sisters are fine, especially mine

Some friends joined us for Trick or Treating in our neighborhood last Monday. The kids totally scored on candy and we only did a couple of streets! Two of the houses were giving out full-sized candy bars and when I said something like, "Wow! You are generous," the woman said, "New Costco membership!" and she laughed.

Hewitt and Tosh came up with 'new' costumes the night of Halloween. I especially liked Hewitt's creation. He got A LOT of compliments as I'm sure you can imagine:
Liv loves candy. She asks for it many times a day and isn't happy when denied. I was surprised (well not really) to find that she was able to climb up onto the counter top in our laundry room (she didn't use a chair or anything to boost herself!) to get into a candy bag on her own. Look at that devilish smile:

Here is a photo I took of Liv at the park last week in a favorite hand-me-down shirt from her cousin:

Some good friends invited us to their cabin in Greer (in the White Mountains in AZ) last weekend. I didn't think we'd be able to swing it, but thought it was worth a shot to see if my sister would be able to watch our kids... My sister ROCKS! She agreed to do it and flew out on Friday morning. We left around 1pm on Friday and got home right in time for 1pm church on Sunday. This was the first time that Rob and I have been away from our kids overnight in three years! It has been about five years since we've been away for more than one night. We had a great time away (nice and relaxing) and our kids had a fun time with their aunt.

Thanks Aunt Mindy!!!

One funny thing: I was so busy last Friday that I didn't have time to make lunches for the boys. They were very excited to buy school lunch and I was asking them about their Friday lunch as we drove to school on Monday. They were discussing what they got (both had chocolate milk, of course) and then Hewitt asked Burke, "Did you get anything from the vegetable barn?"

So I am actually writing this from California. We drove to Newport Beach last night and I forgot the cord to download photos from my camera to my laptop, so I am resorting to taking a photo of the tiny display on my camera with my cell phone. Here is my sister and me with the kids on Sunday night:

Mindy went home early Monday and we got ready to leave for CA. We picked the kids up right after school on Tuesday and drove to the coast. We met Rob's folks here and his sister will be joining us tomorrow.

I took this photo of the ocean view on the way back from my run this morning:

We are excited to be here. Get ready for lots of beach photos next week!