bring on turkey month!

So in my last post, I mentioned something about "waiting to get Burke's soccer pictures back" before posting them on here.  I had forgotten that Burke had chosen to miss a soccer game (and photos) to go on a five-mile hike for scouts.  He said, "Who cares about pictures!?"  Ha.  Anyway, here are the individual shots: 

I was really looking forward to getting a photo of Burke with his dad (coach).  Rob has really enjoyed coaching Burke's team, and will coach Burke again this winter.  I don't think Rob has coached Burke since he was three or four!  Burke's team has only lost one game and it by only one point to a very tough team.  Burke has grown a lot this season, and Rob is very pleased with how Burke is developing and working.  I have missed most of Burke's games because Hewitt's games have generally been at the same time.   I really enjoy watching Hewitt play.  Hewitt and Tosh will both be taking a break this winter.  I must admit that I am looking forward to the season ending this weekend and getting our Saturday mornings back for a couple of months!  These pictures are from Tosh's game two weeks ago:

Tosh is the kid in black with all the hair, in case you can't tell

 

 

Liv's class had a little Halloween party on Nov. 1st since she didn't have school on the 31st.  I volunteered to be on the party committee and it turned out really cute.  We did a cute scarecrow craft and then wrapped the kids in toilet paper to look like mummies.  There were an odd number of kids and so Liv asked me to be her partner: 

Cute little Mummy!

Rob showed up as we were serving treats.  Liv was happy to see her dad at school! 

 For the last 15 minutes of the party, Rob entertained the kids by playing various songs on his guitar and singing and dancing with the kids.  He was a huge hit as I'm sure you can imagine.  The kids loved it (as well as the teachers and other moms).  When he left to go back to work, several kids ran up to hug his legs and they didn't want him to go.  Liv thought it was pretty funny and when we saw Rob later she laughed and said, "The children all huggded you!"  (Liv still puts a 'd' in lots of past tense words.)

Other funny Liv-isms:
When we drove to the park (bus stop) to pick Tosh up (the day after Halloween), Liv mentioned something about how no one had decorated the park.  I said, "Well Halloween is over.  We are moving on to Thanksgiving."  Liv gasped and said, "We are moving on Thanksgiving?!?!" 

Liv inherited a beautiful cream-colored cashmere sweater from her cousin and she wore it to church last weekend.  She asked, "Is this sweatshirt made out of cotton balls?"

When she plays 'pirate' she says, "Uuugg" instead of "Arrrgh." 

The other day she was telling me a story about something and said (very seriously), "Listen.  I'm not joking." 


Our Stake had a big fair the first weekend in November.  The kids all waited to ride the zip line.  The pictures are a bit blurry:

Burke flew!  He swung up so high at the end, his body (and head) hit the line!

Tosh is my kid that doesn't like heights.  I was a little worried about him, but look he was all smiles at the beginning.  I could tell he was nervous on his way down the line.  Afterward he told me, "I almost started crying, Mom, but I didn't!!" 

I asked the men pulling the line to go extra slow with Liv.  She did great and didn't have a worry in the world about it.

Hewitt also had a turn, but I took video (instead of a photo).  Here is Hewitt showing off his mustache and goatee. 

One of the booths at the fair had all sorts of dress-ups and Liv loved trying all sorts of different things on.  Here she is with her cute buddy Addie (Rob and Alecia's daughter).  Addie is a crack up and loves all things superhero/army/pirate.  These two are so different, yet great friends. 

Liv couldn't remember where she had put her bunnies and couldn't find them for a couple of days (she eventually found them in a basket in the back of my closet).  I tried to convince her to sleep with Baby (my family will recognize this beloved doll).  Liv gave it a try, but said that she didn't have the right smell.  She falls asleep just fine without her bunny--so that's a relief. 

 

 

Playing at the park one afternoon.  We were trying to stay in the shade and out of the sun.  Liv was actually collecting "fairy dust" so she could fly to a magic kingdom (or something like that).

Then it was Liv's turn with the camera and took this one of me:

We got Tosh from the bus stop and stopped to get mail.  Tosh usually gets it, but was kind enough to help his sister have a turn.  I couldn't resist getting a photo (or two) of this cute team:

Rob's birthday is just around the corner.  My friend Alecia and I are throwing a dance party for our Robs (they share the same birthday).  It should be a lot of fun, and looks like there will be a great turnout.  Rob has been working on a special project for the party that is taking A LOT of our time right now.  I'll share it with all of you when the time comes...  Anyway, we borrowed this long board for the project and Liv thought it was fun to sit and ride.  She also found these old "nerd" costume glasses of mine and has been wearing them a ton. 

After living here for four years, we finally organized a block party with our neighbors.  I talked to several neighbors about it on Halloween and then we delivered flyers to invite people.  We included the nine houses right around us (the five houses on our side, and the four houses across the street).  Seven out of the nine homes were able to be there!  We set up tables and chairs in our driveway and provided BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw.  We asked everyone to bring a side to share and their own drinks.  We ended up with tons of food and it was a great evening.  We had little kids jumping on the tramp and riding bikes around, and older kids shooting baskets and playing ping pong.  I hadn't seen Hewitt in a while and went to check on him.  He was in our play room by himself (the party was outside only).  I asked him why he wasn't outside playing with neighbors and he said, "I need some time to myself.  I have been around people ALL day and need some time to make up for it!"  Classic Hewitt.  He totally cracks me up.  How could such a child be born to two extroverts?  :)

We went out to run some errands yesterday and Liv was wearing her glasses (again).  I was actually grateful because it reminded me that we had some books on hold, so we made a stop at the library.  Love my darling little book worm:

We bought some groceries and then stopped by a new apartment complex in town.  We've talked about this place an awful lot, but have never stopped.  So we did! 


Liv at Liv 'avenue'

I promise that I didn't give Liv any direction when it came to choice of pose.  This is all her!  :)  It was in the 90's yesterday, by the way.  Love her head on her shoulder in this next one:

Liv was wearing these glasses after preschool again today and then took them off and started playing with them.  In a very calm (I promise), yet stern voice I said, "Liv, please do not play with those glasses.  You can either wear them or set them down, but if you play with them they will break."  She responded by saying, "Mom, you don't need to throw a temper tantrum."  Ha!  What made it funnier is that she actually messed up the word 'tantrum' and it sounded more like "temper tamdem" which really made me laugh internally since my brothers used to call me "Temper Tam" when I got upset. 

My awesome dad celebrated his 78th birthday last week!  I thought I'd share this great picture from 1976.  I especially love my dad's mustache and pants, and our orange carpet!  It's hard to adequately express my gratitude for such great parents, and thank them for providing me with such a loving and happy childhood.  I love you, Dad! 

happy halloween

Happy Halloween!  October has been a fairly busy and productive month.  It was nice to get back into a routine with school starting.  I know that most of the pictures I take are of Liv, but she is the one hanging out with me the most...  Making pumpkins out of Play-Doh:

Liv is taking a ballet class.  The parents are not allowed in the room, so I took a few photos through the window one day.  She is so funny in there and almost seems more distracted each week; asking to go to the bathroom (I always take her right before), and making funny faces at me through the glass door.  She looks darling at least:

She hiked her skirt way up under her elbows during the last part of class and I was totally laughing about it (probably good she couldn't hear or see me).  The skirt was a little lower here, but still!  So funny:

Liv is grounded from scissors until she turns five.  She chopped the hair off of most of her Barbie Dolls a week or so ago.  A couple have a "pixie" cut (way short), but this one has a sweet mullet.  Oh, Liv.

 

Tic Tac Toe and Hangman have become some favorite games for the younger kids lately.  This isn't a great photo, but I like proof of the kids playing well together:

We ran to the store during Rob's lunch break one day, and I got such a kick out of Liv's outfit.  Loving the cowboy hat, princess purse, and red flats combo!

We played a family game of hide and go seek a couple of Sundays ago and Liv fell on the tile floor and got a big goose egg on her chin.  That poor girl has split her chin open twice, and her lip open once.  The bruise is finally going away now. 

Liv and I were waiting for Tosh's bus one afternoon and it took the driver a minute or two to open the doors after it had pulled up (the driver was talking to some of the kids about not standing up until the bus stops).  When I said something like, "Why is it taking the driver so long to open the door?"  Liv said, "Well, maybe he's sending a text!"  Ha!

Liv LOVES stories and books.  She really likes all of the old fairy tales and stories about princesses.  Whenever she tells the story of Cinderella, she talks about her going to the BOMB instead of BALL.  It is hilarious.  I'm finding myself correcting her mistakes, but then feeling sad about her not saying the cute things wrong any more.  She's growing up too fast!

Conducting a train is serious business:

It's important to look the part.  So cute! 

The boys get their braces off next month!  Before the last ortho appointment I noticed that one of Hewitt's brackets was loose on his front tooth.  I was a little surprised that he came out of the appointment with the bracket completely gone!  It makes for a bit of a funny smile. 

 

Our kids 'passed off' all of their songs for our primary program and so our primary chorister (Brenda) came over to make the kids balloons.   Twin Ninjas (the balloon ninja has a staff too)!

Tosh wanted a sword (for the third year in a row?):

Liv's favorite princess is Tiana (The Frog Princess.  She's never seen the movie or anything, but it's her favorite).  She asked for a Tiana hat and bracelet:

Burke got a cool soccer-type ball and this other toy.  Brenda is so talented and generous.  I am amazed by some of the things she has created!  She has some amazing photos on her website:  http://balloonhappyaz.com/

Burke was asked to be a line judge at Hewitt's soccer game last Saturday.  It was pretty cool. 

I still don't have Burke's soccer pictures back yet (I will post the photos next time), but I think these buttons are so awesome.  Wearing it helps me feel like I'm a good soccer mom. The weather is getting cooler for games which is a plus.   

Liv playing indoor hopscotch: 

Peeling carrots for dinner:

I had to pull Tosh out of school to go the doctor this week;  I told him I would buy him an ice cream cone at McDonalds for getting a flu shot.   I hope to keep the flu and asthma at bay this winter! 

Our primary program was this past Sunday.  It was my second year writing the program (and being in charge in general), but our ONLY year with all four kids in it!  All of the kids really did an excellent job.  Our chorister asked if Liv and two other girls would sing the first verse to "I am a Child of God."  I was a bit nervous about Liv singing.  The first time I asked her to practice it with me she said, "I hate (bad word in our house) that song!"  She can be such a stinker!  She was absolutely perfect at the practice, so I wasn't worried after that.  At the actual performance, she ended up being the child in the middle and thus right in front of the microphone.  She did awesome.  I was so bummed that I couldn't see it (I was crouched down directly behind the girls).  Rob said that she looked so cute and proud (can you all imagine her 'proud--I'm getting attention' face?  We got so many compliments on her great pitch and comments that she 'almost stole the show' and so on.  I don't know if Liv's dance career will be long lived, but her voice is promising :). 

I was on my own before church (Rob was in meetings) and got to the church 20 minutes after I wanted to, but still had the thought to stop to get a photo before leaving the house (glad I did!). 

Tosh is such a nut!  He was moving around a lot up on the stand.  There were two empty folding chairs next to him (for the cellists on our closing number) and he would move into those seats and then move back to his, etc.  I had him wear a tie (I usually don't), but made sure it was the zip kind that  I could button down under his shirt (instead of a clip tie that is easy to get off).  He kept unzipping his tie and flipping it around and around, twisting it up.  My sister tells me that people without little kids hope for kids to entertain them during the program. Just trying to deliver...

In all my rush with the program and kids that morning, I forgot to talk to the bishopric about forgoing a closing hymn, and just letting our final song be the closing hymn.  We had the congregation join us for two verses of "I am a Child of God" with the cellos playing, etc.  Anyway, I had a moment of panic and took it upon myself to tell the chorister and organist not to do the closing song as they were walking up, and I just jumped up and said the prayer (I had no clue who had been asked).  The bishopric were all sitting down with their families and we were already a minute or two over time.  I whispered to our primary president, "We don't want these kids to sit through 'Abide With Me Tis Eventide!'  Should I just pray and then ask for forgiveness later?"  Ha!  Classic me, taking charge when I probably shouldn't.  So, that's exactly what I did, and everyone seems to have forgiven me (and agreed with my choice).   

Our ward had a trunk or treat/chili cook off FHE activity on Monday.  It was a great activity with lots of families and non-members too.  Our twin nephews dressed up as the cutest nerds for their ward party, and it inspired Burke to do the same.  It was so fun that he actually dressed up this year!  He looked so cute (the braces, glasses, and skinny-ness help the look along)! 

I was asked to judge the chili, decorated trunks, and costumes at the party.  Technically I was the "French Judge"--ha!  My brother sent me this beret from his mission, and I saw it and thought it would make the perfect (easy) costume.  I made this hand-stitched scarf from one of the kid's old soccer shirts.  Am I crafty and frugal or what???

Unfortunately Burke lost the  privilege of going Trick or Treating tonight.  It was fun handing out candy with Burke (he had such a great attitude!). We put some chairs in our driveway, brought out one of Rob's big speakers and cranked some Halloween tunes.  We ended up riding around on scooters during slow times, and visited with a bunch of neighbors.  It was my favorite Halloween yet.  Rob took the younger three around the neighborhood.  We have so much candy it is out of control!!! 

Our tough Ninja (Hewitt asked for this costume for his birthday, and was excited to get to wear it to several events including Tosh's school's Monster Mash last Friday): 

A handsome Jedi (Tosh's hair makes any costume better, I've decided):

Jedi vs Ninja:

Liv dressed as Tiana (light green dress and little plastic princess high heels) for the two Halloween parties we went to.  I was so excited that she was willing to dress as a cheerleader tonight!  So much more comfortable to be in sneakers, leggings, and long sleeves for trick or treating.  She looked adorable too:

 Happy Halloween!