Fall is in the air...

Love this time of year, but I can't lie.  Always in the back of my mind is the thought that winter will be here soon though.  But I will try to enjoy it the most I can.  Lots of great things that come with fall are in the air, like...

 

Cooler weather!  But it's still warm enough to be outside, so we have to enjoy it while we ccan so we've been outside a lot.  Last Sunday, we had a potato gun fight!  We got Dave these guns for his birthday and had a fun time with them!

 

Ready

Aim

Fire!

Dave shot Lucy in the arm (it doesn't hurt) and she kept rubbing her arm and gave him this face.  :)

We had a great time!  I always love just playing with my family, it seems to melt all of my cares away!

Fall means getting back into the swing of things and getting on the ball when it comes to routines, and for Dave & I working out better again and eating right.  Dave just signed up for personal training sessions and is drinking green stuff from our blender.   

 

Lucy and Cal decided to do some yoga one morning!  So cute!  They were getting fancy with their moves!

 

Downward dog.

Beefing up before hibernation.  Lucy always falls asleep when she's eating.  I love how her foot is up on the table!

 

The smell of animals is in the air, because one of our traditions in the fall is to go to the fair each year!  We loved it!

 

We went to watch the mutton busting.  Emma really wanted to do it and was determined she'd win this year.  But, the weight limit was 60 lbs., and Em weighed in at 62 (if she took off her cowgirl boots I'm sure she'd be under that)!  Cal really wanted to do "mustin buttin" too, until it was time to sign up and then he chickened out, which was okay.  But we still enjoyed watching the other kids!

We got to see more animals this year.  Cal especially liked the bunnies!

Lucy "mooo"ing!

They all loved this bunny.  The picture doesn't do justice.  It was huge and hairy!  It's name was Teddy Bear. 

Petting the bunny.

They also had some unusal animals at the fair this year, like a CAMEL!



And a baby zebra, it was just three weeks old and adorable!

And they also got to pet a tortoise!

The bleating of the goats was someting that ours tried to mimic and they sounded pretty good!

Emma loved the little baby goats and would talk to them.  It was cute!

Photo-op time!  I like how Cal is the cake Emma's serving up!

Lucy the scarecrow

Ziggy came over to give the kids a treat!  Lucy gladly took candy from the stranger, but quickly ran the other way after she had it in her hand.

The kids thought it was great they could mingle with Ziggy!  Yeaaaahhh Ziggy!

 

We told the kids they could pick two things to do.  Cal really wanted to do the giant slide, but he was too short, so they looked for something else to do.

In a few years, Lucy!

They decided on some spinning bears for their first ride.

They wanted the blue polar bear one...whee!  We got that thing spinning pretty fast!

Then, for their second thing, Cal chose a bouncy house and slide and daddy took Emma to go play a game.  She wanted to do the fish game so she could win a fish.  She didn't get any of the balls inside of the glasses, but the lady gave her one anyways.  "Mom!" she came running back with Daddy with a gold fish in hand, "I got a fish!  I didn't get any of the balls in, but the lady felt bad for me because I was a kid so she gave me one.  Good thing Daddy didn't do it for me because she wouldn't feel bad for him and wouldn't have given him a fish!" 

Emma named her fish Goldie.  Here comes pet number 2 for our fam.  Let's see how long we can keep her alive!

We also went to the Styx concert at the fair.  This was my second time seeing Styx, and the kids second concert (which Emma corrected me, I was thinking it was their first but Em reminded me that they have seen Ryan Shupe & the Rubberband before and been to tons of my band concerts).  It rocked!  We had so much fun dancing and singing along!  It was so loud and crowded where we were though, so we went to the side, where the sound was perfect and we had lots of room to dance and wiggle around!

On our way out of the concert, a group of college-age looking kids said "That's awesome!" and "You have no idea what you just did for your kids in introducing them to such great music!"  when they saw we had our three kiddos in tow.  Then we talked a little as we were shuffling out of the arena how our kids love classic rock like KISS and Journey and other greats!  They thought that was pretty cool.  Yep, we have some pretty cultured kids and only want them to listen to the best.  Since the concert, the kids have been listening to and singing "Mr. Roboto" non-stop.  My favorite they did was "Come Sail Away" and they did a medley of some popular classic rock songs from other artists, which was cool. 

 

School is back in the air!  Emma is getting used to it more now and we started our neighborhood Preschool Playgroup this week!  Cal loved it!  We did an "All About Me/ABC's Day" and I taught the first one.  We had them all bring bags of stuff about themselves so they could get to know each other.  Cal brought a "David" book by David Shannon, a picture of him and cousin Kaison, truck, 4-Wheeler, motorcycle, and a football, of course!  Then we sang "BIngo", but instead of Bingo, we did "There is a (boy or girl) that we all know" and then spell out each child's name so we could learn each other's names better.

Snack time!  We had alphabet cookies and spelled their names out with them.  We sang the "ABC's" and then we played Pin the Worm on the Apple. 

 

 

We made "All About Me" books and would color and fill in a page and then do an activity coordinating with that page.  We talked and did activities about and with each person's eyes, hair color, where they live, etc.  For example, we weighed and measured them and then were going to have them line up by weight and height in order, but that never happened. 

Outside, we played a few games.  We had numbers on the ground with 1-4 and they had to run to the number they were.  Then we counted each group for our math.  We read "I can do it!" and talked about things we could do and did the actions along with the book. 

2012 Preschool Playgroup friends - Cal, Easton, Lucy, Spencer, Lily and Marcus

 

Randomness is in the air, but then again, it always is with us.  The kids just love taking pictures of each other.  Here are a few of Lucy...

And here's a pic of Cal, what a goof ball!  This was right after he said "I love you, Mommy!"  Sweet!

Giving is in the air!  We were able to volunteer yesterday for the 2nd Harvest Food Drive.  We were in charge of our area and gave assignments out and collected them, kept records, distributed treats to the other volunteers and then also later on were able to go out and ask for food donations ourselves.  It was a great time, even the kids enjoyed it!

Music is in the air!  One of the kids took a pic of me practicing my flute, I had to play a special musical number at church and I like when they ask me so I have an excuse to practice!

 

And smoke is in the air!  So we probably had one of the most interesting days I remember to date at church today.  We started hearing weird noises and then we start seeing smoke coming from the ceiling.  It smelled awful and was getting very smoky!  The speaker went on like nothing had happened (maybe he was too nervous and was too into his talk) but men were getting up, opening windows, checking out the mechanical and electrical wiring at the church, shutting things off, etc.  I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but as I said, I was playing a special musical number and they called me up after he was done speaking.  I went up and played "All Creatures of our God and King" and now I can say I've played my flute in the smoke.  Holy smokes!  (Hardee har har)  But then the last speaker got up for a few minutes and then the Bishop came and dismissed us all and told us to quickly get out.  Right when the closing prayer was being said, we heard fire engines coming down the street.  Three came!  The kids were all excited and thought it was pretty cool.  It was an electrical malfunction I guess that needed to be fixed.  But it was quite a Sunday!

 

Just one of those days...

This past week, I had one of those days.  You know, those days you feel stressed, overwhelmed, impatient, short-tempered and inadequate, and feel that everything is going wrong!  Actually it was more like my week.  I had so much on my plate between church callings, helping Dave with applying for fellowships, visiting teaching, getting our neighborhood preschool going, doing playgroup, starting up some new piano students, being a wife and mom.  And there was one day where all of these things came to a head.  Everything was so crazy I had no time at all to sit down and breathe, it felt.  And since my kids know what a crazy day I was having, they decided to make it even better for me, ha ha!

Cal was coloring all over the table, and all over himself (like the blue hair?).  I was so mad!  He also kept doing things to just push my buttons all day!

Lucy kept dumping everything out!  She dumped pretzels were all over and she thought it would be fun to scatter them everywhere.  And not just here in the corner...ev-ery-where!  That wasn't the only mess either.  It seemed like our house was a war zone that day.  She also kept trying to eat things she shouldn't.  "Uh oh!"

Emma is usually really good about cleaning up after herself, but not this day, of course.  She pulled out just about every toy we owned and they were all over!  And she was super emotional and whiney (does first grade do that to you?  I've talked to some other moms in Emma's class and they've said the same thing). 

At one point, I had to run downstairs and out into the garage (where they can't open the door because it has a child safety lock on it) by myself for a few minutes to breathe deeply so I wouldn't blow up because I felt like I was going to!  I sometimes feel like I'm pulled in so many directions and it's so hard to balance my time where it needs to be.  Obviously, family is first for me, and I try to give them the most time possible.  But the other things I do aren't really options either, because they are for the benefit of my family.  It's so difficult to balance life sometimes.  Kudos to working moms, because I'm home and I can't even do it sometimes.  I felt I needed to keep my act together though.  So I got calmed and collected and went back and patiently dealt with them (after I yelled at them earlier). 

When Dave came home, he brought pizza home for dinner, which I was so grateful for, because cooking and making another mess was the last thing on my list of things to do.  Then he took over playing foosball and reading to the kids so I could get to the store to get some things on our list (like diapers and a few food items, so exciting, I know), a little retail therapy and then to make copies and laminate some things.  It was so nice to finally have a few moments to myself!  And then when I got home and they were in bed, I was oh, so much better!  Thank you, babe!  Sometimes the best time of the day is bed time.  And then when you wake up the next morning, it's a new day, the world is new again, and everybody (well, mostly) is happy again and you're ready to conquer life and feel like you have better control and love your children again. 

A few Sundays ago, I taught the lesson in Relief Society.  I had to keep telling myself this quote that I loved from the lesson:

“Hold your heads high, you wives, mothers, homemakers.  You engender life and enrich it.  Don’t trade that pervasive force for fleeting, surface trinkets.  Cherish it, enlarge it, magnify it.  You hold a mighty office."  
                                                                                                                                                                               - Barbara B. Smith, past Relief Society General President. 

 

"Gotta keep your head up!"  That's what I had to keep saying over and over to myself.  It's not easy, but I've got to do my best so future generations will call my name blessed.  Ha ha!  Or just look at these pictures and laugh at what an un-fit mother I am!  :)  

Emma's 1st Day of 1st Grade

First day of school, always so exciting!  Last night, we had an FHE where we talked about school a little bit, and how to get along with classmates, read "'Twas the Night Before Kindergarten" (but we changed it to 1st grade) and played Back to School Bingo, and then Dave gave her a father's blessing.  That was great! 

 

Emma, not a morning person, even woke up willingly today! 

 

We had face pancakes for breakfast and orange julius which was Emma's request.  

Last year, kindergartner and this year, first grade girl!  What a difference a year makes!

Emma enjoyed shopping for some school clothes and school supplies and she picked out her back-to-school outfit.  She sported a cute pink vest t-shirt from Fred Meyer, some jeggings from Children's place and her new Hello Kitty ballet flats!  She looked so adorable and grown up!

Getting ready to go...a little nervous, a little exited!



Getting in line for Mrs. Olson's class.  She seems really great, we're excited!

While we were waiting for her teacher to come out, Cal just rushed up and gave Emma two big hugs as if he didn't want to let go!  It was sweet!  I couldn't get the camera out in time to capture that, but I got him holding her hand.  We will miss her during the day!  Cal especially misses his favorite playmate.  I guess I'm just not as fun to play with, though I tried giving him some fun one-on-one time.

So off she went, to school for the full-day!  And how did she do?  She really liked it!  Her best school friend, Brooklyn, was in her class.  So we were grateful for that!  They're two peas in a pod!  After school, she told us all about it.  Her favorite part?  Lunch & recess!  Typical kid!  :) 

For after-school snacks, I made this candy filled pencil that had bubble gum and Hershey kisses in it.  Then we made some peanut butter kiss cookies.  First day of school, the only day I make an after-school snack that yummy!  The rest of the year, it's like cheese and crackers, or fruit or veggies and dip or something simple like that. 

 As if the day wasn't good enough, we had some more fun!  She got a birthday package from Aunt Amy & Uncle Kolby!  She got an adorable shirt, a John Deere camera, some necklaces, balloons, and candy.  Thanks, guys!  :)  She was so excited!

Since it was such a nice day, we had fun in the backyard on the slip n' slide with all the neighbors.  Whee...it was a blast!  I got pretty wet myself!!  The best part was hearing the kids cheer each other on and all giggling as the others went down the slide! 

Where's the Lucy? 

 

There she is!

Then we went in for chicken pot pie, which is Emma's favorite again (geez, you would think it was her birthday all over again!  I make it a point to make the first day fun though)!  And then we talked about her day and went through all of the paper work.  Here's the picture she drew of herself today!  What a sweetie!  It's wierd not having her here during the day, we miss her!  But I better get used to it because it's going to be like this for a long, long time!  Here's to a great school year!