Trick or treat!

Happy Halloween! It's so spooky the way time flies by lately. October's been a good month for us and others--WELCOME to our brand-new cousin, AUGUST RICHARD SHEEN!

Halloween has been great and fairly relaxing. Yesterday the kids could wear their costumes all day at school if they wanted. Rhiannon was a cat this year--she was thrilled to see that her teacher had the same costume on! (Thank you, WalMart, for your $5 cat set). Officially Wade was Darth Vader this year. He didn't want to wear his costume at school all day ("what if I have to go to the bathroom?"), and when I got there to help with the kindergarten carnival he decided not to wear it because he thought it was still taped and scratchy (I thought I'd be brilliant and do a no-sew alteration on the too-long legs--it didn't help). He was Iron Man for the church trunk-or-treat activity last night, and if I can assure him that his costume is no longer itchy, he'll join the Dark Force tonight. (Have Wade do his Darth Vader impression for you--it's pretty darn good.) This afternoon the whole family went to our neighbor's house for a b-day party--it was great getting to know the Samuels family a little better. And tonight I'll take the kids around this older neighborhood and see if we can scare up a little, but not too much, candy. :)

Other good news--we should be closing on the 706 house next week and have been told that the 908 house should close shortly after that. We celebrated early with some furniture shopping yesterday and came away with some great stuff. Stay tuned for pictures. :)

Hope all is well with you, too!

Wade enjoyed this donut game at the kindergarten party.

Ready for candy!

"Luke, I am your father."

What a great cat! She looked great in this!

Yay! Happy cat for the day.

"I've had a really great day today!"

"I've had a really great day today"--that's what Wade said tonight as we were cleaning up. And that's what birthdays are all about, right?

Our little guy isn't so little anymore--the first thing Wade wanted to do when he woke up was measure how tall he was, as if he'd magically grown a bunch overnight. :) And with the fun exception of opening presents early with GPa Rod and GMa Deb, we kept the birthday celebration to one super-concentrated day. Birthday donuts in the morning, birthday snacks to share with his class at school (Jason came by to help hand them out--Wade lit up when he saw him walk in the cafeteria door!), and then a G-Force themed party right after school. We kept the guest list to friends from his school, which was plenty. It turns out that the big, open vaulted front living area in our house tends to, um, amplify sound pretty well when kids are all excited and loud. 90 minutes of fun, food, presents, and, um, noise. :) But, hey, I can't complain. Wade LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT, and the kids were good. MANY THANKS to Daddy for picking up the pizza and to Howard and Sandi for making our party complete--I think I owe Howard some fancy ear plugs or headphones for his patience. :)

We love Wade. He's a great kid, trying to do what's right, and it is so much fun watching him grow up.

LOVE YOU, WADE! Happy 6th Birthday!!!

"Make a Memory" weekend

My parents are forever free of mortgage payments now that they own their home in Houston. HURRAY! They invited all their kids to go and "make a memory" to celebrate this.

So, in honor of Rich and Donna, we drove down to see the air show at Edwards Air Force Base on Saturday. I'm not sure how many people were there that day, but last year about 200,000 turned out... It was a beautiful day and there was a lot of cool stuff to see! Highlights included a long, loud F-16 demonstration, getting to climb into jet cockpits and helicopters, walking inside huge transport planes, bumping into a few Ridgecrest friends, hearing Chuck Yeager speak (now in his 80s?), seeing the Scaled Composites White Knight One and White Knight Two, and joining a silent crowd of thousands as we listened to the national anthem and watched a parachuter slowly land, flying the American flag. That was just for starters. It was also neat to see the A-10, or tank killer, the plane that Jason would have liked to have flown if his life had gone in that direction.

We did have one scary moment. After walking around for a few hours, we got some food and stood while we ate. Rhiannon said, "I'm feeling dizzy." She got very pale and started to faint. I was useless, trying to prop her up and save our plates of pizza at the same time--luckily Jason caught her and had her sit down on the ground before she hit the pavement. Not sure why it happened--maybe she locked her legs? Thankfully she was fine the rest of the day!

McDonalds, movies, mountains, and more

Friday--Jason got back from a week in DC; Grandma Deb and Grandpa Rod rolled into town right when I was picking the kids up at school. That night we enjoyed a McDonald's feast (kid's choice) and our first of three movie nights starting with Ironman.

Saturday--while Jason and Grandpa were gone in the morning, the kids and I went to the store with Grandma and picked out pumpkins for Halloween. :) Then we all drove up to Whitney Portals for a picnic; it was brisk up there but so beautiful! That night Howard and Sandi joined us all at Pizza Factory--yum! We watched the Bourne Supremacy that night.

Sunday--nice quiet day with some church meetings mixed in. We grilled salmon for dinner with lots of help from Grandma Deb and watched the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Monday--no school, no work, more fun with Grandma and Grandpa! Picked up lunch at Weinerschnitzel and ate at the park, played lots of Wii, and Wade got to open some birthday presents early from Grandma and Grandpa. (The stack of books was definitely a favorite!) Had tacos for dinner, and then sent G & G on their way with lots of kisses and hugs.

It was a super fast weekend, but we are SO HAPPY Grandpa Rod and Grandma Deb were able to come down and be with us. Love you!

"Happy Columbus Day!"

Happy, happy weekend--
1) Wade's first kindergarten field trip to a fire station
2) much-anticipated visit from Grandpa Rod and Grandma Deb!
3) very successful first practice for the Primary program
4) lots of paperwork signed for sellling/buying of homes.
Life is good...pictures coming soon. :)

"I'm not nuts"

Normally I don't stay up late watching TV, but I felt compelled to watch this show on food allergies last night. What a fantastic, awesome documentary, and a great reminder to:

a) be vigilant and careful with Wade's peanut allergy
b) and sensitive to the allergies of others.

One mom knew other parents were frustrated when their kids' school adopted a peanut-free policy. But then she said, "Maybe they (the other parents) would understand if they knew that peanuts could potentially kill my child."

In our household we do the obvious--no jars of peanut butter, as-automatic-as-breathing label checking, Benadryl redi-tabs and, though we thankfully haven't had to use it yet, Jr. Epi-pens. I try to tell new teachers and playmates right off "no peanuts", but I have forgotten before. And I'm finally clueing in on Wade's natural aversion to most things chocolate--it probably doesn't taste good to him or makes him sick in the first place!

To our family and friends--thanks for your understanding and support with Wade's allergies. It means a lot!

"Checking on the fish"

We watched all 8 hours of General Conference this weekend, which is a small miracle. It was peaceful and fun and the talks were GREAT! :) The kids had a good time playing with Jason's old Lego sets, too.

Thought I'd get some footage of how Rhiannon and Wade spend most of their free time lately--outside! Even on a crazy windy day, they love jumping all over the rocks and haven't run out of new things to discover in the front yard. Several times a day Rhiannon says, "Well, I'm going outside to check on the fish, Mom!"

It's also been cool enough lately to (gasp!) wear sweatshirts! Yay! I'm loving the cooler weather, but that also means we'll have to cover up the pool soon. Rhiannon and I joined the Polar Bear Club this week and jumped into the pool after school one day. We stayed in the water for less than 2 minutes. :) Brrrrr....