Santa

After Petyon got out of school today, I took the kids to see Santa. They were so excited. We have tried to see him before, but he is a busy man. The line had been between 2 and 3 hours. We lucked out today were able to see him right away.

Annisten said she wasn't going to talk to him, just go see him. Peyton went right up to him, so she followed. I think this is the first year that no one cried.

A Snowy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day we had an early dinner with my family. There is nothing like the holiday dinners with great food and spending time with the family. Unfortunately we did not get to spend too much time with the family because we had to rush off to the airport. We went back to Utah for Thanksgiving. We were worried that we would not make it because of the snow storm the day before.

The kids were so excited about all the snow on the ground. We spent a lot of time playing and shoveling all of the snow. The weekend was a lot of work with cleaning up our house, but it was a fun trip for us at the same time. We enjoyed seeing all our friends and visiting our favorite places.

New Baby For The Reed Household!!!!

Baby number three is due March 23rd! Peyton wants a boy and Annisten wants a girl. Corey and I decided that since we have a boy and a girl, it would be fun to not find out the sex of the baby. Last week I went in for an ultrasound. The ultrasound technician told us, "It's a boy!" Corey and I just looked at each other. "That is exciting, but we did not want to know" said Corey. The lady felt really bad.  Oh well, maybe next time there will be a surprise! :) We are really excited to be having baby number three.

Voting Day

On Tuesday local elections were held. Peyton's class also learned all about voting and participated in voting too. Peyton voted on his favorite story book character. The choices were: Clifford, Franklin, Curious George, and Little Critter.  Peyton voted for  Little Critter.

Halloween Festivities

Trick or Treating

The kids had a great time trick or treating. Peyton enjoyed running door to door. Always in a hurry to get more candy. Annisten was more interested in Halloween decor. She also had to eat her candy after each house. The cousins came trick or treating too. Aspen was a Ballerina Monkey, Gwendolyn was a pumpkin (but she did not want to wear all of the costume), and Lucy was the little bear.

At one house, a lady came to the door and told them she did not have any treats. Peyton sais, "Well say sorry then." Corey, my Mom. and I died laughing! The nice lady ended finding a little something for the kids.

Mario and Dorothy

Peyton and Annisten had already planned out what they wanted to be for Halloween. It turns out the customs from their play cloths were in bad repair. So I had to make a last minute run for costumes. They looked so cute!

Pumpkin Carving

Peyton's Fall Party

Fun Games!

Making and Eating Yummy treats!

 

Peyton and and his Kindergarten teacher Ms. B

Annisten's Party

Pumpkin pie in the making!

Pumpkin Bowling!

Spooky Kids!

Fun Craft For The Kids

I always try and find some craft or activity for the kids to do each week. I wanted something fun for Halloween and found a great sour dough recipe online. So we made Halloween magnets for the frig. This ended up being their favorite Halloween craft this year. I have tried lots of other sough dough recipes and it never works out, but this time it did. Plus it was supper easy. The first night we made the dough and used cookie cutters to cut out fun Halloween shapes. I baked them later that night. The next day the kids painted them and hot glued on the magnets.

Just in case you want to try it out.....

You will need

1 cup salt

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup water

acrylic paints: orange, yellow, brown, black, white, pink

paintbrush

cookie cutters: ghost, pumpkins, cat, bat

toothpick

What you do

Mix together, salt, flour, and water until a dough is formed. Knead the dough on a floured surface until the mixture is elastic and smooth. If dough is too sticky, sprinkle with flour, continue to do so until stickiness is gone. BE CAREFUL. Do not add too much flour, this will dry out the dough and will cause it to crack before you get a chance to bake it. 

THIS DOUGH IS NOT EDIBLE, though it won't hurt you or your kids, it just won't taste very good!

Roll dough flat with a rolling pin, about 1/4" - 1/2" thick. 

Use cookie cutters to cut out creatures. 

Use toothpick to draw lines on pumpkins. Make individual pumpkins or layer then on top of each other for a pumpkin patch look (see photo). Be sure to do this step BEFORE baking. 

Bake for approximately 2 - 2.5 hours. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. For best results, allow to cool and dry overnight, or for at least 4 hours.

Fun Craft For Me 

Maybe I always have the kids do activities and crafts because I enjoy them too. This time this one was for me. I got the idea from another blog, Brown Paper Packages. There is so much cute stuff on that blog. I just love it! I made spooky soap dispensers for the bathroom and kitchen (which went perfect with my Boo towels from target). It turned cute, but not as cute as the original. That is usually how it goes though.

Peyton's Music Program

On Tuesday the school had a music program for all of the kindergartners. Peyton was so excited about the program. His class had to wear red, which we all know how much the kid likes red.  Before the program Peyton was in a frenze about being there at the school on time. He talked non-stop about how he had been practicing at school the songs and actions to the songs. He went on and on about being up on a real stage too.

Then Peyton said, "Now mom, after the song every one is going to bow. Then you need to clap really loud for me. OK?"

When all the kids took to the stage, Peyton was scanning the crowd for us. We waved and waved, but he did not see us. After a couple of minutes, Peyton got this sad panicked look on his face. So Corey ran up to the stage and got his attention. Once Peyton found us in the crowd, he was all smiles and waves. Peyton would wave to us and smile every few seconds. It was so cute!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Corey and I had our Anniversary on the 10th of October. With all the craziness of moving, we did not get to celebrated it until last weekend. My parents watched the kids. Peyton and Annisten were so excited to go to Nana and Papa's house that they did not even say goodbye to us. We went downtown Kansas City and had dinner in the Power and Light District. Then we went to the Billy Currington and Carrie Underwood concert. We had so much fun togehter on our date!

Pumpkin Patch

It would not be fall and Halloween without a trip to the to the pumpkin patch. Every one enjoyed the pumpkins, dusty hayride, the corn maze, petting zone, and watching the kids at play. Oh and of coarse all of the pumpkins. By the end, we were all worn out from the adventure.

Crazy kids!!!!!

We took the kids to the park to run off some energy. Peyton and Annisten were thrilled to get outside. While at the park, the kids discovered skateboard and bike ramps. Maybe next time I told them.

They begged and begged to go and try the ramps out with their scooters. I didn't really think that either of them would actually go up and down the ramps. Boy was I wrong on that one! It made me so nervous to have them try all of the ramps. They still seem so little to me.

Peyton and Annisten absolutely loved the ramps. Before long they were going up and down the ramps like pros. We survived with dirty hands and pants; oh and luckily only a few scratches. I am sure that they will be back for more fun on the ramps.

Big changes for the Reed family!

Corey and I have been wanting to move closer to family for a long time. Living away from them is so hard. It has taken us 10 years to make this big change. Corey got a job in Missouri! Both of us thought that this move would take months. Corey's work had other plans and gave us less than two weeks to pack up and move!!!!!!

Talk about a whirlwind! Trying to make all of the arrangements and pack our house up (which we discovered had even more junk than we realized) was absolutely nuts! Luckily we have great neighbors and friends who helped us out. Somehow we managed and made the long drive to Missouri.

Before we left Utah, our family did have a chance to spend a couple of days in Telluride, CO and absolutely loved it. Such a pretty place to visit. We checked out some old mining towns, road the gondolas, hiked up to twin waterfalls, and enjoyed the beautiful fall weather.

Now we are moved in and settled in Missouri. We decided to rent a until our house in Utah sold and figured out where we want to live.  Being next to family is so nice. I think that we are still in shock about the whole thing. Moving before everything was settled into place has been challenging, but the Lord has been there every step of the way.  Our house is under contract now! So we are praying that everything will go through.