Family Rock Band

So we finally decided to buy Rock Band. We had been waiting for a long time and Jay found a deal the other day. Jay and I thought it would be a fun way to spend some winter evenings together. The thing is, Collin and Sydney love it too and are surprisingly good at it! We had a family jam session tonight (if you can call it that, ha, ha, ha). ROCK ON JIMMY BUFFETT!

More Halloween

Halloween night. We were so excited to trick-or-treat in the warm autumn evening - one that was almost a record-breaker temperature wise. It rained, of course. The whole night, too! We still had a fabulous night.

Halloween Carnival

Shannon, Dresden and Logan joined us at our school's Halloween carnival. Sydney and Collin, though in a bit of a grumpy mood in the picture, had a great time with their cousins. Collin wanted to be something very scary this year so we decided the grim reaper would be okay. Sydney also wanted to dress up as something scary so she was a vampire or the bride of Frankenstein or spider lady, or ... she couldn't really make up her mind.

Halloween

Shannon, Dresden and Logan joined us for the school Halloween carnival. Collin was in a bit of a grumpy mood (as you can tell) but ended up having a great time.

We celebrated Brandt's birthday and Halloween at Mom and Dad's.

The kids playing in the leaves and quickly undoing someone's hard work.

Mmmm...Spaghetti

Collin and Sydney LOVE spaghetti! They would eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day if they had a choice.

However, every time we have it, a noodle ends up in that hard-to-describe place somewhere between Sydney's nose and throat and we have to get her to blow it out or clear it out some other funny way all while she is panicking and crying.

No matter how much we encourage her to eat slowly, this happens every time we have spaghetti!

Silver Lake

Took a short trip up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Silver Lake this weekend with Nana, Shannon and the boys. We wanted to see some of the fall foliage before all the leaves had turned. We thought we'd enjoy a quiet, peaceful afternoon picnicking at the lake, feeding the ducks, fish, squirrels, etc. However, we weren't the only ones with this idea. The canyon was packed with people trying to do the same! We still had a great time. Maybe this weekend we'll venture up another canyon.

Lagoon

We were able to go to Lagoon this summer with Nana and Papa, Shannon and Larry and their family and Brandt, Soupie and Carlee. Aunt Gloria was kind enough to offer us tickets to go and since we hadn't been for years we gladly accepted. We had a great time!

Jay is having a great time loading the kids on the carousel.

Oh, come on Nana. Go on the ride with us! You'll only get a little wet!

Returning to Earth.

Flyers

One of the things we love about where we live is watching all of the paragliders and hangliders out our back windows. They haven't been out much this summer due to the construction at the glider park but they were out tonight! Mom, Dad, Shannon, Larry and the kids came over for a visit and suddenly the sky was full of them. We counted at least 38. Awesome!

Collin turns 7!

Collin shows off one of his presents.

Collin and Sydney are so excited to unwrap the presents. Sydney always seems just as excited as Collin to see what he gets.

Collin had a little early party with Grandma Jo and Grandpa Bob when they were visiting from Arizona.

COLLIN'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

We invited family and a couple of Collin's friends from school to a little pizza party at our neighborhood park. Jay set up some games and relays for the kids and we had cake and icecream there.

First Day of School

Sydney has started kindergarten! I can't believe she is old enough to go to school all by herself. She has looked forward to going to school, especially since she got her doctor's visit and shots (five of them!!!) out of the way. When we found out she would have the same kindergarten teacher Collin had last year, Mrs. Rigby, she was certain kindergarten would be a great experience. Mrs Rigby is wonderful!

Sydney also has a couple of friends in her class. Justin (pictured above) is one of her best friends from her preschool class.

Collin got to go to school a whole week before Sydney (because the kindergarteners where being individually tested). He is now in 1st grade and was able to give Sydney a whole lot of information about school such as the rules of the school, what she is going to do in Mrs. Rigby's class the first week of school, where to put her backpack while playing on the playground before school, etc. He really is an "expert" and it is fun to listen to their little conversations and question/answer sessions everyday about what their school day was like.

Collin's teacher is Mrs. Bryant and he loves her class! He has had a difficult time adjusting to being in school for 7 whole hours (I think mostly because Sydney didn't have to go to school for the first week) but he loves the three recesses and eating school lunch. He is lucky enough to have four really good friends from his church class and the neighborhood in his very small class of 16.

Collin with his friend Gabe Tautkus who was also in his kindergarten class.

Sydney shows off her new backpack. High School Musical, of course.