Everyday Stuff - October 2013 Edition

In an attempt to have more healthy after school snacks,
we tried making tortilla veggie faces one day.
(Great for being healthy and having fun.  Not so great for needing a quick
snack in order to do homework and the other million things that have to
happen between 3:30 and 7:30 every day...)

Jack's creation.

Why so serious?

Crepes before General Conference!

Jack likes strawberries A LOT.

Mmmm.

We awarded Conference Bucks for good behavior and correctly answering
questions after talks.  It helped a lot!  (Find the printable here.)

Between talks, the kids were able to use their bucks to buy snacks, treats,
and small things to help them stay busy.

Candy!

Luke didn't mind that he couldn't have any of the candy.

Family Room Hopscotch

Painting mini pumpkins

The beginning of what became our Haunted House...
the kids all made signs that said BOO and we put them up in the family room.
It was pretty scary to walk in there.  We startled quite a bit.

Eliza began connecting the dots in order to make her own BOO sign.

When we unpacked all of our boxes, we were excited to see our "good" dishes,
since we never unpacked them at the other house.  We used them for Sunday dinner
and we all decided that we should have a nice Sunday dinner every week.
We've stuck to it, and it's been a fun new tradition.
(By the way, "nice" really just means the good dishes and a candle or two.)

E helped me cut and bake sugar cookies.  Cutest helper ever.

I decided to try cookie decorating outside to cut down on the mess
but it was so sunny that the frosting and chocolate chips were melting, haha.

Cat and Marie participated in a duet festival and did great!
They received a Superior rating and performed in a winner's recital.

Our little back yard.

After 2 years of wear, it was finally time to retire Jack's cowboy boots.
We've loved those boots.

Story time.

Jack decorated this haunted house after I cut it out.  On top are some scary
characters he drew on to construction paper covered toilet paper tubes.

Many of Jack's BOO signs actually read, "BOO?"

Crown Decorating

What Haunted House is complete without a few ghosts?

Or a flock of bats?

Or a large red spider web with paper plate spiders?

October's Excursions

Here are some of the fun things we did in October, all revolving around fall/Halloween.

1. Jack's First Official Field Trip

I was so excited to get to chaperone Jack's first field trip.  A woman in our ward watched Eliza and Luke while I accompanied Jack's class to Cornbelly's Corn Maze, a big fall wonderland with tons of activities.  I found it funny that there were so many parents going on the field trip that my "group" consisted of Jack and his friend Ashton.  Jack was thrilled to go on a field trip, thrilled to ride on a bus, and had a blast the whole time.  He and Ashton jumped on a giant pillow, climbed and explored tons of play equipment, competed in a rubber duck race, walked through a corn maze, went on a hayride, and picked out a pumpkin to take home.

2. Jakers Pumpkin Patch

We love this little pumpkin patch in Springville.  We went there in 2011 and were excited about going bak.  The kids had a great time once again, with the hay mazes, small haunted house, large drainage pipe slides, hay ride, farm animals, hay pyramid, and big pit-o-corn.  They had a really fun time jumping into the corn pit (Cat even flipped into it a few times) and burying themselves in corn.

3. Central Utah Gardens

We've heard about the pumpkin walk at this place for a while and we finally tried it out this year.  We loved getting to see all of the cool carved pumpkins, and I was even motivated to dress up since everyone in costume got a free doughnut. :-)  I wrapped a sheet over my clothes and tied it off with a funky scarf thing to become an Ancient Roman, Cat wore my boots to complete her look as a cowgirl, Jack threw on last year's jack-o-lantern costume + Mickey ears to become.... a Mickey-lantern?, Eliza put on a dress-up skirt, and Luke wore the outfit my Mom got him in Hawaii plus a bucket hat to become a beach bum.  There were games for the kids to play, candy prizes, and some fun photo ops.  A great way to spend the afternoon.

Luke's 5th Month

Two major developments this month were that Luke started grabbing at things and he began rolling over front to back and back to front.  The kids loved spotting him roll over and got so excited for him!  I wrote this in my journal in mid-September: "His siblings adore him, especially his sisters, and I'm really enjoying this phase he's in.  He's a joy... when he gets to take a nap of some kind..." (The last part I wrote because with all of the driving back and forth we did during this month, naps were inconsistent for him at best.)

I don't have many pictures of just Luke from this month, so there are a few that I've already posted, followed by some cute ones from his little 5 Month Old photo shoot.

Sleeping in the porta-crib at my aunt's house.

Go Seminoles!!!

Month by month...

Everyday Stuff - September 2013 (We're-In-A-House!) Edition

Our house!  It's actually a twin home in a little twin home neighborhood, and even
though it doesn't have much of a yard, it's a good size for us and in a good location.

The kids immediately started putting away the few toys and books we had with us.

We didn't have a table at first, but the kids didn't mind eating at a Box Table.

Jack was THRILLED to get all of his toys back when we got moved in.

Jack chose Revenge of the Dinotrux at the school book fair.

Eliza chose Sofia the First: The Royal Slumber Party

Our yard is small enough that Ben uses a Ben-powered lawn mower.

Pancake Faces at a REAL Table:

The master bathroom has a big tub, and the kids get to take a bath
there on Saturday nights.  They love it!

The house we're living in has the master bedroom on the main level and two
bedrooms in the basement.  We slept downstairs with them for a few nights until we got
everything from storage, then we moved into the master bedroom.  The kids didn't like sleeping
in the basement by themselves, so Jack and Eliza wanted to sleep with Cat.  They slept all
together at first, but then we pulled Jack's bed into Cat's room so that the girls were in Cat's bed
and Jack was in his.  They all slept in the same room for several weeks.

We had some fun with the cardboard from all of the moving boxes.

This is the big tunnel-fort we made with a bunch of boxes that were all the same size.
This structure survived for a few weeks before we retired it to the recycling bin.

That's it!

Yeah for being moved in!