Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween

from Robin Hood and his Royal Crew

Hunter is Robin Hood, Logan a strong Knight, Becky is Maid Marian, Kiersten is a Renaissance Queen, Justin is a Knight and Mr. Grant is a Fierce Dragon! Don't they look like wonderful Trick-or-Treaters? Hunter and Logan needed costumes like these for their all school play so that's where our costume inspiration came from this year. I had other ideas but didn't want to be buying more then one costume of the boys so this is it!

We talked to the kids about what we would be for Halloween and they all got to pick the costumes they wanted online.....we'll the cheaper of the costumes they got to choose from.

Hunter was so cute from day one he started teasing Justin like this........"Hey Dad, you know Robin Hood gets to kiss Maid Marian right? And you know I am Robin Hood not you right?"

It was so cute! So we got all dressed for my mother-in-laws Halloween Party and asked Mac to come down to take our pictures. We ended up being 40 minutes late to her party, which I feel bad about but we did get some great pictures............once Mac showed up :)! She runs on Pryor time...........kinda like Mormon Standard Time.

Any way while we were waiting for Mac to come Hunter said, "Now Mom we have to get our kissing pictures okay?"

It was adorable! I just love this boy! So he told me how to pose and he just went to town.....................watch out ladies!!

I Love My Robin Hood!

He wanted to dip me and kiss...........it was hilarious!

Look at his happy smile...........yeah he made Justin jealous for sure!

Thank you Robin Hood for being so sweet..........you have my heart that's for sure!

When we took this picture Hunter looked up and said, "Hey are you cheating on me with a silly Knight?"

What can I say, what would you do with this hot of a knight at your house.

Can you say ADORABLE?

Kiersten wanted a picture with Mr. Grant. This little guy just loves, loves his sister! And Kiersten is such a wonderful big sister. She is always so willing to help with him, swing him, bath him, get him food............you name it she'll do it for this little dragon.

But beware he can be FIERCE!

I Love this Royal Crew........Fierce dragon and ALL!

Hope you all have a wonderful Halloween!

Snickers

Don't ask me how I got roped in to horse riding lessons. I guess the part that they are free is really hard to argue with.

So for the past three Friday's either after or before piano lessons I load up the kiddos and head out to the Graham County Rodeo Arena. Kelly and her boys are there with Snicker's ready to give Kiersten and Hunter riding lessons. Kelly has been riding horses and competing in rodeos since she was 5.......so she is a wonderful teacher.

Snicker's is a great kid horse and a wonderful horse to start lessons on. When the kids are ready for more speed Kelly has other horses she'll put them on. But for now the kids are loving Snickers! It's hard to believe Kiersten will even get back on a horse after having Grammie Cluff's horse get spooked and took off running with Kiersten on the back.........not once but twice! The more times Kiersten is on Snicker's and nothing scary happens the more confident and comfortable she becomes. Who'd have thought Hunter would like cowboy stuff? I want my kids to grow up to be well rounded individuals........so if he wants to try out cowboy stuff it's fine with me. He still is in Hip Hop, takes archery, plays the violin and the piano and is loving every minute in all those activities. So I believe doing and trying many different activities will help Hunter (and all my kids) to be well rounded. Plus I want them to know they can do anything they want to do, as long as they are willing to put forth the effort to do it! Silly Cowboys! Hunter loved flipping down off the fencing in this position. I was just happy we didn't end up with stitches or anything. Looking pretty happy! During this lesson Kiersten learned to run the poles for the first time. Plus this was the first day Kiersten loped with Snicker's. Kelly always makes the kids decide a goal for their lesson and loping was Kiersten's goal for today. Great job Kiersten accomplishing your goal and pushing past your fears! Hunter's goal was to learn a barrel pattern today. Hunter did have a little scare today because he was wearing spurs and he kicked and smooched at Snicker's and she started loping. He was NOT ready for loping nor was he expecting it. He handled it well and learned a good lesson about the difference between kicking with spurs and without them. Wonderful job Hunter not giving up after being scared! This was actually a Saturday because Friday was too busy for us to meet. So Kelly's husband Trenton was there as well. This picture was after the non-intentional loping incident. Trenton was really sweet to Hunter and made him keep riding so he could see that Snicker's won't just take off. What she did was exactly what Hunter unintentionally asked her to do.........to lope. He also had Hunter ride to learn how to get Snicker's to stop..........she is such a great horse and will stop on a dime when you ask it of her. Trenton and Kiersten are riding on Gunner. This is the next horse the kids will be riding when they are ready for more speed. And I guess he has a much smoother ride, but he is more horse and they aren't in need of that yet. I can't thank Kelly enough for the lessons. I did have my dad make her a roping dummy just like the one he made for Hunter. She saw Hunter's and said it was better then any she had seen or that they had. The kids and I surprised her with it. We took it one evening after dark to her house, put it in their front yard, left the thank you cards that the kids and I had written, rang the doorbell and drove away. They opened the door just as we were driving away so the kids yelled out the windows...."We love you Kelly!" Needless to say she was so grateful and that can count for payment til I think of something else to give her since she refuses to take any money. Plus I probably couldn't afford riding lessons for both kids right now any ways.........so we are all thankful for her generosity and kindness.

2nd Annual Haunted House

The kids would not let me forget about our new tradition, which began last year, Our Annual Haunted House. The kids each got to invite a friend over for the party and to help be a part of the haunted house.

Mac came over and helped me with the pumpkin painting before Justin got home. Thanks Mac.......I just love her!!! I was so glad she came and helped Mr. Grant! Logan invited Ryker.....I don't know if these two understood it was a pumpkin painting craft, I think they might have thought it was a shirt painting contest! Thank goodness I put old painting shirts on them!!! Kiersten had Hannah Wood come and Hunter had Carsen Davis. I was very excited that the friends were all from the neighborhood so I didn't have to drive to pick up or take kids home. Mac was so sweet and let Mr. Grant use the puff painting markers and everything! This year Kiersten and Hunter were really helpful and did a wonderful job helping me with the food. Mummy dogs and witches fingers! We had Frankenstein eyeballs.......spookily yummy! Spider's web dip Cups of dirt for dessert We also had yummy pumpkin rolls Mr. Grant really loved the cup of dirt. In fact all the kids did! The kids all ate a lot. They really liked the punch I made with orange juice, bananas, and orange sherbet. Hannah, Kiersten, Mr. Grant, Logan, Ryker, Carsen and Hunter

Instead of bobbing for apples we had bobbing for donuts.

The kids loved it!

It's trickier then it looks!

I love Mr. Grant's smile in the background..........he thought this was hilarious!

It seriously is funny to watch a group of kids doing this!

The things they do with their hands while trying to get the donuts is crazy!

Avry just kept licking his donut...........it was so cute!

Mr. Grant did pretty good with some help from his daddy.

The kids watched a short movie, 'Monsters vs Aliens Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space."

Then it was time for our 2nd annual Haunted House.

My kids had a blast decorating for it. Last year they did it outside but it was a little hard because they had to put stuff up while everyone waited. So they were so excited this year when I said they could have it on their side of the house.

Logan, Ryker, Hannah and Kiersten were Zombies while Carsen and Hunter were mummies.

I wish I had taken pictures of each room.........the kids retreat was a Spiders Web which continued into Kiersten bathroom where Kiersten and Hannah sprayed everyone with silly string as they walked through. Then Kiersten's room was a grave yard.........then on to Hunter's room which was a butcher shop with body parts laying around and everything. Then Mr. Grant's room was the trophy room with rats and monster heads laying around. This is where Justin would pop the balloon and then Logan and Ryker would chase people with butcher knifes from the closet. Then the people ran back into the kids retreat/Spider's web and Hunter and Carsen would come out of the playroom and moan after them. Hunter and Carsen had their hands straight out and would keep running into people as they moaned. For once all our circles in our house really came in handy.

We had a fog machine that blows out bubbles which the kids just loved. As well as strobe lights and black lights in every room.

Don't they look scary!

They really played the part during the Haunted House.

These two spooks got to spray people with silly string.......they were hiding it the shower. They just loved it!

These two had bloody butcher knifes and chased after people. I had planned on being a mummy as well, but we ran out of time to get me in costume plus Logan and Ryker needed help to know when to come out of the closet.

Don't the knifes really complete them?

Justin was the Haunted House guide and did a wonderful job as always!

He is in the Scream costume.

The kids all loved the bloody cut tattoos I had bought.........they did look pretty gross!

What a scary sight!

We had about 30 people come to go through the Haunted House this year. Next year we think we'll just do the Haunted House and no big party before, but we'll send out invitations for people to come through it and maybe have treats and hot chocolate for them to have while they wait their turn.

Everyone was so patient as we could only take about 4 people at a time. The kids just had a BLAST! Thank you to everyone for their screams.........we even had two little kids that came through cry. The kids thought that was awesome, but I felt bad! Debbie Luna and her family came and Debbie ran out of her shoes and ran all the way out of the house. She truly got scared. Justin talks about some heads of creatures he's killed and there are balloons in the masks while he is talking about them he has a straight pin in his hand and he pops one of the balloons. Debbie scream like a school girl.........that's when she ran out without her shoes.

We had to talk her into coming back inside because she totally missed seeing Hunter's part.

She reluctantly came back in to see Hunter but you could tell she really had been scared.

So we'll definitely invite her next year! It was so much fun I wish I could remember everyone that came..........if I forget someone I apologize....

Grammie & Grampie Cluff

Melissa & Tyler Brogan

Debbie, Jose,Amy, Christy Luna and their friend

Brad and Cheryl Boswell

Quincy, Gloria and Avry Boswell

Nikki & Jaxon Davis as well as four other people they brought with them

Wendy, Hallie, Carsyn, & Stewart Shupe

Mac & JP Pryor

Dawn Espinosa

The kids were all so excited from the Haunted House that they were wired..........so we had them help us clean it up that night!

It's been a fun tradition so far and I think we'll continue to do it!

Pumpkin Carving

The kids were so excited about carving their pumpkins this year.

They all wanted to use stencils this year to make more complex carvings.

The results are outstanding!

Logan did the ghost....with about 90% help from dad.

Hunter did the headless horseman..........all on his own!

Kiersten did the spider.........all by herself!

I think the kids did a great job and they really exhibited a great deal of patience while carving their pumpkins with that much detail. And Logan showed patience by watching Justin carve his. Logan was just as excited about his pumpkin and that is all that matters. Way to go Kiersten!

What a team!

Hunter was just thrilled that there was a horse to carve in his pumpkin. He is becoming quite the little cowboy!

Look at the carving detail.........and the man holding his head up.........pretty spooky!

We got these pumpkins while on the Apple Annie's Field Trip. Before we rode the hayride to go select the best pumpkin Logan was running around playing and slipped. He took a pretty good fall to the ground and got a large goose egg on his forehead. So he picked a pumpkin with a bump on it just like he had on his forehead.

It was so cute!

Kiersten's was the hardest to carve I think. But man that girl has more determination then any other 10 year old I know!

Fantastic job!

Mr. Grant had fallen asleep so he missed out on pumpkin carving..........thank goodness!