Our Halloween Scavennger Hunt Party

Also on Friday 10/17 we hosted a family Halloween scavenger hunt party.  Back when Spencer and I were dating back in 1998 I remember going to my now father in laws 65th birthday party which was a Halloween scavenger hunt and it was so much fun and such a great memory.  I have wanted to host something similar for a very long time!! This was the year that I actually got my stuff together and was able to send out invites in time.  We had a round 40 people at our house! Everyone arrived at 6pm in costume with their whole family, digital camera, car and Halloween treat to share.  We went over the directions and left around 7:15 and gave everyone an hour to complete the scavenger hunt.  It was a BLAST! The kids loved the adventure and the idea of finding things to check off our list.  Everyone came back to the house and we gave out prises to the winners and the winner of the costume contest after that the kids played and the adults visited and enjoy treats.  Our last guest left around 10:30 pm.  It was an awesome night!! One con that we came up with was back in 1998 we didn't have digital cameras so Spencer's mom provided Polaroid camera that printed the pictures right then and there so we could all see every ones pictures.  Since we all used phones or digital cameras it was kind of tricky seeing all the different pictures.  We had said maybe next time we will try to load the pictures on the computer to do a slide show but with 8-10 different family cameras that might get tricky.  Even though we didn't share the pictures we took, we did share stories about the different challenges and places we went.  When everyone was here I was going to try to take pictures and also have someone do our family picture but because of the busyness we never got around to it.  Here are a few I took before everyone arrived and a couple Aubrey took of Daddy and I.         

Prom King and Prom Queen 

This was on the hunt:  

We found a great house around the corner from us that had a bunch on our list, a pumpkin that is not orange, a skeleton with a hat on, a ghost in the tree and a few other things.

Then we went on to Michael's were we got a picture of a Christmas display, scarecrow and our favorite a stranger wearing part of our costume, this is Dale!

We also got to mark off the mustache with that find!

The signs were fun to find.

And reacting famous paintings were also fun.

Daddy took one for the team and became a mummy in front of a tombstone.  

It was so much fun and a great family activity.  It was like the best of both worlds, a party with friends but also quality family time.  I hope we can do it again maybe next year! 

Like I said I didn't get any pictures of the grown ups :( They all looked great! We had a couple cats, crash test dummy, Flo the insurance lady, motorcycle guy, the Incredible couple, napoleon dynamite, and a few witches.  The kids all looked great too.   

1st Grade Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

1st grade is just the BEST! We are all having such great time being so involved.  First grade just feels so right! Kindergarten was really hard and I always felt like she was just to young to be at school but not 1st grade.  She is learning so much and loves to go to school and we are all loving her teacher, Ms. Buttrey.  I think it has really helped that I have a set schedule this year in her class room so I feel like a belong there more.  We just had our parent teacher conference and we could not have gotten a better report.  Aubrey is doing wonderfully.  She is reading 2nd grade level and is on the 3rd panther math (most of the students just passed the first one).  Aubrey is very helpful and kind to her friends and is a wonderful teacher to Carter.  

Now onto her awesome field trip:  

Aubrey requested that daddy go with her on her first field trip this year.  I love that he can work it out to take a day off to be with her.  Some of my most favorite memories of growing up are the ones when my dad came on field trips with me.  

The trip was last Friday 10/17   

 This was a walking field trip to the pumpkin patch at Merced College.

 Daddy said most of the kids complained about walking but not Aubrey.  She did tell me her legs hurt at the end but that she didn't say anything because she just knew she had to walk.

 Here is her class:

 This was a really fun trip for them and a neat pumpkin patch because they got to go out to the patch and actually pick their pumpkins.  It's crazy that we have never gone there before since it's less than a mile from our house.

 I LOVE this picture.....

 Kendall and Aubrey

 They had a few different stations.  They decorated a bag to carry their pumpkins in. 

 Then a face painting station.  Daddy did this work of art for Aubrey:

 Then they had a witch read a story to them

 while they enjoyed a piece of pumpkin pie and juice box.

Then they walked back to school.  It was a great trip and loads of fun for them.    

Carter and I went to the library for story time that day and then got to meet up for a lunch date with Aubrey and daddy.  That's been another reason I think I like first grade we have been signing Aubrey out for lunch every now and again and it's a nice treat to still enjoy that time even though she is in school.  

Presenting.....

Princess Anna of Arendelle and Captain Carter the pirate of the seas!!! 

The kids were very excited to get to wear their Halloween costumes for the first time last Tuesday (10/14) at the Ward Halloween carnival.  Nana just finished the final touches to Aubrey's costume which will be presented in the next couple of posts.

Aubrey went back and forth on either Anna or Elsa.  We were going to make her dance costume from the Spring dance recital look more like Elsa but when she found this Anna costume she fell in love so we went with it.  Aubrey actually talked Carter into being Olaf but we thought he would much rather be a more "boyish" costume.  We also though every family would probably try to pull off the whole Frozen gang so we wanted to be a little more original.  But to our surprise the last few costume events we have been too Aubrey has been the only Anna and there has just been one other Elsa at each event.  At the carnival we ran into this Elsa...... 

We have no idea who she is but thought it would be fun to get a picture with her.  Lol look at Aubrey's face!

This was the first big Relief Society event that I have not helped with in over 3 years.  I'm so happy to be in Primary now and not have the stress of activities! I was suppose to actually still help and I guess be on the committee still but I really needed a break.  So this was a nice a treat to be a guest and just enjoy.  It was a really fun event very similar to what we did last year.  It was a chili cook off, fashion show, and carnival games.
Aubrey was very shy when it was her turn to model.

 Carter not shy one bit!

 The cake walk was a blast!

 Carter's favorite was the face pie smashing.

 Aubrey liked the ball toss and the cake walk the most.

 Carter was very excited to run into his preschool friend, Afton.

 It was a fun night!

Since I didn't want to do another post just on our puzzle I thought I would just add it to this one.
We have been loving working on puzzles as a family.  We just finished our first 550 piece one:

 The kids are great at puzzles!! I could not believe we did this one in less than a week!

 Next one will be 1000 pieces!!

Pumpkin Patch 2014

 We had our annual family pumpkin patch trip the first weekend in October.  This was the weekend that we went up to Sonora.  Our original plans were to go to the pumpkin patch in Turlock but because it was 97 degrees that day and we had Deuce with us since we were traveling all weekend we had to make a change in plans to drop Deuce off at home and try out the Vista (which is in Merced) this was a must since he would not be able to wait in the very hot car if we went to Turlock.  We have been to the Vista before but this was papa's, titi's and gaga's first time.  It was fun and definitely got us into the pumpkin spirit for the season.  It was a little tricky to feel 100% like fall because of the weather.  My kids were troopers though especially because I made them wear long sleeves and jeans for a few pictures. 

 The sun did drive them crazy!!!

Game time! They sure don't make it look like almost 100 degrees lol!

 Our wonderful family!!! 

It's hard to believe that we have been doing our annual pumpkin patch trips for 7 years now! It's so much fun to look back on all the pictures and see the kids grow.

 One more picture before I let them change into shorts and short sleeve.

 The Vista is beautiful and has so many fun things to do.  We got to do all the games, hay ride, corn maze, garden walk and play in the corn and cotton pits.

 The corn pit is one of our favorites but this time when we went to jump in there were hundreds of live crickets and roaches it was disgusting!!!!!!! Papa and daddy didn't seem that bothered but the rest of us were pretty grossed out!

 The Cotton was much better and cleaner.

 Gaga pulling in papa.

 The corn maze is always an adventure. The kids have learned from papa to run ahead and hide in the corn husk and then jump out when we walk by, they love scaring us.  

We actually did pretty well and I think completed it in like 20 minutes.

 Time to pick out our pumpkins. 

After the patch we loaded up and went to Black Bear Diner for dinner.  It was a great time and a wonderful end to a fabulous weekend. 

Happy Fall Y'all