Halloween

 Our ward Halloween party was the night before Halloween.  TJ had school so it was just the kids and I. 

 I wasn't the only one with this idea!  This ward is so different than any other ward I've ever been in.  There TONS of kids (3 nurseries) and lots of babies and pregnant women.  In fact, right now I believe there are 11 or more pregnant women!  And there were about 10 new babies born in June/July of this past year!

And baby skeleton is 22 weeks and 3 days!

And of course the kids went trick-or-treating on Halloween night as well.  TJ took them while I stayed home.  Brena was very concerned about kids coming to the house and not having anyone here to hand them some candy.  I gladly stayed home in the warmth instead of going out into the cold!

1st Snow

Since we have been married, we have never lived in a place where it snowed, or got this cold!  Tropical storm (or was it a hurricane?) Sandy came through and we got some of the effects.  The wind has been howling, there are branches down everywhere, it's been snowing for a full 24 hours, and I'm FREEZING!!!!!!  School was cancelled today, so the kids are home enjoying the day off - as am I!  Unfortunately for TJ, Virginia Tech was not cancelled.  But, I was a nice wife and drove him into school so he didn't have to ride his bike in the nasty, cold weather.  I am SO grateful we have power, there are so many without it.

Pumpkins

We finally got around to decorating our pumpkins this year.  We haven't done it in a few years for various reason.  But, we were determined to do it this year!

 Brena wanted a princess pumpkin and choose to do Princess Aurora...little did we know how long it would take - even though the pattern said "easy" - ha!

 Tyler just wanted to get his carved however he could.

 Tyler's finished product:

 And, TJ being the nice daddy he is, spent over 4 hours on Brena's pumpkin!  The kids had all gone to bed and he was still working away.  I wanted to go to bed, but I felt bad for him and stayed up with him.

 Our bat pumpkin

 The princess pumpkin

 And, then they got covered in snow :)

22 weeks

This is a terrible picture.  Our good camera's battery was dead and we couldn't find the other camera, so we used my cell phone.  But, for some reason we just couldn't get a good picture.  I don't feel all that big yet, I'm still wearing some pre-pregnancy clothes, but I sure can see how my face is puffy and fat!  I have also started having a little bit of swelling in my ankles already - ugh.

Brenalee's Halloween Party

Brenalee's class had their "fall" party.  There were different stations set up for lots of fun.  I think her favorite was picking the witch's nose and grabbing the boogers (green jello) and eating them...she's so gross!

 This little boy in the orange shirt is Logan.  He goes to our church.  He is a year older than Brenalee, they are both August birthday's but Logan's parents didn't have him start kindergarten until he was 6 (I still wish I'd done this with Brena).  Anyways, one day Brena said to me "mom promise not to tell anyone, I have a big crush on Logan."  This made me laugh - because I already knew.  When you find papers all over the house with I Love Logan written all over them - that's kind of what you figure out!  She was always wanting to try and sit in their row during church too.  Well, a few days ago I hadn't heard anything about Logan, so I asked her if she was still in love with him.  She said NO! Apparently he told her at lunch she had to eat her lunch before she could eat her cupcake someone had brought in for their birthday.  She said "he is done for telling me what to do!"  She cracks me up.  And, we have had many conversations on how she is too young to be in love and NOT to worry about boys yet!!  Just enjoy being a little girl and don't think about boys!

Knitting

I have been knitting lately and Brena really wanted to learn.  So, I sat down with her and started teaching her to knit.  She has the basic concepts, but she still makes a few mistakes here and there.  Overall I think she is doing great.  I told her I didn't learn to knit until I was 25!

Fall Colors

I love fall!  I have missed this season!  It has been so beautiful here with all the leaves changing.  I'll see the most beautiful trees while I'm driving and can't get a picture of them!  It's frustrating...  We really wanted to go on the Blue Ridge Parkway and see all the colors, but Tj's schedule is just too crazy and we never made it.  Hopefully next year.  And of course, these pictures really don't do the colors justice.

 The VT stadium:

 Hillside on drive from Roanoke.

 VT Campus:

 

Tyler's Weather Field Trip

The 4th grade went on a field trip to the news station in Roanoke.  I got lucky and got to go again.  I like that I've been able to go on all the field trips for the last few years.  I need to enjoy that now, because in a few months, I won't be going anymore!  The news station had all kinds of different stations set up talking about how different people and business use weather.  We also got to go into the studio where they film the news, and weather.  I never knew that the weather wasn't on a board behind the people like it shows on TV.  The wall was a bright green, and it just looks like the weather is behind the forecasters - it's actually on computer monitors way over off to the side.  Very interesting.

 Looking at the glider - no engine!  I don't know if I would be brave enough to go flying in that!  And, you only have to be 12 to fly it!!  IN THE AIR!!!  Crazy...

 The hot air balloon.  The kids loved climbing in the basket and hearing about this.

 The green wall weather demonstration.  So, you of course don't see the green wall on TV - you just see the weather map.  So, if you were to stand in front of that green wall with a green shirt on, the only thing that would be visible would be your head and arms or whatever wasn't covered in green.  It was really cool.

 The kids doing the weather.

 The kite station.  They had some really cool kites there.

 And, the big bulldozers and other equipment they use to get snow off the roads...brrr, I don't even want to think about that!

NAVY Jet Fly Over

We live in Blacksburg, VA.  Some NAVY pilots were flying into the big city (NOT) of Roanoke, VA, which is about 45 minutes away, with their cool jets.  They were going to be doing the fly over for the Virginia Tech vs. Duke game October 13.  TJ had to get the government van to Roanoke for those pilots to use.  We decided to make it a family trip so we could go to some stores because Blacksburg doesn't have any!  We got to meet the pilots and even got to check out the jets.  We didn't have tickets to the game the next day, so we just went over by the stadium and watched the fly over.  It was a gorgeous fall day - and I REALLY wish we had tickets to the game - or any game for that matter!  Tickets to Virginia Tech games are harder to come by than, well, stores in Blacksburg!

The pilots were from Meridian MS, from the VT-7 Eagles training squadron.  The planes are T-45 Goshawks.  When we got to the airfield we saw the two that were already on the ground.  We got to watch the third one up in the air still doing some cool tricks with his plane and showing off just before he landed.

 Third jet landing...

 The next day at the game -  jets coming in - you can barely see them, just little black dots off in the distance...

 here they come!

 They were really, really loud...

 There they go...

Bucket List

I am just playing around with my blog.  I decided to add a bucket list of things I want to see/do in my life.  The first is to visit all 50 states...only 16 9 8 to go. 

Alabama (2007)

Alaska

Arizona (1978)

Arkansas

California (1997)

Colorado (1978)

Connecticut (2009)

Delaware (2009)

Florida (2007)

Georgia (2008)

Hawaii (1999)

Idaho (2000)

Illinois (1996)

Indiana (2013)

Iowa (2013)

Kansas (2013)

Kentucky (2013)

Louisiana (2007)

Maine (2009)

Maryland (2007)

Massachusetts (2003)

Michigan (2012)

Minnesota (1996)

Mississippi (2007)

Missouri (2013)

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada (1997)

New Hampshire (2007)

New Jersey (2007)

New Mexico (2007)

New York (2007)

North Carolina (2007)

North Dakota

Ohio (2013)

Oklahoma

Oregon (1990)

Pennsylvania (2012)

Rhode Island (2003)

South Carolina (1999)

South Dakota (2013)

Tennessee

Texas (2007)

Utah (1978)

Vermont (2007)

Virginia (2007)

Washington (1990)

West Virginia (2012)

Wisconsin

Wyoming (2004)

19 weeks and 2 days...