It's almost Halloween...

Mclayne and her pre-school class at their Halloween party on Thursday...


Mclayne continued the partying by hosting a "Happy Halloween" at our house later that day and night. She wanted everyone in costume including her "imagination" friends and Ryan. He convinced Mclayne into dressing up as a mummy instead of himself. She loved it and it saved a lot of toilet paper!

OcToBeR in slide shows

We started October with a visit from Grandma Lori and Grandpa Steve - a.k.a baabock and bockbock. After helping Lori in the kitchen, Mclayne now wants to be "a chef at Olive Garden."

*Not pictured is the Utah vs. CSU game. It was a bit chilly and between the snow gear, blankets, chairs, electric hand warmer, non-electric hand warmers, etc. a camera somehow didn't make the trip.

We also made our way to the aquarium again. It never gets old...Lori and I learned about a see dragon thanks to Mclayne, Steve had his hand squirted by an archer fish after the feeding time show, and a sting ray nearly jumped over the side of the pool while I was feeding it fish. It was awesome!


Next, was our trip to So. Utah/Vegas for the football game, which I also have no pictures of...

one down. two to go

we successfully turned one of our tadpoles into a frog. it's not like we really did anything anything magical. just kept it alive long enough for the transformation to happen on it's own...but that is truly a miracle in this house. since a frog actually needs food to survive, we decided to set him free. his chances of survival are much higher in the owl, snake, duck, muskrat, beaver infested stream by our house than home with us. Mclayne thought it was quite an adventure setting him free.












we do still have one tadpole that we caught IN MAY that seems to be frozen in time. and once again, the fact he's still alive after four months is quite amazing. and...

we now also have another frog from our walk last night. he/she is sticking around only because it is LETTER "F" at preschool this week and Mclayne wants to show all of her friends. i actually bought crickets at the pet store for it today to keep it alive for the week. it will be nice to be animal free soon!

froke out

{yesterday's} word of the day...

froke out - the past tense of the verb freak out

use in a sentence - Mclayne having a conversation with Santa Clause on the phone yesterday said, "Don't give Cole any toys for Christmas because he froke out this morning."

{two} little dancers

mclayne and three friends {hope, jane, and carmen} went to their first dance class today with miss muffie (that is the name she actually goes by). she chose quite the outfit for the first day. but since i spent the time making the skirt, i'm glad she likes it.


as you can see, cole also got in on the action and put on a pair of tap shoes...he'll use any excuse he can to try on girl shoes.

Schareeism

I have passed on another schareeism to my kids. I only clean my shower while taking a shower. And even though I'm pretty sure I've never done it while they were showering with me, i caught them doing this in the tub a few days ago...

i love the cleaning, but my favorite parts are cole's little {cheese} at the beginning and mclayne's song that makes no sense.
now i need to go and do some REAL cleaning, so I'm ready for our labor day trip to utah! GO UTES!

Man, I wish we were still here...

Here are the pictures from Steve-o's camera. Our McCall posts just wouldn't have been complete without them. He got the closest thing to a family picture, our trip to the fairy island to get treats, our clay masterpieces, and mclayne's rainbow trout that Grandma's later cooked for her.

more video

i really should be taking and uploading video with our actual video camera, but it's so easy with my little 5 megapixel point.and.shoot i think i'll overlook the bad quality.

Dinosaur Ridge

Yesterday we decided to forget about unpacking and take the kids to Dinosaur Ridge. We liked it and decided next time we'll take the guided tour so we can learn even more about everything up there.

I took a little video with my camera accidentally, then I thought why not take some on purpose. So here is my first video upload. Now that I know how easy it is, I will be doing it more often. {Except next time I'll try not to use my loud, gay pre-school teacher voice.

random pictures taken before mccall...the one of mclayne was a hurried attempt at a first day of school pic. she is doing her best not to squint in the "bright" {not really} morning light. I'm sure next year she'll wear sunglasses!

I almost stepped on this snake while picking up the yard. It slithered into our neighbors yard at a safe distance from the fence...or so it thought. Mclayne poked it with a stick trying to catch it and it disappeared. phew.