Fall Fun

Halloween has always been a favorite holiday of mine. But now I'm beginning to realize that its not really Halloween I love, but the Fall season in general! I love hearing the rain fall and bundling up with my hot chocolate and book. I love the soothing colors of the trees and the smell of fire in the chimneys when you walk down the street. Rain and camp fire have to be 2 of my most favorite smells. Too bad you rarely find them together. Well, maybe its a good thing, it is a bit tricky to go camping in the rain. Fall is just exciting for me. The holidays, family visits, and potential vacations each month. Just this makes the sugar powered kids in the background seem tolerable :)

This year Kelsie's class was able to go to Impossible Acres Farm. And thanks to Mark staying home, I was able to go with her and enjoy the scenery. We also just had our wards Trunk or Treat last night. It was a ton of fun as always. And thank goodness it happened before the rain came! Brooke invited a friend to come and they had a blast together. Her Mom came as well which I was glad for. Brooke has invited her friend to church and now that they've been there, they might come "some Sunday". :) I was impressed with Brooke's invitation. Its always been hard for me to extend and invitation to anyone. So here are some pix of our little adventures...

Impossible Acres...

Kel and her friend brushing the pony
The tractor ride.they got to hold the baby chicks

And play in the hay maze

Trunk or Treat...

Becca begging for more :)Shay doing the cake walkBrooke and her friend. Kelsie, our little Southern BellePassing out the last of the candyThe BIG CRASH. Notice all the partially eaten candy...No one believes me when I say she doesn't like candy, she just likes tasting it, but never eats all of it :)

My Grandpa

My Grandpa was an artist for Disney...this is a small sample of his work...and it happens to show how I feel at times :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nDJ94sapYc

Another reason why I love 4-H

I was at a Project Leader meeting for 4-H tonight and brought Austin with me. I was asked the #1 most asked question to me "How many children do you have?". I say (head held high and a bit overly proud), "Five wonderful kids, 4 girls and this cutie." The typical response I usually get is a shocked "Really?" or a skeptical "Wow, you must be busy".
But in this group I got, "(chuckle) Aw, you're just starting out, congratulations" and "Good for you!"

Turns out the average # of kids/family in this group is 7!! Needless to say, I felt right at home. :)

RRW

This week is Red Ribbon Week for the girls school. It has been so much fun (with a good amount of stress) to be apart of this National program. We are celebrating the week with different "activities" each day. The kids that participate are able to put their names in a raffle for items that were donated by local businesses. Today was "Turn Your Back on Drugs" day so the kids wore their clothes backwards. The prizes were one $25 gift cert. to The Redbarn Nursery and one $25 gift cert. to The Paint Chip (a craft/artist supply store). Mrs. Tyzzer, the principal, drew the names and Brooke actually won the cert to The Paint Chip! What luck! She is so excited. :) On Wed. it will be "Hugs Not Drugs" day (bring a stuffed animal to school), Thurs. is "Team Up Against Drugs" (wear sports jersey) and Fri. is "Wear Red". The prizes are pretty neat too...some books, bike locks and 2 gift certs. to Rocknasium (a place where you can do indoor rock climbing). Yesterday we had an assembly for the 3rd-6th graders. Officer Doroshov from the DPD came and talked with the kids about respect, bullying, and drugs. It was pretty funny with the 3rd graders, all they cared about was his gun and if he shot anyone and if he's arrested gang members in L.A. :) But the 5-6 graders had some great questions and they had a really informative (and age appropriate) discussion.

KelsieBeccaBrooke was able to get her friend to come help paint posters with her mom. Thank goodness someone was able to help :)
Brooke and her friend
This is looking from Birch Lane across Covell Blvb. where the bike path is.Officer Doroshov talking with the 5th and 6th graders...then the 3rd and 4th graders

Silly Mommy, Sharing is against the rules...

I was at the girls school today putting RRW stuff in teachers boxes and who should walk in? Kelsie and her good friend of course! After asking her why she was there she said it was because they were sharing. Uhhh...What? Apparently they were sharing their lunch like always but got caught this time lol. After a short and somewhat humerous talk with the office staff, they finished their lunch and went out to play :) Now I bet Kel will use that to her advantage >< "I can't share with my sisters Mom, or I'll get sent to the principals office".

Owls

Behind our apartment is a golf course and behind that is a dirt and gravel path that people like to walk/run/bike on. There are also man-made mounds that ground owls live in. Every once in a while we like to take the kids back there to see the owls and just get out. We were out a little to early to see them this time (they come out around dusk), but it was still a good ride :)

It is an awesome workout on bikes with trailers in tow for those who are up to the challenge. (It starts on Pole Line and wraps around and comes out on Covell) If you're up for it, give me a call and we'll trek it together!

Doh..

Now that we have TV our rule for Sundays is that they can only watch educational shows (cooking, National Geo., Discovery, History channel, and of course church videos)

"Ancient Ink" was the first show we found. Brooke, being the one that loves to draw, was excited about this one. Turns out they were talking about the history of tattooing lol. The next show we found was all about Columbus...apparently he wasn't such a great guy and this show wasn't afraid to tell you. We ended up watching Venus Fly Traps eat bugs...never thought feeding a plant could be so graphic. Aw well...

Austin at 2 months

He is just too cute for words. I wanted to get a video up here, but its not working yet :)

Kelsie's soccer game

She has a great team this year. Because she's in U8, she is the youngest on the team (all the other girls are turning 8 this school year). But she is still covering the field and learning awesome moves from the other players. The pics aren't great, but aw well....I just like the clouds in this picture :)

Cleaning out the camera...

Where there's a will, there's a way...With out my double trailer and both girls now riding bikes, exercise would be near impossible (and I have to bike at least 2 hours a week to support my Dr. Pepper addiction) ;)
Becca and Shayna
Austin looking all cozy
Shayna and Courtney the fish on the 1st day of preschool

Anyone up for a laundry folding party??
or maybe you prefer cleaning up toys...its amazing that someone so cute and little can make such a big mess :)One big ol' grape

playing "chubby bunny" with huge grapes probably wasn't the best idea ;)The roses Mark gave me for our anniversary (and the table and chairs he got me when I was in the hospital with Austin) I love how he spoils me :)