Primary Program

This was Austin's first year in the Primary at church so he got to be in the annual program during sacrament meeting. Last week, during practice, his teacher asked him why he wasn't singing. He said simply, "I'm singing with my mouth closed." Needless to say, we've had many laughs over that!

Yesterday during the program, we got to sit in the pews directly in front of where he was on the stand, so we got a full view of him. Some of the time he was singing, some of it he was looking off to the left at something that caught his eye and made his eye brows wrinkle, and a lot of it he was "singing with his mouth closed". At one point he was singing, then looked at me mouthing the words, so he stopped, smiled, and close his mouth. I guess he was showing me how he could sing with his mouth closed.

He did great on his line, though, which was how God created the fish and the birds on the 5th day. The sister missionaries later told me they think he's going to be a future apostle by how well he did on his line. We'll see.

The girls did great too. Karissa talked about including other kids when they seem sad and Victoria talked about finding something she lost through prayer. Victoria was more embarrassed this year to speak, shocker, so she didn't stand on the stool and we could hardly see her. Karissa is still the same height as the kids two years younger than her, but she can read now, so it made her seem older.

I love these kids!!

Erik didn't want any part of this picture and Victoria had already changed, but I'm glad they all have decent smiles!

Fall Favorites

It has been a beautiful fall season this year! We've had mostly sunny days (unusual for here) and temps in the high 40's- low 50's in the morning, getting up to low 70's in the afternoon, which is unheard of here around this time! Because of the nice temps and mild weather, the leaves have stayed on the trees and we're still enjoying all the gorgeous colors.

Here are some of our favorites this fall:

Going to the apple orchard with playgroup.

All the cider mills have fun places to play.

 Making Victoria's birthday cake- yum!

Erik enjoyed using the mixer. He did taste some frosting at the end- shocker!

Gymnastics for Austin.

He's holding up his ribbon for completing his first session.

Gymnastics for Karissa.

She completed her first session too. All the pics in action didn't turn out very well, for either Karissa or Austion since I was behind the glass for those.

Making bracelets (friendship and rainbow) for Victoria.

Her friends gave her many different types of bracelet sets for her birthday since they know how much she loves it. She's already made about 10 since her birthday.

Of course pumpkin picking!!

Jason is always excited when his teams play well at football. We're becoming Tiger's fans even more every year too!

9 Years

Victoria turned 9 on October 11. I think I've said this a lot over her last few birthdays, but I can't believe I'm a mom of a child that old! Around Mother's Day, she and I went to a mother/daughter activity and we had to ask each other some questions. I had the "mom" questions and she had the "daughter" questions. They were simple questions about the future, favorite things, and wishes, but I wasn't used to such "grown-up" questions and answers and found myself thinking I was the daughter and looked for my mom a couple of times.

Well, she is nine now and is acting older too. She entertained Erik during sacrament meeting at church on Sunday. She gets him from Nursery and holds his hand until they find me in the hall. She's been going to choir practice with me and loves it. Yesterday, she played the piano much longer than she normally does, simply because she was enjoying it. Last week she did the dishes for me after dinner, without being asked, and said, "Thanks for the dinner, Mom!" When I smiled she said, "My teacher was right, it worked!" It's nice to have some recognition from some of my children now and a little help without so much coaxing like I've had to do in the past.

This school year she's been taking ballet and tap on Mondays and a Cecchetti (strict) ballet class on Tuesdays. She takes piano on Thursdays and attends Activity Day girls at the church every other Wednesday. She enjoys going to school to learn and see her friends. She loves to write still, loves science, music, gym, and recess. She still has a great imagination and hasn't grown out of playing with toys yet. She enjoyed the two races she ran in and likes learning about animals. We've been reading the first Harry Potter book together which has been enjoyable for both of us.

For her party this year, she wanted to go to the local community pool. She invited her "besties" from school and it was a blast! We celebrated the party on her actual birthday since it was Friday. They came to our house for pizza, cupcakes, and presents, then I took the party to the pool for open swim and Jason took Karissa, Austin, and Erik to McDonald's to play so I could keep a good eye on the party swimmers without distraction. It was nice to not have anyone to carry around or leap after and rescue for two hours! I enjoyed watching the girls swim, jump in the water, go down the water slides, and float in the lazy river. I even participated myself in some things! It was different to go down the water slide without someone on my lap! Even the car ride there and back was more fun with our "teeny-bopper" music playing and happy girls singing and chatting in the back.

It was a very Happy Birthday for her and a happy day for me!

Before school

Goofing around before eating

That's Austin's bum, trying to be extra goofy

I made half cupcakes and half 8" round cake...

Megan, Brynn, Victoria, Bethany, Shannon, Janelle

kiddie slide

jump contest

up to the big slide

lazy river

Red October Run

On Saturday I ran another 10K. My friend told me it's a great race for the family because the kids can enter and run for free. Victoria loved the race she did with her cousins in Utah, so we signed up again. I was a little worried about my own race since the start time was 9:50 am, which in my book is a little late to run a race. It was great for the kids, though, since we didn't have to get up super early. Their race was first at 9:00. Austin decided he wanted to run it this time. Jason ran the mile with Austin. Victoria, nervous to run by herself, took a place at the front and nailed it! They didn't time the kids, so I guess I should have timed her, not that it matters. She was the second girl in and was definitely in at least the top 10 kids.

Austin did great and ran the whole mile, though he was pretty tired the rest of the day.

Excited for the race!

Look at that air under her feet- she's flyin'!

Austin means business.

Our cheerleaders

For my race, I started in the front, which I don't usually do, but that's where I ended up. Soon after I started I started to feel really nauseated and it never got better the whole 6 miles! At one point I thought I should stop, but I never felt like I would actually throw-up, so I decided to keep going. It was very humid that morning and much warmer than normal for this time of year, so that didn't help. My T-shirt felt super thick and I wanted to take it off, but decided I shouldn't run around in my sport's bra. I had to tie my shoe at the end, which was a drag that I don't usually have to do. Well, I added about 40 seconds to my last race, which wasn't my best either, finishing in 48 minutes. It was a 7:45 pace, so not bad considering, but it was not what I wanted. Since we're not in Utah, where the real competition lies, I finished 2nd in my age group and was probably in the top 10 women (they didn't have a category with the top men and women overall). I also had many people impressed with the fact that I have a "big" family of 4 kids, something else that doesn't happen in Utah. So, at least I felt better with my race and I never did throw-up. Maybe my worries of starting so late were justified. The best part of the race was when Jason and the kids found me around mile 4 1/2 and ran with me for a little while. Austin found some energy and went pretty fast and Victoria would have finished with me if she could have. Even Karissa ran a while. It was a great family event for sure! Then we got to relax and listen to General Conference.

Completion ribbons

I'm feelin' good the first five steps.

Not feelin' so good here...

Peek-a-boo

Face-painting at the end

Slush Days

If you remember, Erik is not the biggest fan of eating food. Rocks and sticks, yes, drinking milk, for sure, but food; not always. When we returned from our trip to Utah in late July, that very week, I started making slushies for the kids, with Erik in mind, since he likes to drink more than chew. I began with a recipe that my older kids always like. It's called Strawberry Watermelon Slush.

It calls for 2 c. of watermelon, 2 c. of strawberries, 1/3 c. of lemon juice and 1/3 c. of sugar. After blending those, you add 2 c. of ice. Erik decided that he loved it! He would get super excited and do his little elbow dance that I'll have to video tape sometime. My kids would beg me to make it for all their friends who came over. They all started calling it my homemade Slurpee.

I decided to make it healthier. I reduced the sugar to 1/4 c. and since we had so much zucchini from our garden (if you'll remember from my garden blog), I started adding a cup of zucchini. The kids never noticed and loved them just the same. I added kale one time, they liked that too. It's been over two months and I still make them every day, except one day. Erik is not as excited as he was and even didn't drink them for a few days, to my dismay, but he's back to drinking them again and the kids love them as their after-school-snack. I have substituted other fruits when I didn't have enough watermelon and strawberries. I found the fresh fruits work best and it is best to have mostly watermelon and strawberry (and zucchini), even if I do add some other fruits, to get the desired taste and texture they like. I don't know how it will go when my key ingredients are harder to find fresh, but at least for now Erik is getting lots of fruit and veggies in his slushie drink. Cheers!

Erik eating sand at the beach