October 2017

It is tradition to get snow on General Conference weekend in either October or April. This year it happened in October. We had fun playing in the snow between sessions and trying to build a snowman.

We tried doing a conference activity packet and candies tied to key words the kids had to listen for. Some sessions they did a good job and others they were tuned out and just wanted to play. I kind of miss the days when my family went to the stake center to view conference when I was growing up. Getting dressed for church and sitting on the benches always helps maintain reverence. It feels like conference weekend is just a mad house with kids running around and playing and crying and constantly asking for things - which means we really don't get to hear much.

The kids were excited to try and earn as many candies as possible. I will try that idea again next year.

We harvested our carrots from the garden and tried a new recipe for pumpkin cinnamon rolls. They girls sold 6 dozen pumpkin cinnamon rolls to help fund their Disneyland account.

I went to parent-teacher conference at Lily's school and she stopped me in the hall to show me her drawing of the Golden Gate Bridge. She was so proud of it.

Lily's Activity Days group had a father-daughter dinner and dance. Lily and Daddy were so excited to go on a date together.

The decorations were so cute. They got to have lasagna, garlic bread, salad, and desserts. After dinner, everyone moved to the cultural hall for dancing. Look at all those dads and girls having a marvelous time.

Annie is turning into a speed reader. She likes to read for fun and has discovered the fun of chapter books. Her favorite books right now are the Junie B. Jones series.

Rub-a-dub-dub, cute boys in the tub!

Tommy is getting much more social and likes to invite friends over more often for play dates. He and his buddy Carson can spend hours playing with play dough. They are so cute together.

We had one of those nights when everyone just needed to get out of the house for a little while. We went to Wendy's and bought frostys and fries. Kids said it was the best night ever. But they say that every time we buy them fast food.

I think our snow is coming early this winter. What happened to fall? We went from warm and sunny September to snowy October in just one weekend.

Happy 7th birthday Annie! She requested breakfast in bed - her menu choices were mini powdered doughnuts, sausage links, fresh oranges, and orange juice. She was so excited to get breakfast on tray in her room.

To celebrate Annie on her day, we met her at school for lunch. We brought pizza, sodas, and played at recess. She was on top of the world - at least it seemed that way from the top of the jungle gym.

We opened gifts over Skype with Grammy and Grampy and had spaghetti for dinner (her favorite). Most of our celebrating was done in Disneyland so we didn't do a big party this year.

I have been babysitting one to two hours a week at our local gym to earn free exercise classes. This little blue eyed beauty is the daughyer of Lily's second grade teacher. She is such a sweet and relaxed little one. If only the other 15 kids were the same.

We got to accompany Tommy's preschool class for their field trip to the pumpkin patch. Puna and Papa came into town for a visit and we were happy to have them with us too. It sure made keeping track of Tommy, Joey, and our neighbor Kamden a lot easier.

Joey was looking forward to riding this train all week. When the time came, he was frightened by the sounds and was afraid to get too close to the train. At least we got him to try and ride it.

Tommy with his class

Joey discovered free Dum Dum suckers in the big red barn and kept trying to convince different adults to let him get another sucker.

Kamden and Tommy had fun playing king of the mountain until Tommy got bonked on the head by a pumpkin.

It was such a perfect day for the pumpkin patch. Tommy treasured his little pumpkin.

Lily turned 9 on October 21st. After seeing Annie get breakfast in bed, Lily wanted the same thing. She wanted toast, eggs, and sausage with orange juice.

We met Lily at school for lunch too, but it was so windy and cold that the boys were crying and had to go to the car to warm up. Mommy got to stay and play with Lily a little bit. Good thing I had a warm coat!

We did our annual FHE of pumpkin carving. Annie designed and carved hers all on her own.

Lily did a great job too. We had so many pumpkins from our garden that everyone got to do one or two pumpkins.

The girls got spoiled by Puna and Papa

Annie wanted a doll in a dress cake. Lily wanted fresh cinnamon rolls.

It was a yummy celebration! That night we lit our pumpkins. Brady's Incredible Hulk pumpkin was amazing. We love the little nubby teeth on Annie's pumpkin - especially the tiny tooth in the corner of the mouth.

Mommy did a Frankenstein face. Annie did another face with holes all over. We're not quite sure what look she was going for.

Here is Lily's little spooky face. She was so proud of it. It looks a little like a kitty cat face.

We did a family home evening on gratitude and asked the kids to write thank you notes to their grandparents. It was a sweet night trying to help them put their feelings into words.

Tommy was selected as student of the week. He was given a letter T to decorate with his favorite things to tell his class about. He chose Hot Wheels, grilled cheese sandwiches, Ritz crackers, Avengers super heroes, pasta, Go-gurts, Minions, bikes, Mario Kart, legos, Thomas the train, bananas, trampolines, suckers, chocolate, and puzzles. Whew!

He also got to bring in his favorite treat to share with the class. He asked Mommy to make snickerdoodles and wheat bread.

After trying to grow out my very thin hair for almost a year, I decided that shore just works better on me. I chopped off a few inches and love it! I never thought I would be a short hair gal, but it really suits me during this season of life.

Our little goblins all dressed up for the neighborhood Halloween parade. The girls went as witches, Tommy was Iron Man and Joey was a cowboy.

After the parade we gathered at a home for dancing plus cider, cocoa, and doughnuts. Joey and Tommy were tired a little frightened by some of the costumes. They took turns crying in the van until we decided to just pack up and go home.

Our town hold a trick-or-treat on Main Street event each year. This year they established an entrance and only let participants through that one spot. We arrived a few minutes before it was scheduled to start and got in line. After waiting a long time we called some friends who were hundreds of people ahead of us to see if they had made it into the event yet - NOPE! Some people at this point had been waiting over two hours just to get in. We told the kids we were going to skip the event and just go get ice cream cones.

Smiles and happiness all around and we didn't have to endure hours of waiting in line for cheap candy. Parenting win!
Annie tried to wear her pink vampire teeth to school one morning. She even brushed them first. Lily had crazy hair day at school. We formed her hair into a nest and filled it with leaves, then we added a stuffed bear ready for hibernation.

How does Mommy like to celebrate Halloween? With a 90 minute Zumba class, in costume! I even went early this year and helped my friend Jodi decorate her studio. It was a super fun night. I love my Zumba classes.

Here are some of the kids' Halloween creations this year:

 Tommy got to decorate a ghost with stickers. He also did two sugar cookies, but he ate all the candy off of them on the drive home from school.

 Annie made a hot pink ghost with fluffy hair

Lily did drawings with white crayon and then painted watercolors over the crayon. I love the way they turned out.

It feels like we celebrate Halloween for weeks. But the kids really enjoy it, so we don't mind. Mommy dressed up as a witch and helped with Annie's class party. We did a pumpkin bowling game. The class enjoyed getting to do something active. I picked up the girls from school and we went to daddy's office to say hi - and hopefully get candy.

Daddy's three little witches - and the cutest brown eyed Iron Man in the world!

Joey loved showing off his cowboy outfit. He loved all the adults calling him a "real cowboy".

Until next year BYU-Idaho, see you next Halloween!

Our annual neighborhood trunk or treat was very well attended this year! It was very windy and cold so our neighbors set up some heat lamps and a tiny fire pit. It wasn't enough. All the little kids were huddled in their vehicles every chance they got.

Uncle Brady came dressed as Spider Man.

Here we are huddled in the car trying to stay warm while we finished dinner.

The weather was cold but the sunset was amazing! Fiery orange was super festive for our Halloween haunting.

When all was said and done, we hot a load of candy and the kids were thrilled. Mommy and Daddy might have taken all the Snickers and Twix. Shhhhh! It's our payment for putting up with these crazies all year long.