Church Trunk or Treat

Ada also went to the Mult-Stake church dance.  She was a pirate.  I loved hearing how many friends from school she came across.  I love that even though most of her immediate friends are not really members, she can still find friends anytime and is not shy of church functions.

 

YW

 

We painted pumpkins for YWs.  It was so fun to see Ada get creative again.  The timing was hard.  She had 3 tests to study for, but she wanted to finish her pumpkin first.  It's so hard watching your kids have the same tendencies that you do!  Productive Procrastination is my preferred way to work.

Misc

Ada's grown into my wedding dress.  It's fun to see your kids become grown.

Nerts with family.

Sam loves new babies and I don't blame him.... They're my favorite too.  

Evelyn's activity days did face painting last week.  Evelyn and Anna did a great job.

Evelyn's ballet lesson included wearing your costume.  I think she liked wearing a sweater while dancing.

Jack's birthday party.

The kids got their grades and we headed to Krispie Kreme's for their free good grades donuts.

Evelyn and Seth had their Primary program.  It was Evelyn's last one and they both did so great.  Sam and Ada were invited to sing one of the songs with the rest of the youth. Ada had a morning shift so she couldn't, but Sam sang nice and clear.  Seth kept mimicking the music leader and leading the music.  Evelyn kept playing with her skirt.  And I can't say how much I love seeing them all sing and baring their testimonies in front of people.

We got a toy ad in the mail.  Evelyn marked all her favorites in orange and Seth marked his in blue.  I've been coming up blank for Christmas ideas so I was looking through them.  This was my favorite Seth note. "Give me panda!"

I think this was his second insistent one.

 

Fancy Ramen

After a very long day, we decided to go out for Ramen.  Everyone liked it and asked if we could do it again.

Teaching the kids to use chopsticks.

 

Jer's pictures of past events

Symphony

Jon, Mariah, Aubrey, Grandpa, Ada, Jer, Jonathan

Sam, Evelyn

Rainy soccer game

Magic night with Uncle Seth

 

Sam Braces

Sam hates things that are change and especially in his mouth.  We weren't sure if we'd even do braces with him, but his mouth is too small and his jaw might have problems when he grows up because it's short... So here we go. He needed some reminders to relax and calm down, but now that they're on he's doing pretty good and I've NEVER seen him do such a great job with brushing and flossing.  I'm very proud of that.  Good job Sam on learning personal hygiene and doing something hard. Proud of you bud!

 

Halloween

After the age of 12, our kids pay for and put together their own costumes if they want to dress up.  Sam wanted to be a mistborn and Ada was the Witch of the Waste from Howl's Moving Castle.  Evelyn was Mabel from Gravity Falls and Seth was Link.  He told me that he was going to be a cop this year, but he decided last minute to wear Sam's old Link costume instead.  Good thing I didn't buy a new costume for him, the cop costume was a present for his birthday.

Seth and Evelyn at the school Halloween parade. Seth didn't see me, but he had fun waving at everyone. This is Evelyn's last parade. My favorite costume this year was Cuzco from Emperor's New Groove.

Ada and her friends decided to dress up as the Witch of the Waste and her henchmen.  Lucas, Jimmy and Hunter didn't end up putting together a blobmen costume, but Kooper's turned out pretty good.  The only thing he couldn't find at Saver's was a yellow vest.  Ada's costume went pretty well.

Evelyn wanted to go Trick-or-treating with her friends so we met up with Orson at 6:30 and then Ian at 7:30 before meeting up with Jack and Rose at 8:30.  That is a lot more than she's ever tolerated before.  I think her feet are doing very well.  Seth was a tad aggressive knocking on doors so I had Evelyn and her friends do that part.  Seth did have fun going with everyone though.

Evelyn was Mabel, Ian was her brother Dipper, and Kate was someone from the show too...I'm not sure who.  Orson was Ratigan from the Great Mouse Detective.

 

Sam's band concert

 

Sam's favorite thing at school is band.  The loud used to overwhelm him but he loved played the flute and has learned very quickly.  This year we threw a wrench into it.  The day before his concert, he got some braces on.  Poor kid had to reteach his lips how to blow into the flute in about 5 hours. My parents were able to make it and we love sitting with them.  

Sam is the section leader, so he stood and announced the next song.

School pictures

 

I love that they sell digital only school pictures now.  So much more affordable and I get one of these cute mugs every year.  This year they all turned out pretty cute.  

Kind email from a teacher at the school

I just wanted to send a quick email and let you know that your kids were so kind to me today! I was right behind them as we came into the school today. Seth said hi to me and Evelyn told me to have the best day ever. It was so sweet! Evelyn was such a sweetheart in my homeroom class in second grade and would randomly raise her hand to say, "I love you, Miss Ray" and it made my day each time. Sometimes sixth graders feel too cool to acknowledge their second grade teachers, and not only did she acknowledge me, but she was also so uplifting and kind! I just wanted to let you know because your kids have been some of the best bucket-fillers I've ever had in my ten years of teaching!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Bybee

End of fall?

Hannah made this shirt and my kids gleefully saved it from the DI pile.

Evelyn made origami dragon heads for the daycare kids.  They and she had so much fun.

Today was the last soccer games for the fall season.  Ada and Sam had to miss theirs this morning, but it all worked out.  Ada had a work shift that no one could take and Sam still can't run for another week. Seth was a good little goalie and defender.  It was fun to watch him.  At one point, he got his goalie gloves stuck in the net and had to be untangled.  I love that he's on a team with Stephen, Jack, Dawson and Hyrum.  He's friends with each of them from different parts of his life.... they just all come together here.  Evelyn and Rose were cold and made an umbrella fort to block the rain and wind.

After soccer and chores, we went to the spanish ward's cultural night. It was fun that it was Cristina's family, Mayra came down with her family, Frederico's mom was there along with several sisters.  Evelyn and Seth even found that a couple of their friends from school go to the ward.  The world can be much smaller than we think when we reach out.  I love it!

Last night, Jer and Grandpa took Ada, Sam and Evelyn to Tchaikovsky's 5th at Utah Symphony.  The kids had fun and it's not often that you get a Grandpa-Daddy date.  Seth and I stayed home and got pizza. Then we watched a show, did scriptures and sent Seth to bed.