Trick-or-treat

What little kid does not want to get in a costume?  Yep, Braden.  I had the hardest time getting him to put on his costume.  Good thing I didn't spend much money on it.  He finally put it on and we had a good night.  I think the favorite part of trick-or-treating for the kids was ringing the doorbell.  Weird.  I know.  They would have been just fine ringing our doorbell and having us answer it and give them candy.  I bet they did that for 15 minutes before the mean mom had to put an end to it.  

Austin was "Woody" and Braden was a pirate.  I had a hard time getting Austin to keep his hat on so to get a picture of him was out of the question but here are a few.

You gotta love Halloween

Don't you just love Halloween?  I love it!  It's never complete without a good scare . . . so this year me and Brooke did some last minute thinking and came up with something great.  We had Brooke dress up in this mask and wear all black and sit on the porch while the little piano was playing.  People thought it was one of those automated things you know.  This first video is of her sitting on the porch so you can get the idea (because it is kind of dark) and the second video is our second victim(s).  We had so much fun scaring kids (not the little ones of course)  But some of the teenagers and parents were more frightened than the little kids anyway.  Good times. I must tell you that when in action you could not see her hands so it just looked like a dummy!  I am proud to say that we scared the green and white striped socks right off of Strawberry Shortcake! 

Well dang it.  I have tried to upload my videos 5 times now and it keeps telling me there was an error and to contact something or other.  Lame!  So I guess I will give you a picture for now and when I get the video errors worked out I will post them later.  

Halloween Party

We were invited to a fun Halloween party last week with some friends from the ward.  We went on a serious scavenger hunt type thing.  It was very creative and you really had to think about the clues.  Beware you red team . . . . . next year we will win that dang golden broom (even if we have to cheat)  These are a few of the couples - I didn't get pictures of all of them.

Picture Tag (for Kaelene)

This is a picture tag.  You are supposed to put the picture from your 3rd file, 3rd picture on your blog.  I only did this for Kaelene (so she wouldn't pester me!!!)  This is a picture of me the day after I had Braden.  I showed Brooke which picture that was and she couldn't believe that I would put this on with such a swollen face (nose especially).  But lets get this straight.  Okay so I was in labor ALL DAY and I had the epidural from the second I got to the hospital so I had to have the IV in me pumping me full of liquid and then I had to end up having a C-section and so I couldn't walk for awhile after the surgery.  So needless to say I was a swollen mess.  I am just glad that I never have to see my feet that puffy again.  And while I am writing about this I might as well add some more from that day.  Right?!  Okay so I woke Aaron up at 3 am on Saturday and we made it to the hospital by 4 am (I was having BAD contractions, but I insisted that I shower before we went)  Once there they monitored me for about an hour.  That was the worst hour ever.  I was in so much pain and I was getting mad at Aaron and I think that must have stressed him out because he was not sympathetic at all and just kept getting mad back at me.  So finally the nurse said they were going to admit me and put me in a room and asked when I would like the epidural.  I remember saying something like 2 hours ago would have been nice but I will be happy if I could have it right now.  Well, she said she would page the anesthesiologist and send him in when he got there.  Meantime I could have a popsicle.  What???  Cruel . . . . . anyway he comes in and finally I get the epidural at 7 am, apologize to Aaron and enjoy the pain free contractions.  They broke my water right after that and continued to check me every hour.  When I still wasn't progressing as they would have liked I got put on that pit to speed things up and when that didn't help and I had been in labor for 10 hours and Braden's heart rate kept dropping because he was in stress which was putting me in stress they gave it 2 more hours and then they decided that a c-section was necessary.  So off to the OR we go and the doctor was poking me with a needle on my stomach to see if I was all numb and I kept telling him I could feel it but I could see all the doctors and the anesthesiologist look at each other like I was crazy and then he started to cut and I yelled out "Ouch!  I can feel that"  they immediately stopped and rolled me over and sure enough my epidural had come out.  So all the medicine they had given me for the c-section was a big puddle on the operating table.  So now they knew I wasn't just being a wimp and they put the epidural back in and numbed me so good that I couldn't feel my tongue and my eyes were all fuzzy.  Then 10 minutes and 20 staples later we had cute little Braden.  Wow that was long . . sorry.  See what you caused Kaelene??!!  But I am happy to tell you that because Austin was breech it was a planned c-section and it was a million times better!!! 

Scarecrow Festival

We went to Thanksgiving Point to the Scarecrow Festival last week.  It was very crowded but we had lots of fun.  Aunt Brooke and me and the boys went.  I think every one's favorite part of it was the big blow up slides.  I do have to admit that even me and Brooke enjoyed ourselves on them.  We had to take the boys on the slides because some were so steep that they could not climb them alone so we got the workout climbing up and enjoyed the ride down.  I even managed to skin up my elbow really well and somehow get that same arm all bruised.  Maybe it was all the air we would catch on the way down or maybe I am just too old for the kid stuff now.  Oh well, we sure lived it up while we were there.  It is always a good time when Brooke goes with us.  She is more hyper than the kids sometimes, but she is also a big help when they want to go in different directions.  Here is a little clip of Braden and Brooke going down the slide ~ you will see what I mean with Brooke!!!  (I am sure there were signs that said Feet First Only)

PS - Hey Mom . . . if you ever read our blogs (which you probably don't) - now you can see who the trouble maker was growing up.  Maybe now she will believe the "older" sister for once!  Why is it that the youngest gets away with everything???  I am sure Braden would like this answered too!!!

  

Witch Hunt!

We took a little detour on an errand we had to run and stopped at Gardner Village for the "witch hunt" today.  I decided we better do it while the weather is still nice.  There were several people there, but it was fun for the kids.  They really deck that place out and it is so cute!  There was a list of 14 different witches you had to find and then the kids could go to the Bakery and get a delicious cookie for 25 cents.
Here is Aunt Brooke (wishing she could cast a spell on them) with the greatest picture takers in the world.  Maybe she could cast a spell on them to just at least look at the camera - forget the smile I know that won't happen, but just to look forward would be nice.