Halloween Is Finally Here

Ever since we put up our October calender, Julene would ask "Is it getting dark yet for Halloween?" Now it's finally Halloween.

The school children had fun at their class parties, and they each know that I saw them at the School Halloween parade. I had to chase down Marianne to make sure she saw me. I didn't want her to be sad and think that her mother wasn't there. It would have helped if I wasn't waiting for an hour after the parade was supposed to have started, and if she wasn't the first class to come through, and if I wasn't in the middle of nursing Jared. But I go her attention and she smiled and waved. Mission accomplished.

Nathan was the most ambitious Trick-or-Treater. He would have kept going but everyone else was done, and he didn't want to go with just Dad.

Janae our High School Musical Cheerleader had a smile on her face all day until Randy told her next year was her last year to go Trick-or-Treating. We decided that the children could go until they went to Jr. High School. We did explain that Halloween is still fun, and she could walk around dressed up with the grown ups, and there is always plenty of candy. (Just a pet peeve a mine, seeing those teenagers come to your door. It's even a Friday night. Don't they have a party to be to?)

We had fun with our annual pumpkin carving. Well, I had fun. We downloaded a few templates from the Internet. I did Julene's Scooby Doo first and then told everyone to pick something simpler. Marianne chose the cat to match her witch costume. Janae picked a scary pumpkin and Nathan a spider. I need to buy some better knives so they can do more of the cutting. They were actually pretty good at cleaning them out.

The Fairest in the Land

Julene had her preschool Halloween party today. She had so much fun. They went to a pumpkin patch and picked pumpkins too. Jared and I got to go along on the outing. Julene thought it was special that we went too. Julene has been wearing her Snow White dress for weeks. Snow White has also become her favorite movie to watch. At first she was concerned that her hair wasn't black like Snow White's, but I told her, her hair was short like Snow White's and that seemed to make it all right.

A few days ago she wore her dress outside and rode her bike. The dress got ripped apart in the back. She was really concerned but I got it repaired last night so all is well.

Cousins' Halloween Party

On Friday my mother had a Halloween party for our family. It is a nice way to see everyone's costumes because getting together on Halloween would be hard. Jared participated by wearing his pumpkin bib.

My cousin Laura who is attending BYU was able to come as well as my Grandparents from St. George. They were up for my Great Uncles 60th wedding anniversary party that was on Saturday, and that was also nice to go to.

Laura is always fun to have around. Nathan was excited to be a cowboy because we found these cool handcuffs, but the sheriff wasn't doing the arresting that day.

But Laura was a good sport, and Nathan got his man (or woman.)

I think the most fun for everyone was the game of musical chairs. It is fun to see the little ones start to catch on like my brother Matt's and Brad's children. We played a few rounds without taking any chairs away, and it was still just as crazy for the little ones to find a seat! The older ones finally got their way, and we played the real way. We cheered when someone got out and told them they now got the privilege to sit on the green coach. It worked so well that my niece Casey went to the green coach without being out.

Afterwards we did a 19-38 version once with Randy, Brad, Steven, Laura, and me. It was tricky trying to get down that low and squeeze our bottoms onto the stools. (We knew wouldn't fit in the chairs.) Grandma got some great pictures of us that I don't have. I think Laura won. She's really good at pushing others out of the way :)

Cornbelly's

Randy's parents and Grandmother came down from Idaho for a few days, and we took them with us to Thanksgiving Point Corn Maze. We've gone to one every year and the children were excited to go.

The little ones love the cow train pulled by a tractor. Julene was the only one of us to ride it this time. The rest were checking out the fun slides.

We just discovered the pumpkin and corn cannons last year, so we went before the lines got to long. Nathan was the only one to tip the cow over.

Jared was doing great at the farm until he heard the load guns. Even Nathan and Julene were a little startled.

Randy like taking his mother through the creature. I took Janae. Nathan refused to go because last year they went through during the day and thought it was lots of fun, but then they took one last time just the two of them when it was dark. At night they add extra people dressed up to scare you. They were terrified to say the least. So he still remembered that scary experience. But once we went through and told him there were know scary people inside, he finally consented to go.

We also went on a hay ride. Marianne liked the bouncy wagon, and they also had spiders and things that jumped out of the corn as we drove by to make it interesting.

We also enjoyed the food. It's almost as good as fair food. It was fun to go with Grandma, Grandpa, and Great-Grandma. Our little girls also enjoyed the pumpkin princess and being able to sit in her carriage. Oh, I almost forgot the Corn Maze. I stayed out with Great-Grandma and Jared. Randy forgot to get a questionnaire or map, so they were really hopelessly lost. Julene was done and so was everyone else. They eventually started taking illegal short cuts through the maze to get out. We had tried to suggest to Nathan the kiddie corn maze, but that was out of the question.

Randy's Arm

These are the two contraptions that Randy wears everyday to help get his motion back in his arm. He has to wear both of them twice a day for an hour each time. That's four hours that doesn't include the warm up and cool down each time. This is quite the recover.

He broke his elbow in June by flying over the handle bars on his bike while trying to show his children a trick. 1 plate 8 screws and 2 surgeries later, he now has no limit on the amount of weight he can hold. Yeah! He just has to work up to it slowly. His recover is coming nicely, but he will never get back his full range of motion. We have felt really blessed because some people with this injury don't get back as much as he is.

Our family has made some adjustments. When Randy reads to the children, there is sometimes a fight over who has to sit by the broken arm. When Randy isn't wearing any of his splints, Julene will ask "Is that your broken arm?" because she wants to be careful with it.

Just wanted to brag

I just think my little buddy is soooo cute. He just makes me smile. We have such a nice time together. I put him in his high chair while I was doing the dishes today. He was making cute sounds and having fun smiling at me. I couldn't resist taking some pictures.

Here he is singing to me. He likes discovering the sounds he can make with his voice. He can also blow bubbles. The children keep saying "Jared is spitting at me." Because that is something I have asked them not to do.

Here he looks a little more subdued. I just love his big brown eyes. At this stage I know that I am his favorite person. He likes his sisters, brother, and daddy, but he still gets that worried look and tries to find me. I think I enjoy this special preference because I know it won't last. Daddy, siblings, Grandparents, friends, toys and even TV will at one time or the other be more favored than me. A lot of that is just a part of growing up and learning independence from parents. So I will cherish this special relationship while it lasts.

Star of the Week

Marianne is the Star of the Week in her Kindergarten class! Of course she was very excited. We got to make a poster all about her and go to her class this morning. We brought some of her favorite things to show like Belle, build-a-bear Princess Cat, pictures she's drawn, and sea shells from the beach. Randy, Julene, Jared and I got to go. She is a special girl.

We also want to do a shout out for Janae. She memorized all the states and capitals this last week for her test and got 100%. She and Randy worked very hard, and it payed off. Congratulations Janae!

Conference

We had a nice General Conference weekend. Our children listened to the first session this morning with our bingo, word search and matching games. Nathan and Janae even took notes on President Monson's talk for their faith in God program. I was pleasantly surprised by Nathan's note taking. I am amazed by his memory. His spelling and grammar weren't quite there, but he knew what he wanted to say and didn't get lost. He is able to get things so fast. No wonder it is hard for him to sit still and have patience for others. I need to have him take notes in sacrament meeting and maybe our reverence would improve. . .Well, maybe not.

President Monson's talk concerning change really meant a lot to me. He talked about having joy in the journey. He said that we shouldn't be bothered by the fingerprints and toys all over the place and piles of laundry because they wouldn't always be there. I realized that I let discouragement and monotony get the best of me some times. I love being a mother, and part of that includes things like messes and never ending piles of laundry. When I really reflect on it, I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. But there are days, when I have a different agenda that is usually selfish. That is when I become discouraged about the negatives of children in my life. I like being reminded how much I love this special time raising my children, and that it will be gone way too soon. My husband and my children are the most important people in my life.

Solid Foods

We started Jared on solid foods yesterday. I was holding him up to the table and he was fascinated by what people were putting in their mouths, so I decided that I would start feeding him in the next few days. I told the children that I needed to go find his chair and bring it up. Julene heard that and went and found his bouncer chair out of the bathroom. (I keep it there so he is safe from his sibling when I take a shower.) She said here's his chair, lets feed him. I hadn't planned on feeding him right then, but she and Marianne were so excited that we just did it. (I wouldn't do nearly all the things I do, if it wasn't for my children's enthusiasm and persuasion.) He really was ready and seemed to like his rice cereal. The girls got a real kick out of being able to feed him. I brought up the high chair today and cleaned it. It does seem a little yellow (It's 10 years old), but it still works great. Now if we can just keep his fingers out of his mouth. . . I forgot how messy they get even when they aren't feeding themselves yet.

I also took Jared in for his 4 month checkup this week. (Okay 4 1/2 mo. I'm a little behind.) He's not quite as big as his last check up, but he is in the 80% for length and 50% for weight and head size. I still think he looks big, but oh so snugly, maybe I have just had small babies before. I do get comments on how big he is. He is so long. I put clothes on him for length and there is all this extra room around his middle.