House of Nerds

 

Sue Ann, our amazing neighbor, uses reading glasses. She says she buys the cheap ones at the grocery store but she needs two different magnifications so she will buy 2 pair and pop out the lenses to make a pair that works for her.  Well, yesterday, Sammy was hanging out with her and was fascinated with her glasses so she gave him a pair of frames.  She told him, "When you get home tell your Mom you are going to wear them to school...but don't really wear them to school, OK?"  He LOVES them and has been wearing them all the time.  He even wore them to the grocery store today.  Well, today all of the kids, at different times, spend some time with Sue Ann and came home with frames as well.  Joshie and Mary didn't want them though!  They  have all been wearing them all day long.  Thomas even let Gideon try them on.  They are hilarious.  Who knew the fun they could find in frames!  They make me laugh when I see them!

Ice Cream!

 I found a fun recipe for homemade ice cream on this wonderful blog yesterday. You don't even need an ice cream maker for it so we decided to try it out. We doubled the recipe so we could make 2 different kinds. We made peanut butter cup ice cream and cookies & cream. Sammy was SUPER excited for the peanut butter cup ice cream because he "just loves peanut butter cups!" We had a great time making the ice cream and of course the kids loved licking the bowls and spoons. The only bad thing was we started it at 5:00 last night and it has to be in the freezer for 6 hours so we couldn't test it out last night.

So, what's a good, responsible, healthy mom do? She makes her kids wait until the next afternoon to try out their ice cream. Well, fortunately for our kids, I'm not that kind of Mom! About 8:00 this morning I asked the kids, "Hey, who wants some ice cream?" What kid wouldn't love that idea! Some of them hadn't even had breakfast yet but, hey the memory and me being able to eat the ice cream this morning (without sneaking it) was well worth it! They were so excited they could hardly contain themselves. Let me tell you, this is some amazing ice cream. We will definately be doing this again soon! Next time I think I am going to get lots of different fun mix ins and let them all make thier own individual concoction! The kids had all sorts of ideas this morning of what they would put in their "perfect" ice cream! It was a wonderful morning. Notice all the kids wearing jackets and long pants? Well, they think it is cold here in the mornings now because our lows at night are finally getting into the 60's! We keep all the windows open at night to help bring in the wonderful crisp air! The kids think it is freezing but I am loving it!

Popcorn Popping at our Home

Joshie has a new favorite song..."Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree." He walks around the house singing it during the day. When we go to Target as soon as we walk in the door he turns my head towards the Cafe and starts singing this song because he wants me to get him popcorn. Tonight we decided to record his sweet singing with the song. Joshie really seems to be growing up and becoming such a big boy and not our baby lately. We love his sweet smile and all the fun things he is learning and discovering each day. I love being a mom.

Trunk Or Treating

Our ward had the Trunk or Treat tonight. Grandma Biggs is making Halloween costumes for the kids but we don't have them yet, so they had to rummage through our costumes and figure out what they were going to wear. Thomas decided to be a cowboy. Spring was a cow. Sammy wore the Boy Scout uniform that Grandma Powell made for Thomas a few years ago. Mary was a dog and Joshua was a pumpkin. They all looked so cute and had a great time at the trunk or treat. Thomas took Sammy with him and Spring took Mary with her. They did pretty well staying together which was nice because I was busy handing out candy and Joel is still in Utah. I was impressed that when it was time to leave I had all 5 of them located!

Before we left for the Trunk or Treat Sammy was so concerned because he had his bag but there was no candy in it. He kept asking me to put candy in it and I kept trying to explain that he would get candy at the church. He got the hang of it pretty quickly once we got there. At one point I looked over to see him sitting in the middle of the parking lot dumping out his bag of candy and opening up lots of different pieces. He was very happy!

At first Mary didn't want to wear the hood of her costume. As I was trying to tie it on her she kept trying to pull it off so I asked her what a dog says to try to distract her. It actually worked and she never had a problem with it the rest of the night. In fact it was a fight to get it off for bedtime! She was so cute telling us what a dog says that we kept asking her all night.

We invited our neighbors to come and they accepted. Thomas and Spring were excited that they came. That was nice and they really enjoyed themselves as well. We came home and the kids went through their candy for a while and then off to bed. They all fell asleep FAST! That was a blessing for me!

Tennis Lessons & Playing at the Park

Thomas and Spring started tennis lessons this evening. The City Recreation Department offers a 4 week tennis clinic for beginners. It is one night a week for an hour which is perfect because it doesn't interfere with family time and it gives them a taste of the sport to see if they really enjoy it. Thomas has been wanting to learn to play tennis for months now so this was perfect. He and Spring both have been so excited for the lessons to begin and tonight was the first night. Joel took Sammy and Mary as well so they could play at the park while the kids had their lessons. I was going to go as well with Joshua but Joel convinced me that I needed to take the time to rest and stay home this week. He is concerned that I am pushing too much and he just wants me feeling as good as possible before we leave for Washington next week.

Thomas and Spring came home very excited about all they learned. They now want to go and get tennis rackets of their own (the clinic provides the rackets and balls for the kids). Sammy and Mary had a great time playing at the park as well. The lessons ended at 6:30 so they got home in time to get ready for bed, have dessert, read scriptures and stories, and head to bed. They were so tired that none of them fought going to bed!

Fun Times with Grandma Biggs

Grandma Biggs was with us for a few days after Joshua was born. The kids enjoyed spending time with her. They baked cookies, made banana bread, helped cook hot dog boats, and other fun treats. Our kids love to help in the kitchen and they enjoyed doing this with Grandma. They also had a good time playing games with Grandma. Spring enjoyed reading her stories and thought it was fun that Grandma picked her up from school! Thomas and Spring also thought it was the coolest thing that Grandma took them to see a movie at the movie theater!