October 05, 2014

 A great week for us.  Tommy is growing and changing a lot.  Monday morning Lily asked for pancakes before school.  I got her breakfast all ready for her, left it on the table, and met her in the bathroom to braid her hair before she ate - to avoid getting syrup in her hair.  We came back to the kitchen to find Tommy had climbed up to the table, put syrup on the pancakes (thank goodness it was just a little bit), and started eating Lily's breakfast.  He must be trying to tell me he's ready for more big boy food.  I'm just glad he only got a tiny bit of syrup out of the bottle.

 Grammy and Grampy came to stay with us Tuesday and Wednesday.  They are leaving for a mission in Houston Texas for the next six months.  We are grateful for their example of service and hope their mission is a great experience for them.  After they left, we took Tommy in for his 18 month checkup.  He had to get two shots and a flu shot.  He was a brave boy and charmed all the nurses.  After his appointment I took all the kids to McDonald's for a little ice cream cone.  Tommy doesn't think shots are too bad if they get followed up by ice cream.

 Thankfully the extreme cold weather of autumn has not hit us yet.  Our raspberries are producing very well.  We need to cover them at night to keep the frost away but the warm days are helping the vines put off some big berries.  Lily woke early on Friday morning and helped me make another batch of jam.  Her arms got tired from all the stirring, but she was really proud of herself. 

 

Friday night we met Daddy at work, had pizza for dinner, and then took a trip to the Rexburg Farmer's Market.  There was a lot of gorgeous produce and yummy treats.  We were hoping to see more vendors at the market, but the few they had were still fun.  The kids each got to choose and decorate a pumpkin for free.  And we bought some amazing macarons and fudge to share.  Plus the weather was fantastic.

 

 Saturday we watched conference and did work around the house.  This is the first year since we've had kids that we were able to watch all of conference without too many interruptions - and Mommy made it through all four sessions without falling asleep.  Peanut butter play dough and boxes to climb in were the keys to keeping the kids happy.  And lots of play time between sessions.

 Saturday night Daddy went to the church to watch the priesthood session.  Mommy and the kids went across the street to play with our neighbors.  Annie loved riding the child size four wheeler with Preston.  And Tommy would not get off the little tractor toy.  He threw a screaming fit when it was time to go home for bath and bed time.

 Sunday morning, Lily woke up with amazing bed head.  Isn't she a cutie?

 Madison and Brady joined us for the Sunday afternoon session.  We played a fun listening game.  Mommy filled up five tiny bowls with Skittles.  Each bowl was labeled with a word and picture of that word that the kids were supposed to listen for during conference.  Our words were: Jesus, Temple, Scriptures, Family and Prophet.  Lily and Annie got a big kick out of the game and three of the bowls were empty before the session was even finished.  Next conference, we will pick less frequently used words.

After conference we took a little trip to the Rexburg Temple.  Lily had been asking all week to go.  We tried to take a family picture but it was hard to get everyone looking and smiling in the same direction.  We walked the grounds a few times and let the kids look in the windows.  It was a great way to wrap up conference weekend and enjoy the sunshine.  We feel so blessed to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives, to listen to living prophets, and to know our Father in Heaven loves each of us.