We are MARSHALL: October 2012

Trunk or Treat

Kammie found this costume at a garage sale back in March and has looked forward to dressing up for Halloween since then.

Here is our Sleeping Beauty Crew...

Maleficent...

Sleeping Beauty...

Brother Draper was taking pictures at our ward Trunk or Treat activity, so here are some more...

Spencer was Indiana Jones (of course)...

Here he is with Spencer Wood...

And I have to include my friend and her family. They are always creative. This year they went with a Lord of the Rings theme. Sophie made a perfect Froto (hobbit) [her hair was perfect for the part], Finn was a great dwarf and the rest are great too...

Spirit Week

This past week at the middle school, they had Spirit Week. There were different themes to dress up each day. Kammie had lots of fun participating.

80's day...

Twin Day...(Kammie was thrilled to dress alike with her BFF Ana Grace)

The shirts they made/painted, from the back...

From the front...

Their shoes...

Next was Wacky Tacky day...

Plaids, stripes, floral, mismatched socks and shoes (one heel and one flat)...

And crazy hair with spray painted colors...

(Sidnie has requested pony tails like this this year, like other girls in her pre-k class, so I was worried she would see it and want me to do her hair like that too.)

Stache

We had our six month check ups with the dentist on the 17th. They give the kids tokens to get something out of a prize machine. Zack got this mustache and had fun taking pictures of himself with the i-Pad. There were many, but here are just a few of them...

Elementary FUN!

At the elementary school they had Red Ribbon Week where the kids wear different things to Say NO to Drugs. There was mismatched shoe day to give drugs the "boot." Crazy sock day to "sock it to drugs." There was team jersey day to "team up against drugs." And they ended with Red shirt day to symbolize saying NO to drugs. Then there was a pink day to support breast cancer awareness.

We went all out for pink day and sprayed their hair pink as well. Spencer wasn't so sure about wearing a "girl" shirt, but Zack was brave and wore his sister's pink jacket as well. (The assistant principal ended up getting made at them for their hair and made them go to the bathroom to try to wash it off. They've gotten cranky this year, because we've done pink hair in the past.)

On October 18th, there was a Fall Festival fundraiser at the school. Here is Spencer and his friend Natalie with the face paint they got. They are waiting in line here for a balloon animal or thing to be made. The line is super long. Where is Spencer's cousin Danny when you need him? [In Chile, on his mission.]

Cub Pack Meeting Finally

Our church run Cub Scouts is not done with much consistency. (I guess that's what you get with volunteers put into "callings" they don't always want.) Back in January they had their first pack meeting. Well, on October 17th, we finally had a second one. With Cub Scout Day Camp back in June, all the boys had earned belt loops galore, arrows, patches and so on. Zack was officially advanced to the Bears and earned 1 gold and 4 silver arrows along with belt loops and things. He was so excited.

Our den leader (Diane) goes the extra mile. She had the boys prepare a skit. In it, the first kid takes some gum from his mouth and throws it on the ground. The next kid picks it up and puts it behind the chair. The next moves it and so on until it's put under the chair. That's when Zack walks in, sits down, pulls the gum off and puts it in his mouth and happily chews. Ewwww! But they performed it well.

Cub Master Joshua explaining what Zack had earned...

Way to go Zack!

Both of my boys are excited to wear their uniform and learn/participate in the scouting activities.

"Hole"y Cow!

Murphy's Law hit full force the end of September. We've had all sorts of things happen that require extra funds. Over the summer, I hit the fridge with the van and we had to replace that. Our inside fridge recently died and we had to get the relay board fixed. There was the sprinklers we had to have fixed in the yard, and all sorts of car trouble. A small oil change that amounts to $400 plus in repairs by the end (for two different cars). Well, at the end of September, while my visiting teachers were here, there was a knock on my door. Maumelle Water Management guys were at my door. They told me I had a leak and that they were turning off my water. I would need to call a plumber. I lost it. NOT ONE MORE THING! James was out of town and I wasn't sure what to do. Thankfully, my kind neighbor was home and came out to find out what was going on. He was able to hear the explanation of the problem. Any leak from the meter to the street is the city's responsibility. Any leak from the meter to the house, is the owner's responsibility. We were 3" inches in the wrong direction. The workers thought it was something simple like PVC pipe we could replace ourselves, so my neighbor offered to help dig. We dug the whole, bailing out water the whole time, only to discover that it wasn't PVC, but metal, copper piping of some sort. So, I got to call a plumber in the end.

It turned out to be a leak from the regulator and had to be replaced. For $300 he got it done. The one plus has been, that the plumber measured and adjusted our water pressure to the house and it's been so much better. It doesn't take 5 minutes to fill a glass of water from the fridge. Our shower is a shower now and not a trickle. So, maybe it was a blessing in disguise!

Our Hole up close...

Like what we've done to the yard?

All back to normal again.

Fall in Arkansas

It's been warmer than usual this October. With our drought and watering ban this summer, our tree just isn't as pretty this year. But it's still fun to watch the leaves change color and fall...

Our Stake recently had a Fall craft day. Here are some of the fun things we made...

I also made some count down to Christmas blocks and a flower pin out of t-shirts. It was a great event.

Worn Out!

This is how the children were when we got home from church on the 14th...TIRED!

Pine Wood Derby

Zack had his first Pine Wood Derby on October 3rd. He diligently worked on his car with his Dad and was excited to race. They didn't try to make it fancy (we were lucky we had tools to do much of anything) and in the end didn't put any weights on it. So, he raced and had fun, but his car was SLOW. He earned an honorable mention for their efforts.

His car is the blue one with the number 1 on it.

His Primary teacher named his car the red pineapple since his flames looked more like the fruit than fire.

Getting ready to watch them go...

Oh the excitement! A good time was had by all.

Sweet Boy

I like to take a Sunday nap. Since church is from noon to 3pm, it's usually short, or non-existent. But a few weeks ago, when I woke up, I found this on the wall as I came out of my bedroom...