It's next to impossible to get six 2 year olds to look at six moms plus one teacher who are all trying to take their picture at the same time. I decided this was as good as it gets. Ellie adored Halloween and just kept saying "more canny mommy - I got more canny" with a look of disbelief.

So, I've decided that Halloween is a month long Holiday these days instead of what seemed like a one day Holiday when I was a kid. The last week of October found us carving pumpkins for Family Home Evening, attending the ward trunk or treat/Halloween carnival, as well as 3 class parties and 3 Halloween parades respectively. Matt and I aren't so crafty when it comes to carving pumpkins, but our kids seemed happy enough that we could make square and triangle faces okay. The trunk or treat was a lot of CHAOTIC fun! I was helping the Young Women with a pie in the face booth as well as a haunted hallway. I also let Emma invite her friend and friend's sister. After a crazy couple of minutes when the Young Women attacked me with a "cool whip pie" and then I turned around to find a lost crying 4 year old (Emma's friends sister) I decided that I may be in over my head.... and that I will never have 5 children. Hats off to those of you with several children. Needless to say that after massive amounts of sugar, parades, and fun the Halloween season is now officially over at our house and we look forward to election day, Brady's Birthday and Thanksgiving.

Emma standing in line waiting for her Halloween parade with some of her pals this year.

Immediately following Emma's class Halloween party, we loaded the kids in the car, rented 3 redbox movies...or should I say cartoons and hit the road for a 3 hour drive to the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. Our wonderful friends (Aaron & Candace Bean) invited us for the weekend and we had a great time. Matt and I got up early on Saturday morning and did a session at the Temple while Candace graciously watched our kids. It was an absolutely beautiful morning and a wonderful way to start our weekend. For the rest of the weekend, we enjoyed Indian summer weather and just hung out. The kids played for hours on end without any squabbles - it was great!

I had to include this picture...even though I know it's hard to see anything. It made my heart melt to see these 2 girls (best little friends who lived next door to each other from age 1-4) together again now at age 6. Watching them interract you'd never know that they'd been apart for 2 years. This picture shows the back of their little heads cocked together in deep conversation...sharing a seatbelt so they could be close. Matt and I were traveling behind Candace and this sight melted our hearts and took us on a trip down memory lane. These girls spent the weekend in deep conversations about school, High School Musical 3, tying shoes, losing teeth, watching Tinkerbell, fixing their hair and doing all the things sweet little 6 year old girls do.

Another highlight of our weekend included meeting up at Culver's (an Iowa tradition) with more of our Iowa friends. All together there were 25 of us 5 couples each with 3 children. It was quite the sight as the 15 kids range in age from 3 mths. to Emma (the oldest) at 6. There were too many of us to even capture in one single picture. Let's just say that we had a lot of albeit LOUD fun! Thanks for everyone who came so we could visit with you!

We came home Sunday and had an interesting Family Home Evening last night on the importance of voting, the Presidential candidates, and how a democracy works etc... Emma's school voted yesterday and so after talking about all sides, we held a family vote last night and we're proud to say the John McCain wins at our house! However, everyone had their own right to vote for whoever they wanted and he only won 3-2. I hope that our kids now have a better understanding of how lucky they are to live in the United States of America and that it's a great privilege to be able to vote. Matt and I voted this morning and I'm so proud to be an American and enjoy this great right. I've been wearing my sticker proudly all day and I hope that you too voted today! God bless the USA.