Thomas' Halloween Party

I was in charge of Thomas' Halloween party at school today. It has been fun to plan it with him and work with him to get everything ready. The students made witch's stew, had treats, did some dot-to-dots, and played "Don't eat Ziggy." I am so grateful I was able to be in his classroom and share this special day with him. Spring came with me and loved being able to be with Thomas and his friends. Thomas was so kind to her and encouraged her to do everything right along with him.

Fall Fun Fest

Fall Fun Fest

We had a great time at the ward party tonight. We started with hot dogs, chips, and root beer. Then a gentleman in the ward performed a magic show for the kids which was amazing. Thomas was able to be his assistant for part of the show. Then we went into the gym for lots of carnival games. Spring liked getting her face painted and Thomas liked the cupcake walk. Sammy had a great time with all the young women who doted on him all evening-we barely saw him all evening. After the games we headed back outside for the traditional trunk-or-treat. It was such a fun evening. As we were finishing cleaning up the church and about to head home the walls of the church began to shake and roll. YEP...an earthquake. We found out it was a 5.6 magnitude centered in San Jose!

Carving Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins today after Thomas got home from school. We actually started cleaning them out before he got home so we would have time to carve them before our ward Harvest Festival. We didn't think Thomas would care, but he was disappointed that he didn't get to clean out his pumpkin. He was fine about it after he realized there were some seeds left. He hurried outside to plant some pumpkin seeds in the dirt!

carving pumpkins

Thomas completely carved his pumpkin on his own. He carved a "double faced" pumpkin. It had a face on both sides. Pretty ingenious! Sammy and Daddy carved their hands on his pumpkin and Spring and I carved hers after she drew the face on it. Then we headed off to our ward party!

"You've been Spooked!"

We have been making Halloween treats yesterday and today. We made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, chocolate dipped brownie bites, and persimmon bread. Thomas, Spring, and Sammy also painted pots to look like candy corn. They filled the pots tonight with treats and made signs with ghosts on them and wrote, "you've been spooked." Then they took them to the neighbors, knocked on the door, and hid. They weren't very good at hiding though and got caught most of the time. When they got caught they said, "It was the goblins." Wendy talked to them for a while and said those goblins sure baked some yummy treats. Spring just smiled and said, "We're the goblins!" It was funny.

Mary on the Move

Mary loves to army crawl. She is pretty fast especially when I am not paying attention. I am amazed at all she gets into so quickly. The kids love to see her "crawl" to them. Spring asked me to take a movie of her crawling this afternoon.

Service with a smile

We were outside playing this afternoon after Daddy left for work. Sammy usually cries really hard when Daddy leaves for work and the only way to get his mind off it is to go outside to play. Chase was playing with the kids as well. Spring came over to me and asked if she could rake all of Wendy's leaves for her. When I told her I thought it was a great idea she ran to Thomas and Chase and whispered it in their ears. They decided they were going to be very quiet because they did not want Wendy to hear them working. They just wanted it all to be a secret for her.

So, off they went across the street. Now, their trees let off a lot of leaves. One of them would rake, the other would sweep the pile into a shovel that the third would dump into the green waste can. They rotated jobs. They were so cute whispering to each other. Soon Sammy was running across the street dragging a broom behind him. I joined them with the green waste can. Those kids worked hard and finished the whole job in just under an hour. Just before they were finished Wendy walked out and said, "Who is doing such a nice thing for me?" Spring said with a huge smile on her face, "Wendy, go back inside. You aren't supposed to see us. It is a surprise!" So, she went back inside and the kids finished. Then Spring called into the house, "Wendy you can come outside now. We are all finished." She thanked them and they beamed. They were so happy.

Chase kept saying how much fun that was and that he had never done anything like that before. The kids proceeded to tell him that this was service and if you do service for other people and you do it happily then it is like you are serving Jesus and Heavenly Father. They told him it was fun because it is fun to do things that make Jesus happy. Thomas told him the good feeling he had was the Holy Ghost telling him he had made a good choice. Wow, our kids are such good examples to me as they bear their sweet testimony with those around them.

Vacation Day

Thomas did not have school today. Partway through the day Spring said, "Oh no, we missed Thomas' soccer game!" I told her he didn't have one today and she replied, "He always has games on Saturday." So, I had to remind her that today was Friday and Thomas just had the day off. She was relieved that we didn't forget his game. The rest of the day she kept telling everyone that today was a vacation day for Thomas but he usually has to go to school on Fridays. It was so cute. I love when he has days off of school...I love the time it gives us to just be together and do fun things without the normal routine of the day. I just love being home with our children and I love being a mom. It is my dream come true and our children make it so rewarding.

I had to go visiting teaching this morning and Joel was sleeping because he is working nights this week. Thomas and Spring wanted to stay home and Mary was sleeping so I just took Sammy with me. I taught them how to make a bottle for Mary in case she woke up. The sprinklers were also going and the timer in the kitchen was set. I asked them to turn off the water when the timer went off. I came home and saw they had turned off the sprinkler and moved it to the next spot that I usually put it and started them again. It made me smile because they had gone beyond what I had asked them to do. Then Sammy and I walked into the house and Thomas and Spring were holding Mary feeding her a bottle. They informed me it was the second bottle they had given her. She was as happy as could be and the looks on their faces were priceless. I thanked them for taking care of the sprinkler and Mary. I told them what big kids they were and how much I appreciated that I could trust them with Mary and that they were so responsible. Their faces glowed as their smiles lit up the room. I love how responsible they are. We are so blessed to have loving and hard working children.

vacation day

Here are some fun pictures of some of the day's activities.

Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to the Dell Osso Family Farms this afternoon. It is a big pumpkin patch but there are a lot of other attractions for them as well. Thomas' friend, Chase, came with us also. The kids had a great time playing on the haystacks, tire pyramids, hay mazes, and riding the tricycles. They also went in a petting zoo and the goat took their whole bag of feed and ate it all-including the bag. This was very upsetting to Spring and Thomas. We went on a train ride through the corn fields and had a great time together. Then, they chose their pumpkin. We all had so much fun together.

Limo Lunch

Thomas' Limo Ride

The 12 students that raised the most money for the Knight-a-thon were announced yesterday at school. Thomas was one of them! He raised $201.50. The cool thing was he did all the work with earning the money-he called people, explained the fundraiser, and then called people afterwards to let them know when he needed the money turned in. So, for being in the top 12, a limo picked them up at the school and took them to lunch at McDonalds. He was so excited! We, of course, had to meet him at the school to get pictures as he got into the limo and then as we were driving home we saw the limo at McDonalds so I ran inside to get pictures too.

He also found out that he was in the overall top 5 so he was able to choose from a group of prizes. The choices included: snowcone maker, airhog rockets, littlest pet shop, and $50 cash. At first he said he wanted the snowcone maker but he asked me if we could look on Walmart's website to see how much a snowcone maker cost. We found out it was about $30. He said, "Then I want the money because I could buy a snowcone maker and still have money leftover." I asked him if he liked snowcones and he said, "Actually, not really. So I guess I don't want the snowcone maker afterall. I will choose the $50 cash, put some in the bank for my mission and then go to the store and buy legos!" He thought it was neat that he had his very own $50 bill.

When I told Thomas I was going to put the pictures on the blog he said, "Mom, can you write on there thank you to everyone that sponsored me on my knight-a-thon?" So, THANK YOU for your support and help in making today such a special and exciting day for our son!

Singing Thomas

Thomas has been singing this song all day today since he got home. He learned it at school today and wanted to sing it for us.

Articles of Faith

Joel and I decided to focus on the Articles of Faith during Family Home Evening so the kids can not only learn them, but also know what they mean. Thomas has already memorized quite a few of them but he likes to learn about them and then help Spring learn them during the week. A week ago we learned about the 1st Article of Faith. Throughout last week we would talk about it and practice it. Then yesterday at FHE everyone in the family could recite it on their own so we marked that one off and moved on to #2. Thomas already knew this one but we were amazed at how quickly Spring learned it. She already has it memorized as well. Throughout the day she will just say, "Do you want me to tell you the 2nd article of faith?" Then she proceeds. It is so fun to hear them get excited about learning them. When the whole family knows all 13 we are going to go bowling. Here is Spring reciting the first 2 Articles of Faith.

Beautiful Baby

Mary is our sweet baby, such a beautiful girl. Her smile is so contagious!

Fun in the Sun

playing

The last couple days have been really nice outside so the kids have been wanting to play outside a lot. I finally thought to bring my camera outside with us today to get some pictures. Nothing real spectacular, just ordinary everyday fun. Afterall, the little things are often the things they remember most.

Sunday at the Temple

temple trip

We went to the Oakland Temple right after church today. We wanted to see the new Joseph Smith movie. When we first got to the temple we walked around the terrace of the temple. The kids loved doing that. Then we walked around the temple grounds. Sammy kept saying "Hi" to everyone he saw. When they said hi or waved to him he would smile with his scrunched up nose and come tell us he said hi to them. It was really cute. Then we went inside the visitor's center and spent time looking at the displays. The kids really liked looking at the Christus. Spring immediately pointed out the marks in His hands, feet, and sides. She wanted to stay there for a long time. They enjoyed the interactive videos and commercials. Then we were able to watch the Joseph Smith movie. It is so powerful. Thomas had a really hard time watching the parts when Joseph Smith was being hurt. When he was pulled from his room to be tarred and feathered, Thomas was sobbing and said it hurt to watch them do that to him. He cried many times in the movie; he is so tenderhearted and sensitive. After the movie, it was time to go home but Spring didn't want to leave. She kept telling us she wanted to stay and look at Jesus longer. We enjoyed the afternoon and evening together. I am so grateful for my testimony of Joseph Smith. I know he is a Prophet of God and was able to translate the Book of Mormon by the Power of God. I am in awe of all he went through and still remained faithful and obedient. How blessed we are in all we do because of the Book of Mormon...we owe so much to this wonderful man, Joseph Smith, prophet of the restoration.

Jeremiah

Our ringtone for Aunt Alanna is "Jeremiah was a bullfrog" and the kids love it when she calls. She has commented that it takes us forever to answer the phone when she calls now because the kids want to listen to the whole song. They like to dance to it and Thomas tells us, "That's a great song." Tonight we were all cleaning up in the kitchen after dinner when Aunt Alanna called and Sammy just started dancing. It was so cute that we had to ask Aunt Alanna to call us back so we could get it on video. So, here is Sammy dancing to Aunt Alanna's ringtone!

Too Cool To Do Drugs

Next week is Red Ribbon Week at school. The school is having a poster contest for grades K-8 and a writing contest for grades 2-8. The writing contest is supposed to be about 50 words describing why it is uncool to use drugs. Thomas asked his teacher if he could enter the writing contest as well even though he is only in 1st grade. His teacher told him he could. So, here is the paragraph he just finished writing (I am typing it word for word and spelling as he did in his paragraph):

To Cool To Do Drugs!

I'm to cool to do drugs. I have courage to stop me! I have more fun things to do. I love to ride my bike and scooter. I love to play soccer, tetherball, and catch. I know drugs are dangris and bad for me.

6 month pics of Mary

Here are Mary's 6 month pictures. We think they turned out really cute, but then again I guess we are a little biased!

mary 6 months old

Halloween Package

Thanks for the Halloween package, Grandma & Grandpa Miller!!! It was on our doorstep when we got home from soccer practice. The kids love the Halloween bags and they really enjoyed putting them on their heads!!! Sammy likes his Harley Davidson outfit too. We love you!

We love you Grandma and Grandpa

fun with grandma/grandpa

We had so much fun with grandma and grandpa here. We played, read stories, talked, went for walks to the park, had ice cream at Baskin Robbins, and all sorts of other just plain old fashioned fun. Unfortunately the time always goes too quickly and before we know it, we are dropping them off at the airport again. It is so hard to tell my mom and dad goodbye, and what is even harder is to see how difficult it is on our children. Thomas and Spring cried as soon as we started to pull away from the airport curb. They kept saying, "It's so hard that they live so far away." "I miss them so much. When can we live by grandma and grandpa?" We all had teary eyes for the drive home. We are so blessed to have a wonderful family that we can share such love and memories with. It is amazing how love can span the distance that is created when we live so far apart...when we see each other again it is as if we were never apart. I love you, mom and dad. Thanks for being just what I and my family need. We miss you and can't wait to be together again.

Storytime for Sammy

Grandma and Grandpa got to come to Sammy's storytime yesterday. The library has such a fun storytime for the little kids. They have fun toys out for them to play for a while and then we ready stories and sing some songs together and then they play some more. Everyone that goes gets a bag full of the books that are read so we can be holding our own book while the librarian reads the stories. The cool thing is we get to keep the bag and books. It was fun for grandma and grandpa to come and we are so grateful Grandma took pictures for us.

sammy storytime

Crafts with Grandma

Grandma and Spring collected leaves on a walk one day. Then they came home and made a wreath out of it. Spring and Sammy had so much fun working with Grandma. Isn't it cool how it is the little things that really make their days!

Dad's Midlife Crisis

I asked Dad if I could dye his hair while he was here, not expecting him to let me at all, and he readily agreed. I was shocked! So, Joel and I ran out to get the dye tonight. Then Joel and Dad had a good bonding experience while dying his hair. So, what do you all think????

Bowling

Bowling

One reason Grandma and Grandpa came to visit this weekend was to see Spring and Thomas' soccer games. Well, they brought the rain with them and it really started to pour down rain in the late afternoon. So, about an hour before Spring's game was to begin, we got a call that they were cancelling the games because of the rain. The fields were flooded and it was dark, wet, and cold. Well, this was to be Spring's last game so she was devestated. She cried and kept saying, "I was going to play really good to show you and score lots of goals." She was so sad and we felt bad for her. So, we asked if she would like to go bowling instead. That brought a smile to her face and a jump in her step. We even got pizza and root beer there. They had so much fun bowling and it helped ease her disappointment.

Grandma and Grandpa are here!!!

FUN

Grandma and Grandpa Powell flew in late Thursday evening. It was so fun to pick them up at the airport. On Friday Grandma gave Thomas money to buy hot lunch at school. You see, Thomas loves the idea of being able to buy lunch at school. So, we made a deal with him that he can choose 2 days a month to buy lunch at school. He is very methodical about when he will buy lunch. He usually buys it the first day of the month and then halfway through the month. Well, I was getting ready to make his lunch on Friday and Grandma asked him, "What's for lunch today?" He ran and got the menu and was excited to see it was pepperoni pizza. Well, Grandma said, "What if I give you money for hot lunch today?" He was so excited. He also convinced her to give him some extra money so he could buy extra snacks. What a lucky boy!!!

After he went to school we all went for a walk and played at the park for a while. It was so much fun. Grandma and Spring collected leaves to make a wreath. After naps, we went to watch Thomas in his Knight-a-thon at school. In one hour he ran/walked 5.75 miles. By the time he came home from school he was exhausted. He came home, sat on Grandma's lap and fell asleep. It is so fun to have Grandma and Grandpa here!

Aunt Em

Fun with Aunt Em and Grandma

Aunt Emily came home for a quick visit this weekend so she and Grandma came to visit for a couple hours on Thursday afternoon. We didn't tell the kids they were coming. They were outside playing when Grandma and Aunt Em drove up. They were so excited they took off running to see them. At first they just thought it was Grandma but when they saw Emily get out of the car too, they were even more excited. It was so good to see her, even though it was only for a few short hours.

Where did the boys go?

Every Monday Spring and Sammy go the Waters' home to play with Lydia and Gideon and then on Wednesdays Lydia and Gideon come to our house to play. Well, last Wednesday I took all of them to the park to play. Lydia is a year younger than Spring and Gideon is 3 months younger than Sammy. So I had 5 kids with Spring being the oldest at the park. They had great fun and when it was time to go the girls headed to the car, I followed with Mary, and the boys were right behind me...or so I thought. When we got to the van I turned around and the boys were nowhere to be found. I put Mary in the van and told the girls to buckle up while I went searching for the boys. I couldn't see them anywhere. As I walked past the bathrooms I heard laughing and jabbering from inside. Now these are those single stall cement bathrooms with really heavy doors. As I pushed the door open there they were playing in the toilet, stuffing toilet paper in it, flushing it, soaking wet from the neck down to the waist...with the biggest smiles on their faces. They were so proud of themselves. I had to laugh...I only wish I had my camera with me.

Here is a picture of them from yesterday when they were waiting "patiently" at the oven waiting for the bread to finish. They are so fun together. Can you believe Gideon is 3 months YOUNGER than Sammy? Sammy is definitely our little runt!

Ghostly Soles

Spring loved putting her feet in the white paint for these ghosts. Sammy didn't want to have anything to do with it though when I tried to get him to do it. Spring had a great time making them. I had her step in the paint and then told her to step on the grass after; however, she stepped on the sidewalk instead...so we have white footprints all over the sidewalk!

Sink Time Begins

I love it when our babies are old enough to sit up so I can just bathe them in the sink. It really makes things so much simpler. Mary had her first bath in the sink this morning and she loved it, as you can see. She kept trying to grab at the water that was coming out of the faucet. It was so fun to watch. I remember that Sammy lived in the sink when he was younger. He absolutely loved it!

Playing House

The kids love to play house together. Thomas will talk about needing to hurry off to work because he has to make "1000 pounds of cheese today." Spring will talk about staying home to take care of the kids and play with them during the day. It is so funny to hear them while they play. Lately they have really been wanting Mary to play with them as well. The 4 of them will play for a really long time and have great fun. Here are some pictures from the last few days of their fun times together.

Playing House

Season of Pumpkin Pancakes

We all love fall and one thing we use a lot of in the fall is pumpkin. A family favorite is pumpkin pancakes. We have already had them a couple of times this month and each morning that is their request. This weekend when we were having pumpkin pancakes we gave one to Mary to keep her occupied while we were eating. The kids all thought that was great fun and were so excited to see her mush it and gum it to pieces.

National Walk to School Day

Today was National Walk to School Day. We live too far from the school to walk so we drove partway, parked, and then walked. Spring was so excited to walk with Thomas and his friends. It was really cold though. Once at school Thomas was able to go to the cafeteria for a free breakfast, which will be major highlight of the day for him! Although it was cold, it was a great way to start the day together. I look forward to the time when we live close enough to the school to walk together everyday.

Pictures from Joel's Business Trip

We finally got the pictures from Joel's business trip to Fort Morgan, CO. To see more pictures, go into the archive section for August and click on "Joel's Business Trip." There are some really neat pictures!

Storytime

Storytime

We have been going to the library for storytime every Tuesday and Thursday for almost 3 years now. Tuesday is geared specifically for children 2 years old and younger. Spring loves to hold Mary on her lap while I am holding Sammy during Tuesday storytime. Then Thursday is for all ages. The kids absolutely LOVE, can I say LOVE, storytime. It is the highlight of their week.

To illustrate how much they love storytime...I was being released from the hospital, after Sammy was born, on a Thursday morning. The kids and Dad came to pick me up from the hospital and it took a while for the nurses to finish all the paperwork. So, once we were in the car heading home, it was time for storytime to begin so we went directly to storytime. Sammy witnessed his first storytime when he was less than 2 days old!

After reading stories and singing songs they have a craft for the children to do that follows the theme of the day. Then they bring out toys, puzzles, and mazes for the children. It is a fun hour to spend playing with other children and enjoying the library. Then we head home for lunch and naptime! Today's theme was spiders, which made me laugh because of what happened this morning. Thomas was getting in the shower after breakfast and I was finishing up dishes when I heard him screaming frantically, "Mom, Mom, Mom, help!!" I went into the bathroom to see him standing on the toilet because there was a Daddy-long-leg spider in the bathtub!!! Now, if it had been a mouse I would understand his terror, but a spider! :)

Halloween Decorations

The kids have been wanting to decorate for Halloween for quite a while now. Thomas was in charge of the activity for FHE on Monday night but we usually have to do the activity on Tuesday because Monday evenings are a late night already with soccer practice and the rest of FHE. So, he decided the activity was going to be decorating for Halloween. So, after dinner yesterday we got the Halloween stuff out and the kids had so much fun. They were trying on costumes and decorating. Then they went outside and played "ghost" with each other until it was time for bed. It brings us such joy that the simple things in life is what they look forward to each day. Decorating pictures are in the album below!

Decorating for Halloween

6 Months Old Already?

Our little Mary is now 6 months old...too hard to believe. She is such a wonderful little baby with a very calm and mild personality. She loves to smile and laugh with her brothers and sister. Our family is blessed to have her in it.

6 months old

Family Home Evening

FHE Music Time

I am sure many of you can understand the comedy that comes along with holding Family Home Evening. The kids love to have Family Home Evening and love to do their part in it each week. Sammy just loves to mimic what everyone else is doing. The best part is when we sing. Sammy loves to lead the music. We have been trying to get it on video for weeks now but he will see the camera and run to the camera. We finally got some of it last night. Spring also gave a wonderful lesson to us about Noah's ark. She was determined to do the lesson all by herself and was adamant that she did not need our help. So, we anxiously awaited her lesson. We were amazed at how much she knew about the story. Great job, Spring!!!

Thanks Aunt Alanna!

Here are pictures of the kids in the cute clothes Aunt Alanna sent them. They were so excited to get a package from her! Thanks so much!!!

gifts from aunt alanna

Spring and a Plastic Spider

Once again...Daddy loves to scare the kids. What was funny about this, however, is that Spring was originally the one trying to scare us with the spider the last few days. I think she was just really tired today...it shouldn't have been so funny to us, but it was!

Circle of Love

It is so fun to listen to our children play together. They love to pretend and play with one another. The activity of choice this past week is to play "school." This has to include lunch, of course, since that is the highlight of the day for Thomas. They have the kitchen set and all the pretend food out in the kitchen. Then they have a "school" set up in one room and the other room is their home. It is so cute as they take turns being teacher, student, and cafeteria worker. We are so grateful that they love each other and want to be with one another. What more could we ask for!

Circle of love

Sweet Innocence

Sammy loves his sister, Mary, so much and he often shares this love with her. I am continually amazed at how patient she is with him. She seldom cries...in fact she often smiles and laughs as he is sitting on her, squeezing her, kissing her, or anything else that he gets the idea to do. They will probably be great friends as they grow because neither of them will remember life without the other. These pictures were taken after we got home from church today. The kids had just finished lunch and were about to lay down for their naps. Sammy just needed to play with Mary for a few minutes first!