Happy Halloween Viking Style

We went with a family theme for Halloween this year and the kids all pitched in and helped make their costumes.  Vikings with their pet dragon!  It was really fun and a lot of work.....one costume would have have been fairly easy.  But 5?  That took a bit of time. ( Actually I guess it was just 4 since Dexton's was store bought.)  Happy Halloween!

Dexton's Day with a "Heleskin"

Halloween is upon us.  And with that comes all the creepy, spooky things that are loved or hated.  In Dexton's case, it's both - a love and hate obsession. He thinks skeletons are creepy and the thought of touching one can bring him to tears.  But he can't help but be fascinated with it all.  Aunt Liz has a plethora of skeletons. I decided it was high time we show Dexton that Halloween is fun and not scary.  We borrowed her little skeleton which just so happens to be the exact height of Dexton.

We picked up our friend and buckled him in.  And although the picture shows Dexton grinning in this moment, he was definitely unsure about sharing the car with a "heleskin".

I told Dexton that the skeleton was his friend and he was going to hang out with him all day.  I propped that thing right up there for breakfast.  As the day progressed Dexton started to really accept his new "friend."

He played with him.

He fed him.

 He snuggled him.

And when the night came, he tucked him in.  With his beloved binky.  I think we made a giant leap in the spooky Halloween department because major fears were overcome!  Happy spooking!

Shofield House Reno

We got countertops! I have to say that I am sick and tired of using the bathroom and the outdoor hose to clean our dishes.  I feel like we are camping.  I am thrilled to have  nice beautiful farmhouse sink!  

Our house is coming along.  We have adapted to our construction home and it hasn't been sooooo bad.  It's rather amazing what the humans can adapt to.  Ryan was been working his tail off after work and on weekends trying to get as much done as he can.  Its slow going but we are making progress.  Here are some pics of the house.

We removed the pony wall that was directly in front of the stairs and its amazing how much bigger the house feels.

Floors started going in downstairs.  We finally hired out the downstairs portions because Ryan just doesn't have the time.

Casing out the windows.  There are 4 windows that don't have window treatments.  We have rollers and roman shades to cover them.  We also want the wood trim so they look nice.

Ryan is also casing out all of door ways.  It makes a huge difference and everything looks great!

Countertops are in!!

Backsplash is up!

Solar Eclipse

The solar eclipse is happening!! I decided that watching a solar eclipse is legit education so I took my kids out of school for an hour so we could have first hand experience.  (We drilled it into Dexton's brain that he could not look at the sun or he would go blind.  But he really wanted to look so we told him to cover his eyes.  And shockingly enough, he listened.)

I did not have any special glasses for the viewing but thankfully we had friends who had prepared.  They were happy to share.  We went to the Maxfield's to watch the sun get covered by the moon.

The whole day was a little hazy and cooler and the temperature dropped even more when it was at the peak for our area. There were tons of half-moon shadows everywhere, It was fascinating to watch.

I was little jealous of my Wyoming family who got to experience the eclipse at 100%.  But it was cool to see all of their posts about it.

First Day of School 2017

It's back to school for this group!

Lexi - 8th 

Kendri - 6th

Kyson - 3rd

Shayli - 1st

And we couldn't be more thrilled....

Happy 6th Bday Shayli!

This year's birthday cake was Troll themed.  And quite possibly the easiest one yet.  #hallelujah

Shayli loves having a swim party at Aunt Jenni's so that's just what we did!

There was also some entertainment by Pie in the face game.  Everyone was very eager to have a turn with getting slapped with some whipped cream.  #dontaskme

Shayli is easy going and helpful around the house.  She listens well and makes her bed every single day!  She lights up our home with her giggles and we just love having her around.  Happy birthday Shay-Shay!!

Happy 4th of July 2017

 We decided we needed to utilize our projector so Lexi and Kendri invited some friends over and had a movie night.  It turned out great and I started to wonder why we didn't do this more...

 Moving on to the 4th of July festivities.  We celebrated by hitting up the parade in the morning and then to the Maxfield's house for swimming and BBQ-ing all afternoon. When the night time came we went back to see the firework show.  Dexton was not a fan.