The Hess Family: October 2009

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Merced 2nd hightst city for forclosures

"Las Vegas had the highest rate of foreclosures of any city, with one in every 22 homes subject to a foreclosure filing in the first three months of the year. The rate of foreclosure filings was 4.5%, seven times the national average.
Merced, Calif., had the second highest rate, with Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., Stockton, Calif., and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., rounding out the top five."

Found this info on cnnmoney.com . To view the full article click the link.
Not a good sign for our little house still out there. :(

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Blurbing

Does anyone else find blurbing tedious and exhausting?! Any tips for the future? I just slurbed a small blog- but it took me forever to get right.

Monday, October 26, 2009

I have the best mother ever!!

My mom took care of costumes this year. She is amazing. Heidi and I think she should work for a children's theater in the costume department.

The Tin Man, eating dessert.

Along with the costumes, Mimi (my mom), sent a little family home evening for us to do. All based on the Wizard of Oz. I'm telling you- she oozes creativity. There were notes personalized for each person/character, along with scriptures to look up. For example, in Cade's note she wrote about how smart he is getting (he's the scarecrow) with his reading and how he is helpful to others. Then she related this to the story about Helaman's Stripling Warriors in The Book of Mormon, Alma 57:21,27. It talks about them learning from their mothers the word of God and how it helped them to be great warriors to protect their families. It was so perfect for him. Luke's (the tin man) had several scriptures about love- Moroni 7:45-48. Cassidy's (Dorothy) talked about the power of the ruby slippers and how we have our own power given to us to help us get back home (to Heavenly Father), the Holy Ghost. Each note was so special to each child. What a fun thing to do for Family Home Evening tonight!

Wearing their costumes while watching (and acting out) "The Wizard of Oz" movie.

Practicing their skipping down the yellow brick road

We decided we were going to be the characters from the Wizard of Oz this year. We had a lion costume, and I thought sewing three more would be a fun project, and no big deal. But as things turned out, being overwhelmed with life, and then down with the flu for most of the month of October- I was extrememly grateful for a selfless mother. My mom offered to make the kids' Halloween costumes for me. And we LOVE them!! She found Dorothy for a great price and purchased it, but made the tin man and scarecrow. I am blown away by her creativity.The tin man costume is made out of duct tape, those reflector shades you see in parked cars and shiny emergency blankets. So cute. All we have to do is add the straw to the scarecrow. I think it looks cute even without it! The kids love them and have been playing in them all afternoon. Thank you, Mom! I couldn't have done a better job myself!

Big Orange Pumpkin Patch

We found a fun pumpkin patch this year. Better than last years, but definitely more pricey. And not really about the pumpkins. The pumpkins were $10/each- so we decided to purchase ours at the grocery store on the way home. The admission prices made me miss the free patch in California with the wide variety of pumpkins and gourds and wild flowers. But this will do, for Texas. The kids had a blast feeding the animals and playing in the bounce house.

We had attempted this trip on Friday, but due to some car sickness we headed home. With all this illness going around I was afraid it was more than motion issues. Thankfully, everyone was fine and we trekked back over the next day. It worked out even better this way, since Warren had just returned home from a week in Las Vegas, and was able to join us. Happy Fall!