Fall holidays, birthdays, events

I have to ask myself if blogging this far back is even worth it...but everytime I go back and read a post I remember that it is.  Just a shame these pics will have so few details.  But I'm not giving up!

This was for the school literature parade.  That's the parade they have at the school on Halloween.  Part of me is annoyed when I have to find two different costumes for Halloween (it has to have been a book FIRST - no Disney princesses, etc).  But I guess it is a pretty cute idea and it gets them excited about literature.  So here is Brynn as Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid," and Bryce as "Jack as a knight" from "The Magic Treehouse."

And this is me trying to keep the Littles from running around crazy and getting lost in the crowd.
Pictures...

Candy...

Talking to Grandma....whatever it takes.

Here is the kids' fabulous principal, I love her so much.

Bryce's class walked by so fast and I tried to get his attention.  It was sad to see him looking all over for me and not able to hear me.  By the way, that is his little class bff, Samuel.

Brynn somehow ALWAYS manages to find the camera!

And there is her cute teacher, Mrs. Crawford, as Rainbow Dash.

Here is a picture of us all chilling on Halloween afternoon.  Bryce is playing with his buddy and Gabe is watching/dancing/singing to Vocal Point (BYU's A Capella group that was on some network talent show and has some cool music videos).

And behold:  The cutest little monster and Boo (from Monsters Inc) I've even seen.

Here was our conversation about Bryce's costume:
Bryce:  I want to be a Power Ranger for Halloween.
Me:  What's a Power Ranger?
Bryce:  I don't know.
Me:  Well, it's a TV show - have you ever even seen it?
Bryce:  No.  Can I?
Me:  *Sigh*  Fine.

I'm guessing Power Rangers are pretty popular in kindergarten.  I told him the first time I see him hit in any way, shape or form, Power Rangers gets taken away forever.  But that never happened and the phase has long since fizzled out.

Millie was just fine with Halloween, thanks.

Kelly's family came to AZ for Thanksgiving and that was a wild ride!  I think they were initially planning on staying for 5ish days and Kelly was planning to do some work looking for a job, telling us, "It's not like I'm going to get an interview while I'm here."  Which he DID.  And then said, "It's not like I'm going to get hired from the first job I interview for.  Which he DID.  AGH!!! His family is already here and it's so much fun!!  Anyway, their stay was extended, which we were super excited about, and we had one of my favorite visits.

Yum.  Their personalities still totally click.

Gabe had his 3rd birthday while they were still here.

He mainly got Dusty toys, of course.  I really do think this BladeRanger toy will go down in history as one of the favorite toys of any of our kids ever.  Gabe slept with it, ate with it, sucked his thumb with it, it really never left his sight.  He named it Bob.  We took it to Utah at Christmas time and lost it with Marty's family and he was completely heartbroken.  Then Kelly came to visit again in February and we asked him to bring it and, of course, by that point it was lost again.  So Kelly being cuddly as always just bought him a new one. :)  I don't think the Johnsons knew what they were getting into when they randomly bought him a cute toy for his birthday last November.

This is the Sully pillow pet we bought him at Disneyland over fall break and managed to keep hidden our whole trip!

He liked it.

And as always, Grandma and Grandpa's box showed up right on time for him to open, perfectly thought out and perfectly wrapped.  That's one of those things I still need to work on to someday be as awesome and my mom is.

We played lots of Disney Apples to Apples.

Seriously, he never set that thing down.

My friend took our playgroup kids to the Library's Christmas-festival-thing and said Gabe wasn't too sure about getting his face painted.  Hm...never would have guessed it.

And I think the pictures I have posted of my kids playing in the yard in the rain is up to about seven million...but I'm going to keep posting them anyway.  This one was especially fun because they are out there totally comfortable in December.  Ya, I live in paradise (and I am even writing this in August!).