Life in a Northern Town

See what happens when blogging goes to the back burner? You get a backlog of funphotos that need to be shared with far-away loved ones! Sowithout further ado, I give you the rest of October in photos (mostly courtesy of my sis, Laura). Let's start back on the 8th when Grandma first arrived...

Gram & Gabriel (my nephew, age17)

Me, Gram & Laura

Gram & Roo

Ha!

Us again :)

Me (in an unflattering tshirt) and my cutie Gram

First snow fall on our mountains!

"Pete & Repete"

Gabriel & Niles

Niles

(photographed & captioned by Laura)

Gabriel skating at the church

***

Jump ahead to October 26th (Happy Birthday, Wills & Henry!).

We went to Billings to pick up nephew Tallon.

Nephews Jared, Tallon, and Gabriel at the Billings Temple

Tallon & Laura

{{quick update: in case you missed the backstory last year, Tallon was born to Laura when I was on my mission in NC; he was adopted by the Smith Family of Colorado and contacted Laura--his "birth mom"--for the first time last year when he was 17; he's about to turn 19 & just got his mission call to California Anaheim Spanish-speaking. YAY!}}

Laura's great shot of the Billings Temple

Jared & Gram at lunch

Niles & me at lunch

Gabriel skating at our Livingston "skatepark."

Addie, Niles & Gram when we got home from Billings

Look at my happychunky-monkey!

Heidi, me, Tallon, and Addie after school on 10/26

Gram, Tallon, & Addie

***

The next day (10/27) was Niece Emily's FIRST BIRTHDAY!

Laura took these pix of the festivities in Helena...

Amie made Emily this big, pretty cake!

Em says "YUM!"

Emily with her Dad

(my brother Matt, the birthday princess)

Big Tallon with tiny Sister Jensen at Helena's halloween party
***

Meanwhile back at my house, we got ready for Halloween!

Last Saturday was our ward Trunk-or-Treat, but I failed to take ANY pictures! I did take these of the kids carving their pumpkins that afternoon, though:

Addie & James

Heidi

On Monday, 10/31 James wanted to dress up as a ghost rather than Lightning McQueen's crew chief (which is the costume he wore on Saturday night). So here's our little ghost with his kindergarten class.

Addie's class had a "Healthy Halloween" party. She made jack-o-lantern mini-pizzas and a veggie tray.

Here's Addie's Timeline displayed in her classroom

Izzi & Addie

Not-so-scary Vampire!

Lydia, Madi, Izzi, & Addie in their 4th grade classroom

After school, I offered to take the kids trick-or-treating to businesses. So Heidi wanted to dress up as a cat (her THIRD costume--Saturday she was a zombie and at school she was Laura Ingalls/pioneer girl). Addie did Heidi's cat makeup and my heart just about burst over the cuteness of those two getting ready.

Gram & Niles watched "Friday Night Lights" while I took the kids around.

James the Ghost, Heidi the Cat, and Addie the Vampire heading out to trick-or treat. (Their jack-o-lanterns are on the stairs--James' bat, Addie's smiley face, Niles' silly face, and Heidi's howling coyote)

Off we go!

My little ghost just cracked me up--reminded me of Charlie Brown!

My little kitty-girl

(didn't Ad do so great on her makeup?!)

Trick-or-Treating at Sky Federal Credit Union

(We went to the gorcery stores, too)

***

We came home and had homemade pizza for dinner,then Rich took the kids to Grandma's house and down her street.

Here they are at the Phillips' house. Mrs. Phillips was both Rich's and Addie's first grade teacher, but she's retired now.

On Grandma Melin's proch with cousin Danny and Uncle Mike the Gangster

Addie making donuts with Grandma

Cousin Hannah, Uncle Mike, Heidi, Grandma, Aunt Angie & her not-boyfriend, Jex, hangin' out waiting for donuts.

Heidi & Uncle Mike just before my kids came home for bed.

Happy Halloween!

Our fall peaked this week and most of the leaves have fallen. It was GLORIOUS over last weekend and the first of this week, though! I am glad to live in a city with so many trees! [warning: this post is a little Niles-heavy--sorry other kids]. Also, we got our hughchair back from friends that borrowed it, so here is Niles giving it his first test drive...

He's a lot happier with it now than when we took these pictures because now he's conditioned to know that highchair=FOOD and that boy loves his rice cereal and mashed bananas!

He's rolling over and getting around on the floor better. He, like James did, tends to loathe floor time or "tummy time" and rather than strengthening his muscles and learning to move around, he has heretofore spent floor time screaming at me in anger to pick him up. But he's coming around and getting stronger.

Sleeping on daddy's should after a serious floor workout

***
Last week the kids had a Fall Break from school (thur & Fri off) so on Friday, Gram and I took them to the Museum of the Rockies and out to lunch at Famous Dave's and they loved it!