Halloween 2017

Halloween this year was fun, stressful, exhausting and cute! I love this holiday.  Saturday prior to Halloween we had a piano recital (which both boys ROCKED!), Mason's basketball game, and our ward's trunk or Treat. PLUS Ron got his deer that day! I let the kids pick their costumes (except April of course! Her crazy hair DEMANDED a Pebbles costumes from the Flinstones) 

The Flinstones! (cue the music!) Ron was such a good sport about dressing up even though that's really not his thing.

Callie was a princess with a beautiful Tiara. 

When I got the Halloween costume stuff out of the attic I wanted to kiss Noah when he said "I want to be a pirate again" That was easy!

Mason's favorite game right now is a card game called Mafia. He loves playing it and was set on being a member of the Mafia for Halloween. This kid cracks me up. Where does he come up with this stuff? LOL 

April was Pebbles and Goofy was Dino the dinosaur.

I may or may not have talked Jenessa into dressing her son Calvin up like Bam Bam to match April. So cute!

Best friends in animation and reality.

Trunk or Treat wore this little girl out!

One of my favorite traditions on Halloween night my mom does Mexican food at her home. The kids all loved sitting listening to my mom read them a Halloween story.

Poor Goofy was not a fan of his costume. But I thought he looked adorable.

Noah's Birthday

Noah is 9!!! This kid is obedient, honest, thoughtful (maybe contemplative is a better word. He analyzes EVERYTHING just like his dad.) he is kind, good, smart, a healthy eater (which is a big deal in a house filled with picky eaters), a peacemaker (or maybe he is just really good at dodging the drama in our crazy house.) 

Noah is super thoughtful and always writing me notes of gratitude. His prayers are really sincere and well thought out as well. I love how he is always thinking of others. Last week was fast Sunday and I was chatting with him after church and I asked what he was fasting for. He sweetly replied Donna Robinson. She's a woman in our ward whose husband died tragically in a car accident.

Noah has also been really interested in writing stories lately. He has an awesome school teacher that has asked him to be part of what she calls "Writers workshop" children in the class that are ahead get to spend extra school time composing stories and writing. She edits them and puts them together in a book. He is so proud of his work and I got to read a few of his drafts just this last week when I was helping in his class. 

He is becoming a book worm! His interest in books has peaked lately, no doubt following in his big brothers footsteps. He has started reading "The Lightning Thief" book which is crazy long probably about 350 pages long. He is constantly updating me on how far he is in the book. Calculating how many pages until he is halfway and such. The other night he took his book to Mason's Boy Scout Court of Honor which happened to be held outside. I am bummed I didn't do my usual thing and snap a picture to capture how silly Noah looked in the crowd of people reading in the dark with his book held high above his head to capture some light. It was pretty comical.

Mason's Birthday

Mason is now 11. No more Cub Scouts... sigh. He worked really hard and earned his Arrow of Light and Religious knot. Cub Scouts holds a special place in my heart. While I don't agree with how pricey it is I love that it teaches little boys honor and respect for our country and others. It gives these young men a good start at becoming honest and valuable citizens in a world filled with questionable standards and hate. 

I love this kid to the moon and back! He is energetic, kind (except when it comes to his 6yr. old sister insert eye roll), he's out going, friendly, daring, confident, loves music and singing, LOVES books, does NOT get stage fright, not a shy bone in his body, and HILARIOUS! He cracks me up constantly. I’m loving the young man he is becoming. 

I don't know where he gets his love of books (Ron and I both aren't very avid readers). I also don't know where his confidence comes from. He will try anything (except healthy food) and he is so fun to talk to. The other day he asked me if I worked on Tuesdays, I answered no and he was really excited to then let me know about his field trip that was on a Tuesday and how I can finally go! (I'm not usually ever able to go on the field trips because they are always on my work days) He makes me feel so good about being his mom. He recently participated in Battle of the Books with one of his best friends Xavier. That was really fun to watch. They did great! Only missed 2 questions!

His wit catches me off guard and cracks me up. We were playing a game at my moms house a few weeks ago. The question was "Write down something you would NEVER find in a ballroom" Everyone writes their answer down and they are then read a loud. Mason's answer was "Ron" I am seriously still dying laughing and I can't believe I didn't think of that one.

He can be really sweet (even to Callie on the rare occasion). LOL The other night she asked him if he would lay by her at bedtime because I was busy and Ron was out of town. I was pleasantly surprised when he quickly replied "sure!" Such a sweet big brother. 

I've been told by his Primary teachers that he is going to be an excellent missionary. They call him a missionary zone leader. He does give pretty good primary talks and it makes me really sad to think he's only going to be in primary for one more year. It's so much fun for me to watch and work with my kids on Sundays. I really do have the best calling being in the Primary Presidency. 

Lorna

We lost a dear friend today, Lorna Thormaelon passed away peacefully in her sleep. This woman has been Ron's next door neighbor his entire life and a Grandma next door to my kids. We just love our "Grandma Yorna". I am so lucky to have had such a kind neighbor and friend. This God fearing woman had a heart of gold, a witty tongue, was a card playing queen and could make you bust a gut laughing. My 10 yr. old took the news a little hard and was quiet and teary eyed most of the evening. We had a wonderful Family Home Evening lesson on the Plan of Salvation and the next life. It felt good to talk about where we knew Lorna was and how happy she is now with her sweetheart. 

I want to freeze time

My kids are starting to get older and I'm not sure I like it. A few weeks ago I took the kids to a movie and after it was over we decided it would be fun to ride the carousel at the mall. As we climbed the escalator and walked closer to the carousel Mason let me know he wasn't going to ride it. My heart sank, and I thought to myself "It's happening. My sweet fun filled Mason is getting too cool to do the little kid things." I bought the tickets and we started walking up, I was so relieved when he changed his mind. I've decided I'm not ready for my kids to grow up. Not yet. 

Back to School

6:30am this morning I woke up and walked out to the kitchen to find both boys all dressed and working on their chores. Actually that's a lie. I woke up to Mason telling me "Mom. April's awake and she wants you, she won't let me get her out of the crib." LOL 

We started school off right this year with Father's blessings for each kid Tuesday night. I'm so grateful and lucky to have a worthy priesthood holder in my home able and willing to do this. Last night laying by Callie in her bed we had today all planned out. She confided in me that she was a little scared to go to school tomorrow (couldn't clarify why but she just that she felt scared). So we took "the brothers" to the bus stop and I drove her separately to school and walked her to her class. So glad I was there to watch her nervously walk around the playground looking for friends and familiar faces. One by one a few of her kindergarten classmates ran up to her and gave hugs. I'm really glad I was wearing sunglasses because it made my mom-heart really happy observing these sweet reunions I even got a little teary-eyed. At lunch April and I surprised Callie (and the boys) with a visit and treat. I really enjoyed my mid-day chat with them all. Callie asked me a few more times how much longer school was. LOL Poor girl. I think this all-day school thing is going to be an adjustment.

I'm not sure what happened but between piano practicing, teeth brushing, chores and hair dos we ran out of time! I didn't get any pictures! This one by the tree is at the bus stop literally as the bus was pulling up so I plan on re-take pics on Monday morning.

Callie's teacher Mrs. Weitzman was so sweet at meet-the-teacher she let the kids know she would be holding this large flower so they could find her easily and know where to go.

She didn't even look back. Go get em Callie!