"Growly Faces"

I should be going to bed right now but I feel like rambling so bare with me. Every night I read to Kate, Ellie and Luke. Sometimes it is a chapter book and sometimes it is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books. Well, right now we are reading a series of Junie B. Jones books, which I highly recommend! I love Junie B. She is full of Kindergarten questions and enlightenment. Her bestest friend (that's what she calls her) is Lucille. Throughout the series, these two, and others like, (mean boy named Jim) and Mrs. (her school teacher) have their disagreements in which Junie B. makes a growly face at them. However, once they get things off their chest, they always make up.

I thought of my best friend in kindergarten and how I thought she would always be in every class I was in, for always. I still remember the feeling in my gut when 1st grade came around and she wasn't there. OUch!

I also thought of a family that my family was good friends with when I was young. They had a kid pretty much the same age as every kid in our family and a few extra. We always did things with them and called each other our bestest friends. We spent every Thanksgiving with them until they moved away... Yes, they moved, crummy huh? I was devastated and in the fourth grade. Well, when we lived in Carnation, we were very close to a couple of families, one of which pretty much had a kid for every kid in our family and a few extra until....we moved. Yes, crummy again! The kids were devastated! I have to admit, so was I. However, I knew from experience that we would keep in contact and stay close anyway.

Now, we are getting to know some great people here and it is wonderful. It is nice to feel comfortable around other families. I often think of how sometimes, just like Junie B. Jones and Lucille, we can find connections with people that will last forever. What a blessing.

I've Been Tagged...

...by a long, lost friend of mine, Carrie. It has been so much fun catching up with her. She has always been a lot of fun! I love that technology gives us ways to re-connect with people.

I am supposed to post my fourth photo on my file so, here it is! I am putting the candles on Kate's 3rd Birthday cake. I always have my kids pick what kind of cake they want me to make and she wanted pink flowers. We were at my sister-in-laws house in Ellensburg because my nephew was also getting baptized. It was a good day!

The Mom Song

I'm sure many of you have seen this before but, I ran across it again today.

A Blaze Of Glory

While I was putting Ellie down for a nap today, Kate and her partner in crime, Kolette (cousin), decided to toast some marshmellows. However, they decided to modernize the process by using the toaster! They had all sorts of goodies out on the table ready to be accessed: pink sprinkles, multi-colored sprinkles, green sprinkles and food coloring. Little did they know that their plan would be foiled by flames. At first, I heard Kolette cry a little and then Kate screamed, "Ohhhh NOOOOO!" Then, in no time, she was in the bedroom telling me to go to the kitchen. Upon seeing the flames, I repeated three times, in my head, "Crisis plus time equals humor," "Crisis plus time equals humor," "Crisis plus time equals humor!" Kate was crying, "Don't tell dad!" "Don't tell dad!" Actually, I was thinking, "This could be much worse, the cupboards could have caught on fire or worse, the girls could have gotten burned." I couldn't chuckle in front of the girls though because well, what would that teach them. I calmed them down, gave them some peaches and told Kate that dad would forgive her!

P.S. It's a good thing they're so cute!

Unexpected Date

Troy had to get a handful of sand for Luke's volcano project and decided to drag me along. Now, driving around the sand dunes is not something that is foreign to me. I grew up around them. And Troy is a boy who always wanted a Jeep just for the purpose of tackling a sandbowl or two. So, he drove up and down a few bowls and I kept yelling things like, "WOOHoo, this is fun!" and "That wasn't very big, try that one over there!" At one point we were on two wheels, on our side. But, even then, I did not fret! I stayed calm and collected. Alright, I am kidding, I screamed like a baby! I thought I was going to die! It was still fun though. I kept thinking to myself that spontaneity is good every once in awhile!

A Tumbling Tower

We love having friends over for Family Home Evening. It helps me be a little more prepared and it's always fun. I told the story of Joseph being sold into Egypt and then we played this game.


I made a tower of Brown Sugar and put a piece of candy at the top. It was supposed to be made of flour but, of course that didn't work so, we improvised with sugar. (much tastier) Everyone took a turn shaving a piece of the sugar off with the knife which represented sin or wrong choices. Whomever the tower fell on had to use their mouth to grab the piece of candy that was on the top. So, the theme of the lesson was to always be "Steadfast and Immovable." Well, the tower immediately started to crumple before anyone started to shave it. So, I tried to get the idea across before half of it fell. So, it lasted about 30 seconds max. It's funny how things don't always turn out the way you envision them but sometimes, it makes it even better or funnier or faster!






We had a great time and our friends were very good sports!

Halloween: Part 2

We started celebrating Halloween early in the day with lots of kids, goodies, spiders and costumes. It was nice because the kids had the day off of school. Every year we get a (not so scary) movie for the kids to watch in the afternoon. I tried to get "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" but, it didn't come in on time. So, we settled for something else. The older kids watched "Beetlejuice." That 80's relic was a hard one to find. Then it was time to get dressed. Ellie was easy enough but, Kate did not want to be JUST a witch. She decided on a Vampire Witch.



Luke combined two costumes to become a Nerd Knight! Yes, you heard it right, a Nerd Knight! We thought it was pretty creative until we saw his buddy who also dressed up like a nerd with a KNIFE. Boys and their weapons! And then there is Alex, she did not want to be anything GIRLY! So, what do you think? Does she pass? It was all about being scary!



Everyone decided to pour out the Loot after Trick or Treating to barter and trade. I even got a few pieces of chocolate. Troy and I were watching TV later and the history channel was doing a Halloween documentary. They said that parents end up either taking or eating 90% of the candy their kids bring home. That made us laugh and sneak a couple more pieces. sshh!



Austin and his friends were our candy passer outers. I think they got a kick out of it.


We took the two little girls to a carnival at one of the parks in town. They had a good time, painting pumpkins, looking for candy in the straw, tossing bean bags, etc.



The holidays are upon us! YEAH!