Carving Pumpkins

We carved our pumpkin (yes, just one) today.  The kids were so excited!  Mike was in charge and after carving the top and cleaning the pumpkin out he mysteriously disappeared while I took some pictures.

He came back from his work van with his work bag and decided to carve the pumpkin his way, with power tools!  Anna Elise took this video.

Madeline's Church Purse (again)

Madeline is our little pack rat.  She just needs anything and everything.  If you can't find something, just ask her.  She usually admits to taking/having it and knows exactly where it is (except for my dryer balls that somebody took over a month ago and haven't shown up yet).  She has little boxes, purses, pouches, pockets, etc everywhere that are full of her treasures.  Today she snuck one of her 'purses' into the car while loading up for church.  I found it when she unsuccessfully tried to sneak it into sacrament meeting.  She had packed her little pink Dr. kit with some treasures that she evidently needed at church today.  I did a post on this a while back and it's interesting to see how she is evolving!  We found her Dad's tape measure for work, our cordless home phone (for some reason it said 'out of range'), a Dr. tool, a marker (Lilah's marker that she just got for her birthday that they have both been using for makeup) and a mirror (for the marker makeup, of course).  Not pictured is the 'already been chewed' gum she had...we are working on that!

Time Out for ME!

This past weekend Time Out for Women was here in Richmond!  I was so excited to go.  I carpooled with a group of women from our ward and we had a great time!  We went on Friday night and listened to Jenny Oaks Baker play her violin and got to listen to her 3 very talented (and adorable) daughters as well since she lives in VA!  We had two great speakers too.  On Saturday we listened to Jericho Road as well as several phenomenal speakers.  I laughed and cried and felt so uplifted and motivated to be a better person.  I love going and I am already looking forward to going again when they come back to Richmond in 2 years!

It was so good to spend some time with some of the women in my ward.  I feel closer to them and am feeling more at home in this ward. 

When I got home on Saturday afternoon I was greeted by a clean living room (having even one room in my house clean is a huge accomplishment), five happy children and beautiful flowers! 

Thank you TOFW for coming to Richmond!  Thank you Sherry, Dee, Joann, Beverly, Beverly, Tericia, and Samara for letting me hang out with you!  Thank you Mike for holding down the fort and for the beautiful flowers! 

I told Mike I needed pictures so I could blog about it.  I am soooo not a photogenic person.  I am just not.  I never have been.  I've accepted it.  So Mike took a bazillion pictures and two were acceptable!

My flowers! 

 Best picture we could get of me - cute bag this year!

Right after I got home.

The mess Mike made while getting some work done! (but was cleaned up when I got home)


 

The ladies I went with

Happy Happy Birthday Lilah Dear!

On Friday our Lovely Lilah turned 3!  We started the day off with toaster strudel for breakfast.  A huge treat at our house!  It just happened to be our turn to host playgroup that week so we had cupcakes to celebrate.  After Mike came home that evening she opened her presents and just had to put on her new dress from Grandma.  We made individual pizzas for dinner and then had cupcakes and ice cream after we sang and she blew out her candles!  She had a good day!  She is growing up so fast.  Although she still has an occasional outburst of growling and scratching, for the most part she seems to be turning back into the lovely little girl we knew before she turned two!  

 

 The birthday girl and her presents

 Her new dress (despite her best efforts Madeline has not been able to con Lilah into giving her the dress or even letting her try it on, and she has tried!)

 Licking her ring off (her cupcakes had rings on top)

Allen Family Pictures

Here are the Allen family pictures that we took at my sister Nancy's wedding in August.  

 My sister Nancy and her new husband Marshall in front of the Columbia River Temple

 My 5 sisters and my brother.  I just want to thank my sisters for NOT telling me my hair was sticking out!  Thanks a lot - sheesh!

 The entire Allen clan

 Grandma and Grandpa with all their grandkids - yes that was the best picture we could get!

That's us!

It's Great to Be 8!

Anna Elise turned 8 today!  At our house when you turn 8 you get a friend birthday party.  Anna Elise was so excited to invite a few friends over and have her birthday party on her birthday!  It's Columbus Day and so we had school off (thank you Columbus!)  She was up early to open presents, but had to wait for her Dad to come home.  Who knew that 9am was so far away!  She opened her family birthday presents and then she and the girls ran upstairs to watch her new Barbie movie!  I got to work making her fancy Barbie cake.  I don't do cakes.  My half-hearted efforts usually look, well, half-hearted.  This year I decided that I needed to step up and be 'the mom' and make Anna Elise a fancy cake.  It turned out ok.  The girls all loved it.   I think I'll be able to practice a lot over the next 10 years - Celeste is going to have some awesome Barbie cakes when she gets a little older!
After lunch Anna Elise's friends came over and they played inside and out and had fun together while Mike took the 'little kids' to the park.  When Calvin, Madeline, and Lilah came back they got to participate in opening the friend presents, eating cake and ice cream, going on a treasure hunt for the goody bags and playing some more.  For dinner Anna Elise picked McDonalds and I was happy to not cook after a long day.  Anna Elise was very pleased with everything and had a great day!  She is excited to be 8 and to get baptized in November.

Mike was the camera man, so we only have 2 to share:

 opening her new boots from Mom and Dad

Anna Elise with her 'fancy' Barbie cake

Picky Eater

Celeste at just 5 months old seems to have very particular tastes:

Does not like rice cereal 

Chowing down on the Salt & Vinegar Pringles

(she isn't asleep, her eyes are just closed)

Maybe if I added salt and vinegar instead of milk to her cereal she would eat it...

Disclaimer:  I didn't feed my baby Pringles.  While at the beach she scooted over to the can, rolled it around until the few left at the bottom fell out and then went to town on them.  She was not happy when I took them away! 

Russell Family Pictures

Here are the Russell family pictures we took while in Washington in August. 

This is most of the Russells.  Mike's oldest brother, Sean, his wife Rachel and their girls, Morgan, Virginia, and Margaret weren't able to come.

All the grandkids with Pops and Grammy.  Lilah was in a really good mood that morning =) 

The original Russells 

Daddy and his girls!