November 2010

In November we FINALLY finished painting our house. We worked on it all summer and it just took that long to get it completed. Kannon really spurred that on. I don't like to paint. I spent over a month painting the garage, a bit at a time. He went out with a spray gun and finished the major parts of the house in a few hours!

Before - I love the Anne of Green Gables deal, but I was ready for something different.

I researched color schemes from the 1920's - our house was built in 1919 - and these were the ones I picked for our house. I felt like the were still a bit modern, too. What do you think?
I took a walking field trip with Benjamin's class to the the Museum. It was a super chilly day, the wind was cold enough to hurt my ears. I led the whole group (2 first grade classes, teachers and parents) to the Museum. We did a quick 1-hour tour. The kids didn't enjoy it as much as they do when they can explore on their own. This was my group.
Taylor, Ben, Skyler and Kale

Some more fun scouting adventures. We built wooden coin banks. It's interesting, the things I learn as we go along. What works, what I can do better next time.

We also began another remodel project. We are turning a portion of our back porch into a second bathroom. Hallelujah! I can't wait til the day when I don't have to worry about getting kicked off the toilet because someone else needs to go. Or when I can lock the door during a shower. We will be taking this project a bit slower than others because we've already run out of money for it!

before

We've walled off this wall of windows. The ones on the right side are in on this picture. We are doing small ones that are just at the top. The bottom half is walled. This day was chilly and the house got pretty cold.

Today (Dec 7th ) we've got the walls up, a closet built, all the electrical run, and a sliding door installed. Next is the plumbing and floor. We have already purchase the supplies to get that far. We should be able to get the tub in, too. We bought an old claw foot tub about 4 years ago, with the plan of using it for a 2nd bathroom. We will finally get to use it, and get it off our deck!

Sarah playing school.

Thanksgiving weekend was so much fun. I had really looked forward to spending time with my family. All of my brothers and sisters were able to come. We were only missing one sister-in-law. We ate, played games, visited, ate, put together a puzzle, worked, ate, chased children, built fires, and did I mention ate? I really love my family. I'm so glad that we are more than just family, but friends, too. And that we aren't too far away from each other, that we can at least get together about once a year.

Nathan with baby Natalie and Benjamin - playing football. Well, we really just tossed the ball around a bit.

Joshua and Natalie. They enjoyed playing in the tub more than once.

Joshua would often lay down on the blanket with his new cousin, Evan. He just loves babies. He wants to love and touch them all the time. He's really very gentle with them. Creating the puzzle. We picked this one out and then stressed about it for a bit. It was one of those photomosaics. But, really we were able to get it done in about 6 hours. Levi, David and Susan.

We took a quick trip out to the flats to shoot some guns. It was very cold. We couldn't shoot too long before our fingers got really cold. Kannon, Janet, David or Nathan, Levi and Stephen.

It started spitting on us, too. Some hail, a little rain, lots of wind.

Ben got to shoot his little 22 and cousin Tyler tried it, too, for his first time.

Ben and Kannon Kannon had a rough time over Thanksgiving. He got something in his eye on Tuesday. It didn't bother him until he was sleeping that night. He worked on Wednesday, but by Thursday he could barely open his eye and both eyes were really sensitive to light. He wore his sunglasses all weekend. We went from thinking something was in it, to thinking it was scratched, and back to having something in there. So, finally by Saturday he decided to go to the ER to get it checked out. They basically did a little surgery - cutting out the tiny piece of something that was in his cornea. He felt so much better by that evening. I wish he could have enjoyed it all a bit more.

October 2010

Fallon got a lot of rain in October, the most it's seen in years for a single month. It was fun, exciting, and wet. AND I didn't have to watch for leaks in the back porch roof because Kannon and our friend, Dave, had built a slanted roof over the flat roof right before the rains came. With the rain came, moss!, new weeds, and lots of puddles. Joshua is our outdoor man. He would spend all day, every day outside if we let him. He discovered this "pool" - Twice! Needless to say, the pool got dumped and put away for the winter.

Ya know how there is a list of super-stressful life-changing events? Like a new baby, buying a house, changing jobs? Well, I'd definitely add scout leader to that list. At least for me. We've had some really fun activities, but they are so hard for me to organize and I'm still not a "fan" of boys. (I know! I've got two of them!) I am just so "girl" that I don't get them. I don't understand the joys of being rambunctious. I'm still waiting for the day when I love scouting. Everyone tells me it was one of their favorite callings.

We went bowling and that isn't stressful. But, getting the boys from the church to the alley was. And trying to quiz them all on the rules of bowling and first aid was. And then there's the getting reimbursed part. We have 3 wards combined, so I have to divide it all up and find each person in charge to give the request to.

Of course, October is the month for costumes and the kids kicked it off with a trip to the school for the Magic Night of Books. Ben was Napoleon Dynamite. Sarah was a ladybug and Joshua was a pioneer. We had fun listening to stories, eating popcorn, and buying new books.

I went to a PTO meeting and volunteered to make these picture boards. It took a lot of time and the time organization was a stress. But, they turned out great and people really enjoyed them.

Ben

Sarah

One of our ABC school days was a trip to the Pumpkin Patch. We rode the hay wagon to the patch where all the kids picked out a pumpkin from the still green field. Usually the vines are brown and the pumpkins so bright. It still hadn't frozen and the pumpkins were still connected to their vines. My keys came in handy as a makeshift pocket knife.

We then ate donuts and apple juice, all the while trying to avoid the thirsty bees. Then a quick trip over to see the chickens and goats. Joshua was in awe. He's quite the animal lover - didn't get that from us!

Sarah and her friend Lacey.

I got to finally take Sarah "school" shopping. We had a good time and only went to 2 stores. I love Target for girls clothes. We were able to do a lot of mixing and got a lot of different outfit choices. We also did a quick run into Carters. They were closing in just minutes, but had some great sales we were able to take advantage of.

Modeling for me. We didn't harvest the last of the tomatoes until November, but we had them in abundance. Joshua would eat his fill every time he went out. I'm curious to see if he is colorblind (or just a kid thing) because he would eat green tomatoes as often as the red.

Soccer ended this month. We enjoyed it to an extent. I didn't enjoy chasing Joshua. That's just a part of our life right now, but ugh, it gets old. Ben did really well. He's still improving his patience and sharing skills as well as dribbling and passing skills. He enjoyed it, and that's what is most important. He was good at waiting by the goal for his teammates to pass him the ball and then kicking it in for a goal. That's what he was best at. (giggle and wink!)

One day, coming home from school, the kids got excited about a bunch of leaves at the neighbors house. They asked the neighbor if they could rake the leaves and jump in them. Our trees don't give good jumping leaves.

Scout activity - dusting for fingerprints. We had a detective and a lady from the police station come and help with our mock crime scene - who stole the cookies? It was fun, but chaotic and, of course, a bit stressful.

We spent Halloween weekend in Elko. We went to the Nevada Day parade. It was a bit cool.

But, that didn't stop us from enjoying the outdoors. We took rides on Uncle Kreg's 4-wheeler. Went for a walk with Grandma and played in the yard with the cousins.

We dressed up. We did Alice in Wonderland. I had the idea when we were watching the Disney movie and the queen was yelling and out of control. I thought and said to the kids, "I'm just like that queen." Ben told me I wasn't exactly because I don't force them to play croquet! But, that began the idea for Halloween. We have Sarah as Alice. Adorable, I know!

Ben chose to be a card. None of the other characters appealed to him. But at least he was a trooper with the "plan".

Then we have Kannon as the Mad Hatter (and as we left for the party, and he got mad about something, Ben said, "NOW, you're the mad hatter."). And Joshua as the Cheshire Cat. I used non-washable crayola markers. But, just because they don't wash off furniture doesn't mean they will be steadfast on material. Kannon's shirt and hands were very pink by the end of the night! And since we were visiting a different ward, everyone thought he was a girl.

I was the red queen. I forgot my crown. And my scepter. I was so busy working on all the other costumes. My mom made mine - so cool. Since we wore these out of town, we can do the same costumes next year in our hometown! I'll come up with a new costume for Josh - maybe the white rabbit.

We had to leave on Sunday morning so that we could be back in time to go to our own ward. It was the kids primary program. As we were getting out of Elko (about 10 minutes in the car already) I noticed that the air in the car was getting colder. I told Kannon and he noticed that the temperature gauge was all the way in the red! We turned around at the last exit and headed over to a gas station. As soon as he turned off the burb it started smoking - which turned out to be steaming. He had meant to add some antifreeze at the homestead, but couldn't find any. Turns out he forgot to put the cap back on, so it all boiled out. We ended up adding about 2 and a half gallons of it. And we made it home without further problems.

September 2010

September, for us, was busy and fun and, for me, a lot chaotic.

We started it off with a trip to Las Vegas and Boulder City over Labor Day weekend. This is the trip that we didn't get to take on New Years because of our illnesses. We'd been looking forward to it all summer. I'm so glad that nothing kept us home this time.

We got to take Kannon's brother, Brock, and Brock's girlfriend, Emily, with us. They kept the kids entertained, well Joshua. The other 2 were in the back and did pretty good entertaining themselves. Sarah got car sick on the way down there. Uck.

We spent our first midday at Circus Circus Adventurdome. That's such a fun place for the kids. They rode all the rides, Kannon rode a few. I bought a ticket for one ride and picked the crazy roller coaster. It knocked my head around way too much and I had a good headache after that. I think I'm done with roller coasters.

Brock and Kannon competed at the strong-man contest. Brock went first and got 148. The highest, strongest, is 150. Kannon walked up, took one swing and ......Bam! He got 150 - he's the strongest man ever! I was proud to be his. He won this cool hamburger pillow. And the rights to call his brother a wimp.



Brock, who is young, single and apparently wealthy, bought us lunch (which is sooo expensive inside the Adventuredome) and paid for the kids to get their faces painted.

Brock got a Super Mario Bros. mushroom, so Ben wanted a Super Mario Bros. block with a question mark on it. "It was so cool."

After Circus Circus we stopped at the M&M store. Well, getting there was more of an ordeal than just stopping. The store is on the strip. So, there isn't any parking. You have to park somewhere else and walk. Joshua was asleep, Kannon was mad that he didn't know where to go, and it was so hot (around 108 that day). He finally stopped and he offered to stay in the car with the baby. We walked and walked. But, the store was the highlight of Brock and Emily's visit. They were pretty impressed. We all picked up some souvenirs and when we came out, Yellow was waiting for us.

It was a long hot walk back to the car and a quick drive out to Boulder City. We stayed with Kannon's aunt and the kids headed straight out to the pool. On their way back in to get their swim stuff, Sarah fell (somehow?) and cracked open the back of her head. This was a first for me as a mother. We both stayed very calm, though, and aunt Karen was very reassuring and helpful. It wasn't a big cut and it quit bleeding soon, so we didn't have to take her in. She still (a month later) tells me to be careful with her sore head. She actually hit it again a week ago. She was on the tricycle, leaning back, and it broke. She hit her head on the garage cement floor and got a good-sized goose egg.

Anyway, we enjoyed the weekend playing in the pool.

Joshua had no fear. He would just get in anywhere he wanted. Good thing we kept an eye on him. He was also very mad when we wouldn't let him out there. His sleeping was touch and go. Some nights were good, others awful. He was teething - all four molars - and had been having sleeping issues at home, too.

Ben and Sarah just had the best time.

We also got to visit Kannon's grandpa and great-grandma (she's 101!). He and Brock did some good service projects for both of them, too. We love going down there and our drive home wasn't too bad either.

Oh, so we had a week of illness after that. Joshua got sick that first night back, along with Kannon's mother who was visiting for the night. She ended up crashing on the couch all day Monday. Sarah got sick after that, and Ben had one morning of not being well. Kannon and I did okay.

Since Sarah was sick, I took Ben and his friend Reed to the Lattin Farms Family Night. We'd already bought the tickets. The boys had a great time running around, playing on the bounce house, taking a hay ride, riding the cow train, feeding the goats, . . . . .

After being couped up all week with sick kids I was looking forward to visiting my sisters family in Sacramento. Everyone had been healthy for at least 36 hours, so she and I both thought it would be okay. Apparently I was infected, though, and even though I didn't get sick, it was enough to pass the bug on to her kids after we'd left. So sorry, Nancy!

But, we enjoyed the weekend there. We left super early on Saturday morning. We stopped in Reno to catch some of the Reno Balloon Races. Here's Joshua at the beginning of that adventure.

They did some really cool early morning shows. If you live around here I highly recommend it for next year.

And here's Joshua by the time we were about to leave. Good times!

We spent the day mostly just visiting. My parents and other sister and her husband had come, too. Nancy was having her newest baby blessed on Sunday. The kids enjoyed playing together. We took them to the park that evening and then we stayed up late talking. It was pretty enjoyable. EXCEPT.....Joshua broke my camera! I had the camera in my lap when he walked up and whapped at me with a toy. The toy hit the lcd screen just right and cracked it. Since then, I bought a new screen on ebay and my brother-in-law installed it for me. So, not too many pictures available from October.

ABC School started in September, right after Labor Day. I had the A day and we did some fun stuff with apples. I made these cute cupcakes, the idea coming from a Family Fun magazine. The kids didn't care for the tootsie roll stem and leaves. Oh well.

Here are the kids balancing their apple balloons on their heads. I filled the balloons with rice (idea from Family Fun, too) and a small amount of air. They had foam leaves. But, not sure the rice was a good idea, since they all got holes and lost their air.

Sarah started ballet again, we got our teeth cleaned, and I canned peaches. Then they called me to be a cub scout den leader. Aagh! I thought I had at least 6 more months (til Ben turns 8). It's been a struggle for me. Just trying to get it organized and figure out how to run the meetings. I've got both bears and wolves in the den, so I have to try and help both groups with their achievements. Chasing after my own kids during the meetings didn't help much. My mom has volunteered to babysit for me. I also am missing my assistant. She is unavailable until football season is over, so that's been a stress, too. I'm hoping it will get easier and be more enjoyable and less stressful.