year.
So, here's the big BEFORE:
A recent conversation on Facebook:
My friend and I hit a Robert's 90% off sale and I found these frames for $.59. I decided that they could be painted and no one would ever know that they were once pink and purple animal print. A bit of spray paint and some fun, bold fabric.......
And, now this is what hangs above my toilet. I hope they don't end up in the tank like the last ones did. In all, this project cost me less than $3 and very minimal effort. My kind of update.
This post was inspired by I Heart Organizing - a blog that I love to visit so I can oogle and ahh at others' creativity and talent. 
When I heard they had a Corn Maze, my mommy sense started tingling - you just don't take 20 Kindergarteners through a Corn Maze and expect to all come out together. But, they did. In hindsight, I think we should have skipped the corn maze since it took the bulk of our time. If it weren't for litte Ada we would probably still be wandering around in there. We came to a fork in the path with a sign "Think Again." Now, that's never encouraging in a corn maze. Us adults were discussing our options - I thought we should turn back and take another path - when Ada just shoots down one way. The teacher was compelled to go after her and we all had to follow. It was just around the next corner that we saw the 'Exit' sign. I have never been more relieved to see those words. Ada was SO proud.
The Hay Ride was one of the best parts for us adults - a whole lot less coralling of kids, just keeping all arms and legs inside the ride was enough.
The giant slide was a bit spooky for these little kids, but they powered through - can't be a whimp in front of the whole class now, can you?
Ah, much better - more Landon's speed.
These kids were SO excited to ride on a real school bus - the energy in that vehicle was incredible. I'm just glad I wasn't the one driving.
All in all, this fieldtrip was just what I had expected - noisy, dirty, chaotic, and physically draining. I really don't know how teachers do it. But, Landon and his class had a great time, so it was all worth it. Since Landon is my youngest and I can no longer use preschoolers at home as an excuse, I'm sure this is just the first of many fieldtrips for me.
