Favorite Photo from Weekend

Still going through pictures from the weekend, BUT I LOVE this one of Ash!  Love the size of her pumpkin, her hugging it, the little lit candle, her bright eyes, and Rebecca in the background busy doing hers.  I don't know why, but sometimes a picture just grabs me and I love it for all the aspects that compose it!

Costumes

Ash was something different each time she dressed up -from Batman to a Pioneer girl and others in between.  However, the last few times she was Sleeping Beauty...

Jerrica kept her Snow White costume on most of the month.  The kids would get a kick out of her falling dead when she would pretend to eat the poisonous apple.  My favorite was when Steve came home last night and she was showing him her bucket of candy from the Trunk or Treat and said, "Dad, I LOVE candy." with her big eyes gazing into her bucket.

Rebecca was a dog.  Her best friend was a cat and she thought it would be fun to be a dog to chase her friend around.  Aunt Kristy helped me come up with dog ears that we could tuck her puppy ears into.

 

Kaylee was a witch, and a smart one at that for the fact that she wore Underarmor to stay warm in.

And Nathan was a professional soccer player to some things and then this werewolf to others.  Costumes like this aren't even fun to take pictures of because you can't even see their face...

Jacob was with his dad and good friend at the night Air Force football game, so I didn't get a picture of him.  The sweetest part was how all of the kids ran their package of Dots up to Jacob's bed because they all know it's his favorite.

I have a few more Halloween pics to post, but they will have to wait...

Mr. Bones

Kaylee didn't have a playdate on Friday so I made my own play date with her.  I'm always on the look out for easy and fun sewing projects to do with my girls.  I knew this ONE from Martha Stewart would be perfect.  We had buttons on hand and whipped him out in an hour.

Of course ALL the younger sisters want "their" own Mr. Bones.  I do love working on projects with the kids.  As you sit there doing it they LOVE to talk and open up about different things going on in their lives.  Kaylee has such a funny sense of humor.  We laughed most of the time that we were making Mr. Bones

I also had Jacob use his art skills this week and cut out a tree silhouette and tombstones out of a wheat tortilla to stand in our enchiladas one night.  It's good for him to hear all the kids exclaim how talented he is with his art skills.  Of course Ashley wanted to know why we don't ALWAYS put tree on our enchiladas.  HERE is where I got the idea for that.  AND here is the picture from Katydid's site.

Leaves

LOVED all the sweet comments and emails about getting everything done.  This was definitely a week FILLED with things to do.  My brother and his wife have been here working on a job for us.  We have had plenty of Halloween "busy-ness", soccer season was drawing to a close as basketball practices started this week, and three of my kids had field trips. 

On Friday I went and enjoyed a morning of basketball with friends.  I left a little early to do a magic show for Ashley's preschool class.  I LOVED their expressions of shock and awe.  I then ran and picked the other kids up early since they had a half day.  When I got home I realized that Stephen had a web cam conference that DOES NOT mix well with six kids running around SOOOO I headed to the park to let them play in the leaves, enjoy the beautiful weather, AND to let me escape and play with my camera a little.  Of course it didn't last too long because there were practices, Jazz class and play dates to run to. 

YES, life will never slow down and I will always be trying to catch up, BUT I WILL take the time to soak in every little sweet moment that I can ...

      

AND, this last one is to show off Kaylee's new teeth without braces.  Now to make sure she wears her retainer every night....

Everything Waits for ME!

Remember when I posted this earlier in the year ... well, I've sure been feeling it again....

My scriptures lay there waiting for me to pick them up.  My fat waits for me to exercise it off, so I try and go work-out.  I come home and see that the laundry and dishes have waited for me to do them.  The house hasn't  started cleaning itself, it too has waited for me.  I look at what to make for dinner and once again it sits waiting in the pantry.  All my fun projects lie in wait for my hands to get a hold of them.  My kids wait for me to do something fun with them, my husband waits on that one too!

I feel like EVERYTHING is waiting for me.  Everything waits for me, except for TIME.  I wish that time would wait.  I wish that I could pause time here and there.  I could really get ahead if I could pause time.  Wouldn't that be awesome to pause time in the morning, get EVERYTHING done, then start time to do whatever your heart desired.

Well I better go, sleep is waiting for me now...

Seriously how do YOU get EVERYTHING done?!?!?

Denver Aquarium with Nathan

I try and do at least one field trip with each of the kids.  They go on quite a few (this was Nathan's third already this year) so its just hard to go on every one of them.  If I don't go, I DO try and send the field trip camera so that they can share what they saw and did.  I always smile as they show me a hundred pictures of their friends on the drive to the field trip and then a hundred more of each bird or each rock.  Well, yesterday I felt just like my kids.  I was taking a slew of pictures, of the fish at the aquarium.  They were just so bright and graceful that I couldn't resist!

Nathan has quite a few friends yet didn't hesitate to hang around me, or drag me over with his friends.  He is just such a sweet boy!

The aquarium was amazing.  Nathan loved the long saw fish, feeding sardines to the sting rays (I think they were sting rays, but they were probably something else since they didn't sting), and he enjoyed dissecting the squid with his class.  I just enjoyed the one on one time with him!  Can I just say again what a sweet boy he is. 

We ended the field trip with a late lunch at Park Meadows Mall food court.  It was great to have such a variety of food for everyone.  AND it was fun to visit with other moms and Nathan's friends.  I DO need to make a greater effort to go on more of their field trips than I do. 

Thanks again Nathan for letting and wanting me to come with you!

Buckets

I have LOVED Target's metal buckets.  I try and get nice baskets or buckets because it seems like there is always someone who needs a little happiness.  I got the big ones and filled them up with cookie mix, sprinkles, and frosting for Stephen's home teaching families.

Then I got six of the small pumpkin ones for each of my kids.  I enjoy doing special invites for the kids to give to them for different activities.  It gets them excited for whatever it is.  The library did a special Halloween story night.  They had one room for little kids with stories and crafts and then another for older kids 8 and up.  They tell the stories by candlelight and have a table filled with scary potions and objects that they use.  I absolutely love this one librarian that is so animated and rats her white hair up just like a witch for this special night. 

ANYWAY, I'm getting carried away ... I stuck an invite to each of the kids with instructions to meet in our van at 6:30pm in PJ's if desired and WITH their new flashlight (that I had also stuck in their buckets).  Then I had Ashley go and deliver them to each of the kids when they got home from school.

I have one other bucket for Stephen, that I need to finish up for Halloween.

Buckets are just fun!

Candy Corn

So we had the candy corn guessing game yesterday and still had a plethora of candy corn left, well Miss Jerrica just couldn't leave it alone and so this is how our day went...

"Jerrica, what do you have in your mouth and hands?"

Giggle, giggle,...

That is your LAST handful of candy corn!  I'm putting them up!

As I go out to hide them, what do I find ... her dad stealing all the chocolate covered pretzels that I had just dipped in the morning.  I guess like father like daughter!

Big Girls Halloween Party

12 girls all together doing crafts, games and dressed in costume = FUN! 

We bobbed for apples, did pumpkin bowling, and mummy wrap with toilet paper (Rebecca's friends against Kaylee's friends) they had to chose one person from their group and wrap an entire roll of toilet paper around them before the other team.

We also had a little guess how many candy corns are in the jar.  I was surprised at how excited the girls were about winning the little ghost candle from the candy corn guessing.

We did quite a few projects.  We made bat and spider barrettes.

We nailed designs into little pie pumpkins and then laced them with yarn.  You can see the tutorial HERE.  I was surprise at all the creativity the girls had with their designs.

We also made the big Hershey candy bar mummies with googley eyes.  AND Halloween chocolate molds thanks to Elaine!

It was such a fun afternoon.  I'm just sad that I was so busy that I didn't get any pictures.  I didn't ever take one with ALL the girls and am missing Sylvie in this one with Kaylee's friends, not to mention that Miss Statue of Liberty, Emma is out of focus.  Oh well, maybe next year I can get one.

A little someone quite liked the brain hat ...

Anyway, Halloween party can be checked off now!

Weekend Update

The Webb's had a fun Halloween party on Friday night.  They had a haunted house in their basement, pinata, cookie decorating station, apple bobbing, a lot of yummy food, scary stories by the campfire, and the big hit was the door prizes.  We had a blast!  Thanks for the invite Webb's!

Then Saturday was filled with soccer games.  All four of our kids that played, LOST.  Kaylee was amazing though.  After the game the other team's coach came over to us and told Kaylee that she was "an incredible soccer player"  She had other parents come up and comment on how well she did as well.  I was proud of her.

The other team would be bringing the ball down, Kaylee would stop them dead on ... (notice size difference)

  

And then she would send it back down the field to her team.  She just amazes me with her speed!

Also this week, a friend took me on a photography adventure and was so sweet to share tips and ideas with me.  She also had taken these pictures of Nathan.  Thanks again Becci!

Even though I love watching the kids play soccer ... I'm quite excited for them to start basketball this week!

Photography

I LOVE to take pictures.  They bring back memories of events, activities, emotions and so much more.  I have really enjoyed this series of photography tips by Darcy.  There is just ALWAYS something new that can be learned.  If you enjoy photography or want to learn more, go to Darcy's site HERE she really has a lot of tips and has put a lot of time into the 31 day series.  

I also LOVE Scott Kelby's books.  He is so funny and knows so much about photography and photoshop.  Here is the link for his books on Amazon -  Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Boxed Set, Volumes 1, 2, and 3

AND I must include one of my favorite pictures from this weekend.  It is my Ashley at the Webb's wonderful, family Halloween party (more to come on that).  ANYWAY, her hair looks like wild wig.  She looks almost scary, well Ash IS kinda scary!  The Webb's tree and evening sky and bag of candy in hand, add to this Halloween picture.  I just love how it captures this time of year...

Do YOU have any favorite photography sites that you like?

Nobody Passed It To ME

I have such a hard time with this mentality-

We were asking Jacob about his try-outs for basketball and he commented that no one would pass the ball to him, thus the coaches couldn't really see him in action.  I was like, "Seriously?!?!"

You don't have to HAVE the ball to play hard.  Are you boxing out so that you can get the rebound?  Are you pounding the boards TO get the rebound?  Is your defense so tough that your person CAN'T get the ball?  Are you setting picks to help teammates get open?  Are you anticipating and getting steals?  I mean seriously there are soooo many aspects to the game that you can control and concentrate on.  AND when you are doing all the things that you can control, all of a sudden you ARE getting the ball.

I see this same mentality though, in others with different situations.  I will hear that a church is just too cliquey and aren't accepting of new people.  Are they going to the various group activities and making an effort in as many ways as they can?  You CAN'T complain until YOU have given it your all.  You can't wait for others.  

Yes there are definitely things in our lives that we have no control over, yet there are plenty of other areas we CAN control.

Your mind set has to be, "I'm not being passed to - SO I'm going to do EVERYTHING else that I CAN!"

Glimpses

I have all of these random pictures that actually give a glimpse into what my kids enjoy doing...

Jerrica is still loving to sit and look through books.  Puzzles are another favorite, as well as playing outside.

 

Ashley is loving her pre-school and thinks she is all that.  She just went on a field trip to a little farm.

 

Rebecca is loving her Jazz class and is constantly devouring books.  I found this cute notebook on her desk shelf.

 

Kaylee just got her braces off and has a retainer until more of her adult teeth come in.  I need to get a picture of her with the pretty new teeth.

Nathan still goes out to his big goal any chance he gets to practice.  He keeps all his soccer balls in his room and definitely has his favorites.  He also just finished a school project of a paper mache Hairy Angler Fish for a presentation.

Jacob didn't make his Middle School basketball team and was disappointed.  He continues to draw ALL the time and is still doing an art class down at Bemis.  I found this guy sketched on his desk the other morning along with this award.

I LOVE my kids! 

I LOVE how different each of them are with their talents and hobbies.