November 12-18

So I'm sure I was busy doing all the normal stuff that mom's do, I just can't tell you the details.  Jenna and Kaylee went to the dentist this week.  They did great, much better than last time.  Their teeth looked healthy so that was good news.  Doug also went to the dentist this week.  

The kids in school were doing Thanksgiving activities all week.  The girls had a feast on Friday where they sang a few songs and then ate popcorn, jerky, cheese, and candy corn.  It was very hard going back and forth between classes.  I missed a little bit of each one, but it all worked out.  

Friday night Doug and Damon went camping with the scouts.  They just went 45 minutes away to some property that someone in the ward owns.  They made a huge bon-fire and shot some rifles on Saturday.  Doug had to leave early to coach Tyler's last game.  Damon came home later. 

 Tyler's last game was awesome.  They finally played together as a team and won!  They were so excited since they had lost all the previous games.  Tyler made some good shots and the whole team played so much better than when they did at the beginning. 

 After the game we stopped at a park.  They had recently redone this park and we hadn't check it out yet.  It was really nice.  The equipment was nice and they made a little beach by the water.  We tried feeding the ducks, but they seemed pretty full.

November 5 - 11

Well, life gets busy,  I'm way behind in my Blog so you won't get the details of this month, but hopefully pictures say more than words.  

This week was the Book Fair.  The school had a fun family night where you could come in your pj's and read under the stars.  The upset was that it had just rained and so to keep off the wet grass we read in the gym with the lights out.  It was still fun.  Sue Broadway (the school's namesake) came and read a story to the kids as well.  We stopped at the book fair too.  The girls had already picked out their books earlier in the week, but Damon chose his book.  

Tyler had a Veteran's day choir assembly.  They sang some nice songs.  The school principal served in the military so Veteran's day is a big deal to the school.  

I went to the dentist during the week and will have to have a cavity fixed.  They have been watching it for a while, so now I guess it's time to take care of it.  Yay. 

The missionaries came over to practice teaching the Joseph Smith story.  They did a great job.  

Friday we went camping.  It was the weekend of the Cub Scout outdoor activity and they invite families to camp over the night before if they want to.  They had reserved these shelters and it was great to have electricity.  Pretty posh camping.  It was a cold night for Texas and the shelters has screen windows all the way around, so I think a tent would have actually been warmer, but everyone slept pretty well.  I had the worst of it I think because I kept hearing the raccoons outside. I finally got up to take a peek and one of them was reaching a paw into our table-top grill.  I tried to grab my phone for a quick picture, but he ran off.   

We were glad we had brought our wagon.  We have to unload so much stuff and our camp site was a long ways from where you could park your car. 

We cooked hamburgers for dinner. It was pretty dark by the time they were done. 

Nothing better than s'mores. 

The shelters were a great size for us.  They just had a ply-wood bottom but it was nice to keep things clean. 

 We used our jet-boil stove to warm up water for hot chocolate, it worked great.  I loved being able to plug in my grill for pancakes.

Tyler did his scout activities and the rest of us just visited and played outside.  We had to leave early to get to Tyler's basketball and Damon's soccer games.  It was a very quick camping trip, but it was still fun. 

 I made braided crowns for the girls.

 Some roasted hot dogs.

 Damon had a good game.  He continues to improve each year.  They won their game, Tyler barely lost his. 

Halloween October 29 - November 4

The main thing that happened this week was Halloween.  

I had a pretty open week which was so nice.  I caught up on my blogging and did some organizing and even had time for a nap on Thursday.  Damon stayed home sick on Monday, but he was better by Tuesday and managed to catch up quickly on all of his work.  I read a lot on Wednesday to finish my book group book: Rebecca.  It was a great book.  

We still battle with our quarrels at home and we are trying to encourage kindness and patience but sometimes it is so hard.  But all in all it was a good week.  Enjoy the pictures. 

I almost forgot to mention the World Series!  The Houston Astros won for the first time ever.  People around here were pretty excited.  I enjoyed watching some of the final games and we stayed up way to late to watch some of them.  We were all a little tired this week because of it.  But it was an exciting series and so fun that we won.  

Jenna and Kaylee dressed up as Cheerleaders, Tyler was Kylo Ren, Chris was a person (he was going to be spider-man, a shark, Megatron, or a ninja from our costume collection but then he changed his mind at the last minute) and Damon finally got to be Venkman from Ghostbusters.  

 It's a bunch of eyes, and he even tried to carve: "I'm watching you" at the top.  He spent a lot of time on it.

 It was a bummer that it was rainy, but the kids were in good spirits.  At least it wasn't too cold, just wet.  The candy got all wet and we threw away most of the M & M's because of the paper wrapping.  We dried out the rest the best we could.  We went around with the Shurtliffs.

Saturday was again a sports day.  We all went together to Tyler's game.  We had to leave at 9:30 so we were a bit rushed as we tried to eat breakfast, do our chores, and make lunches for everyone.  Tyler's team did ok, they still struggle with the basics and the team they played have been playing together for 4 years - so yeah they lost, but it was ok.  

 I dropped Damon, Doug, and Tyler off at soccer and took the younger three to the little Children's Museum.  They had a great time.  We had our lunch out front on the picnic tables.  Chris dropped his applesauce all over his clothes and some got on my shoe, but we survived.  It was nice to let the kids be kids and have some fun. 
Kaylee built this slide and then had this look when she realized that it was very slow.

 Chris played with these blocks just about the whole time.

 Jenna and Kaylee love to shop at the grocery store then go to the house to cook something. 

 They put in a new touch screen check-out, it's fun but makes the process a lot slower.

 Digging in the rubber bits.

We are now in November and I am wanting my Christmas shopping to be done.  I am mostly done with the girls, but I need ideas for the boys.  I don't know what they want.  I would like to get my teacher and friend gifts done soon too.  Guess I better start working on that.