A Bed!

I was so tired last night. I have to add a warm bed to my gratitude list!

Trunk or Treat

All the kids are off of school for today and tomorrow (fall break), so our house has been the zoo. There was lots to do today, and not enough hours to do it all. But, then again, that's always the case.

My biggest accomplishment today was removing all of the summer clothes from their shelves. I've been meaning to get around to it, but just haven't had the time. When Ben and Rachel both dressed in shorts (it's been extra warm the last couple of days... in the 50s!) I knew all the shorts had to go.

Ruth had a lot of fun painting her "Ruthbot" costume. Since tonight was Trunk or Treat, we decided that we ought to get around to finishing her costume. We cut it out mid-September when she started walking around with the box on her head saying, "I am a robot." We quickly put the eye hole in for her when she walked into the walls.


After baths, Mr. Moroni wanted to play with Mommy. I keep noticing how long his hair is getting. Those curls certainly are getting wild! I'm sure it's time for a hair cut, but I'm not in a hurry.

This evening was Trunk or Treat and everyone got to try out their costumes. What fun!

Our Little Pumpkin!

Our Ruthbot!

"I'm half Pilot/Half Pirate!"
(Go ahead, say it out loud.)

Sneaky Ninja!

What a Tiger!

Our little Devil!

Swoop Bunny, Bunny!

What a Grim Reaper!

Orthodonti$t

We got word about a week ago that Jo$eph would be needing brace$. With that looming over our head$ we were worried that Rebekah would be $uffering the $ame fate. Today, Rebekah had her appointment and the news was quite the opposite. Not only was the headgear/bite plate combo working, but she could cut back on the wearing of her bite plate to 12 hours a day! Woo Hoo!

Chocolate

My mother told me that she was grateful for skin that could be washed. "Isn't it great that we don't have to dry clean our skin?" Of course, I laughed. But after thinking about this picture with Moroni, I'd have to agree.

Ruth tried to make her own hot chocolate and Moroni of course, sampled everything as well. After we bathed him, his hair still smelled like a cup of hot chocolate!

I'm also grateful to Daddies who rough house with their kids. Both mine and my kids' daddy.

Wonderful WIVA

Today we got up early (before the bus) and left for state testing. My kids really like going to the testing site and taking the state tests. I know. Weird.

This made me realize that there is even more to be thankful for. I am thankful for the wonderful school, Wisconsin Virtual Academy (WIVA), that my children have an opportunity to attend. I am thankful for each teacher that touches my children's lives. I am thankful for the opportunity I have to learn about each of my children and to become intimately familiar with their education. I am thankful for the internet and the opportunities it provides us.

What a wonderful thing the mind is and the amazing things we can learn.

Family Fun

This weekend has been stake conference. One of our challenges was to be grateful for something new everyday. This could be a great way to write about it!

One thing I'm grateful for is my Savior. I am grateful for the atonement, for the opportunity to overcome death and sin. I am grateful for eternal life and eternal families. I am grateful for a wonderful spouse who completes me. I am grateful for the wonderful children that have been sent to our family. I am grateful for the love that my children show me. I am so blessed!


After church today didn't start off so well. It seemed as if some of the children were just plain cantankerous and arguing with everyone. However, after some quiet time, they all gathered spontaneously at the table for a game. It was such a blessed sight to see six of them gathered together for a game and having fun with each other(Moroni and Ruth were with Robert).

Robert had been fighting with a computer virus and I dragged him in just to soak in the wonderful sight of our children all happy together. It's just one of those parent moments. We both were developing headaches and they were playing Pit (very loud confusion). We didn't want to tell them to put it away since they were having a lot of fun, so we popped some ibuprofen and joined in the craziness. Moroni, Ruth and Sam played with the potato heads while we joked around the table.

Grandpa moment: Ben at one point collected one of everything just to watch us all go crazy, but Daddy got the blame! Who'd have thunk Ben would be so devious.

We also got our first snowfall of the year. Ruth ran everywhere saying, "It's no (snow) time!" She put on her 'no boots' and insisted on walking in it. It's just a light dusting, but with the chill in the air, it's enough to give us a taste of what might lie ahead. I'm thankful for warm houses.

Pumpkin Pie

Ruth and I had fun making a pumpkin pie.

Mmmmmm. Lotion

This one's for you, Phil.

I was checking schoolwork in on the computer and Moroni comes toddling into the kitchen. I look and he has something blue all over him (mostly around his mouth). I pick him up and smell it. Wouldn't you know... he's been sampling the lotion. I knew I had to get a picture of it for my brother.

Later, however, when I walked into my bathroom, there was pink and blue smeared everywhere. Ruth and Moroni had had fun with 2 full bottles of lotion. Maybe I should have gotten a picture of it, but I was busy cleaning up.

Later on that evening I walked into the bathroom barefoot and the floor felt so soft and smooth!

Boogie Woogie Halloween

My father-in-law got us this singing pumpkin a few years ago for Halloween. My children love it. This year it is a favorite of Ruth and Moroni. They carry it everywhere and Ruth even dances and sings with it.

Life Science

Rebekah has been working with taxonomy in life science. This was one of the projects/lessons she had to do. She was so proud of it when she was done that she had to take a picture of it.

Throw the Baby Out

No we're not getting rid of the baby. "Mr. Moni" just likes climbing into everything. It doesn't matter if it's the trash can, the dishwasher, or a laundry basket sitting on its side.

Fall Fun

On Friday we went to the pumpkin patch. It was raining so the hayride to pick your own pumpkin wasn't available but Rachel, Ben, Sam and Ruth went with Daddy through the corn maze. It's all fun and games till Daddy slips in the mud and is all brown!

The older kids went with me to pick a peck of apples. We went home and made Apple Crisp. Oooh how yummy.

Today we went back to the patch (it was sunny) and took the hay-ride out to the patch. We were going to pair up to create our pumpkins, but everyone ended up getting their own anyway ('cept Joseph who elected to stay home - he'll help Sam carve and Moroni, who'll help everyone carve).

Cranberries

It was Robert's flex day. We scheduled a tour of the cranberry marsh in Wisconsin Rapids. It was almost a three hour drive up there, but it was a lot of fun watching them harvest the cranberries. Rebekah's favorite part was when we got to walk in the dry cranberry bed.

After the tour we stopped at a Pizza Hut for their lunch buffet. The kids were so excited to be able to eat *in* the restaurant. We all learned a pretty important lesson. The root beer we ordered cost almost as much as the pizza at $16. Ouch! When we got home we went to the store and purchased $16 in root beer and had a taste testing contest to find out which one we liked better: A&W, Mug, or the no-name. A&W won out, but some of us really like the no-name. We even had plenty of 2-liters and cans left over ($16 buys a lot of root beer).

The kids decided that next time we would just get water and then they could all use the money they saved to purchase their own 2-liter of soda. What smarties they are.

Candy

I walked into the kitchen and Ruth had her pink boot on the stove. Seems harmless enough at first, right? Well I discovered that she was stuffing candy into it and running off to go eat! The little sneak!