Thankful turkey 2015

Pumpkins!

(I don't know why half the pictures are cut off, so just click on them to see the whole thing, OK?)

Elle and I picked up some pumpkins for carving for FHE

She wanted to make sure they were safe :)

(Chris's pumpkin is in the bottom left corner)

It just so happened that the ones we picked were small, medium and large--

Elle, Nan, Chris!

(even though, as Elle reminded me, she is taller than me.  I reminded her that I am older!)

I remembered to get an action shot just in time!

Although, Chris kept saying "OK.  All done." then worked on it some more.  I think this happened at least three times.

*eye roll* Artists! 

Ta da!

Yay for battery-powered tea candles!

(Left to right: Nan's, Chris's, Elle's)

Mommy's little monkey

Elle went rock climbing Saturday ( indoor)

with the Mia Maids and Teachers. 

When I went to pick her up all the leaders and all the girls ran up and said things like,

"Elle is amazing!"

"Elle's been up the wall probably ten times now!"

"She's a natural!"

"Did you teach her?" (No)

"Has she done this before?!" (Just a small rock wall at Aspen Grove)

"Elle's like a monkey!"

"Elle's like a SPIDER!!"

And on and on...

It did my little heart proud :)

Video:

http://youtu.be/vbDhhYgXKsg

Art!

Elle is taking ceramics because she didn't get into ASL and she didn't want to take French!

Here is her first finished piece:

A pencil bowl!

(although we won't be putting pencils in it ;)

Pretty great, huh?! I know I'm impressed!

Speaking of art, be sure to check out Chris's tumblr blog!

http://posicharvey.tumblr.com/

Trunk or Treat!

Saturday, our ward had trunk or treat!

The youth had the option of doing their own "trunk" or parking lot space if they didn't have a car.

Elle and her friends did a cupcake walk:

Batgirl and Supergirl

(you may recognize the friend from other posts)

The kids walked on super hero symbols

This is what they looked like before they were cut out:

Thank you Pinterest! 

And thank you awesome blog:

http://www.great-kids-birthday-parties.com/superhero-printables.html

Elle and two of her friends:

Elle's idea for our car was to use her glow-in-the-dark stars and planets then have the candy bowl in the center of the milky way.

I had to do it myself since she was busy, so it doesn't look very cool.

The other cars had activities for the kids, so when they came to ours they were all, "What do we have to do?"  and we're like, "Take a piece of candy"  and they were all. "Oh. OK."

Lame, but that's all they really want anyway.

fuzzy picture (as usual it seems!) of the Guardian of the Candy in his three-wolf-moon shirt

In other news. . .

We're teaching Elle to drive.  Chris is demonstrating on some racing game of his:

Elle said "It's a smart car!"

 (A very small smart car)

We're not really teaching her yet, but she worked the gas and brake (properly) while Chris drove.

My friend is teaching her daughter (15.5 yrs old) how to drive and it is NOT going well!  She said she's going to start her 14yr old now. So now I'm all worried--hence the video game "training"

Crazy!  

This girl is growing up!! 

(0)_(0)

Saturday "dress and hair". . . kind of

We went to the beach yesterday! I'm afraid I did not take any pictures of Chris --who was drawing--because Elle and I were building a sand castle village (more about that later) and then we all waded into the ocean.
Chris kept making us go out farther and farther and the waves kept getting bigger and bigger!
We stood together holding hands with Chris as our rock in the middle.  The waves came up to our waists and eventually to our chests! (at least mine, anyway, since I'm so short) The waves would totally push over, but we never went under, thank goodness. It was super fun!  It wa also kind of scary! (not to Chris though).

Here's what Elle decided about the village:

The king lives on a hill, surrounded by a moat in a nice castle with steps.  The village was quite peaceful until the king came along and ruined it all.  He said no one could have a house as nice as his so we had to lop off the steps and tops or sides of the other castles and make "hovels" out of them.  He is a ruthless dictator and overall a mean guy.  

(Just before we left, we all stomped on the village and annihilated the whole thing.  Take that King!)

Elle's legs got sucked into some quicksand:

Just kidding!  But she made it look like it!

Then on the way home, we stopped at a fruit stand which smelled so yummy and citrus-ey!

They had the biggest oranges I have ever seen!

It's hard to tell in the picture.

For her birthday, Elle got a stuffed elephant from her friend.  When I went to see if Elle was up for church this morning, I found her head surrounded by the elephant!

It's hard to see, unfortunately. I didn't want to wake her up when I took the picture.  Nothing worse than waking up to flashes in your face! But I just had to take it!  It was so funny!

Happy happy birthday!!

Warning:

This is a very picture-heavy post

Just because I'm so proud of myself ;)

First,  Elle's murder mystery birthday party

(which I found for free on the Internet then Chris helped me rewrite) 

The Suspects:

I was so proud of the food layout because I did levels and everything, but I didn't have time to take pictures of everything with the food in it!

Elle's idea:

Dinner:

Salad, soup, and sandwiches

(thankfully there was something for everyone) 

Clues hidden around the house:

 (including incriminating evidence in the "garbage cans"
The long lost daughter had a heart-shaped birthmark so we secretly asked her mom for a baby photo of her so Chris could photoshop a heart.  She was so confused about why there was a picture of herself in our house! (Chris gave her dad a beard too so that was even more confusing!)

They had to ask each other what they knew about everyone else

(Elle and the gardner)

I think they had fun!

The best friend was the murderer--she needed the money.

Then Elle's actual birthday:

Waffles with strawberries and whip cream for breakfast

(we should really do that more often!  It was yummy!)

Lots of General Conference

Sushi for Linner:

  

And bread pudding for dessert!

Gifts from mom and dad:

And here she is drying her hair

(not very effectively as it is still inside the box)

(but her hair is dry anyway so I guess it doesn't matter!)

The end!

Happy birthday!  I cannot even believe she is 14!