Jonah Turns 6!

Jonah had his birthday party last weekend. I kept it pretty low-key, just a small group of friends and no decorating. I don't think he noticed at all. His only requests were that he have a Lightning McQueen party, have a pinata, and have a number 6 on his cake like a road. We started out playing a few games.

Duck, Duck, Goose...and Freeze Dance.
The kids did plenty of playing outside, then we sang and had cake and ice cream. This is exactly what Jonah requested, even though I had access to a Lightning McQueen cake mold :)
The happy birthday boy...

Then we opened presents. Jonah loved all the awesome things he got.

But honestly, I think his favorite gift was the books I got him. I asked his teacher at school for a list of books they had read in his class. They were a big hit!

With no big trees in the backyard, we rigged up the pinata as best we could using our best white-trash skills. It worked... and the kids got a few good whacks in.

A few kids whacked the pinata right off its rope. So after everyone got in some good swings, we just tore open the bottom and let them have at it.

Tuesday was Jonah's actual birthday, and he came home wearing a birthday crown from school. He was so excited!He got some phone calls from his aunts. I didn't get any pictures of Jonah, but Eden wanted to talk too, of course. She had been eating some of Jonah's birthday cake, and as you can see, that black frosting leaves a mark! It's funny, because she got into the cake a few days ago, and looked similar to this. When I asked her if she had gotten into the cake, of course, she lied at first. I should cover everything I want the kids to stay out of in black frosting :)

And these are just a few of Levi biting the dust while he was playing in the hallway. Poor guy.

Family Pictures

Kayleen has done the impossible again! She has managed to capture our moody, rambunctious family in some pretty great photos! Thanks, Kayleen! We love the pictures.

Here are a few (okay, a lot) of our favorites.

Happy Hallow-weekend, part 2

This year, our ward Trunk-or-Treat was on Saturday. Here we are in our costumes. The kids look mad, but they really were excited- they had been waiting all week for this! Jonah was Buzz Lightyear again and Levi was Tyrone the knight. I was a haunted equestrienne.

Eden was the cutest little ballerina.

Her hair turned out pretty cute. We did this again for church the next day.

Before the Trunk-or-Treating started, we ate some yummy soup in bread bowls and had a little carnival for the kids. My Mia Maids were in charge of a face painting booth, and they did a great job! Yes, that's right. I got moved from secretary to 1st Counselor in the Young Women. Still figuring it out, but I'm really excited.

Here are the girls, working their magic. I found out really quickly that I am not a good face painter!I was comforted to see that some of the other adults dressed up...

My kids loved the cupcake walk! They must have done it three times each. After all that sugar, they didn't even need to Trunk-or-Treat!But they did, and they got full buckets of candy. Here is our trunk. I should have taken video so you could hear our awesome Halloween tunes!Fred from Scooby Doo showed up while we were out! Too bad Levi wanted to go back to the trunk early. He missed out on seeing one of his favorite guys! But he did get to see Darth Vader (an adult- seriously, he looked legit- had the sound effects and everything!) and he must have gone over to his trunk at least 15 times. He kept saying, "Look! Aunt Nader nice! He give me candy!"

The kids had a blast. Here they are with their loot. I love how my mom took pictures of my little brother and sister like this every year. I'm going to do it too!

Halloween night was spent watching Harry Potter and passing out candy with the kids. It didn't even phase them that they weren't Trick-or-Treating. They loved passing out candy! It was a fun Halloween.