And so break goes...part 1

My house is quiet for the first time in days...Hayden and Bryn are off to a play date and Lindsay and Caroline are quietly playing dollies. We have 3 extra kiddos this week while Molly and Andy are off to Houston to visit friends and see U2. We weren't planning on it but I think we may try to go ourselves next week when they are here in Phoenix. It has been 13 years since I saw U2 in concert. It may be time again! I haven't blogged in a while. I have jumped on Facebook a few times here and there but this week has not allowed for serious blog time so I am taking advantage of these 2 hours. Not like I can use this time to get a shower - Zac is napping in my room! (But he has been a great sleeper this week so I can't complain too much! He is just too cute!)

Oh well....on with it.

I always look forward to our awesome October break -2 weeks, 2 days, no school, just play, sometimes bonus vacations (not this year - too many already) and hanging out with friends and cousins. Nothing earth shattering has occurred, just a whole lotta nothin'! And it is fun! Shelly and Joe were here for a few days of our break time so that meant sleeping over with Aunt Shelly. watching Uncle Joe start his model train set up in the garage (pretty cool!) and lots of swimming - they got the pool heater cranking and we had a couple afternoons spent lazily in the pool.

I will consider ourselves to be very blessed to not be spending our Fall Break sick - luckily we got our Ellie fix early in the break last week because now she is the sole member of her family without Swine Flu. The girls made their own doll house with a piece of 20"x20" foam core cut in half, notches cut to slide together and doorways cut out too. They used scrapbook paper to wall-paper and magazines to decorate. This was a super fun project that kept them occupied for hours. The real instructions can be found HERE at Cookie Magazine.
They had so much fun tearing apart American Girl, Land of Nod, PB Kids, Ranger Rick, whatever, to decorate their rooms with mini posters, chandeliers, and even a refrigerator for the kitchen.

Caroline played some more soccer....
...and I think we have discovered her favorite position - bench! She did get up and hustle a bit more because Aunt Shelly was there to watch - it was good to see her move!

Before Molly left we took all the kids to Mother Nature's Farm "pumpkin patch". This is not your typical Oregon or Colorado or Utah pumpkin patch but they don't know that. It is just not the same as back home but still a lot of fun - hay ride, meeting the farm animals, picking a pumpkin (from a scattered pile, not a field) and decorating said pumpkin with foam craft stickers. My battery died while we were there so I don't have a lot of pictures.

We had an alien invasion on tuesday and sadly this is the only picture I got of it. 4 aliens landed on the swingset and came into the house with their best alien voices saying they required alien antenna so I obliged and busted out a craft supply tote. Pipe cleaners, feathers and sparkly fuzz balls made instant aliens and they ran outside to ride their "ships" up and down the street.

Remnants of an alien invasion

Loaded up the wagon with the babes and the big kids rode their bike to the park down the street. The babies are now big kids because they went down the big slide by themselves.
Caroline does not often let me do her hair but currently she is favoring a high side ponytail. What? She looks like Deb from Napoleon Dynomite!


It is going to be around 100 degrees today and tomorrow. I had wanted to go to one of the fun pools this week but not with all the kids. Maybe Monday or Tuesday. We did get our Halloween costumes all planned - the kids are so excited! Maybe Monday or Tues we can work on them some more. Stay tuned - the girls really picked things that are right up their alley personality wise.