November 2015

Here we are at the end of 2015 - thanks to my Dad for snapping the picture

 

 

 

 

  

First part of November all 7 of us + my parents went & got the midpoint ultrasound at the hospital & came away with some exciting news - especially for Miss Emma Lou!  As you can see from the picture she is beyond excited to be getting a little sister!  She held my hand while I was laying on the chair & kept saying 'my dreams have come true'.  She later confided that she had been praying the baby would be a girl.  I didn't know that prior so I was very grateful Heavenly Father answered her prayers :)  We are looking forward to meeting baby girl in a few months.

 

 

Halloween 2016 came a little early for a few of us.  We have already decided to go with Star Wars theme next year so I took advantage of some post - Halloween sales on Amazon & got the 3 oldest boys their outfits.  Not pictured is Hunter's Bobba Fett costume. 

Making homemade pizzas

Dallen & I did preschool for the first time at our house for the month of November.  We were lucky to have the month of Thanksgiving & were able to do some fun thankful/turkey projects & most importantly have a snack feast.

The elk really like our yard.

 

Rocking out to some tunes

 

My wedding ring was missing for about 4 months.  I couldn't find it after we got home from our trip to CA this summer.  I always put it in one of two places but it wasn't there or anywhere else I could think of.  Jeremy was packing for a work trip & found it at the bottom of his toiletries bucket.  Whew!  I'm so grateful to have it on my finger again.  It's the second time I've lost it in 11+ years of marriage.  Last time was about 5 years ago & my friend found it in our backyard in the grass.  Weird!

 

 

The kindergartners participate in a Thanksgiving play every year.  Emma & Justy did great - they had little parts, sang a couple songs & take turns telling something they are thankful for.  I love that our school focuses on Thanksgiving!

The school also does a 1 mile turkey trot run right before Thanksgiving to help raise money for the school.  Hunter came in fastest boy in 2nd grade & won a trophy.  He was so excited & has been sleeping with it in his bed every night since :)

Waiting for the turkey trot prizes to be distributed

 

We had a fun Thanksgiving weekend.  We filled our thankful tree as full as it could get although there were a lot of repetitious thankful's that's ok though right?  I think there were 5 'cozy bed's in there.  We enjoyed Thanksgiving afternoon & dinner with our friends the Jenks.

 

 

The day after Thanksgiving we spent the day decorating & watching the new Shaun the Sheep movie.  I have always wanted stairs like this to wrap garland around - it's so pretty!!

 

  

That night we went to the Seaside parade/tree lighting ceremony.  We haven't been able to go before because of sickness or storms so this year we were super excited to go.  (At least I was!) The parade was first, then Christmas caroling, tree lighting, seeing Santa (which my kids could care less about), free cookies & hot chocolate & then home.  We got there 10 minutes before it started & it took 5 minutes to get to our car.  I love small town living!!!  I told the kids if we lived in a big city that activity would take hours.  Hours to find parking & walk to the parade & you'd want to get there way before to make sure of a spot to watch the parade & then you'd be stuck in traffic getting away.  We may have ghetto parades - mostly pick up trucks with lights dangling from it but I love it & wouldn't trade it for anything fancier.

 

 

 

 

Saturday was beautiful & sunny so we took advantage & did some beachcombing.  We have not been to the beach all together since August because by then morning sickness had set in & then by the time I was feeling better I think we were so out of the habit & it started raining a lot more.  It was so refreshing!

October 2015

Random photo's first this month.

Bedtime dance moves

 

On the left is one of Hyrum's mini essays for school.  The question was something like if you had a million dollars what would you do with it.  Hyrum didn't talk about all the things he could buy with it he talked about traveling (like going down the Amazon River), he would pay for college, pay for a job, have a family, pay bills, get insurance, buy a house etc.  What a guy!!!  Seriously what 9 year boy thinks like that?  Maybe he's heard Jeremy & I talk about money too much :)

On the right is a spelling test for Hunter.  He struggles with spelling but this year he has worked so hard & he is doing so well!!!!  It is a really big deal for him to get a 100% on a test & it's already happened a few times this year.  I'm very proud of him.

We've had some unusually gorgeous sunrises lately

 

One day the kids had a Friday off so we went into Portland & hung out at the Nature preserve/center in Hillsboro, then went to our favorite pumpkin patch.  We also did a quick stop at Target - it really is a good idea there is not a Target in Astoria.  We went a little crazy.  But my favorite purchase was Jeremy's Chewbacca suit.  We just couldn't pass it up because we were already planning to do Star Wars for next Halloween.  One costume done - check!

I love it when the kids all play together.  It doesn't happen all the time but at least a few times a week.  It may look like they were fighting but they were actually having a great time.

 

Dallen has had lots of quality time with his friend Tommy.  They have preschool together & his Mom & I swap babysitting every week so we can volunteer in our older kids classes at school.  I'm so grateful he has a friend he gets along with so well.

Dallen wanted to draw some Star Wars pictures for his friend Jaron in Idaho.  This was my favorite one that he did that day.

General Conference!  How I love these weekends.  A time to relax, be together, eat good food, have fun with activities, & most importantly be uplifted & renewed by our prophet, apostles & other leaders.  The kids all did great for the most part listening & doing their workbooks.  We spent a lot of time between sessions decorating for Halloween & getting excited for that holiday.

 

 

Halloween!  I know it won't always be this way but so far we have really lucked out that the kids seem to love the same things which makes theme Halloween costumes possible.  I love it!  So we were the mostly short Ninja warrior family this year.  Very intimidating I know.

We had a friend party one weekend & then our ward chili cornbread dinner/trick or treating in the building (because of the rain) plus some games like a cake walk was on Halloween day.  We thought about trick or treating afterwards but decided on going home to pop popcorn & watch Alvin & the Chipmunks meet the Wolf Man.  Great decision!