Happy Halloween!

Technically it's not really Halloween here for another 3 hours, but I figured I'd better post some pics while I was thinking about it and had a few minutes. And my Aunty guessed in the comments from last post - we're all about Harry Potter this year. I haven't got a picture of all of us in our costumes yet, but I do have the kids in theirs from the school parade Thurs morning and one of Juliana from a trick or treat on campus tonight.

As a tradition, I make our Halloween costumes each year. I was trying to keep it simple this year, so I made the robes; kudos to my mom for finding the coolest Griffindor ties ever - and she sent crests for the robes, too, but I ended up not using them; the rest is just clothes we had in the closet. I love how they all came together though. So here you go:

Abby as Hermione Granger - you can't really tell in this pic, but her hair is all kinky from sleeping in braids. She looked just like her.

Isaac as Harry Potter, of course. He has since lost the glasses, but we found a replacement pair, though not quite as cute as these.

Danielle as Moaning Myrtle. When we first starting talking about doing Harry Potter characters I was thinking Abby and Danielle were going to fight over the part of Hermione, but Danielle was very adamant, even from the beginning, that she wanted to be the ghost that goes into the toilet head first. So there you have it.

Oh, and here's her hair sprayed white (because she's a ghost) for our ward Halloween party - I didn't use the spray for school. It turned out awesome though.

And Juliana - we went round and round trying to figure out who she was going to be. In the end I figured I'd just make her a mini robe and she'd just be a random student - albeit a small one. But then one night it hit me......she had to be the sorting hat!

I think it turned out adorable, though not everyone gets what she is. But the people who do get it, think she's awesome, too. And she's been a real good sport about keeping the costume on, though I'm sure it plenty hot. It probably helps that every time she puts it on people hand her candy!

Cameron and I dressed up, too, but I think I'll wait to tell you about those until I have the picture.

Have a great Halloween day and my you fill your bag with lots of goodies!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Oh wait! We haven't even had Halloween yet! I guess it's all those aisles of Christmas stuff ALREADY up that made me think I might have missed Halloween this year. Seriously - it's earlier every year. Do stores think that by putting out the stuff earlier people will spend more money? They must or they wouldn't bother.

Anyway - we don't start the whole Christmas thing around here until the day after Thanksgiving, so we have a while. But we do start on Halloween in early September. It took a lot of racking of the brains around here to come up with 6 relate costumes that everyone was happy with (read the boys DID NOT want to be fairies of any kind), but we finally managed. I'm not sure want to unveil the final product yet (well, and it's not done yet anyway), but here's what I was working on last night:

Give her a lightsaber and she could be a Jedi! Not what I was going for, but that's the first thing I thought of when I saw the picture on the computer screen. (Note to self: we could all be Jedi's next year.....)

But the Halloween fun is already in full swing around here. We attended our first costume parade last saturday (as in the 17th). Since the patterns for this year had even been opened yet we raided the costumes of Halloweens (and May Days) past to find stuff that would fit for the occasion. I think I like the whole related costumes idea even more now the hodgepodge we wore, but they all look adorable. Abby as Dorothy (2008), Isaac as Peter Pan (2007), Danielle as a Tahitian dancer (May Day 2009) and Juliann as Tinkerbell (Danielles from 2007):

And the Polynesion Cultural Center is in it's second year of running the Haunted Lagoon. They basically spookify the canoe ride through the villages and start running the haunted rides with the villages shut down for the night around 6pm. We didn't make it last year, but we decided to go this year since it was free with our annual passes and we heard that it was super scary. I mean literally. We've been hearing the soundtrack of scary music and the screaming people all month long. There's something about the evening breeze that just send the sounds over this direction (we live less than a 10 minute walk from the back of the PCC). So, here are the kids waiting for the "Keiki ride" ( for you non-Hawaiin folk, the kiddie ride - our tour guide was a Lost Warrior with a special crystal that warded off the super scary monsters) in their cute Halloween T-shirts:

And then they all wanted to make scary faces (for your viewing pleasure):

And she's just so cute you get 2 of her "scary" faces.


So now we have one elementary school parade, one old ward halloween party, one new ward trunk or treat, and of course trick or treating in the neighborhood to go!

A BIG Thank You!

I just wanted to write a short Thank You note since I haven't had time to sit down and write back to all of you who donated to the kids' walk-a-thon. They were all able to meet and surpass their $30 goal thanks to all of you. We really appreciate your willingness to share with our community - whether in money or spirit.

THANK YOU!

And I promise a more exciting and picture filled post....soon:)

Laie Elementary Walk-a-thon

So I was supposed to let the kids write up a little ad for this, but quite frankly we've run out of time. And it wasn't the kids that put it off, it was me. It was one of those things that we just didn't get to yet, so I'm going to do it now - for them - so that I can at least say it got done!

So the kids' elementary school here in Laie is having it's annual fundraiser. Traditionally the school has held a Fall Festival/Carnival thing to do most of the year's fundraising, and while it has been successful, it was also A LOT of work (I was on the PTCO board last year, believe me, A LOT is an understatement) and a lot of overhead cost. So this year the PTCO (of which I am only a dues paying member this year because of.....well, many other commitments) decided to hold a walk-a-thon. Not only does this provide for a fundraising event where we're not forced to buy stuff, but it promotes exercise since the kids have to get moving to participate.

So here's the low down. The kids are to collect pledges (that are of course due TOMORROW) which can be paid on a per lap basis or as a flat rate. Then on Friday the kids will participate in the actual walking part after school. As they lap around the huge field they will receive tally marks on their forms counting their laps. After the event the kids will then collect their pledges from all the lovely donors to turn into the school.

There are 600 student in our school and they are setting a goal for each child to raise at least $30 - can you imagine if that really happened? This is a great school and a great community, but economically not so great. We have a lot of lower income students - I believe about 75% of our student population qualifies for the free lunch program. The funds that we can raise for the school will directly benefit the students. Education is of course very near and dear to my heart and honestly there isn't a school in the world that couldn't be bettered by having more funds available to the teachers and students. The money collected from the walk-a-thon will be given to the teachers to use in their classrooms (at their discretion, so they can get what they need), to fund a few classroom parties throughout the year (again so the teachers are paying out of pocket for these things) and then the bulk of the total earned will be donated to the school as a whole (from the PTCO).

Anyway, I could go on and on, but I won't. The kids love their school and we're hoping to be able to help out and do our part in the fundraising. SO....if you would like to pledge to donate some money to the school, please DO! The only catch is that it has to be handed in tomorrow. So comment here, email me (cnlpeterson@gmail.com), or if you know my number you can call/text, whatever. We leave for school at 7:30 in the morning, so you have until then to pledge your hearts away! 7:30am in Hawaii is at least 10:30am for you mainlanders - we're 3 hours behind California time. Remember, you can pledge an amount per lap (I'm not sure how long they are walking....this may be putting your pocketbook at risk!) or just a flat rate amount. This is just a commitment - next week we would collect the actual money.

OK, I think that's it and if it's not, I think I'm done anyway:)
The kids are super excited to walk for the school, so I'll be sure to take some pictures!


PS - sorry to those of you who get an email, too!

Just a little update

Some of you may know that Cameron's been having some medical issues as of late. (And now, of course, the rest of you are wondering what is going on....well, you're just gonna have to keep wondering. Sorry, hope it doesn't keep you up at night. Nothing life-threatening.) Well he wanted me to let everyone know that he's doing good. Things seem to be working like they should. However his memory has been severely effected, especially over the last couple of weeks. So, if you haven't heard from him lately, or don't for a little while, that is why. He still loves you - it's just hard to email with you don't remember your passwords:) And don't hate him if he has absolutely no recollection of the conversation you just had with him 2 days ago. Actually, I think it's been hardest on him, since he knows that he's forgetting things, but doesn't know what it is he's forgotten.....I think that made sense.

But seriously, he's doing as good as can be expected right now and we're hopeful that some of his medical problems will at least be greatly lessened and much easier to live with. We know that many of you keep him and our family in your prayers and we are very grateful for that. Know that we think and and pray for you all as well.

You Know You're Tired When....

...most of the ice cream is still in the bowl.