Veteran's Day, and a little mischief baby

Jaden's school sent home a star for us to decorate and write the name of a Veteran in our family.

It was a good opportunity to teach Jaden what Veterans are and how important they are to our country. My grandpa was in the Air Force, and although he died before Jaden was born, he knows who Grandpa Bill is.

This is the star after we printed his name on it and a couple little things....

and turn your head sidways for a close up... (forgot to edit the pic before posting...oops)

and here we have the handsome little bugger working on it. He had fun, I put the dots of glue on and he put the rhinestones on...


and here's the finished product.

They got to hang up their stars in the hall at school. They also had a big assembly honoring all the Veterans. How cool!! It was fun teaching Jaden about Veterans and he thought it was SOOO cool that Grandpa Bill flew airplanes!!

I'm constantly taking a little munchkin down off the counters. It's so frustrating that NOTHING is safe in my house. She can open doors, climb on counters, mess up the cupboards... you name it!! This girl can do any kind of mischief imaginable. I thought I had seen it all with Jaden, but he was never a climber...

I usually just groan at her on the counter and put her down. But this time I had to get out the camera! I can't believe I let her do this while I took pics, but it was worth it!! There was already a spoon in the Ovaltine, so I guess I made it too easy for her.

Time to invest in some door locks. We have handle-type door knobs... it would just be too convenient to be able to use the dozens of regular knob covers that we already have. Now if I could just figure out how to bolt the stools to the floor.... hmmmmm.

Happy Halloween!

The kids had a fantastic Halloween. I kind of feel like they got gypped a little because mom was so sick and miserable we all kind of had to stick close to home. We wanted to take them out where a bunch of our friends were trick-or-treating so they would have some little friends to go with. Oh well, they had fun, and actually our neighborhood was awesome! A few houses were giving out whole candy bars... just what we need, but Jaden thought it was so cool.

Here's the Halloween decor we made this year. Jaden absolutely LOVED the monster on the door! After we got it all done (late at night), we had to go outside and see it from the sidewalk. Then he says, "Let's stay out here all night and watch it scare people!!! That will be funny!!", he cracks me up! Then he wanted to make one for every door in the house, on each side! What a crazy little man...

We were able to make this spooky sign with stuff we had laying around the garage.


The kids were in their costumes all day. Jaden was The Human Torch from the Fantastic 4. He actually had a really good idea for his costume, and thought of it all by himself. He has a little basketball with a rubberband attached to it (for his Build-a-Bear). He put it around his wrist and would throw it, he said "it looks like I'm throwing a FIRE BALL!!!". Don't know where he gets his craziness...

KynnLee was.... (drum roll) ..... STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE, of course!! And the *cutest* one I've ever seen, by far!!. I sprayed her hair red with some glitter. She also had some freckles on her nose and cheeks. Beeda made the hat, so the rest was pretty darn easy.

I wanted to take them out and about to places giving away free stuff for kids in their costumes. A couple restaurants were giving away kid's meals, it would have been fun to go to lunch. But again, mom was too sick to leave, so they ended up at home all day in their costumes.


We weren't sure if KynnLee was going to leave her hat on, but she did really good!!


It was so funny watching her, it didn't take long for her to catch on to the whole trick-or-treating thing. Jaden is such a good brother, he would help her and wait for her.

LOVE all those Fall leaves!

A house down the street always puts out an amazing Halloween display. Every time we would drive by through the month Jaden would ask why we can't have a "scary car and scary people" in our yard. So we made sure to take them down there and get some pics.

(The camera lens fogged up when we came in the warm house) She was so funny!! Just amazed at all the "nummies" she got.

I'm a little disappointed I didn't get any really good pics of them in their costumes. Grrr, wish I could just hire a photographer so I could chill with the kids and then go home to enjoy a bunch of amazing pics. :)

That was Halloween at the Haynes household!

Fall Festivities!

Last week we took the kids to The Patterson Farm about 25min away for some Fall fun! It was so cool!

Spooky Science Nights!!

Trevor and Jaden got to go to the Science Center for Spooky Science Nights where they got to...

listen to eerie stories on a tour of the William G. Mather ship... (the Science Ctr is right by Lake Erie)

... enjoy some spooky snacks...

... and mess around and learn about the body.

A few other activities that they didn't get pics of were making spooky concoctions in the chemistry lab, making fake wounds, and watching pumpkins explode. It was all RIGHT up Jaden's alley! They had a fantastic Boy's night out. :)

Busy, busy, busy...

Lots of stuff going on around here (besides mom and KynnLee being sick).

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law (self-proclaimed non-crafty) called me and said that her little boy is totally set on being an Orange Triceratops for Halloween. She found the perfect costume online but they didn't have his size. So she's thinking of making one and wanted me to give her ideas. After finding out that she doesn't have a sewing machine, and she doesn't even know WHERE to purchase fabric (Michaels??), I told her I would take care of it. I've never done a project this big. I have never even used a pattern before. YIKES!! But I'm so glad that I did it because I learned SO much. Including how to sew on a zipper! That was fun trying to figure out. I also couldn't find a pattern for a dinosaur or even a dragon, so I bought a pattern for a bear for the body. I had to make up the tail and the hood. The hood was not easy, I honestly just had to free-hand it and pray that it worked out. I can't believe that I forgot to take pics of it before I mailed it off, so you get cruddy cell-phone pics.

Here's Jaden-boy trying it on for me.

And here's little Wesley in his new costume!! (you think he likes it?)

I wish I would have taken close-up pics because I put a little button in the hand that ROARS when you push it. HE he he...

And while I was in the sewing mode, I made a new basket liner for KynnLee's laundry basket. That was actually a lot trickier than I expected. Good thing you can't look at it closely :).

Another project that Jaden and I started is the gate. We want to gate-off the driveway so the kiddos and the puppy can't escape the back yard.

Well, can I just say that my dad taught me well??? (and was a lot of help over the phone). Jaden and I dug the holes AND cemented in the posts. They're perfectly level and everything! And we did this during test week, so you know Trevor wasn't even around. We did it all by ourselves!

(yes, he dressed himself that day)

Jaden sweeping leaves, it was hysterical!

Things that I'm lovin' right now

Things kept popping into my head. So I thought I would share...

1. My cute husband. Trev had to go home after Sacrament meeting today with a very grumpy little girl. When I got home he had dinner done, the table set, the whole schabang. Thanks Trev!!!
2. Books on CD. Jaden is one of the hardest kids to put to bed. He's been like this from day 1. He got a Halloween book on CD in a kid's meal. It's probably a good 45min long. He's listening to it for the 2nd time since I tucked him in bed.
3. My clean house. Sunday night is a crucial part of my week. We do dinner group on Monday and between that, grocery shopping, and kindergarten, I don't have time on Mondays to do any cleaning. Starting out the week with a clean house helps the week go so much smoother.
4. Sweet Cinnamon Pumpin candle. Picked this up at the Bath and Body Works semi-annual sale last spring. Busted it out tonight... SO YUMMY!
5. My Swiffer Wet Jet. If you need a new mop, this is the one to get.
6. My sweet baby girl and my handsome little man all dressed up for church today. KynnLee was in desperate need of new church clothes. I got some GymBucks when I bought Jaden's school clothes, and redeemed them for some church clothes for KynnKynn. Today was the first day she wore them. I just couldn't get over how cute she is!! And of course Jaden always melts my heart when he wears his suit with the STIHL pin on his lapel.
7. Grey's Anatomy. I've been wanting to watch this series for a long time now. Couldn't find anybody who had them on DVD. I recently found out that the library has them!!! I've seen a whole 3 episodes, but it's fun to have something to watch when Trev is gone studying.

More strawberries!

Like I said, KynnLee's room is coming along slowly but surely. Here's what we've got so far...

The wipes box on her dresser was becoming an eye-sore for me, so I had to cover it...

The bookshelf looks kinda cluttery right now. But I'm hoping she will get some really cute strawberry stuff for Christmas that would look fantastic on the shelf. Like maybe a cute Strawberry doll, a Strawberry Castle, anything cute like that. :)

I moved her bows to this ribbon on the inside of her closet door. The collection was just getting too big to keep on the wall. And you all know I can't resist but to just keep adding to the collection :). I have 2 more strands of ribbon ready to add more bows, so there's plenty of room!! There's also her adorable Strawberry Shortcake hat that Beeda made her... yes, my little princess is going to be Strawberry Shortcake for Halloween! Darn, I so wish I still had the Strawberry Shortcake dolls I played with when I was little. I've seen a lot of them go for a good chunk of change on eBay ($75!!). Not that I would sell them, but KynnKynn would enjoy them.

And of course we still have her ballerinas on the shelf in her room along with actual pointe shoes worn by none-other than Karie Lee Hellewell :). They've all been there since she was 6months old and she absolutely LOVED them the second I put them up. She still reaches for them, and when I give her one she will gasp and then just hold it and look at it. She won't settle for the sturdy stuffed ones either, she has to have the fragile, breakable ones... several of which she has broken. I actually found some Strawberry Shortcake Ballerina fabric!! I'm so excited to use it to tie everything together... I just need to figure out what to use it for.

And on a non-strawberry note, we had "family movie night" last night. Jaden has been looking forward to it all week. So he could "watch movies downstairs and eat junk food!". We put together our pirate pumpkin, ate our goodies on the halloween platter, trays, and cups. Then we watched Monsters vs. Aliens. Good times!