Red Ribbon Week and Trunk or Treat October 22-28

Well we got to finally celebrate Doug's birthday.  We invited another family over too so that was fun.  We had BBQ chicken, boiled potatoes, green salad, grapes, corn, and rolls.  For dessert Doug wanted to try dutch oven peach cobbler.  It turned out pretty good.  I thought it was going to be runny again, but we just let it sit all during dinner and it was great.  

We had stake conference this Sunday, but then the kids had to go back to church for a primary program practice.  It was actually kind of nice to have a quiet house for an hour and a half while I cooked dinner. 

Doug went to Mexico for a couple of days this week for work.  He had a good time even though he couldn't understand the language very well. :)

 This week was Red Ribbon Week at school.
Monday was wear red, we did that one just fine, just no picture.
Tuesday was 70's theme 

 Damon did a few of themes, I just only took this one picture: crazy hair day.  The other one he did were super hero (wore his batman shirt with a cape).

 At Cox Tyler did Twin day with his friend Caleb, he also did sport team day.

We had nerd day:

And "I'm too cool to do drugs"

 

I forgot to take a picture of the wear black day, but you can imagine it. :)

We had pack meeting this week.  Tyler is doing great in Webelos.

On Monday I took Chris to see an ear doctor.  He had failed on of the hearing tests at the pediatrician, and I wondered if he had some hearing problems.   But nope, he passed just fine, I guess he just has selective hearing like all kids. :)

I went to Kaylee's PTC on Tuesday.  She is also doing great and reading at a mid 1st grade level too.  Her teacher says she is super sweet and a good student, but I already knew that.

Wednesday I went in to help with the pumpkin investigation.  I helped with Kaylee's group.  They had a lot of fun.  We measured, weighed, and carved the pumpkin and counted the seeds, not quite all of them. 

 Doug got home a little bit earlier than expected on Wednesday, it was nice to have him home to help put kids to bed. 

Thursdays I go to institute, we have had some good lessons the last couple of weeks.

Friday I make cupcakes for the trunk or treat in the evening.  The kids were all so excited.  It's always a bit crazy getting everyone ready in their costumes.  We did the Ghostbusters theme.  It was Damon's idea, but then he ended up having to go to a scout camporee so he didn't get to come.  He was quite upset.  A cold front came through this weekend and it was pretty cold for us and windy.  Damon was pretty cold camping.  Made me think we were back in Utah.

 I'm Janine, if you couldn't remember her name. :)

 The kids got lots of candy.  We let them pick out 25 pieces then the rest I use for Halloween night.

 Ghosts with Wonder Woman and Cat face paint.

Here are some pictures of the backpacks we made.  I forgot to take a good before shot.  You can kind of see in this one some of the random things we uses: boxes, erasers, vitamin bottles, milk lids.

The boys had fun doing their own packs, each one is different.  I just helped them glue them one.

 Our PKE meter:

Saturday Damon was gone so we didn't have soccer and Tyler's basketball game was early so it was perfect day to do pumpkins in the afternoon. 

Happy Birthday Doug October 15-21, 2017

It finally has cooled down enough to play outside!  Yay!  It just means lots of mosquito bites and band-aids if we don't want to smell like bug spray.  

 We celebrated Doug's 38th  birthday on Wednesday.  It was a kind of a busy day - he had to coach basketball in the evening so I just made an easier meal on his birthday and planned on making a bigger meal later in the week.  I drove up to the Woodlands and met Doug for lunch at Torchy's.  That was fun.  They have such yummy queso!  Happy Birthday Doug, we love you!  The girls were much more excited for Doug than he was.  They had made him multiple cards weeks in advance.  They are such cuties. I gave Doug a few shirts and water jug for camping and some candy.  His main present were all of the cool tools that he bought last month for Hurricane Harvey. 

 Our first quarter of school is over (crazy).  All of the kids made it on the A honor roll.  Tyler also received the Leader of the Pack award for his class (one boy and one girl for each term).  He was surprised and quite pleased with himself.  No self esteem problems here. :)

 Kaylee got to participate in the Walk of Fame this quarter.  They have to earn star points by doing extra nice things - like helping others without being asked.  The walk through the halls and get high-fives from all the students. 

I was at the school a lot this week - for awards and also for Jenna's PTC.  She is doing great and reading at a mid-1st grade level.  It is so great how much they love to learn and do their school work.  I was also the mystery reader for Kaylee's class this week and then I stayed and helped decorate Jenna's classroom door for Red Ribbon Week.  Then I stayed and ate lunch with the girls and Chris.  

I was supposed to have Kaylee's PTC too this week, but it had to get rescheduled.

I was going to make Doug's nicer meal on Friday, but when I was about to leave a friends house my car battery died.  I was able to get a jump and then I went to AutoZone to check the battery.  At first he said that it looked fine and we thought maybe it was just a bad connection or something.  But I turned the car off and then on again and it wouldn't start again, so I bought a new battery.  Needless to say, I didn't have time to make a big dinner - we decided to shoot for Sunday. I was grateful for friends who picked up the kids from school and watched them so I could take care of the car.  

 We took a quick shot at soccer this week.

 I had this girls with me this week - it was hot but not unbearable.  Kaylee was getting pretty whiny towards the end.  Damon's team is pretty good.  They scored a lot this game.  Damon scored once at the first game, but has played hard during the other games. 

October 8-14

We have FHE on Sundays usually.  Damon was the lesson this week and he did an excellent job.  He told us that he actually likes giving the lesson and asks to help his siblings when it's their turn - sometimes too much so.  They need their own turn. :)

Chris's two front teeth were so lose this week.  I asked him if I could take his picture (possible for his baptism card that will be coming up soon - crazy) while he still had his teeth in.  He cooperated pretty well and gave me lots of silly faces too!

 Doug went to Chicago for work for a couple of days.

The kids got their allowance for the month and I took them to the store.  The younger ones all bought something.  Jenna bought a small dog Lego set, Chris got a buggy Lego set, and Kaylee finally spent all of the money that she had been saving on this cat that you can feed and then watch it come out the other end. Yes they were all entertained by that detail.  Oh well.  

I had a PTC for Chris this week.  He is doing very well at school.  I was relieved to know that he has good behavior and doesn't blow up at school like he does as home.  He is particular about some things, but he is a good student and is reading well above his grade level.  

I took Damon to an orthodontist for a evaluation - the price quote was $6000 - I was quite in shock at the price tag.  We are going to check with some other places too.  Damon's teeth are not that crooked, so we'll see what we do.  This office is just so convenient, on the way home from school.  

I had a Thrive Life party on Wednesday.  I only had 3 friends come, but it was still fun.  I have received a few shipments now and it has been fun to try some of their foods.  I got some free and half-off products from the party, so that was good.  In the evening we had a baby shower for two sisters in the ward.  Doug had just gotten home from Chicago but he let me go - such a nice husband.  

I helped in the library for Chris's class this week and I was the mystery reader for Jenna's class.  It was a lot of fun to read to her class.  She chose Edwina - the Dinosaur who didn't know she was extinct and a Pete the Cat book. 

 I felt like a good mom this day - Chris asked if we could make gak and we did.  It's the cornstarch and water mixture.  I put in too much water and ended up using almost a whole container of cornstarch, but the kids had fun with it.  As a side note - gak does go bad after a few days of sitting on the counter - wheew it smelled bad.

 They were all amazed at how it would just melt when you let it sit on our hand and then get hard as you molded it.

Doug and I went on a double date to Inspire Rock.  This was something I had wanted to do for a long time.  It's crazy expensive but it was a lot of fun.  We all laughed about how weak our arms are.  Rachel and I outlasted the boys, ha! My forearms and hands/fingers were sore for days afterwards.  

Saturdays still a busy with chores, basketball and soccer.  Chris had a birthday party to be driven back and forth to.  It was at one of those trampoline places. He had a good time. 

This is how Doug feels about doing yard work in October when it's still 80 + degrees outside. 

I pulled one of Chris's front teeth out while Doug was gone - it was quite the ordeal because it bled a lot and it kind of freaked Chris out.  So he really didn't want me to pull the other one out.  Finally it got so wiggly that I only needed to pull a little and it didn't bleed very much.  Now Chris had a very cute holey smile.  Glad I got those pictures last week. :)