Emma's Cast. Meetin' Mitt, and Halloween pics!

This is kind of a miscellaneous post, that's our life!!!

A week before we left for our family trip to Florida, Emma was at Tap Class and she twirled and fell and broke her left elbow.
This picture is from hospital number 2 of 3 that we visited that night. There was a very good chance Emma might have to have surgery, so we were sent to the closest hospital with a Pediatric Orthopedist, in Iowa City, about an hour from our home. The University of Iowa Medical Center. They were amazing and so kind! We were so blessed that Emma only needed a cast! YEAY!!!

Emma slept through the whole trip to Iowa City and when she woke up she was disappointed that her cast was just white. She had said she wanted a pink one. So, I started coloring it for her!! Halfway through Em asked if I could do the rest of it green, so I did! Pink and Green! Coolest cast EVER!!!
Emma's sweet Primary teacher, Bro. Kowallis, dropped off a treat and a "Get Well Soon" balloon when he heard that Emma broke her elbow. So nice of him to think of her!!!

FAST FORWARD 4 WEEKS (after our amazing trip, with more pictures to come)...

Getting ready to have her cast removed!

I love that Emma is smiling so huge in this picture!!! Yep, that is the nurse with the saw taking the cast off. Emma smiled through the whole thing. hahahahaha!
She stretched and scratched and moved her arm around carefully. Emma didn't love the skin we were scrubbing off for a week or so. But it was so great to get her arm back again!

Living in the Midwest is really interesting because politics is so interesting and HUGE here!

One Monday evening, we went as a family and met Mitt Romney. He was really nice!

Here come the Halloween Pictures!

We went to dad's school for the trick-or-treating and it was so much fun!

Emma the Barbie Fairy!

Rachel the pirate, saying "ARG!!!

Sarah, the super cutie Candy Corn!

Happy Halloween, my precious sweeties! It was such a fun day!

Happy Halloween (a little early!)

Every year at Richard's school, they host a Halloween Party/Trick-or-Treat through Campus. The girls had a blast walking through the halls and going in and out of the offices getting candy and visiting the place where Richard is going to school and SLAVING over 35 credit hours (yes, those are regular credit hours. He is taking 3 times the normal full-time load).
There is also a costume contest for the kids and groups with some great prizes!!! There were some amazing costumes and it was so fun to watch. When Richard's parents were here, they bought each of the girls a costume that they LOVED.
So here are some highlights of the day (keep reading for the funny surprise at the end):


Rachel the Cavewoman riding a Dinosaur, Sarah the Monarch Butterfly, and Emma the sweet little Minnie Mouse


I don't know if you knew this, but Sarah is an AMAZING hula hooper!!!


It was a little more complicated with the Dino costumes, but Rachel sure tried!


Emma Minnie had to get in on the hula action


A little bit of black to dress up for me!

Here are their pictures during the costume contests

Sweet Minnie Emma


Super excited Rachel


Beautiful Butterfly Sarah

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

All 3 girls won in their age groups! WOW!!! Great job little girls! Smiling sweetly and really loving your costume makes a huge difference. And the prizes are: Gift cards to Target! Su-weet!

Their close-ups!

Sparkles rule!


A dirty cavewoman face (with make-up, not real dirt, right Rachel?)


Minnie Nose!


Playing by the Koi Ponds on campus!


Just had to end with this picture. Emma loved this costume from the second she saw it! I love seeing that sweetness in her face!

So, Happy Halloween! I sure hope you enjoyed our fun evening out!

Halloween '09

This is Richard. Therefore, this post will be short. I've been on break this halloween, but that doesn't mean that I'm inclined to write much. We've all been a bit sick this week, and I'm still recovering, too. So here are the pictures: This is Rachel at the Halloween Parade at her school holding her homemade "halloween flag." (And yes, the handle is a piece of old hula hoop that I sawed off - don't worry, it was already broken.)

Sarah as the zebra at the same parade.

Emma at the trunk-or-treat dinner dressed as a "good fairy."

All the kids together at the trunk-or-treat with their friend, Trevor.

The girls took turns scrubbing their pumkins that we bought last-minute on clearance because we just never really got around to going to a pumpkin patch.

Gutting the pumpkins and teaching the kids about pumpkin gut texture. Rachel wouldn't touch the stuff, though (see the thongs in her hand). She had a major meltdown when I touched a bit to her thumb. It was dripping like snot from my OCD hands in the meantime.

Well, that's about it. I forgot to take pictures of the girls' pumpkins post-carving. So....maybe later. It was fun, though, and we're now heading into the 3rd trimester of school. Wish me luck......and happy Halloween from Becky!

Field trips and Pre-Halloween Celebration!

We have been kind of cooped up in this house for the last few weeks. Richard had finals for the last week and a half and we have just been hanging on! BUT, Richard did awesome and got mostly As and a couple of Bs in his classes (this is the hardest trimester, many people say). WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU RICHARD!!! YOU ROCK!

~Things we have been doing- our "regular stuff" with a few "out of the ordinaries"...


Sarah dancing!!!

Rachel took her first fieldtrip in Kindergarten and we went to an local park and walked through their Conservatory and learned all about plants and trees and stuff. I was able to go with her and it was a blast!!!

Leaf rubbings

Mom and Rachel surrounded by tropical plants
(that isn't a flower in my hair, it is on the bush behind us!)

Rachel doing "Leaves, branches, trunk, and roots"
(head, shoulders, knees, and toes)

Beautiful pinecone to take home!

We started looking costumes and this is what the girls decided on.
Sarah the zebra, rachel the good witch and Emma the Butterfly Princess Fairy thingy!


We went down to Richard's school for their trick or treating.

Sarah the zebra in the fog!

Dad and Emma at the costume contest!


I love my girls!

Happy Halloween 2008

Emma (2) as Jasmine, Sarah (6) as Ariel and Rachel (4) as Snow White

Our first real holiday here in the Midwest was great! The girls all wanted to be one of the princesses we have costumes for (thank goodness!), so we got them all dolled up for the 2 ward Trunk or Treat at the church! It was so fun to meet new people and watch the girls run around with their new friends. We are starting to feel a little more like we are home. Thanks so much to our awesome ward!

Sarah's school does a costume parade and here she is as Ariel with her class. She looks so great!

Watching for trick-or-treaters!

Emma holding the treat bowl, Sarah and Rachel looking out the window

Remember I told you that this year our city is doing it trick or treating on the 30th? Well, the girls decided that they wanted to stay home and hand out candy. They had such a blast and kept telling everyone to "Take as much as you want!". It was cute to see them so excited to give out candy, not just eat it!