Fall Festivities

Apparently I can only post our events by seasons, so this is what we've been up to this fall.

Our first adventure was to Logan to see the colors in the canyon and get pictures.  In order to make this fun for the kids, we stayed in a hotel, ate pizza and cookies while we watched a movie.  We did this last year and I think it is becoming a favorite tradition.

 

 

 

 

 

Last year our family became big fans of the PBS TV show, Arthur.  The Queen decided she wanted to be D.W. for Halloween.  Her first opportunity to show off her costume was at a neighborhood Halloween party.

 The Boy really wanted to go as a Lego Policeman.  I thought it turned out okay!

 

 

 

By the time Halloween rolled around, The Boy had decided he wanted to dress up as something else, so we looked through Grandma's costumes and everyone found something they liked.

 The Queen is wearing the same witch costume I wore when I was little.  It's seen better days, but it worked for the night.

After trick-or-treating the kids watched a scary movie (Scooby Doo) while eating dinner.

 

The next day both The Boy and The Queen had friends over to play in our rather large collection of leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll finish up with this picture.  Ever since The Queen wanted to be D.W. last year, I thought it would be fun for us all to dress up as the Reed family because we fit so well.  So we all dressed up again for a photo-op.

 

Not too bad!

Winner!

I've never won any kind of drawing.  From coloring contests to survey drawings I've never won.  At my high school senior party, everyone had their name entered 4 times to win all kinds of prizes.  They drew all but 4 pieces of paper that night.  Yep. All mine.

So when The Boy came home with the Walk More in 4 2012 challenge I didn't get my hopes up.  UDOT/SNAP had kids throughout the state fill out a chart with the days they walked to school during the first four weeks.  The charts were turned in to a drawing for prizes, including bikes, scooters, and water bottles.  The Boy was very excited and hoped to win a scooter.   Knowing how impossible it is to win these kinds of things I tried to prepare him for the inevitable.

For four weeks we loaded the girls in the stroller and walked to school, filled out his chart, turned it in and forgot about it.  Last week I received a phone call letting me know that The Boy had been drawn to win...a scooter!?  Really?  Needless to say he was thrilled when the principal and a UDOT/SNAP official walked into his class at school and presented him with not only his scooter but a pretty cool helmet too.

 

It was good timing as we've had perfect weather and 2 days off from school.  He's been "scootering," as he calls it, a lot.

 

Glad the stars have aligned for you, honey. You deserve it!

I Owe This Girl A Birthday

Things started off well enough with a birthday party Saturday morning.  We had a pj party and the girls (and The Boy) enjoyed muffins and chocolate milk while watching a Hello Kitty show.  We then made the rounds with nail polish and Hello Kitty tattoos.

 

 

 Her birthday started with curlers and making her birthday cake.

 The Primary Program was that day and she enjoyed getting all dolled up (I enjoyed getting her dolled up too).  She was the star of the Sunbeam's song as she was just about the only one singing.  Have we mentioned how much she loves to sing?

 After church the combination of Diyah's stairs and the excitement of getting down them quickly resulted in a tumble.  She wasn't able to enjoy much of unwrapping presents or eating cake.

We did get a few smiles.

 

 

After it was clear she was not cheering up, we hustled to the Insta Care for some X-rays.  Turns out she buckled a bone in her arm (on her birthday, poor thing!).  The next day she chose a purple cast and here she is sporting it for her first day of Preschool. 

Her first day of school went well.  She didn't even want me to walk her to the door!  We got to do her spotlight and she is VERY excited to go back on Thursday.  Such a trooper!

The Queen at 4
Favorite Food: noodles (Mac 'n' Cheese especially)
Favorite colors: Pink and Purple
Favorite Book: Silly Sally by Audrey Wood
Favorite Movies: The Princess and The Frog and The Incredibles
Favorite TV Show: Curious George
Best Friends: TyTy, Tricia, and Lexie
Favorite things to do: Sing, do puzzles, pretend

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

Oh, What Do You Do In The Summertime?

Every week our local movie theater played kid's movies for $1 in the mornings.  We went to several.

Mommy's favorite: Kung Fu Panda 2
The Boy's favorite: Yogi Bear
The Queen's favorite: Whinnie The Pooh
Junebug's favorite: Puss In Boots (mostly because that's the only other movie we watched)

Afterward they really enjoyed watching the fountain (which was choreographed to music)...

 ...and playing in the park just outside.

 

We spent a morning at The Children's Treehouse Museum.

 

 

 

One day I decided to scrub the baked on Pam from my bakeware.  Everyone thought it was a great activity.  Who knew?

There was a lot of this...

The Boy with Construx

...and this...

 

...and this.

I don't know what we'd do without these guys.  The Boy and The Queen look forward to playing with them EVERY week.

The Boy and Bennett excavating toys and coins out of ice

The Queen and Asher

 

We were able to spend a day boating with cousins.

 

 

 

 

 

The Queen and Ty

I love this last picture.  The Queen just can't get enough of her cousin.  She frequently asks, "can we go to Oregon today and play with TyTy?"  When I took her out for her "Back to School Lunch" I asked her who her best friend was.  Her eyes lit up, she smiled big and yelled, "TyTy!"  Wish he could be around more often!

My parents are remodeling their home and we got front row seats to the demolition with the backhoe.

I picked up the Summerfit workbooks at Costco this summer.  They were terrific.  Each day had a reading worksheet, a math worksheet, and a set of exercises.  Each week we discussed a value and played a new sport.  As a reward for finishing the entire thing, we took the kids out to dinner.

What's a summer without a trip to the zoo?

 

 

 

 

 

Our last day of summer we finally squeezed in the activity the kids asked to do most.

 

 

This is what we did today.

The Boy's first day of First Grade

After the chaos that was "Back to School Morning" he reported an excellent day.  His favorite things were eating lunch at school and getting two recesses (today was early out.  Imagine his excitement tomorrow when he gets three).  He loves his new teacher and is looking forward to a new year.  While it was nice to get into a schedule and let The Boy and The Queen have a bit of a break from each other, as the day drew on, we all missed him.