Leaf Fight

 Aunt Adarienn (and her girls) raked a big pile of leaves and waited until all the kids got to her house before she let them go to town.  And go to town they did.  Everyone was covered and had leaves all over in under.  When Uncle Jeff, Aunt Peg and their older kids arrived they jumped right in.  It was pretty crazy but everyone had lots of fun!  These are only a few of the pictures.  I had a few where the leaves were right in my face/camera.

Flat Foot Floogie

Callie loves this big music book we have.  I can't remember if it is from my parents or my grandma, but she loves to pull it out and flip through the pages.  If she knows a song (by the pictures) she will plop the book up on the piano and play and sing.  It is the cutest thing.  Greg has gone through the book with the kids and sang a lot of the songs.  One of their favorites is "Flat Foot Floogie" and while I don't know the song at all, my kids do now and it is darling when they sing it.

Kitchen

So about a 2 weeks ago I decided that I was going to go ahead with my idea and refinish my kitchen cabinets.  I told myself I would do it all myself and got a kit at Home Depot.  It took me a long time since there were 4/5 coats per door/drawer/cabinet.  But I LOVE how it looks and I love that Greg loves it.  Greg surprised me and did all the hardware while I was at a Relief Society activity all day Saturday.  I love having hardware!  I will attempt the banisters next week and I will do something with the bar stools, maybe blue, but I am taking the week off.  Hopefully by Christmas I will also have a back splash in there.
Enjoy!

Beautiful Fall

 I am loving the color of my tree this year.  It is gorgeous!  I had been meaning to come and take a picture but it took Nathan losing Callie's toy pig in the tree for me to finally come look.  I used the camera to find it, can you find it?

 Every year my kids want me to make a spider web.  It is a fun challenge, to make a a little different and cooler than the year before. 

 We tried dinner in a pumpkin this last week.  I thought it was delicious.  The rest of the family wasn't as thrilled, but they all ate it.  Callie LOVED the actual pumpkin and wouldn't touch the rest.  Silly girl.  I liked the pumpkin, either with butter and salt or mixed in with the meat mixture.  I thought it looked beautiful, too!

Shrunken Apples

I saw this idea last year and we never got around to doing it, but this year we were successful.  We used a couple of different apples and the kids made their own faces.  Greg made the one that looks human.  Over the last 2 weeks they have shrunken and wrinkled and now I can't wait to throw them out.  They stink a little and they are just gross to look at too closely.  Someone told me they use potatoes instead of apples.  Maybe next year we will try that.

Cousin Sleep-Overs

 Greg's sister Amy mentioned to me that it was her 10 year anniversary but that they didn't have any plans.  I jumped in and offered to watch her kids for a weekend.  I am so glad we did.  We had lots of fun and while we don't see these cousins very often, I think we all bonded and they know us a lot better.  The kids got along great all weekend.  There was Wii playing and game playing.  Lots of outside time and we even had a movie night.

 My neighbor had invited me and the girls for a "Witches Tea" and she was so nice to let Ellie come with us.  The girls had a blast eating all the crazy food.  Callie's favorite was the blood soup in syringes (strawberry smoothie).  Annie loved the mini BLTs and I think my favorite new thing was a peanut butter and pickle sandwich.  Yum!

 We headed to the park and got lots of wiggles out.  It was a gorgeous day and we were sad to end our park time early because the bathrooms were locked. 

 

 

 

 We collected leaves while at the park and then I taught the kids how to do rubbings.  I thought I had taught my kids before, they must have forgotten, but they all had fun with it.  Then I let them use glue and make little leaf people or things.

After we had 7 kids bathe or shower we had a movie night.  For the movie we watched "The Odd Life of Timothy Green."  It was a little boring for the kids, and Annabelle cried at the end.  But we all loved the popcorn and candy we ate throughout.

 

 Amy was a little worried when I told her that we'd take the kids to church, but they did great.  The kids were a little worried when I told them we don't take toys or food and we don't have any church books or notebooks until after the Sacrament.  They said something like, "Oh, the so&sos are like that, too."  But they did great!  Aside from lots of bathroom breaks we survived and the kids were sad to leave when they saw their parents car when we got home.  It was a crazy weekend, but lots of fun!

Camp Floyd Field Trip With Ryan

 I was SO glad that I got to go with Ryan on his Camp Floyd field trip.  2 years ago I was supposed to go with Nathan, but someone got sick and I couldn't go.  I almost didn't make it this time, but I did and we had a blast.  Ryan did candle making, adobe brick making, he practiced riding like the Pony Express.  He got to go to school and play with olden-day toys and even try to shoot a pretend rifle.  He loved it and I loved being with him and especially that he WANTED me to be with him.  Good times!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Love Books

I love that my kids love to read.  I love that they will read to each other.  Yesterday Callie was being fussy and I was trying to make something for a family dinner and Annabelle took Callie upstairs and read books to her, all on her own.  She recognized my need to finish something and helped.  I was so thankful and so proud.  I have great kids!  We drove 45 minutes to our family dinner and my kids read the whole time, there and back.  It was so calm and peaceful, I even listened to church music while they read.  I'll say it again, I have great kids!

Flowers

I have had house plants for many years but last year was the first year we got flowers.  I have no idea why or how, but they are beautiful.  Last year I forgot to take pictures but this year I didn't want to miss them.  They are very plastic looking, like the leaves, but a pretty delicate pink.  Only 1 of my 3 plants has flowered.  Hopefully over the years we will get some more of these dainty little flowers.

Fall Break-Staycation

Aside from the Heber Creeper we just hung out at home this weekend.  It was actually really relaxing.  The kids were playing with each other and friends off and on ALL weekend.  We went to the library and read a ton, out for pizza, did some Costco taste testing, played a bunch of games, watched some Harry Potter, and made some cookies.  I finally finished a series that Greg had me start, Mistborn.  They were crazy books, hard to get into and really long, but today I finally finished them (hence my blogging:)!  Thanks to me not planning anything crazy the kids were able to run around and play for a lot of the time and I was able to read.

 Nathan made these cookies mostly all by himself, save the oven part.  They were DELICIOUS and he was quite pleased with himself.  I am going to like him cooking:)

 

 Since Nathan made cookies Annabelle wanted to get out her easy bake oven and make some cookies as well.  I didn't taste any but the kids all said they were great.

 

 Above is the view of books everywhere while I cuddled in the couch reading my own book.  Book messes don't bug me as much as other messes.  I love that my kids love reading!  We worked on Reflections over the weekend.  Today we were finishing them up and Ryan sat there for a good 1-2 hours!  During that time I told him he could take a break but he said, "This is FUN!"  I love how they have to think "outside the box" once a year.

 For Girl Scouts Annabelle had to provide her family with a fun and healthy activity.  So we made funny faces with fruits and veggies.  Fun times!

 

 

 

I'm not going to lie, I am okay to have the kids go back to school.  Things will get accomplished, the house will be quieter and cleaner, and the kids will appreciate the order that comes back to their lives...but, Hooray for our fun and lazy fall break!