Let's all go to the movies...

Every once in awhile, in the middle of a workday, the company that Alec works for has an outing to the new movie theater by his office. Today, the kids and I got to tag along! We saw Bee Movie, which was so fun and entertaining. The whole family loved it. I highly recommend it.

Plus it's always fun to take little kids to the movies. They get so into it! Abigail was giggling and Owen was covering his eyes on "too scary" parts--even though there were really no scary parts. That's the point. They get totally into the whole experience, rooting for the underdog (or in this case, the underbee), flinching at every misstep, and cheering at every victory.

Free Food!!

Yesterday Alec surprised me by coming home early!! And since I haven't done a full grocery run for, oh....2 weeks, and I was really sick of being in the house with the kids all day, he took us all out to eat. We went to a Mexican restaurant that we had heard good things about. The food was yummy, and it was nice to be out. But the best part happened at the end of our meal.

About the time the waitress would come give us our check, she came over and said, "Your meals have been taken care of, so you're good to go. They asked that I keep it anonymous."

Huh?! Some random stranger paid for our entire family's dinner?! I was kind of self-conscious afterwards because I didn't know who it was, and if they were watching us, and if we had reacted appropriately. It was AWESOME though! When I grow up I am definitely going to take pity on some little stranger family like mine, and anonymously pay for their dinner. How cool is that!

Walker Weekend

Nate with Grammy (Alec's mom)

The whole Nancy and Mark Walker Clan

This past weekend we had the enjoyment of having Alec's entire family in Utah for the weekend. Unfortunately it was not under the most ideal of circumstances. Alec's paternal grandfather passed away and his funeral was over the weekend. Although it was not necessarily a joyous reason for everyone to come together, I'm sure that Grandpa Walker enjoyed seeing all of his posterity join together to celebrate his life.

Happy Halloween!!

We've had several Halloween activities this year.

Starting way back on the 17th, Abigail's school had a carnival to raise money for the 6th grade play. They sold tickets and had all sorts of games and fun. Owen was a dog that night.

Next we had Alec's work Halloween party. This is the big event of the year for the company, so they go all out. You can't see in this picture but they had lots of inflatables for the kids, face painting, etc. Owen was a tiger this night.

A Halloween/Birthday party at my parent's home...

I had to throw this one in of Mary's oldest daughter, Cecilia. Mary still practices her sewing skills gained in our youth. She made this--how cute! I'm inspired to make mine next year. But we'll see how that goes.

Our first elementary school parade....

And finally, trunk-or-treating last night and trick-or-treating tonight!

(I know this looks like the same picture over and over again, but it's hard to pick just one. I also realize now that we don't have a picture of the baby! Poor little pumpkin. I'll have to see if I can remedy that.)

Coveted Toy

This box is the new coveted toy of the neighborhood. Every kid that comes over wants to play with it! It's no big surprise though, because it has many uses.

You can surprise people with it.

(yes, Abigail is wearing her undershirt over her shirt. she likes to experiment with fashion.)

Or you can curl up and relax in it.

The box came with this new eBay purchase. I couldn't be more happy to have a double stroller. Owen used to cry every time I put the baby in the single stroller and he didn't get to ride. And I got really tired of uttering the phrase, "Hurry up, Owen!" So we're all much happier now.

p.s. I threw the box away last trash day. I felt I had to sneak it out in the dark, quiet of the night. But so far, no one has mentioned it! Either they didn't love it as much as I thought, or they are sorely lacking in memory skills.

Aerospace Museum

Last week my sister, Margaret, her husband, and their 3 kids came up to our neck of the woods to visit the Aerospace Museum. It was great fun to hang out with them for the afternoon, and the museum is totally cool! And totally FREE!! Good thing, too, because now we can go back for Alec who missed out this time. And Abigail is already planning on taking Pops (Alec's dad) back to see which ones he flew, and to have a (random) picnic with him.

Matthew, Abigail, Owen and Maren in front of some type of aircraft.

Owen was totally into the helicopters. Any aircraft with a propeller he was pretty sure was a helicopter.

Abigail wanted her picture taken in front of this one because she thought it looked like it had a mouth. Never mind that there were others actually painted to look like mouths--she must have missed those with the big white teeth and all.

Pretty cool to see how small the kids are and how big the planes are.

Margaret's husband, Dave, was so cute to corral the kids around for us while Margaret and I pushed the babies in strollers and chatted it up.

Carve a Pumpkin (minus the mess)

For a couple of years now, I've come across this site at Halloween time after receiving a link via email from various friends. It's quite addicting for kids and grown-ups alike. Enjoy!