Measuring Stick Craft Project

I have been wanting to make one of these for Kallen for a long time and while my parents were here I finally got started and just finished it.

I got the number from Lowe's (mail box numbers but they peel off separately and then I used I's for all the measurement lines.  I used a full one for the foot and half foot and then cut an I in half for the ones in between.  I found the footballs, soccer balls, baseballs, and basketballs at Michael's in the wood craft section.  I also found the letters for his name in a bag of all letters and painted them red.  I then used a red paint pen to write in all of his heights from his doctor appointments from birth using the full year  and half year heights.  Unfortunately I didn't have 2.5 and 3.5 year heights.

Halloween 2013

One thing we did during Grandma and Grandpa's visit was to decorate/carve all of our pumpkins.  Well almost all of them.  We had 10 pumpkins and decorated 8 (carved 7 and painted 1), one was already rotten so we left it and then just didn't carve the last one.

I tried something I found on Pinterest, using a drill.  For the most part it worked out pretty good and looked pretty cool.  I got the painted pumpkin idea off of Pinterest as well.  Kallen carved all the other ones.

This was our first time trick-o-treating in our new neighborhood.  No one disappointed.  Our neighbors invited us to the middle of the cul-de-sac to sit by a fire pit and hand out candy.  Much easier for the kids to just hit up five chairs rather than going to each house.  Johnny handed out candy while Kallen, Hobie and I went out trick o treating.  Kallen made it a little longer than last year.  We did an inside loop and an outside look from our house and three additional cul-de-sacs along the way.

 

 Hobie is ready to go as well.  He was a big hit as well.

The loot!

A Dinosaur Discovery

I bought Kallen and I a ticket to the Natural History Museum of Utah Dinosaur Discovery from a fundraiser for Westminster.  Kallen has always loved dinosaurs so I thought he would really like this adventure.  He did!

The Dino Discovery included:

• Meeting NHMU paleontologist Dr. Mark Loewen
• See the brand new species of dinosaur, Nasutoceratops titusi recently announced by Dr. Loewen and the NHMU paleo team. 
• Go behind the scenes and see - up close - real dinosaur fossils in the paleo collection storage area
• Explore the paleo preparation lab - and view the latest fossil discoveries

I have to say it was pretty cool.  The paleo collection storage and the preparation lab are areas you generally just get to view from behind the glass but we got to go inside.

When we got there they had a staff member helping the kids make a triceratops hat and they also had trilobites for everyone to excavate.  

Here is the link to the story that was in the newspaper on Thursday:  http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=27527739

 Femur of an allosaurus.

 Some sort of lizard.

 A beaver above.

 Excavating the trilobite.

Grandma & Grandpa's Visit - Part Two

Here are some random photos.  My mom and dad did a lot of work around the house; they planted, made a gate for the garden, cut down a dead tree, made a work bench for the garage, cut the grass and raked up leaves.  The weather was great so they got to be outside every day.

 Each Fall when Grandma & Grandpa are here we go look at all the witches at Gardner Village.

Also per tradition we go play miniature golf. 

This is the second year that Kallen and Grandma has planted pansies in a pumpkin planter to to add to our Halloween decorations.  They actually planted a second container this year but I didn't get a picture of Kallen and Grandma with it.

Grandma & Grandpa's Visit October 2013 - Part One

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit as they do every Fall.  We did lots of things while they were visiting.

Went to the Kid Club activity at Westminster and Kallen climbed on the wall during Family & Friends Day.

 We also went to the pumpkin patch and picked out nine pumpkins.  Found a new pumpkin patch where they were only $.17/lb.

Went to the Farmer's Market at Wheeler Farm and also fed the ducks and geese.