Trunk or Treat and P6 Farms 10/21 - 10/27

It was Red Ribbon Week this week.  Whoever picked the dress-up themes this year made it a bit hard and we ended up not doing all of them.  We wore red on Monday, didn't have any camouflage for Tuesday, Wednesday was wear a sport team shirt and we don't have any for the younger kids so they wore some school spirit shirts. Thursday was crazy hair/sock/hat day so we did crazy hair.  Friday was dress like your favorite decade.  We could've tried harder on that day, but life was busy enough without adding another costume to it.  

I stole this great idea of braiding hair with pipe cleaners - it turned out super cute.  

Friday was busy with getting ready for the trunk or treat.  I made the cookie dough in the morning.  Then we had a dress rehearsal for our dance.  Then I went home and made the cookies.  I ran out of time and didn't get them frosted before I had to go to the school.  The girls helped me frost them after school and then I helped get the kids get their costumes on and then I did my make-up.  I don't really like zombies much, but we tried to go for a nice zombie look.  :) 

 I bought these stencils last year and bought some black food coloring spray.  It worked pretty well, and they were easy to do, win - win! I had to help judge the food at the trunk or treat.  It was not well organized and they were having to hold the kids back to let us taste everything.  It was a bit of a disaster and who knows if we really judged fairly.  I did not enjoy eating so many sweets - I prefer the chili cook-off myself.  Who needs treats right before all of the candy. 

 Tyler is a hobbit, Damon is a Fortnite person, Chris is a spider, and the girls are witches. 

 We measured the girls recently, Jenna is 2 inches taller than Kaylee!  Crazy!

 So we wanted our dance to be like a flash mob thing at the trunk or treat.  It may have been a surprise to some, but by the time they saw all of us mom wearing the same outfit most everyone figured something was going on.  We performed out in the parking lot.  It was hard with so many people around.  I messed up a bit - I was kind of nervous.  It's been awhile since I performed.  We did a encore with us facing the other direction so that the street light could shine on our faces better.  We were all glad we could do a redo and improve our performance.  It was so much fun though and everyone loved it! Thriller! OW!

 Saturday we finally had dry beautiful weather!  After Tyler's soccer game we took the family to P6 farms.  We stopped at Chick-fil-a on the way which is always a treat for the whole family.  We had a great time.  I kept thinking of how grateful that my kids are older and don't need a nap and how they are independent and we can really enjoy these types of outings. 

Some of us were getting tired mid way and we only walked through the shorter corn maze.  Doug, Damon and Tyler went through the longer side on their own.  There were too many people, so really you could just follow everyone.  We tried to hold back and be on our own. Chris was our guide with a map and he did a great job of navigating.  

 

 We lasted about 3 hours - it was a fun day at the farm.  I didn't take any pictures but they had some pig races too that were fun to watch.  They would run up a ramp and jump into a water trough.  They raced for their oreos and chocolate milk. 

Random picture of Jenna, she was cold. :)

Doug's Birthday and Tyler's choir concert 10/14 - 10-20

Sunday somehow everyone ended up all snuggled with me in the bed.  Love my kiddos most of the time. :)

 I didn't take too many pictures this week - too busy I guess.

Monday normal dance class and then I quickly got ready and went to a teacher conference with Chris's teachers.  I was relieved to hear that Chris was behaving well at school.  I think he keeps it together for school and then lets it all out here at home - which is the way I would prefer it.  They said that he was a very good student and always willing to help others.  He is being pushed in his writing this year, but I think it will get better as the year goes on.  He has a harder time understanding directions sometimes, so that affects things.

Tuesday: institute and piano lessons for the younger three.  Soccer for Tyler in the evening.  His practice is from 8:15-9:15 and the field is 30 minutes away.  Then when he gets home he eats and showers.  It makes for a late night for him which he doesn't do very well with. He gets grumpy/moody and usually I have to talk to him to help him understand his feelings.  Sleep is so important!

Wednesday: Piano for Tyler and scouts for the boys.  I'm sure there was other stuff going on, but I can't remember. - oh yeah I made a carrot cake for our recipe group on Thursday.

Thursday was Doug's birthday.  He opened his presents in the morning.  I really only gave him one main present: tickets to see Brian Reagan (a comedian) in December.  So to make it more exciting I wrapped it in about 6 boxes.  The girls loved the idea.  The kids were cute and each bought Doug something from the dollar store.  Mostly it was candy, but hey it's the thought that counts.

 I read some stories in Chris's class on Thursday morning and then went to our recipe group.  It was a Halloween/fall theme and of course we all brought desserts.  There was one soup and so many goodies.  I was hungry too - so it was a bummer there wasn't more real food, but I can't say anything because I brought a dessert too.  :)

Thursday evening Tyler had his first choir concert.  It was combined with the Jr High and High School choirs too - so his grade only sang 2 songs.  I ended up going by myself because it started pretty late.  I was glad too, because the atmosphere didn't lend itself to jumpy kids.  I thoroughly enjoyed just listening to all of the choirs, it is so much fun to watch your kids develop their talents. 

 Friday Doug worked from home because he was going to go on a campout with the boys, but the weather looked to be stormy so they postponed it.  But since he was home he got to witness the Walk of Fame at the school.  Each teacher chooses a few students who have been showing the character traits that they have been working on for the quarter.  Jenna and Kaylee were chosen.  They were super excited to see dad!

 Friday evening I was so excited to see two of my friends put on a Wicked concert.  It was pretty low key at our church with another mom from the ward accompanying on the piano.  All three were absolutely amazing.  They could all be on Broadway.  It was so fun to see them show off their talents and see what they put aside to be moms (the two singers actually did live in New York for awhile and performed a bit).  It was so much fun and I was surprised that my kids were entertained so well.  The girls started to get a bit restless - but I think it was because they were getting tired.  They sang about 6 songs and did some of the dialog leading up to the songs.

More wet soccer for Tyler.  At least is wasn't canceled, just cooler and wet fields.  Doug went by himself and I stayed home with the kids to clean the house.  

Conference / Columbus Day 10/7 - 10/13/2018

Sunday Morning was nice and relaxing.  It is nice twice a year to not have to do our normal Sunday morning routine.  We all enjoyed listening to conference.  The kids do a great job. They enjoy conference bingo and our snack/lunch activity while listening.  The afternoon session is a bit harder but overall they do a great job. 

 After conference we went to the park.  It is finally starting to cool off a bit and the park was more bearable.  Doug and Tyler joined a pick up game of basketball. 

 Monday was Columbus day and the kids had the day off of school.  We filled the day right up.  I made cinnamon roll pancakes and took Tyler and girls to Pump it Up.  they had some new inflatables so that made it fun.

 We had a quick lunch and then went to the church to play poison ball.  I worked on some choreography for the play while I was there.  We got home around 3:00 and had time for a snack while I prepped dinner.  I went over early to play practice and got home at 6:30.  Busy busy! 

I didn't take any pictures during the week.  It wasn't as crazy as some weeks. I went to institute on Tuesday and I had my dance fitness class on Monday and Wednesday.  We are learning the choreography for Thriller, so that is fun.  Thursday I got a leak in one of our tires fixed and met Doug for lunch.  Friday I went to the temple and did initiatories.  Thursday evening was GNO - we did a creative writing activity that was fun but a bit hard too.  It was a little embarrassing to write and read in front of others.

Friday night we went to our game night that we have with our friends.  There were 7 couples this time.  We really enjoy each other's company and we laughed a lot.  It had been a while since we had met so it was good to get together.  We all brought treats too, which was funny since the last few times we hadn't.  I made a pumpkin cinnamon pull apart bread - it turned out ok. 

Saturday I took the girls to the Woodland's Children Museum.  They had been begging for months to go, so we just made it happen.  Doug took Tyler to soccer.  Chris got a ride to a friend's baptism and I met him there with the girls.  After the baptism I took Chris to a birthday party and the girls rode home with a friend and went swimming at their pool. 

 Nerf Gun Birthday Party, so much fun!

Doug was amazing and let me read a book and take a bath in the evening.  I am getting a cold and just felt tired and achy.  I finished my book, it was a nice ending to the week. 

Primary Program, Character Parade Aug 30 - Oct 6, 2018

Sunday was the Primary Program.  They did it really early this year so that the leaders could focus on other activities as it got closer to the holiday.  The kids did pretty well.  Jenna was crying for the first half and had to sit on her teacher's lap, but by the end she was singing.  Kaylee did great and was smiling the whole time.  Chris is funny and didn't move his mouth much, sometimes I wonder what is going on inside his head.  Tyler was a great example being one of the older kids.  This is his last program.  They all said their parts well and over all the program was great.  I really liked the new song they learned this year: Jesus is a God of Miracles.  

This week I had a teacher conference with Kaylee's teacher.  She said that Kaylee was doing great and is so sweet in class.  She was having a harder time adjusting to school this year, crying and saying that she missed me.  But I made her a locket with my picture and a picture of her stuffed animal and that has helped a bit.  She also takes her stuffed animals to school sometimes and that helps too.  She has just a very tender heart and it just makes me so sad to see her cry.  

Book club was on Thursday.  We discussed the Tale of Two Cities, I must confess I didn't have time to read it.  It was harder to read and I just really didn't have the time needed to get through it.  I would like to finish it though sometime.  

Friday was the character parade at school.  Instead of letting the kids dress up in their Halloween costumes at the end of the month - they let them dress up as a character in a book.  Sometimes it is the same costume as their Halloween one, but if we can do something simple we can make it match a favorite book.  

We borrowed this Pinkalicious costume from a friend.  

I made this skunk costume for Chris.

 We pieced together this Cherry Jam character from a Strawberry Shortcake book we own.

 They had a fun time parading around the front parking lot of the school. 

In the evening Doug and I went on a group date to an escape room.  This was our second time going to one of these.  It was fun, but some of the others were more experienced and just kind of took over and I felt like I wasn't doing anything.  It might be fun to try another one with just Doug and I, or maybe a foursome. 

 

Conference was great on Saturday.  We were all excited about the new changes.  In between sessions we went to the church to roller skate, scooter, and Chris flew his RC drone helicopter.  It was a fun break. 

 Doug's project was sorting through all of his random hardware in the garage.  All of his screws, nails, and bolts are now organized.  Good job dear!