Thoughts on a Sunday

*I was informed by my 5 year old that bald men can have ponytails. He then proceeded to tell me all about how it was actually possible. He described what it looked like and everything. He was very interested and informed on the subject. I have no idea where he got his information or when he last saw a bald man with a ponytail. But, perhaps it will come in handy for his dad, who just might need his tips in the years to come.



*Is it just me or do Halloween candy wrappers multiply. They are literally ALL over my house. And it seems as if I am the only one to even think about throwing them away. At least breeding season is almost over I think. The kids bags are looking pretty picked over. Thank goodness.



*Brandon was scouring the pantry the other morning looking for a little debbie brownie. When he discovered that there weren't any left he was disappointed saying, "now what am I going to trade!" I had to clarify. You trade your food? Did anyone know that trading in school cafeterias really happens? Brandon claims he can trade for anything with a little debbie brownie. That surprises me. They are cheap and disgusting. Who would want to trade for one and what in the world is Brandon getting for his golden brownies. I must investigate further.



*I am typing this entry on my new laptop. My sweet husband, who takes such good care of me, bought me a new computer so I can blog and do stuff in bed or wherever I want to. I like to think it's because he loves me so, but it also might have to do with the fact that several weeks ago I stormed into his office and said "I need another computer NOW!!" You see, with 3 kids in the house who do most of their homework on the computer (actually 5 kids do homework on the computer now. Did you know they now have sites recommended by the teachers to practice spelling on?) anyways, with 5 kids fighting over the computer every night, I could never get on for very important things like blogging and such. Well, my sweet pea solved our little dilemma. Now the kids fight over who gets to type their report, or look up information, or get on spelling city.com and I peacefully sit up in my bed and blog away. I am spoiled, I know!



*I made a realization the other day. I was sitting on the couch and I realized that I had never heard Bryson yell. Never. I racked my brain for even a small memory of him raising his voice. I couldn't find one. I asked Kara who was sitting there, if she remembered ever hearing him yell. She couldn't either. This couldn't be. I found Tyler and asked him, his answer was the same, nope he had never heard him yell. I don't know if another child in the whole world exists who hasn't yelled once. He is not perfect, he gets upset, he cries, but he just never yells. He is a phenomenon. He is a prodigy. He is my sweet quiet little guy. I love him! (I'm pretty sure he gets it from me!)



*I discovered Raspberry cheesecake hot chocolate this week. Yum-o! It is a new favorite!

*Trevor and I had two hot dates this week. Our first was at Roundtable. We sat snuggled side by side in our matching Scout shirts. It was very romantic. Our second was at the Worldwide Leadership training meeting. For two hours we sat in the chapel together, holding hands as we looked over our new handbooks. With as busy as our weeks get, I am grateful for any dates we can get, as long as I'm with him, I don't care where it is! (But hopefully next weeks date will involve some food!)

*It is official. My son is an Eagle Scout. Of coarse, I will do a huge post on this major accomplishment later, but it was definitely worth mentioning here. It was a lot of work, for both of us. One down. Three to go!


*My sister and her beautiful children are in town. That makes me happy!



Until next week

Preference

I think I was almost as excited as Kara to help host the pre-Preference dinner for her, her date, and 5 other couples. I love a good party. As she was out on her day date, Trevor and I got the room and table ready. We removed part of the couch, moved and extended the table, decorated the table better than any restaurant could ever do (thanks to Linda), turned on the fire and mood music, and dimmed the lights. It looked beautiful, if I do say so myself.
The couples arrived and the picture taking began. I was taking so many pictures with other cameras I didn't get any really good ones with my own, but this is the whole group. The were so cute and fun and polite. I loved having them in my home.

The girls had brought all the food. After the guys were seated the girls came upstairs to serve their dates. The menu: Chicken cordon bleu, rice pilaf, green salad, homemade rolls with honey butter, and brownies and ice cream for dessert. It was cute to see them serve the guys, but Trevor and I had to help most of them down the stairs with their plates because they were afraid they would trip on their long dresses. That would not have been good.

They ate and talked and laughed. And then before we knew it they were done and ready to move on to the next, even more exciting part of their magical night- the dance. They all came upstairs to get ready to leave. I wanted to go with them to be a fly on the wall for the rest of their date. Trevor said no. I think Kara was relieved.

We were sad to see them go. Especially these little ones. Alyssa and Ashlyn couldn't believe the beautiful dresses and that their big sister, their idol, was wearing one too. They were allowed to come down to see the grand exit, the final swish of the dresses as they went out into the cold. After the dance, when we got the rundown of the whole day, Kara reported that it had been a perfect day. I was so happy to be a part of it and hope there are many many more of these in the years to come. They are welcome anytime.

My favorite things- quotes, sayings and scriptures!

Some may like to call me a brain washer. And maybe I am. But when you're brainwashing about good things is it really that bad? I like to put different quotes up around my house to help motivate, inspire or just brighten my kids day. Here are just a few of them:

When I was a young adult I saw this on someones door as I was leaving their house and it had a powerful impact on me. I remember thinking, yes, every time you walk out the door you are in the mission field and you need to act accordingly. I made a mental note that I would put that same sign in my house someday. And I did. And it still has an impact on me every time I leave my house each day.

I read this in a New Era article and again was moved. I wanted my kids to see it and be reminded of it daily. I felt it was applicable to the times and what my kids may be facing each day.

This is just on the refrigerator in my basement where my teenagers hang out. Simple, yet meaningful.

This is my favorite. The scripture for which I hope my children can base all their decisions and their lives. Building on a sure foundation. Building their lives and everything they do around their Savior. With a promise that if they do they will not fall, no matter what is thrown at them. I love it and hope they read it often, I know I do. It gives me hope. These quotes inspire me. They motivate me. They are powerful to me. And my hope is that even if one of them touches one of my children in some way--

than all my brainwashing was worth it!

How many kids can you fit on a couch...

...when the home teachers are here?

Almost all of mine if you are at our house. Let's just say it doesn't make for a reverent afternoon. Alyssa was the only one missing. She was daintily sitting on the piano bench listening intently I'm sure.

Home teachers-one of the many blessings in our families lives!

We're thankful for ours!

Thoughts on a Sunday or Monday or whenever!

*This has been the first week without sports games and practices. And even though we had YW in Excellence, Pack Meeting, Pack Planning Meeting, and 3 parties, it has been glorious!



*I was trying to fall asleep the other night and I felt a little tickle on my head. I reached up to itch it and felt something. I kept my fingers on it and carefully turned on the light. It was an earwig! An EARWIG crawling in my hair in my bed! Sick! I was disgusted, and no, I didn't sleep well that night!



*For the longest time Ashlyn will ask to have her paint nails done. She is constantly asking for Kara or me to paint nails her nails. It has been cute. Yesterday, before church she came up with a little bottle of hot pink polish she got at a party the day before. She really wanted her nails done before church. So she asked, "Mom, will you please put paint nolish on me?" Even cuter!



*Speaking of parties, Ashlyn went to 2 birthday parties this week, back to back. One on Friday and another on Saturday. She was thrilled. I think she's a 3 year old pop!



*I don't totally know what I'm doing for my Christmas cards. Usually by this time of year I practically have them done. Help me!



*I forgot to write last week that while we were trick or treating my older boys decided they were tired of saying trick or treat. I guess it was just too long and difficult to say. So they decided to save themselves some energy and just said "TOT" when they went up to the door. Laziness to its extreme! After having their fun at a few houses, getting some quizzical looks, I made them go back to actually saying "trick or treat" I'm sure it exhausted them.



*Brandon was student of the week last week at his school. He's a great kid. That's all.



*I love how much Ashlyn loves books. She just really loves books. I read to her everyday and then multiple times a day I find her up in the hall by the library basket or in her room sitting by the bookshelf with books all around her. She carefully turns each page and "reads" out loud to herself. It is amazing how good her reading comprehension is because she can practically recite the whole book word for word after just hearing it once. She is not only a pop, she is a brilliant pop.



*The other night as I was reading Little House on the Prairie Ashlyn interrupted and said, "Mom, pause it, I need a drink." It's not the first time my kids have asked me to 'pause it' while reading a book. A sign of the times they live in I guess.



*Alyssa wrote me the sweetest note the other day. She told me how much she loved me and listed some of the great things I do. At the very end of this tender note she wrote, "you're the BEAST mom ever!" Trevor laughed and laughed. I like to think she meant to write best. Trevor thinks she knew exactly what she was writing and that sometimes I can be a beast of a mom. I'm going to go with my guess. My sweet Alyssa isn't capable of calling me a beast, even if I can be one sometimes. And now this beast must sign off.



Until next week!

Strike a Pose!

When the camera comes out so does Ashlyn's pose.

She made it up.

She thinks it's cute.

She does it all the time.

The pose at the beach.

The pose at Gardener Village.

The pose on Halloween.

The pose even comes out when others are in the picture. It just doesn't matter. The pose is important. The pose needs to be seen. I'm going to make her do this pose on her wedding day. I really am, because I want to remember the pose and the cute little girl behind the pose forever and ever!

My favorite things-walking!

I really love the location of my house. Location Location Location. That's what they say when you are buying a house. We tried to do that and one of the things that I love about our location is how close we are to our church and the kids schools. I love it, and I am reminded how much I love it each time I send them out the door.
I love that my kids walk. Walk to church. Walk to mutual. Walk to school. Walk home from school. Elementary and Junior High. Walk in the sunshine. Walk in the rain. Walk in the snow. Call it unfair, and sometimes they do, but they just walk no matter the weather. I love that it gives them a little bit of exercise. I love that they have a little bit of time while they are walking home to unwind and release some energy. I love that they can socialize, not only with other neighbor kids, but with each other. I just love that they are out in this beautiful world no matter what mother nature is throwing at them. Oh, and I guess I love that it's one less place I have to chauffeur them around to. Yep, walking to school, one of my favorite things, for sure!

Gotta love it-especially when it's over!

Flag football is my boys favorite sport. All three of them love it. All three of them participated in it this year. All three of them did well. I attended as many games as I could but still stick by my rule that this one is for them, to just have fun. Mom's attendance at games is totally optional. And even with this rule I found myself at more games than I thought I would because they love it so much and are so fun to watch. At Tyler's age they put together their own teams, so this team of 'Tree Huggers" are some of his closest friends. They had a blast and Tyler was awesome.

Brandon had a great season and was also on a team named the "Tree Hugger Juniors" Don't even ask. I have no idea. He was in his glory, he could play football all year long.

I didn't get a picture of Bryson's whole team, but I did get several of him and his, oh so handsome, coach. Bryce had some great plays and several amazing touchdowns!

And now it's over. Although it was fun and we lucked out and didn't have any games in the snow (much to my boys dismay) it was a busy season with each boy having 2 games a week. Yes, that means 6 games a week. It was crazy. But it was fun. And I'm sure we will be in the same situation next fall. Until then, I'm going to try to figure out what to do with all my free nights!

Thoughts on a Sunday

*You know it's bad when you wake up with a "lack of sleep" headache. It has been a very long, tiring, exciting, party filled, fun, and exhausting week. We did so much. We ate so much. I am glad its over.

*I am going to spend all next week catching up on my blogging. October in our house is filled with fun things and lots of traditions- almost as much as December, it sometimes seems. I like to tell myself things will slow down. I know its not entirely true, but a girl can dream. At least all the sports have stopped until January, so that does open up a few nights, but they are quickly filling up I am finding. Oh well, such is the life with 7 children.

*I cleaned out some of my kids drawers this week. That cycle of rotating clothes for kids never seems to end. Get out the summer. Put away the shorts. Pull out the winter. Do they each have enough hoodies? How about coats? What doesn't fit? What can I send down to the next child? Does it have holes? DI or try to sell to Kid to Kid? Do they own any socks without holes? Who needs underwear? Is this even still in style? Who cares, are they still going to wear it? As I was sifting through Alyssa's pajama drawer I noticed one of her favorite nighties. I looked at the size. It was a 4T. Hello, she is 8 years old! I took it and placed it one drawer down in Ashlyn's pajama drawer, where, apparently, it still will have about 5 good years left.

*The other day I was dropping Ethan off at kindergarten. I pulled up to the school and he got out of the car. He turned and said, "Bye mom, bye ash." Ashlyn then piped up and said, "Bye Eto, I love you." He replied with a very sincere, "I love you too Ash!" Be still my heart. My heart was happy all day long.

*I took my boys to get haircuts this week. They all needed it. Why don't I know how to cut boys hair? It would sure save me a bundle. Anyways, Tyler noticed a sign at Fantastic Sams that has had us chuckling all week long. It said "WALK IN, STRUT OUT!" It has been funny to watch my boys mimic 'strutting' around with their new haircuts. They make me laugh.

*I attended traffic school this week. I have never been before. I hope to never go again. Really all it was was asking the police officer questions. I had a few, but never was able to ask them. Instead people went off on a 'right to bear arms' tangent. One man's question was, "So, I own a rifle and I drive a motorcycle. Will I get in trouble if I strap my rifle to my back and ride around the streets on my motorcycle with my rifle on my back?" What? What in the world does that have to do with anything?! (By the way the answer is NO, if he has a gun permit and if that there rifle on his back is not loaded) I'm pretty sure I was the only one in the room who did not have a concealed weapon permit. It was a complete waste of an hour, but my ticket is now wiped off my record, so I guess it was worth it. I guess.

*I love having a kindergartner. Everything is so new and exciting to him. For example, library day is big news and a very anticipated day each week. The first assembly he went to was huge. He came home bursting with the information about how he was never going to be a bully. This past week was red ribbon week. He could hardly contain himself. Backwards day, hat day, tie day, and crazy sock day was practically more than he could handle. My other kids were like, whatever, I'll just wear this old hat, but not Ethan! He was truly excited and could hardly wait for school each day to wear exactly what he was supposed to to show he was never going to take drugs. And to cap it off, his first ever Halloween parade was precious. He was beaming. If only they could hold on to that enthusiasm forever!

*Speaking of that cute little kindergartner. One day this week I was straightening out his bed. I pulled off his pillow to pull up his comforter a little when I noticed two small treasure chests under his pillow. I recognized them immediately. They were those little chests they give kids when they get their teeth pulled. I would know, my kids have had about 1000 teeth pulled between them all. All of them except for Ethan and Ashlyn. So these chests belonged to Brandon, who had these particular teeth pulled months ago. I guess he was saving the teeth. Well, Ethan saw them and devised a plan to outsmart the tooth fairy. He decided he was going to try to trick her with these impostor teeth and get himself a few dollars. His plan was foiled when mom found the chests. I asked, "Ethan, what are these doing here?" With a very guilty and sheepish look he said, "I don't know" I decided to let this little white lie go, because well, he's cute and pretty smart, I mean he really doesn't have any other way to earn money. What's a boy to do? Try to trick the tooth fairy, that's what! What he doesn't realize is that the tooth fairy is one smart woman!

*I have a huge zit in the middle of my forehead. Nice! I have been telling people I am being a teenager for Halloween. It makes them smile and it makes me feel better, just a little!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween-on the Sabbath

Halloween was on a Sunday this year. We had done all of our partying the day before, but I still wanted to do a little something special,

after all, it was Halloween.

We had a simple yummy Halloween night dinner. Homemade bread sticks, spiced apples, fresh garden salad and of coarse.....

..dinner in a pumpkin.

I felt like we were back in Little House days again (remember we are reading this series right now) Everything on our table could have come from our garden or crops. We even scraped out the pumpkin and ate it as our vegetable. It was very "Fallish" "Harvesty" and "Old Fashioned"

But, by far, the most significant thing that happened on Halloween this year was this handsome young man receiving the priesthood. I couldn't have been more proud of Brandon.

He was prepared, he was worthy and he is ready to serve!

It has been a great Halloween indeed!

All Hallows Eve

It was kind of fun having Halloween on a Sunday this year (sorry Sarah). One of the perks of living in Utah is the whole town celebrates on Saturday and, as usual, we dragged it out and celebrated in some way the whole weekend. We carved pumpkins Saturday afternoon and then had our traditional Halloween night dinner. I have tried different things for this dinner, but this one is what we will stick with for the time being, because my kids will actually eat it-all of it, in fact. The menu: mummy dogs, rotten teeth (baked beans) and slimy slugs (mandarin oranges). Simple yet satisfying.

We then began the task of getting everyone into their costumes for, like, the third time. Luckily, my older ones didn't need much help. This year we found roaming around our house a baby (a costume invented by Brandon to break the status quo, since only girls in 6th grade dressed up like babies every year. He thought, why can't there be boy babies? He rounded up some friends and the first band of boy babies was born at Legacy Elementary!), a groovy hippie, the beautiful Belle, Vakama (a mighty bionicle, in case you were wondering), and a very fancy dancer.

The storm hit about an hour before trick or treating time. It was a doozy. It was raining so hard and coming down sideways. Incredible. Beautiful weather the two days prior and now this. Alyssa cried when I told her she couldn't wear the intricate Belle costume that had been handmade by my friend for her daughter. It would get ruined for sure (At least she got to wear it to school). She reluctantly and tearfully pulled an old torn Belle costume out of the dress up box and put it on. I told her it wouldn't matter because it would be covered by her winter coat. That didn't make it any better.

Trevor scoured the house and came up with 5 umbrellas. Some were in pretty bad shape, as most umbrellas are in our house, but they would just have to do. He also grabbed the huge beach umbrella and toted that around. It drew a few laughs, but kept us dry. I told the kids this would be a Halloween they would remember, kind of like the one where it was totally snowing. Oh, and Bryce couldn't wear his hippie wig, it wasn't really conducive to pouring rain, so he was a hippie wearing a beanie.

It worked.

We then hit the streets, I didn't think any of us would last long, but I was wrong. The rain amazingly stopped, the air warmed, and for the first time we didn't have to carry a little one around. Ashlyn loved it. She looked up at Trevor after a few houses and said, "Halloween is FUN!" And fun it was. We trick or treated throughout the whole ward. Is there anything better than being outside with all your neighbors milling around, getting so much candy and the smell of pumpkins burning on the doorsteps?

I don't think so.

We made it back to our cozy house dry and content. Then the traditional candy inventory and sorting started. I totally remember doing this as a kid.

Halloween.

Memories.

Candy.

Being together.

That's what Halloween is really all about to us-

and we love it!

School Parties-Gotta Love Em!

You gotta love being a room mom. Especially in Kindergarten. They are so excited about everything. I tried really hard not to be a room mom this year, but here I am, the room mom for Ethan's class. I really love getting to watch my kids in their classes and I always love a good party so here is a recap of Ethan's first school holiday party. We turned on some fun Halloween music and let the games begin.
We had one station that focused on spiders. They played pass the spider, which happened to be frozen in an ice cube. They had to pass it until it melted and then they got to keep the spider.

In the spider station they also made cute little film canister spiders. Finding film canisters is not very easy now a days. I had to go to like 6 stores to get enough. But they turned out cute and were easy enough for these little 5 year olds to make.

The next station was a pumpkin station. They started out dipping their little thumbs in orange paint and then making a bunch of thumbprints on a brown piece of paper. We then wrote "Ethan's Pumpkin Patch" on the top and drew in some stems and vines. They then played "Don't Eat Jack." Always a favorite!

The third station was a witch station. They each got a pre-made green paper airplane (thank you Trevor!) that was their witch. They then tried to fly their witch through the moon. They loved this. I think they could have played this the whole time. They also had a little activity where they each were given a piece of bubble gum, got to chew it up, and then stick it on a picture of a witch, making her wart.

We ended the party by making a fun witches brew (they had each been asked to bring in a can of non-caffeinated soda to add to the brew. I also brought extra in case someone forgot). It bubbled and brewed as they each added their soda and they claimed it was delicious! We supplemented our brew with some bones and blood (Little Ceaser bread sticks and sauce) and then headed off to the costume parade. Ethan was happy, so I will call it a success. And that green witch is still flying all over our house!