FHE Tradition

On Tuesday night we had our traditional Halloween FHE party. We didn't get to it on Monday like planned since the parent teacher conferences ran late. Once again, blogger is posting these pictures in all the wrong order and I can't seem to figure it out, so I will just tell you about each one since they aren't in order. This first one was taken as Barth and Amber watched the boys do the marshmallow string eating. To keep her happy Barth sat and fed Amber marshmallows the whole time!!! :)
I loved this picture because you can see that Aaron decided that this was too hard and just used his hands!!! They boys thought that this was great fun and so we played it 3 times!!!
The first thing that we did was pumpkin bowling! This is a favorite at our house. The boys loved making pumpkin sacks and then we stuff them with newspaper and bowl them over. The wood floor in the entryway made a great bowling spot!

Amber thought that the best part of the evening was that she got to clap for each person. She is quite the little clapper/ patty cake player these days!

This is just so that you can see the set up. I was standing in the dining room taking the picture.

The last event of the evening was bobbing for apples. Brian was anxious to go first. Everyone got fairly wet, but no one but Daddy was able to actually get the apple out of the tub. Good thing Daddy was a good sport about the whole thing. There was NO WAY I was sticking my mouth in there to bob after all the spit that my boys put in there while bobbing!!!!!!!

Aaron decided that it was just easier to PICK the apple up out of the water. I think that the funniest part of the bobbing was that every time someone started to eat their apple, Amber would come up and want a bite. Weston graciously gave her his, but when Aaron started to eat his, she threw that one down and went over and started to cry at Aaron for his!!!

Weston is thoroughly soaked here and decided that he needed to put the apple in his mouth for the picture so that it would look like he had gotten it while bobbing.

Like I said, these are in the wrong order, but this was before they got started. Aren't they a good looking bunch?

Okay, so not the most flattering picture of me, but I did want to document that I was there and having fun right along side my family!! We had a wonderful night together. It is a tradition that we look forward to every year. The boys have been working on haunted houses down in the basement this week. The only trouble? The want to make it out of their tunnels and kid tents/forts. While I have gone through several and been "scared" it is kind of a hard fit!! :) Those little bitty tunnels were not made to easily fit big ol' people like me!!!! Oh well! Happy Halloween!!!!!!

I am an IDIOT!!!

Now normally I don't use that word, but that is the only word that describes what I have done. I sliced my finger at the top from the nail to the middle of the print. How you ask? I was trying to cut the top off of my mega thing of Cascade to get out the very last of the detergent. I was using a knife and them BAM I cut my finger. It bled a lot. This is almost the exact same thing that Barth did on our wedding night. He was cutting off all of that lovely soup covered seran wrap that night and sliced open his finger! When I called Barth this evening to tell him that he needed to come home, I told him that I had "pulled a Barth!" He was very sympathetic. It has now stopped bleeding and I think that it will be fine with just some butterfly bandages and a good cleaning!!!! Sheesh!!!!!

Count your many blessings......

Yesterday I had an experience that has caused me to look at my life and really count my many blessings. What was the experience? Parent teacher conferences. And yet, it wasn't the conference in and of itself that made me thankful for all that I have......it was a conversation with Brian's teacher. She is a wonderfully nice lady. Always a smile and a kind word for the children, the parents, everyone. She has two children of her own, one that is in 1st or 2nd I think, who is a little girl with special needs, and the other is boy who is a little bit older. I had noticed that this teacher of Brian's had been gone almost the entire week last week. Yesterday when I went in to sign Brian out and pick him up, I asked the office lady that I usually chat with if Brian's teacher was back yet. She said that no, one of her children was in the hospital. I then said that I guessed that the conferences that evening would be rescheduled. She said that no, the teacher would be present. At that moment my heart gave a big heave of sorrow for this poor woman. I know personally how stressful it is to have a child in the hospital and how, at that moment in time, nothing else really matters. To have to leave your sweet child, who is ill, and attend to something else.....I couldn't even imagine. That night the teacher was running behind. I asked her how her daughter was. She briefly explained how she had been at the hospital since Tuesday with her daughter and that this was the first time she had left. She said that when they would fix one thing, something else would go wrong and they had no answers for her. They had no clue what was causing the troubles her daughter was having. I could, to a certain degree, identify with that one. I think the thing that most caused me to sit back and reflect was one of the last things that she mentioned to me. Her little girl was born completely healthy. At 2 months of age she got meningitis, and after that, nothing was ever the same. All of the problems that she now faces were a direct impact of that one illness. At that moment I realized once again that life is fragile. That I needed to count my blessings. That I needed to give each one of my children an extra long hug and kiss and make sure that they knew that I love them. I needed to play and laugh more and fuss and complain less. I needed to love and listen and teach. And so today, I want to count some of my many blessings here, so that I have a record of what I am thankful for. And here they are:
*A loving Father in Heaven who always hears and answers my prayers
*Goodly parents who taught me what was right and who love me no matter what
*A wonderful husband who loves me and supports me in all that I do
*4 beautiful children who bring me sunshine on even the cloudiest of days
*A mother who is not only loving and caring, but also my friend through thick and thin
*Barth has a good job to support our family
*There is food in our cupboards and on our table. We never go without.
*My children are healthy and happy
*The scriptures to give me guidance in my daily life
*Clothes to wear and a roof over my head
*My membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
*The opportunity that my family has to be together forever
*The knowledge that I know who I am, where I came from, and where I am going
*Wonderful family and friends who care about me and my own little family
*Cars that work
*Music
*The sunshine!
*The trees, flowers, grass and all the lovely things around me
*That Barth is a worthy priesthood holder who can bless my family
*The power of the priesthood and the power of prayer
*Modern day medicine that can help my children when they get sick
*A nice comfy bed to sleep in at the end of each day
*Roads that make it easier for me to travel to see my family so far away
*Technology so that I can feel like I am with them even though I am not
*Weston for his sweet personality, love of all knowledge, helpful nature and sweet spirit
*Brian for his spunk and pizazz, his totally loving nature, his generosity, and love of the Lord
*Aaron for the twinkle in his eye, his love of life and his happy personality
*Amber for her sweet smile, her love for her Daddy, and her cuddly little self
*Barth for his generosity, his funny wit, his ability to analyze and see things that I might not and the fact that he completes me in every way

There are so many, many more, but these are the ones that I want to share for today. The Lord has truly blessed me and you. Take this day to count your blessings as well!!!

Am I Ready?

I am sitting here wondering if I am really ready for the winter time to arrive. I know that the kids are for sure, but I think that I want a few more weeks of fall weather. Snow is in the forecast for today and tomorrow. I just hope that it does stay in the upper 30's like it is supposed to and not really stick. I want to see the snowflakes and such, but PLEASE DON'T CANCEL SCHOOL!!! I guess that if it does snow and stick, that we will be happy.....just crank up the fireplace and bust out some hot chocolate!!!!!

Trunk-or-treat

Tonight was our ward's Halloween party and trunk-or-treat. Our ward is not very big here, but the kids still had a LOT of fun. There were a few games in the primary room. The games in there were bowling, cornhole (which is just a glorified name for a bean bag toss game), ring the witches hat, and toss the eyeballs in the buckets. They had a cake walk in the RS room. There were WAY more cupcakes than kids, so I think that each one of my boys ate about 8 cupcakes before we decided to move on. :) They even won some for Amber! They did a stick horse race and a few other things. It was a lot of fun. After that, it was time for the CANDY!!!! The kids had a great time going the rounds over and over again (which is easy to do with a small ward.....doesn't take long at all!) It was a chilly night, but not as cold as last year. (or perhaps we were just used to it this year. I am not sure which!) Barth was our official candy man!!!! Weston and Brian were Power Rangers, Aaron was Robin Hood and Amber was Boo.
You can see Amber's costume a little better in this picture. I made it over the last couple of days. Under her hood she had pigtails.

I had to make sure that everything fit and looked good this afternoon. I think that she was the toastiest of the kids since her costume was stuffed. I still have TONS of stuffing left over. Everyone should be looking for pillows or something stuffed this Christmas!!!! ;) Gotta use up all of that left over stuffing!!!!

Writing his name

Uuuugggg! This picture was not supposed to come first, but they have changed blogger and so now your pictures come up according to which one was taken first instead of the order that you upload them. Just a little frustration here. And I don't like the new way that the comments go either. Okay, I am moving on. Just had to have a little rant there for a minute. I guess that I will get to the name writing in a minute. I took this picture this morning for a specific reason. I had to see if Aaron and Amber sitting side by side looked like twins. I don't think that they do, but I have to admit that while sitting, they do look to be very similar in size. While I was out this morning, I had someone ask me if they were twins. This is like the millionth time lately that I have been asked that question. When they stand side by side you can tell that they are not the same age, but I guess that they look more the same size this way. Doesn't help that Amber is in size 18 to 24 month clothes and Aaron is stuck wearing mostly 24 mo or 2T sized clothes. That is okay, I like small and he is WAY easier to carry than any of my other kids!! :)
Okay, now to the name part. This morning while we were outside playing, Aaron wanted to learn to write some more letters. He worked on M's a bunch, and so I decided that it was time that he learned to write his name. I only had to show him once or twice and he was an old pro!! He got a little carried away with the ups and downs, so it really looks like an M at the end of his name instead of an N, but he was so proud of himself. After he looked at the letters one more time, he decided to scratch out the parts that didn't look like an N to make it look better. Yay for Aaron!!!!
Aaron had a ball running through the leaves outside too. While he was running, he looked up and said, "Take a picture of me Mommy!" What a sweet little boy he is!

Fall fun

The air is chilly, the leaves are falling and it is fall for sure here. We got a rake this past weekend, and Weston set out to make a leaf pile yesterday afternoon. The boys had lots of fun playing in the leaves. Yesterday was the warmest that it has been in a week and the warmest that it will be for a while. It was 68. Today it didn't get to 60. I am enjoying the crisp air and the changing colors. Here is a picture of Weston when he began raking the leaves. He wanted to rake the entire yard, but since we had to leave for the PTA meeting early for volunteer training, he just settled for about a fourth of it!!
Aaron looked so cute while watching Weston rake that I wanted a picture.
Brian found a dead branch that was blown down by the wind yesterday afternoon and was whacking it all around to try and make the leaves fall off. :)
Amber contented herself with exploring the backyard.
Enjoying the fall afternoon.
Weston and Aaron decided to have a leaf fight while Brian decided that he would rake up a new pile.
Don't you just want to jump in there with them?
Nothing like a fun fall afternoon!
It was a lovely fall day!!!

Mortimer play

Tonight was the PTA meeting at Weston's school and the third grade did a little play of sorts that was put together by the music teacher. They did the story Mortimer, and in order to give more children a chance to perform, did more than just the parents, kids, and police like the story book. They also had a grandma come in and the president and some others that I can't recall at the moment. It was really cute. Weston played the Xylophones and did a great job. It was fun to watch. I taped a little bit of it, so here is a piece for your viewing enjoyment! :) Weston is in the lower right hand corner of the video when it starts! Enjoy!

Oh my!!

Today after church and lunch it was nap time as usual. After about 45 minutes of Amber fussing in her crib, I went in to tell her once again that it was time to stop crying and go to sleep. What I found was a first. I walked in and saw 2 chubby little feet kicking and sticking out through the crib slats. She was stuck!!! I had to work for a few minutes even to get those chubby little legs unstuck from the crib. Here she is, child number 4, and yet, getting her legs stuck in the crib was a first for me. None of the other kids had ever done it. Silly girl. Hopefully she won't try that one again!!!! As it was, she never would fall asleep today, but stayed in there for a while.....oh well! Sundays are a hard day for her. By the time we get home from church and have lunch, it is really past nap time and then she is so over tired that she can't fall asleep. It happens almost every week. So, bedtime will come early tonight at our house. Let's just hope she keeps her little legs out of the crib slats!

I just love em!

Seriously, I just can't help but love the pigtails!!! It is so fun to have a little girl so that I can do hair and dress her up!! She was just looking too cute not to snap a few shots today.
Brian was standing by and wanted his picture taken too! How could I say no to such a cute little face? You can see his other missing bottom tooth in this picture. It wasn't out for more than a week when his new one was coming through!

Milk

This morning while we were on the way to the store, we stopped at a stop light next to a truck advertising for a dairy company. Aaron excitedly said, "Look Mommy! There are cows in that truck!" I explained that while there were cows printed on the truck, that it was really a truck carrying milk and things like that. I then told him that the reason that there were cows on the truck was that milk came from cows. He then replied, "Milk doesn't come from cows Mommy, it comes from the fridge!"

Tagged by Heather

My friend Heather Matthews tagged me this past week and I am just now getting to it. There were all sorts of rules about linking to to other peoples blogs and things like that, but I am incompetent in that when it comes to blogging, so I will just answer the questions!!! :) And I am supposed to answer each one in one word!

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Where is your significant other? work
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? helper
5. Your father? fixer
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? ?
8. Your dream/goal? Christ-like
9. The room you're in? family
10. Your hobby? music
11. Your fear? conflict
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? family
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? organized
15. One of your wish-list items? couch
16. Where you grew up? Carrollton
17. The last thing you did? walk
18. What are you wearing? capris
19. Your TV? off
20. Your pet? fish
21. Your computer? HP
22. Your mood? happy
23. Missing someone? Barth
24. Your car? van
25. Something you're not wearing? socks
26. Favorite store? Wal-Mart
27. Your summer? WONDERFUL
28. Love someone? family
29. Your favorite color? pink
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? ?

I am supposed to tag 7 people and then link them here, but like I said, I don't know how to do that...... So, I tag Momma, Amanda, Jess, and anyone else who wants to do the tag!!!

Fishing

The boys have been asking for quite some time for me to take them fishing. So, since we were off of school today and it was such nice weather, we decided to walk up to the pond and go fishing. Our neighborhood has two ponds, one with a dock, so we went to the one with the dock to make our fishing easier. Since I was there without any help, I just left Amber in the stroller and she was content to eat her fish crackers, watch the boys and the ducks that were swimming in the pond. Sadly, we had NO hot dogs for fishing today, so we used bread instead. Even though it was not nearly as good for fishing, it still made for a fun fishing experience. (plus the ducks liked the bread too!)
Amber just chillin' in her stroller. I did let her get out a few times to walk around, but there was really too much baiting, and de-hooking, etc to let her out for long.
Weston caught the first fish of the afternoon. Isn't it a whopper?! :) Must have been that lucky fishing pole that Uncle Aaron bought him so many years ago!!!!
Aaron did fish for a bit, but then thought that it was more fun to take the bait and go and feed the ducks!! I kept telling him to leave some of the bread for the fishing and not feed all of it to the ducks, but he would just look up at me with those sweet blue eyes and say, "But they are hungry Mommy!!"
Weston baiting his hook! He could do it all but taking the fish off. That special job was saved for me. :)
Aaron just being cute. I think that he had his eye on that bread there next to him.
Enjoying the fishing.
Brian didn't catch his fish until the end, but he gets the prize for the biggest fish. I just love this picture because Brian is checking the fish out and Aaron is SO excited to see it too. Brian really wanted to take the fish off the hook, so I told him he could throw them back in. He thought that was pretty cool. The overall tally of fish was Weston- 2, Brian- 4 and Aaron none. It was a fun time though. When Barth came home, he asked the boys about the fish and Brian said, "I even caught one with SPIKES on top!"
When we got back home, the kids played outside for a while. When the next door neighbor came over to talk, Brian thought that it would be a great time to start taking pictures!!! Silly boy!! I did like this one that he took though because it shows how the trees are beginning to change colors here. It has been so nice here the last month. It hasn't been above 80 I think and it is in the 40's and 50's at night. Low humidity, beautiful leaves, and no air conditioner........gotta love it!!!

She gave it up.......on her own!!!

I can't tell you how thrilled I am!!!! Amber gave up her binky!!!!!!!!!! On her very own and I didn't have to take it from her. She is my first child ever to give up a pacifier on their own. It has been about a week and a half now, and it is a done deal. Last week when I went to put Amber in bed, I gave her her little blue pacifier as usual. She then suck it on her finger and wiggled it around a little bit. Then, she threw it out of her crib!! I put one or two more in her crib and then left so that she could settle down to sleep. When I came back in, all the binkies were on the floor. The same thing happened the next few days. Then I decided to just not have a pacifier in the crib and see how she did. She did fine. So, I took up all the binkies. Yesterday as I moved her crib around to do the painting, we unearthed a whole ton of them!! All Amber did when she saw them was to stick them on her fingers and walk around her room babbling. She put one in her mouth, bit it, and then threw it back down. I guess that she is officially over the binky!!! Hooray!!!! For me, it is always traumatic to take that away, so I am SO GLAD that now I don't have to!! Oh HAPPY DAY!!!!

Amber's Room

Yesterday afternoon and then today, I worked on and finished up Amber's room. The cost? Less than $15! I just love a good bargain. I got the paint from Lowes over a year ago in the "oops" or return section for $7. As I went to check out, I got a mail in rebate on the paint for $5. That made the paint just two bucks!!! The little girly stickers on the wall I got at Target a while ago for 6 dollars, and the letters and flowers I got today at Dollar Tree. I think that the room came out cute. I moved Amber's bed to the other wall where her dressing table was.
Here are the cute flowers and her name! :)
Aaron and Amber played with these toys in the bucket while I worked. They were some that are not usually out, so they were thrilled to play while I worked. While I painted yesterday after nap time, Amber played in her crib and Brian and Aaron "helped" by painting the walls that I wasn't working on with dry paint brushes!!
When I was putting up the stickers, Aaron really wanted to help too. I told him that he could put the extra letters on the back of the door. Here is what he did!! :)

Upwards Basketball

About a month ago, the mom of the other boy that is Weston's age in our ward called. She wanted to know if Weston wanted to play basketball this season with Jaren. We said that sounded like fun, so we headed over to tryouts. Just a few weeks ago, they got the teams together and after a little bit of finagling, we got both boys on the same team. Although they have school teams here, the other mom said that she had really liked this particular program for basketball. So far I have been very impressed. It is just my speed. It is a Christian league and the games are played at a local baptist church. Each practice is started with a prayer. The boys are taught to be good sports, and be happy when your opposing team scores at the games. Weston had his first game of the season on Saturday. He thought that it was a lot of fun. The teams play half court at this age, and each game is started with a word of prayer by the youth minister. The referees were SO kind! When some of the kids forgot and began to travel, the ref would blow the whistle and kindly explain the rules, and then let the player try again. All the boys had a great time. After the game was over, each player was awarded a star that will be ironed onto his sleeve. There were stars for best sportmanship, best defense, best offence, most Christ-like, etc. The t-shirts and reversible jerseys were included in the fee that we paid. They ask the players to all wear the t-shirts under their jerseys so that they are modest. How nice is that? So far, I have been so happy with how things are going. Weston is really learning how to play ball well, and the atmosphere is so nice. I am glad that Jaren's mom made the suggestion.
Here are the boys lining up for the opening jump ball. Notice the wrist bands? Those are to help the boys know who they are supposed to be guarding. Weston's team was the gators.
Since the boys had only had 2 practices prior to the game, they had talked only a little bit about defense. Weston hadn't quite figured out yet that you only had to guard your man when his team didn't have the ball. He guarded his guy the entire time!!!! It was pretty cute.
Next time I will have to get a picture of Weston and Jaren together!!

Barth's birthday

Well, these are a little late in being posted, but better late than never I say! Barth had a nice birthday on the 29th. He was 32!!!! The kids had a fun time picking out his presents this year. It is always so fun to watch them pick thing out because they are just so sure that Daddy would love a new Scooby Doo movie or transformers. Being the good Daddy that he is, he was thrilled with his new show and transformer!!! Always something fun to play with his little buddies. Here are some picture of the festivities.
Weston, Brian, Aaron and Barth have had lots of fun playing transformers as of late!
Aaron got Daddy the cool pop-up Star Wars book.
Barth also got some great money and some family pictures for his birthday.
Happy Birthday Barth! Thanks for being such a wonderful father and husband!

Funny Moments

Yesterday evening, I was fixing dinner and the boys were playing in the family room. It sounded like it was getting a little rough over there, so I walked over and found Weston had pinned Brian. I then said, "That is enough rough housing boys." Weston looked up and simply said, "We're not rough housing Mommy, we're playing Good Samaritan!" They must have been playing the part where the man got beat up on the highway side. :) I just smiled and walked away!!!!

This morning as the boys were getting ready to get out of the car, Weston and Brian were discussing what "special" they had that day. Brian said he had Art. Weston said he had Library. Then Brian started naming off what special he had each day. When he got to Wednesday, he said, "Mommy, what do I have on Wednesday? I forgot." I then told him he had P.E. not remembering that they called it gym. He gave me a puzzled look and then said, "What does P.E. stand for?" Weston then piped up and said, "I know! It stands for practice exercising!!!"

Been slackin'

Okay, well I have been seriously slacking in the blogging department as of late. I still have to get up pictures from Barth's birthday on Monday!!! I am just behind! So, until I get back into the blogging groove, here are some cute pictures from this morning. Aaron, Amber and I played outside from 10 until 11:40 when we had to go get Brian from school. Above is Aaron being pleased with himself that he snagged my chair while I was up doing something.
Here is Amber playing in the chalk. When she isn't trying to eat it, she actually thinks that the chalk is quite novel and loves to draw pretty pictures on the driveway. As you can tell by the jackets, it was chilly here this morning. It was about 50 most of the morning while we were outside. Annette, if you are reading this....THANK YOU over and over again for all the great clothes!!! Thanks to you Amber has lots of cute things to wear this winter!!!!
Amber giving me a cute grin!
Aaron loves the chalk too. Do you see it all over his jacket and pants? In the background you can see our trash cans. As a special treat, we got to see the big trash truck come and munch up all the trash while we were out this morning. Aaron loved it!
Here is Amber in her favorite spot when we come outside.....the flower beds. As you can see, she likes to dig in the dirt. Today she was trying to get up the weeds for me. I hope that she still likes to pull up those weeds when she gets a bit bigger!!! :)