Which Witch is Which?

The Biggest Witch... Katie 7 1/2 years old



Katie was happy to be an all black evil witch but still thought she looked pretty. She liked her cape and her special fishnet stockings. She and Ryan got to trick or treat extra long after they dropped off Megan and Emily. She loved that!

The "Medium Witch" Emily almost 5 years old



Emily always refers to herself as the 'Medium sister'. Not middle, not second... Medium. So today she was the Medium Witch. Emily loved her cape and liked running so that it would fly out behind her. She said her favorite part was 'when people gave me candy'. Of course!

The Littlest Witch... Megan 2 1/2 years old

For the entire month of October, whenever Megan heard the word Halloween she immediately said, "I'm going to be a WITCH." She has been doing her 'scary witch face' for weeks... I know, doesn't look too scary. Megan loved trick or treating. I think her favorite part was dumping out her caldron of candy and saying, "This is all mine." She opened up 3 suckers and 5 different candybars and took a bite of each before laying them together in a line. I think she was going to try a bit of everything. When we cleaned up the candy she said, "Mom, ONE more!!!!!" I said "ok" and she immediately said, "I mean TWO."

And finally...
LINK, the hero of all Zelda adventures... Ryan 9 1/2 years old

Back in August Ryan decided he wanted to be LINK, the main character of his favorite gamecube game 'Zelda Twilight Princess'. "What?" I thought, until I remembered that his uncle Brian was Link when he was about the same age. (It's not the first time or the last that Ryan will follow in Brian's footsteps. So Brian... thanks a lot and the pressure's on!) Ryan was so excited he could hardly stand it. He was a great big brother helping the littlest witch to the door and waiting for them to catch up. (These acre lots in our neighborhood aren't the best for little feet.) When they came home to drop off the littlest witches, Ryan dumped out his candy and said "Mom, don't eat any of this." I said, "I'm not sure that I can agree to that." Then he became worried. "Mom, seriously, don't eat my candy." "Ok, I won't eat the whole pile" I said with a smile. He was really worried... Dad had to convinced him that his candy would be safe before he would leave. As Ryan walked out of the room Chris and I exchanged sneaky smiles. Sorry Ry.

A Week of Halloween Fun

We had a great Halloween week. Making caramel apples was fun. The kids loved decorating them themselves... especially Emily... she took the longest putting on each piece of candy. It took them a half hour to eat them too! We also had a great time playing Halloween Bingo, and annual tradition, making ghost and pumpkin sugar cookies and of course carving pumpkins.

Carmel Apples

Making Sugar Cookies
Megan started out watching on the barstool, then moved to the top of the bar, and then made herself comfortable right beside the dough. When I put the first batch in the oven I turned around to find her screaming with joy... "I did it myself!" She was lots of help.

Carving Pumpkins

Playground Heaven

Three swings, one super fast slide, four kids and one fun daddy. The perfect combination for a couple minutes of playground heaven. We found these swings and super fast slide while at Callaway Gardens and spent a few minutes playing around. Chris had the kids paranoid and in giggles in seconds as he tried to hide underneath the slide to capture screaming kids and tickle little swingers.

Callaway Gardens

We took a Sunday drive yesterday afternoon heading North in search of fall colored leaves. We wanted to find pictures just like Dan and Sarah of beautiful yellow and orange trees. We did find some red and yellow leaves but nothing to compare. Georgia just doesn't have the colors of Ohio or even Grandma and Grandpa Walton's front yard. What we did find though, was a beautiful park called Callaway Gardens... complete with gorgeous golf courses, lakes, lots of bike trails, future picnic spots and even a vegetable garden. Our favorite new place in Georgia.

Views of the Lake
Callaway Vegetable Gardens

View from the top of Pine Mountain

The Pumpkin Patch

We spent the afternoon at the pumpkin patch just minutes from our house. It wasn't really a 'patch'... more like tables with pumpkins on them -- LOTS and LOTS of pumpkins. It was a nice sunny day... we're not used to picking pumpkins in capris, but we think we could get used to it. We went on the tractor hayride, picked out little pumpkins and took lots of pictures.

Just look at that belly. Once Chris looked over at me and said, "Lisa, are you really going to try and sneak out that pumpkin without paying?" He always makes me laugh.

Megan was picking up pumpkins and putting them in the wagon faster than Chris and I could take them out. Boy, was she determined.


Love this one... Megan and Emily riding in the wagon.

Favorite Scripture Stories

All in a day...

I know I already posted about the little rascal... but here she goes again. She came into the bathroom with just a diaper on, covered in red marker. Oh my goodness, that girl. She grinned at me and then said, "Mom, I just want a bath." and proceeded to turn on my bathtub and then simultaneously pull both tabs on her diaper so that it fell to the floor. Of course I grabbed my camera... she will know what a rascal she was and she will owe me big time. Chris scrubbed her little tummy trying to scowl at her while she happily told him "I don't use Ryan markers. That is bad." Chris and I had a hard time not breaking into laughter. She knows exactly what she's doing and it is darn frustrating. Let it be known that the torch has been officially passed from Emily to Megan.

Chris scrubbed her clean and changed her into the outfit of her choice... a dress of course. When she was all done she ran into the dining room, the official dancing room because it has no furniture, to "twirl like a princess". Dad twirled too but she laughed and said, "Dad, you're not a princess!"

Later I chased her and she giggled forever. When I got close she held her hand out and said "Swiper, No Swiping!" and I replied "Oh, man!" and slowly backed off. She thought it was hysterical. Then Dad joined in and we played Dora, Boots and Swiper for 20 minutes taking turns being each character under her direction. She was so cute and bouncy. Even when she said, "Oh, man!" she was giggling. It was priceless. She's adorable and we love her to pieces... even her red markered tummy.

FHE Ice Cream

We are 'on again-off again' family scripture readers. After conference, once again, we decided to make some family goals. The first... reading the Book of Mormon as a family... everyday at dinnertime. To help us stay motivated and because I am who I am... we made a chart. Oh yes, a chart. And not just any chart, a really short 'I know we can do it' chart, with seven spaces. We decided if we read scriptures for seven days without missing... we would celebrate with ice cream next FHE. Special ice cream... ice cream cones from Marble Creamery with sprinkles, gummy bears and the works and even our very own Gazebo to sit and enjoy them. Now we are on to our next chart... oh yes, another chart... this time with 14 spaces. We will make this a habit... and have fun along the way!

6 weeks or 42 days...

I have exactly 6 weeks till my due date. That's 6 cub nights. 6 Saturday dates with 'just' my husband. 6 Sundays I have to find something to wear to church. 6 weeks to get Christmas presents organized. 6 weeks to stress about the labor. 6 weeks before I need to stop eating everything in sight and face my new sized butt and thighs. It's going to go fast.

OR... it's 42 days of sleeping poorly with two body sized pillows squished on either side of me. (Good thing we bought a King sized bed.) 42 days of backaches, 42 days of waddling around, bending over and squating to pick something up and realizing I can't get back up. 42 days of not being able to lie on my back (I love sleeping on my back) 42 days of agony. It's never going to end.

Katie's Notes

Somehow between the ages of 2 and 7 they go from little rascal to total sweetheart. Katie is our cute little note writer. After she gave me my note, she said, 'Mom, Dad's note is almost the same... you both got three stars, that's the best! ...but he has a skating part and you have a shopping part... but they are both sports." When I gave her a suprised look she said, "Mom, shopping is like a sport. You have to do tons of walking and carrying and lifting..." You're right, Katie. I like the way you think. If that's the case, Dad and I both like sports. Thanks for the notes, sweetie.

Little Rascal

Little Megan thinks she is Big Megan and can get and do whatever she wants. Today she wanted a yogurt for snack. She didn't bother asking me, she just thought she'd get it herself by pushing a barstool over to the frige and climbing on in.



Here she is helping herself to a snack and making faces so that her brother and sisters will laugh. What a little rascal.