Fall Fun

I am glad I blog.
If I didn't, I don't think I would notice all the fun we have, or the cute things the kids say because I am just so busy right now. Sometimes, as I am waking up, all I can think about is the long list of to do's for the day. When I go to bed, I think of what I didn't get done, and need to do the next day.
It was a busy week. Stephen had midterms and it was a stressful week trying to study, do homework, work, Young Mens, and family. But as usual, he got the job done. He did really well on one midterm, not so well on the other. But well enough to maintain his grade point average.
The kids finished the first term of school this week. They all did very well & we are pleased with them. Emily has mostly A's & B's. But the real success story is that she had C's in Math Facts and Spelling. Emily has a learning disability. Math facts & spelling are really hard for her. She works so so so hard in these two subjects. Both C's were high C's, so we are really pleased. Kaitlyn had straight A's. Her lowest grade was a 97%. We are very pleased. Jonathan had all A & B's. Hannah had good grades too, though her teacher would like her to cut down on her talking in class!
I have been working on cleaning & organizing closets, drawers, & cupboards all month. I finally finished last week. Yay! It is nice to know where everything is. I took out bags & bags of junk. I am trying to stay on top of it better so it never gets that bad again. Now, I am starting on the deep cleaning....
Now, for the fun stuff....
Last Monday, we made caramel fudge apples. It was fun!






On Thursday, Stephen worked on his costume. He has to dress up for work on Thursday. Rather than tell you what he is dressing up as, let's see if you can guess. Leave your guess in the comments.



I think it's pretty obvious.

Yesterday, after Church, we carved pumpkins. I have to ask....



Does anyone else carve pumpkins with a power drill? Carving pumpkins is not on Stephen's list of favorite family activities. But when I mentioned that I saw a segment on TV about using a power drill, his eyes lit up, & he got out his power drill!

Hannah was very excited to carve pumpkins. We didn't carve pumpkins last year, in fact none of us could remember the last time we carved pumpkins. So, we think this is the first time Hannah has been old enough to do her very own pumpkin.



She thought pumpkin "guts" were gross!



We used patterns. Hannah poked holes into the pumpkin to "trace" a scarecrow. Stephen carved it out for her.

Jonathan carved his into a pumpkin maniac, with pumpkin guts and seeds oozing out of it's mouth.



Emily gutted her pumpkin, poked out the pattern, & carved most of it all by herself. Stephen did help her a little.



Kaitlyn worked really hard on hers too. She wanted it to be perfect,



I started working on mine......



I thought it looked like a dog. Jonathan & Stephen thought it looked like a rabbit. Between taking pictures and cleaning up, I didn't get very far, so Stephen finished it up for me.

To everyone's disappointment, I forgot to buy candles. The kids insisted we wait to take pictures of the finished pumpkins when they are lit up. So I will post pictures of them next week.

The kids are excited for Halloween. We finished shopping for costumes on Saturday. It is supposed to be the warmest Halloween on record, so this is the first year the kids will have ever gone trick or treating without coats. They are so excited!

Anyone guess what Steve is?