Halloween

Even though we did not trick-or-treat on Sunday, we had no shortage of candy or costume-wearing activities! The first was the Halloween Walk at the Canonsburg Hospital. They have a fitness trail around the hospital that goes through the woods & all along the trail are different businesses, etc dressed in costume and handing out candy. We went with a few people from church and the boys had a great time. Grandma & Grandpa Shook came along too. Here are all the kids ready to go:

Logan was Ironman, Tolan was Buzz Lightyear and Ella was a dinosaur (I took Logan's old costume from when he was a baby, stuck a pink bow on it & called it good).

Waiting in line for it to get started
The fire dept was at the very end of the trail with candy & the firetruck all open for the kids to see

I think the boys really liked it. As we were walking back to the car they both, separately, said,
"Thanks mom! That was fun!" I guess we will have to go back next year!

They also got to wear their costumes to their class at the library & got candy there too. Logan got some at preschool and then we also had the ward trunk-or-treat on Wednesday.

Our trunk this year:

Ella was ready for bed I think

The boys would rather be eating candy than looking at the camera

After the boys were in bed, Justin and I were checking out their candy (aka, stealing) and Justin found this gummy severed finger in Tolan's bag.....I'm glad we found it first. I don't think he would have liked that.

But it was a good Halloween - they got lots of candy & they really loved their costumes which they have already been wearing for weeks and I don't think they are getting tired of them yet!

This Post Brought to You By....

Our new computer! I know, it's been a while & this is why!

Our old laptop was a dinosaur of a laptop. It was 6 or 7 years old and huge and SLOW and weighed a ton. The battery no longer worked, so it had to be plugged in all the time. The frame was cracked and broken off around the screen. The screen didn't even stand up anymore - you had to prop it up. Did I mention how SLOOOW it was?? And the last straw was that if you put it on standby and then went to turn it back on, the screen wouldn't come on so you would have to shut it down. But restarting it didn't bring the screen back on either. It took about 6 or 7 tries before the screen would come on. And if you did get it turned on, it was really slow. Really slow. I think I already mentioned that...

So it was time. Here is the difference a few years can make in a laptop. New one on left, dinosaur on right:

Now that I have a computer that works properly, I will be getting all caught up and up-to-date on here!

Portuguese

When my brothers and I were kids and my Uncle Clay would come to visit, he and my mom always spoke to eachother in Spanish. It drove us all crazy b/c we didn't know what they were saying! Now that I have little kids, Justin and I are always spelling words that we don't want the kids to know we are talking about. It won't be too terribly long before they can spell some of the simple ones like "treat" or "ice cream" or whatever. Justin served his mission in Brazil so he can speak Portuguese and I'm always joking that I should learn it so that we can speak it to eachother like my mom and uncle did in Spanish.

I said it again the other night and afterward I seriously thought about doing it, but didn't know how I would do it. Plus I was a little afraid that if I actually learned it I might be "blessed" by really needing to use it someday and I'm not really looking to move to Brazil anytime soon. So I seriously considered it but didn't think it was really feasible.

The next morning I took the kids to the library, just like I do every week. All summer they have had the same exact display right in the lobby of the library. I knew it was bright lime green and orange, but I couldn't have told you what it was for. I have walked right past it every week since June and never even looked at it. This time it caught my eye and I actually read the signs on the display. They were advertising the new (FREE) online language courses that they now offer through their website.


Well, it was hard not to pass up the "sign" so I guess I'm learning Portuguese.

I've only done one lesson so far and I'm getting a lot of the pronunciation mixed up with Spanish pronunciation, so that's a little tricky. But Justin seems to be excited that I'm actually doing it and it is actually kind of fun.

Wish me luck!

Oh, and my brother also speaks Portuguese so when Uncle Neal visits we can talk to eachother in Portuguese and drive MY kids crazy!

Gary and Erin's Wedding

At the rehearsal, Ella with her soon-to-be Aunt Erin the night before the weddinggorgeous sunset the night before

It doesn't look like it, but it rained really hard right before the ceremony was supposed to start. It didn't last long and that was it for the rest of the day. After a quick wipe of the chairs, the ceremony was ready to go.

Erin and her dad

A view of the ceremony from upstairs
first dance

cutting the cake. I had the pleasure of cutting the rest of it later
Justin had strict instructions against this at our wedding, but Erin & Gary didn't hold back
Ella and me at the reception

me with the boys

all the little boys - Jaden, Tolan & Logan
Justin & me
playing on the swings
I love these next 2 pictures - Tolan thought it was hilarious when Jaden pushed him on the swing
It was only a matter of time before someone ended up in the pool. I missed it, but Gary jumped in. I don't blame him - it was really hot out to be wearing a black tux
Stan & Arlene, Lynn & Gary dancing

Tolan also did some serious dancing. Justin was with him up at the swings & asked Tolan if he wanted to dance. He said, "yeah" and got off the swing and started dancing. Then Justin asked if he wanted to go down to the dance floor. He said, "yes." He went straight down and started dancing. He danced the entire night. We couldn't get him off the dance floor. It was so funny. Justin has a video on his phone maybe I can post later. He was so cute.

Justin ended up being kind of the runner and the go-to guy at the wedding emptying the garbage cans, clearing tables, cleaning up and whatever else needed to be done. I barely saw him all night. Somewhere in there he rolled his ankle, but kept working. By the end of the night it was all swollen and turned some nice shades of purple over the next few days.

Tolan the "Ring Barrier"

Justin's older brother, Gary, got married a couple of weeks ago and they asked Tolan to be the ring bearer. Of course he called himself the "ring barrier," but he did a great job. I'll do another post on the wedding later, but for now here are some pictures of Tolan as the ring bearer.

At the rehearsal

so far, so good

me, Emily & Sarah cheering him on down the aisle

time for a snack break after that!"my work is done! time for a ride in the golf cart!"
getting into place on the big day

a refresher and a pep talk from daddy

Hailey took off w/o her flowers

and Tolan took off after her
he did an excellent job!

He got too hot during the ceremony though and escaped to the back

it was HOT, but he was so cute!

He loved having the boutonierre, he was very concerned about his flowers

His last duty as ring bearer - to be introduced with the wedding party at the reception
Great job Tolly!

Idlewild

On my birthday we went to Idlewild, a kiddie amusement park. My parents came along and we had a great day. The weather was HOT, but there was no rain, and we went on a Thursday so there weren't tons of people. The kids hardly had to wait in line at all, so they got to ride everything they wanted to. We had had great day with no whining and no crying. Even Ella did great!

riding the teacups with my mom

Tolan wore those sunglasses all day!
Ella was drifting off in grandpa T's lap
the boys driving their "Steelers car" Ella hanging out in the shade
Logan's really into this ride!

Logan talked about going to these balls all day long & we finally made it at the end of the day
On our way out they had a guy doing ice sculptures and he made the boys candy cane popsicles.
It was so hot! They look like deer at a salt lick!
Tolan kept his as long as we let him