Last week

I thought her hair was so cute this day - of course it didn't last very long - she's quick to make it messy and then to pull it out. That's why you'll often see it messy in her pictures.
We had a family home evening lesson on temples and the "My Gospel Standards". When it was over Benjamin said, "that's it?" So I told him to make a temple with the blocks. We also made a really huge one with all the blocks. Sarah was bathing so we didn't have to worry about them being knocked over.

Yesterday was Ben's last soccer game(s - we played a double header). We took the flag apart and gave everyone their alien rattler face. This is Ben's.

Sarah loves the new bath pillow. We bought it for Daddy, but everyone (except me) has enjoyed it. I guess I should take a bath sometime.

Last Sunday Kannon took Ben home teaching. While they were gone Sarah and I tried out the new pink pudding - strawberry cancer awareness ones. They were okay. I still like chocolate and vanilla better. Sarah put these spoons in them and had them all ready to eat. Too bad she fell asleep before the boys got home. In fact, her pudding is STILL in the fridge!

We cleaned up the yard one last time before winter. Kannon was mowing and Sarah really wanted to help. Ben took a turn pushing, also. We pulled out all the tomato plants and herbs and raked the yard clean. It actually looks pretty nice out there. Filling up with leaves though.

This is Ben's soccer team and coaches, getting ready to high five the other team. I asked him yesterday who is favorite team mate was. "Probably Parker and Asa. Maybe Austin, too. Oh yeah, and Vance." That's everyone on the team. So I'm glad he liked them all. He had a birthday invitation for today (Sunday). He was very excited to show me the invitation. When I said it was on sunday he said, "I can't go." I asked him why and he said, "because we don't go to parties on Sunday. I was pleased that he'd learned that at such a young age. And did really well to not be upset. We got Vance a gift anyway and Ben was excited to give it to him.

Ben defending his goal. He was pretty good at that. He'd stand at the goal, like a goalie, and wait for the ball to come. At this age they don't have goalies so he sometimes got in trouble for doing that. I guess if he ever plays at an older age he will be a great goalie or defender! As for me, I'm glad it's over for the year. We'll see about next year.

UUUgh!

Soooooo frustrating. I spent a lot of time Friday night, typing my details of the pictures I'd already downloaded for my blog. But for some reason, when I published them, the words weren't there - only pictures. So, I went to bed. If you've read my blog since then you may have noticed all the pictures. Well, I've got the commentary on now. Enjoy!

more Halloween

So, here are some more pictures of my decorations for the month. This is my tree. I had one last year and threw it away. I'll hang on to this one because it took a lot of effort to find one just right. My mom cut all kinds of branches for me. Then as I was leaving her house we noticed the top of a tree that had died after transplant. We chopped off the top and I sprayed it black. I found the cute ornaments at Michael's in Reno and filled the bottom of my container with candy corns.

I saw a banner like this one being sold on a blog. I thought, "hey I can do that". And so I did. I have a few glittery pieces of tulle to add, but it's mostly done. And below you can see the bat garland that I finally got hung right. I didn't have thumbtacks, so I tried double-sided tape. Not the best for hanging things on the wall. So I finally invested in the tacks!

This was another idea I saw on the web. I used glittery glue for the letters, but they kept falling off. So some of my pumpkins have purple marker instead. And one of them doesn't have anything - we're missing an "e" now. If you can't tell, it says "welcome". And I love my pumpkin/purple witch. I found her at Michaels in Reno. She has a little scene carved in the front and these great long purple curls. It's hard to see, but there is also a witch's boot, purple and black, next to the lamp. Do I like purple? It's okay. I just figured that was as close as I was going to get to fitting into my pink cottage chic porch!

I've been working on this wreath since last year. My mom and I found the idea in a magazine. She put the wreath together for me. I found the cat and pumpkin critters on ebay - they're identical to the ones that were on the wreath we liked. Then I found the cute spooky sign, painted and glittered it and voile!

The Pumpkin Patch

Ok - My pictures are on backwards, so I'll run you through our trip in reverse.

Ben picked this horse to ride in - no names - and why is there a horse on a cow train?

The last part of Lattin Farms was the cow train. Sarah was the first one in and I thought it ironic that she picked THIS cow! Sister Lewis was the one driving and she mentioned to me that she liked to put the big kids in the back. That should have been my clue. Almost as soon as they took off, she was looking for me - close to tears. I worried about her the whole time, the back end was kind of the "whippy" end. When they finally stopped, she said it was too bumpy. All the other kids went again, but she would not get on!


Sarah loved feeding the grass to the goats. As soon as she pushed her grass in, she turned around asking for more. They also got to see the chickens and their eggs - as well as the rabbits.

After the pumpkin patch, Brother Keele stopped by the animals. The kids got a kick out of feeding the "kids"! This was a conveyer thing - you put the food in the bucket and turn the crank. The goats run up the ramp and wait for the food to arrive. Everyone had a turn.

These are the boys - Matthew, Luke, and Ben - with their pumpkin picks!

Do you like my framing job?

Benjamin told me he was going to get the biggest pumpkin in the patch. I reminded him he had to carry it -so he said he'd get the biggest pumpkin in the patch that he could carry. This is what he came up with. I didn't think it was very big, but obviously big enough for him!

The kids were excited to go to the pumpkin patch. Ben was super-excited to see some of his friends. We climbed on the hay wagon and our friend Brother Keele - also Sarah's nursery leader - drove us to the patch. Ben of course wanted to be the first one off. But, Sarah was the first one on! She found her pumpkin quickly - it was just her size.

So this my video of the cow train - fast, huh!?

October Fun

I know it's been awhile (and an hour later I write more!) I guess that's why it's been awhile. I don't get much time for sitting down these days. Why? I don't know! So here are a few things we've done this month.

One thing I love to do is cook/bake. I've found that I get irritated by all my "helpers". So, now I make the conscious decision to invite one of my children to help, when I'm making something that they really can help with. I don't get so upset, they enjoy it, and we're spending quality time doing something we both like! This is Sarah making biscuits for Daddy. A few days ago we were making bread for school and Sarah saw the bowl with the towel over it. She pointed and asked "biscuits?" I think she was a bit disappointed.

We've got this program going with Ben. He earns tickets for doing chores, good deeds, respectful, etc. - and they get taken away for being naughty. With his tickets he can "buy" things from our store - activities or items. He gave me 5 tickets for a trip to the park one day. We had a picnic and they enjoyed playing.

They both took turns chasing the seagulls, Sarah was more enthusiastic about it. I think because she doesn't realize yet that they aren't catchable!

We had our first snow! I think it was about the 6th. We were driving Kannon to Fernley to meet up with a co-worker. (Since we only had one car for a few days, that was necessary for that one day.) So, we piled in the burb around 5:20 am. On the way we started noticing the falling snow. Just little bits of it, almost like bugs in the summer. By the time I got home, it was just getting light and the snow was bigger and starting to stick. It was really fun to watch. Of course it melted in a few hours. And a couple of days later we were back in the 70's - where we've been most of the month!

This is a picture as we got home. It hadn't stuck yet, but the ground was wet.

I have a sister in California who blogged about this (see Nancy's latest post) and when I watched this video in an email I recently received, I felt like I couldn't not do something. I know I'm not voting in California, but hopefully this message can make its way to some who are. Also, this is where I stand. I feel it's so important to speak up for what we believe. I believe that "marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God" and that "Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal and eternal identity and purpose." Those quotes are from The Proclamation to the World - the Family (sorry, I'm not good at adding these links) http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=e1fa5f74db46c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=5fd30f9856c20110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1
I also believe that we shouldn't have the right to teach our children taken from us in such a subtle way. Please stand up for this issue, this proposition, and if you're in California, please learn all you can about Proposition 8 so that you can make an educated vote!
Watch this 7 minute video - you'll be touched. http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1352578267/bctid1819819843

Good People

So, I'm happy to report that there are still good people in our world. Today Ben played soccer. We had one mother pick up a quick snack since the original snack mom didn't show up. The kids were brought hamburgers, fries, and water from McDonalds. I always feel bad for Sarah, she wants some too. So, I told her I would get her her own snack. I planned on grabbing her some McNuggets. Now, I don't like McDonalds. I'm sure that was inherited from my parents opinion of the place. But, Kannon and I've tried it, too, a couple of times and we just aren't happy with their food. Anyway, I knew they were cheap and then she could have the same bag as Ben so we could go home with no arguing. Well, Ben decided he didn't like a hamburger and fries, so I had him give it to Sarah and told him I'd get the nuggets for him. When we got to the drive-thru, they asked us to wait. We waited and waited. While waiting Ben saw the pictures of the toys for the kids meals - a Batman toy and a Wizard of Oz doll. Cool! I was really tempted to just buy them kids meals, but remembered I'm trying not to spend extra money. So, when they were finally able to take our order I stuck to what I'd planned. When we got to the window to pay, the cashier asked me if I had 2 boys. I told her, no, a boy and a girl. As she gave me my change she also handed me one each of the kids meal toys. I looked at her questioningly and she said, "shh, I could hear him" and pointed to her head set. She had heard him talking to me about the toys and was feeling generous. We said many thank-yous and the kids were so excited to have the toys. They surrounded me the minute we came in the house, waiting for me to open their toys. So, even though I still don't like their food - Thanks, McDonalds, for making my kids' day!

School activity!

I finally did it! I talked to one of the old ABC school moms and asked her if she wanted to do a weekly activity. So this was our first. Right now it's just the two boys, but hopefully we can add a few more. I had seen this great Eric Carle art project and really wanted to try it. This is where I found it. http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/2008/09/art-eric-carle-style.html And she has a link to Eric Carle's instructions. So we made a lot of paper, lots of colors. I took care of the kids, making sure they had paint shirts on (or no shirt), rinsing brushes, getting new paper, moving the finished ones, filling the paint - we used a muffin tin, it actually worked really well. I ended up getting black paint on my shirt - silly me, didn't wear a paint shirt!
These are a few of the finished products. Luke made 2 red pigs. He told me what he wanted and I helped him cut. I didn't get a picture of his, but it was fun. I did the bottom 2 and Ben made the one on top - all by himself. He wrote on it to his friends - from the bottom up, this is what it says, "THE DUKC AND THE CKATUPILR AND THE SUN - BEN MAD FRUM BEN TO SEAN AND AIDAN" I did help him cut out the duck and put the glue on the pieces for him. It was fun, and we have lots of leftover paper. Maybe I'll use some for a scrapbook page?
Then I wanted to try this apple-caramel bites recipe. Here's where it came from - Amy's Notebook (which I LOVE by the way!) http://www.momadvice.com/blog/labels/Notebook.htm on 7-31-08 "These mini caramel apples would be a great snack for the kids (@ Flickr via Craftzine)- I had actually followed another lady's take on this and didn't remove the skins. Mistake - I think it would have been easier to ball the apple without the skin on. And I used Brach's caramels that I melted and added a little milk. (like a Tbsp. for half the bag of caramels.) I found that I had to re-melt it before we got done. We used some fun sprinkles and the boys ate more than I thought they would. They were really yummy and I coated a few more apples with the leftover caramel. Yeah fall!
Here's the mess I made of the apples, aaahh!

Halloween here we come!

Sarah picked out this princess dress for Halloween this year (Ben still wants her to be Jessie the cowgirl). After we brought it home she tried it on and immediately started twirling around. It's a size too big, but I figured she could grow into it, use it to play in for awhile.
A few weeks ago Ben found the gorilla costume. A friend had given it to us and it has been sitting in the drawer. He put it on and then Dad helped Sarah put the other one on. That had been Ben's costume when he was her age. So here are our two gorillas!

We love the holidays in our house! We really get going for Halloween. Here are the kids on the 2nd day of October in their Halloween shirts! You'll notice Ben's shorts? Yes, it's still warm enough for shorts around here. It was in the 80's yesterday and I had the swamp cooler on from noon til 9pm!
I've almost got all the decorations out. Benjamin was really excited when he saw them and started putting things out for me - I didn't really like that, it's always been my thing. I guess I'm going to have to learn to share!

44 Odd things about me!

Okay - I haven't blogged for awhile - just haven't taken the time - thought this might tide you over til I get here!
Learn 44 things about your friends, and let them learn 44 things about you
1. Do you like blue cheese? Funny thing, I've ALWAYS hated blue cheese - About a month ago I bought a salad and didn't notice that it had blue cheese on it until I had eaten a few bites - and guess what? It was okay! I'd probably eat it again!
2. Have you ever smoked? No way
3. Do you own a gun? Yes, and I know how to use it.
4. What flavor Kool Aid was/is your favorite? grape
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? I don't think so.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? I can only handle grilled or the kind with cheese in them.
7. Favorite Christmas movie? How the Grinch Stole Christmas or The Charlie Brown Christmas.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Water or sometimes a smoothie.
9. Can you do push ups? A few of them.
10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My wedding ring, but since it doesn't fit right now I like my garnet ring that I got off www.silverjewelryclub.com
11. Favorite hobby? Reading, baking, scrapbooking - guess I don't have a favorite!
12. Do you have A.D.D.? No, but I probably have some OCD
13. What's one trait you hate about yourself? Not as self-disciplined as I'd like to be.
14. Middle name? nope
15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: "Yes Ben, 6+4 does equal 10" "Am I stalling?" "I need to take my medicine"
16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? water, smoothie, and emergen-c
17. Current worry? Losing weight - teaching Ben
18. Current hate right now? Politics, totally!
19. Favorite place to be? the Temple
20. How did you bring in the New Year? Are you kidding me?! That was 10 months ago - I don't remember. I guess I probably slept through it!
21. Where would you like to go? on a cruise, Disneyland, Europe!
22. Name three people who will complete this: You, you, and yes even you
23. Do you own slippers? Yes, I wear them more in the winter - okay I ONLY wear them in the winter!
24 What shirt are you wearing? My dirty one from yesterday, because I'm going to exercise and then take a shower.
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? No, I don't like flannel either. Give me good old cotton - and I don't care about the thread count.
26. Can you whistle? Yes
27. Favorite color? probably pink - but I'm definitely a color lover! I have every color in my closet!
28. Would you be a pirate? I don't think so.
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? I used to sing all the time in there, now I just try to get out as soon as I can.
30. Favorite Girl's Name? Uh, Sarah?
31. Favorite boy's name? Uh, Benjamin?
32. What's in your pocket right now? No pockets, I'm wearing my old paint pants and they don't have pockets!
33. Last thing that made you laugh? This morning when I was trying to dress Sarah, she was holding on to her dresser drawer and jumping and singing about jumping. She stopped and looked at me and said, "Just one more time, Kay?" And did it again. Her cute question made me laugh.
35. Worst injury you've ever had? Besides childbirth, probably when I dropped the shotput on my foot
36. Do you love where you live? I love the town, hate where our house is!37. How many TVs do you have in your house? 1
38. Do you have any pets? No way!
39. Who is your loudest friend? my kids?
40. Does someone have a crush on you? I would hope my husband still does.
41. Your favorite book(s)? Scriptures, the Twilight series, Anne of Green Gables, etc., hoping I love Jane Austen when I finally get around to reading her!
42. Where is number 34? At this point, who cares?
43. Favorite Sports Team? Don't even care.
44. What song do you want played at your funeral? Each life that touches ours for good.

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. ~Sophia Loren,

44 ODD Things about you! If you read this, feel free to share your own oddities!