Tigers, Witches, and Dragons...Oh MY!

Halloween took place on two nights for us this year. Our ward had a chilli cook off and trunk or treat on the Friday night before Halloween. I'm always crazy and signed up to bring both chilli and corn bread. Unlike years past, I actually was ready for Halloween this year as last year I bought costumes the day after Halloween for half price. Luckily the kids were amenable to being one of the things I had already bought. There was a moment of panic on Friday when I couldn't find the costumes and thought we might have not had a whole carton of clothes moved during our move this summer. Luckily, Tom was able to alleviate my fear quickly by reminding me we now have some things stored in our attic (never had an attic that we used before). Although our kids came home with oodles of candy Friday night, that didn't stop them from wanting to go out trick or treating Monday night (the true night of Halloween). Our neighbors invited us to join them and the kids enjoyed walking the neighborhood together. We actually lost Wesley at one point during the evening, but luckily found him within a few minutes. I absolutely hate that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you can't find one of your kids. He says he just didn't see where we went, and I thought he was running ahead with the other kids. All is well that ends well, and our kids sure enjoyed all the treats. When we got home from trick or treating in our neighborhood, the bowl I had left out full of candy was empty so I just restocked it with a bunch of the kids candy....that way we got rid of it much more quickly.

A cute little witch casts her spell.

We invited some friends over to play on the Friday, so here they are together in costume, Harry Potter (aka. Tre Sclater), Buzz Lightyear (Maddox Sclater), Ninja (Britton Sclater), The Witch (Amberly), and scary Tigress (Reili).

Elizabeth (Elizabeth wanted nothing to do with her dragon costume or any dress up for that matter), cute little snowbaby (Presley Sclater), Toothless from How to Train a Dragon (Wesley)

RRRRRaaaaarrrrrrhhhhhh!

She was just the cutest little witch, I couldn't help but put her big smile here.

Walk Like an Egyptian

The Friday before Halloween Amberly's class at school had the parents come so they could share what they had learned the past few weeks in their unit on Egypt. What I loved about it is they only had us send in 4 things (a white pillow case, sugar cubes, an empty toilet paper roll, and guaze) and the kids made everything themselves. They started out reciting a poem about what they had learned with their teacher and then got in little groups and shared one thing each they had learned about a certain subject (ex. pyramids, king tut, etc.). It was so fun to see what they made and what they learned. Way to go Amberly!

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

I have to say that the highlight of our month of October was a visit from my parents, aka. Grandma and Grandpa VanLeeuwen. They flew in on the 13th and left the morning of the 19th and it seemed like a very short visit. I wish they could have stayed longer. Every night my Dad told the kids his made up "Baldy and Lightening" bedtime stories. The kids wait eagerly to hear those stories every time he visits. We played games, ate way too much good food, worked on various projects around the house (Thank you Mom and Dad!....We always get so much accomplished when you visit (well mostly you get a lot accomplished)), celebrated our birthdays, got a babysitter and went to dinner and a movie ("The Help") together, and took a boat ride on the river with the kids. Thank you for spending the time and money to come visit! We miss you so much!

One of my Dad's favorite desserts is homemade apple pie, so I made one to celebrate his and Mom's birthdays. It just so happens to be one of Tom's favorites too.

Who needs toys when a good box provides hours of entertainment! The box was from a new trash can we bought on one of our many trips to Lowes while Mom and Dad visited.


The cuties inside the box.:)

Grandma and the kids waiting to get on the boat. (Makes me want to get a new camera instead of take pictures with my iPhone all the time).

Grandpa, Ellie, and Tom can't wait to take a ride.

There was no way he was going to look...so we had to take what we could get on our way past the Alamo. It is so hard to get them to cooperate when taking pictures...the kids that is.

Fall Fun

October seemed to fly by and here I am playing catch up again (as always). Tomorrow is officially the kids last soccer games. It has been especially fun watching Reili and her team this season and I needed to include at least one picture of her in her soccer garb. Her team has won all but 1 game this season and she has enjoyed playing defense and sometimes even goalie (which she loves). She has a great coach who played soccer in high school and is the mom of one of her team mates. It is kind of sad to have the season over, but it will be nice to have free Saturdays again.

Reili in her "Dynamites" soccer garb


The fourth grade put on a program at the very beginning of October called Joust. Reili was a medieval damsel. Here she posed for me after the performance because we were clear at the back of the auditorium and could't get a good shot during it.

Wesley was the star of the week in his preschool class. He got to bring home this mouse the weekend before (which he was totally elated about) and we documented the activities of the weekend with the mouse as a playmate. Here he and Amberly had made the mouse a special throne out of mega blocks. They sure had fun with him that afternoon.

No Fall would be complete without a trip to a Pumpkin Patch. Our friends from church invited us to one about an hour away. It was at an apple orchard and they didn't really grow the pumpkins there, but they had some fun activities for the kids.

Reili and Amberly enjoying the hay ride from the parking lot to the entrance.

What are you doing up there, Amberly?

Beautiful Reili

A tractor train ride.


Wesley and Mr. Mouse, Ellie refused to ride.

Elizabeth really enjoyed all the animals at the petting zoo. Unfortunately I can't say the animals enjoyed her. This bunny was the most tolerant...probably scared out of its mind.

Lovin' that caramel apple.

The best I could do with 3 kids. Some how I can never get all 4 of them in one picture together. It is impossible. Don't know how we are going to get a family picture.

Caught on Tape

Another Soccer Season Begins

Our Saturdays have once again become taken over by Soccer. Wesley is playing PeeWee soccer for the first time and Reili is in her 5th year of playing. They both seem to enjoy it, although Wesley tends to go in and out of practice and games at will. Amberly would be playing, but she didn't want to play until about a week before it started and that was too late. I am not sure if we could handle having all three of them play. Games in the afternoon are so HOT....can't wait until it gets cooler here. It's September 27th today and it's supposed to be 100 degrees. We live for morning games! I only got shots of Wesley at his first game. Pictures of Reili will have to come later.

Wesley on the sidelines with the player who seems to know what he's doing. He gets most of the teams goals every game (can't remember his name though).

The Hottie and the Cuties on the sideline.

She's just so cute, I couldn't help it.

A trying moment during the game.

Fun Happenings, Typical and Atypical

Elizabeth didn't have a first day of school, but she did have her first set of pigtails! She is growing up too fast!

My sweet baby...I just love her to pieces.

A view from behind is always needed to show that it's all long enough.

One day after school Amberly spent ages making a meal out of playdough for Daddy, only to find that he had fallen asleep before she could bring it to him. I told her to take a picture of all her work for him. She is such a sweet girl and loves anything crafty or artistic.


Another morning I got Elizabeth to let me put ribbons in her hair and got a picture before she pulled them out about 3 minutes later. I texted the picture to her Dad to show how cute she is.

Of course Wesley needed a picture of his new Lightning McQueen shirt too.

For fun on Labor Day we took the kids to Sea World for a few hours. We had spent most of the weekend finishing the painting of our kitchen cupboards (stay tuned for photos of that later) and felt that we needed to give them some family fun time too.

Elle Belle loves the carousel. We have to get right back on again and again.

We took Dad to the Azul show, because he hadn't seen it yet. These 4 keep us entertained.

The weekend after Labor Day was a Guys Fun Weekend here in Texas. Tom's brother Greg and his friend Mike came to stay with us and some other friends from Missouri came also to go to the BYU/Texas game. The kids absolutely loved having Uncle Greg to snuggle with, climb on, jump on, and play with. He and Mike were really good sports with them. I think Greg and Mike may have enjoyed some of the craziness.

Sadly, as is typical for me, we only got one picture of them with the girls.

Here is a view of the field from where they all sat. Must be half time or the beginning.

Want some cheerios?

Back to School

After a long summer in a new place with 4 kids at home, I thought I would be excited and happy to have them go back to school. It turned out to be more stressful than I thought it would be to get everyone off to school and I felt a little empty inside once they were gone. However, now that we are into the routine of things, it is nice to have a little time alone with just Elizabeth and be able to give her some of my full attention. The kids seem to be enjoying school too and we all go to bed at a decent time (well everyone except me I suppose). (By the way, school started on August 22...so this was already a month ago).


Before school started we were able to go to meet your teacher night and I got a picture of both girls' teachers, but was in too big of a hurry to get Wes's preschool teacher.

Amberly with her 1st Grade teacher, Mrs. Eppinette


Reili with her 4th Grade teacher, Miss Carroll

Amberly and Reili before heading out the door to school.

The three stooges on the first day
(bad photo quality, but in the stress of the moment it was the best I could do.)

Wes is going to Pre-K at another school about 15 minutes away. The first week and a half I had to drive him and that made things a little crazy, but now that he takes the bus we have a little better time of it.

Waiting for the teachers to come out the first day and get the kids. Here is the little Mr. with his tag telling everyone where he should be (just in case he gets out of line).

Wes is definitely my most outgoing child. He went up to these boys and tried to make friends before class on the first day. I am so proud that he is friendly.

Britton, Wes, and Lizzy. These are two of Wes's friends from our ward here who go to the same preschool program. Unfortunately, they aren't in the same class.

The Witte Museum

Some new friends invited us to brave the heat with them one day and go to a museum, the Witte Museum, in town. Part of it was inside and part outside. It was along the river and they had a place were the kids could explore some of the wild life of the river. Trying to keep track of 4 kids there was quite a fete, but luckily no one got lost for too long at any one place.

Hmmm....what's this?

Look at those flushed cheeks...it sure is hot outside!

Wesley cools his hands in the water.

Check this s(c)hell out Mom!

On our way out of the museum there was an Elephant for picture taking. Of course we could only get 3 out of 5 to look at the same time.