Carving Pumpkins

 We had a fun time carving pumpkins for Family Home Evening.

 Carving pumpkins requires the use of power tools at our house. 

 William thought that was pretty great.

October randomness

Rachel finished her first painting in art class.  She does amazing work.

I made a rare trip to Trader Joe's (we don't have one that close and Kate's soccer game happened to be nearby the closest one) and came home with this delicious cookie and cocoa swirl butter.  Can I just say...amazing!  Sort of like melty spreadable chocolate chip cookies.  We've eaten it on bread and graham crackers, and well, just straight out of the jar.  Less than two weeks later, it is almost gone.  Yum!

This is my living room mantle right now.  I love how it is looking this time of year.  I'm also in love with the kids' new pictures.  I'll post more on that soon.

 Art and building projects with William.  He and I have a fun time together during the days. 

I went to Time Out for Women with some wonderful friends.  We had a great time!  The talks and music were so good.  And we found a fabulous crepe restaurant for lunch that was simply to die for.  The whole weekend was fun fun fun!

I took all five kids to the dentist this month--at one time.  I must say that I love our dentist here because they let me schedule all the appointments for the same time.  They have five chairs, so each child gets a chair and their own hygienist and then the dentist makes her rounds between all of them.  We have the whole place to ourselves and we are in and out if there in about an hour.  Seriously can't get much more convenient than that.  Plus, no cavities!

A blurry picture of Ben running off to his last football practice of the season.  He's sad that it is over. 

William bundled up for a stroller ride so I could go on an outside run. 

Pumpkin Patch!

 One day last week, William's preschool class went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. 

 Then that afternoon, we got the rest of the kids and went to our favorite pumpkin patch. 

We spent a glorious fall afternoon playing at Maris Farms.  We went with a few other families and had a great time hanging out with our friends.

William and his friend Porter love to be together.  They stuck side by side most all day. 

 We had so many kids with us, we filled up the whole cow train all by ourselves!

The corn room is so awesome--everyone loves to get in and play in this big room filled entirely with dry corn. 

I adore my friend Christy.  She is such a fun and playful mom. 

 The kids also loved the big giant jumping pillow. 

I don't have too many pictures of the big kids because they ran off together as soon as we got there and did their own thing.  Here's the group of kids that I stuck with for a shortened version of the corn maze.  I am so bad at corn mazes--I was glad when they were ready to be done at the first chance we could get out. 

 Go carts are always a big hit.

This picture, even though totally blurry, cracks me up since Hallie is totally kicking Ben's behind as they raced around the track.  He needs to be beaten--especially by a girl--everyone once in a while.  Go Hallie!

The weather was so beautiful, the sky so blue, and views of Mt. Rainier were so amazing that we had to take some photos.  Love this family!

 And seriously, look at those cheeks.  Cute, cute, cute!

More friends.  Love these girls!

 Cute William.

Here's the best one I got of us.  Sarah had a babysitting job, so she didn't come. 

Brooklynn, Maya, and Rachel.  These girls are the best of friends and I am so grateful Rachel has these girls as her friends.  So beautiful, inside and out.

After the pumpkin patch, lots of us went out for pizza.  It was a fun, fun day!

First World Problems

Exactly 2 weeks ago tonight our TV went kaput.  Thankfully it decided to wait to die until a half hour after General Conference was over.   We only have one TV and our TV is still new--we purchased it almost exactly two years ago.  And it was not a cheap TV.  It died a few days after the warranty expired.  We called a repairman and scheduled an appointment.  He came to assess the situation and decided we needed a new part.  A few days later the part came in and we scheduled another appointment.  He showed up over an hour early when I was gone (thankfully Grandma was in town and was home).  He installed the new part and then discovered the new part was cracked.  He ordered another new part.  I am now waiting for that new part to arrive and then we'll schedule yet another appointment.  Hopefully we can get it fixed once and for all.  In the meantime, running on the treadmill is getting rather boring.  And although the kids don't watch too much TV during the week, they've missed it a bit on the weekend.  Our netflix movie is gathering dust on the counter.  BYU football games have come and gone. 

I know it is just whining, and all just first world problems, but sometimes I get tired of managing all of our stuff.  My washing machine is dying, the oven needs repair, and I haven't used my dishwasher since Tuesday.  It hasn't been working well and I was tired of re-washing all the dirty dishes--it just seems easier to wash them by hand.  We just got the UV light and balast repaired and replaced in the septic tank.   I still need to figure out who is going to refinish our wood floor to cover a big burned spot (a whole other story).  It just seems to go on and on.

I am grateful for the life I have and the fact that we can have a nice house and live in a great town.  I'm so thankful that David works hard so I can stay home with our kids.  I am grateful we have the resources to have a TV and a washing machine and an oven and a dishwasher.  But honestly, why can't they build stuff that lasts these days?  All of these things are under five years old.  We work hard and try to buy things that will last, only to have them fall apart.  I feel like I spend way too much time finding repair people and managing appointments.  Why can't things just last?  Sometimes I just want to move to a cave.  The end.

September Recap

It's October already.  September flew by in a flurry of football practices, piano lessons, art classes, orchestra, and back to school nights.

Football is definitely a big part of our lives in the fall.  Ben practices three nights a week and then has games on Saturday.  Sometimes the games are quite a distance away, so it is an all-day affair.  But Ben loves it, and always looks forward to both practices and games.  And David loves it too, so he takes him to most things.  

Ben was super excited when he scored the first touchdown in the first game of the season.  Way to go Ben!

 Look at how much bigger that boy is than Ben.  Yikes! 

 Ben's team was the home team.  It was a great victory!

Another exciting event in September was Sarah getting her long-awaited drivers license.  We are all happy about this!  It took a bit longer than expected, but I decided it is like potty training--it works best when they are ready.  And Sarah finally was ready.  Now we are in the midst of car shopping for a third car....

Kate is playing soccer again this fall.  It has been a bit of a rough season for her since most of her teammates from last year moved up to the premier league.  We weren't ready for that kind of commitment, so that meant that Kate had to play on a different team, with all new teammates that she didn't know.  Since Kate is such a social girl, she has mostly played soccer to hang out with her friends.  Normally Kate has no trouble making friends, so a new team didn't scare her terribly, but some of the girls have been less than nice to Kate, which has made for some tears and hard times.  But she is sticking with it, and I am proud of her for how she has handled herself and treated others, even when they are unkind to her. 

 

One night we hosted 16 teenagers for appetizers as part of the progressive dinner the kids had before Sadie Hawkins dance.  They were a fun group and I enjoyed making yummy appetizers that I don't normally get a chance to fix. 

I also did a Relief Society "Back-to-School" night for an Enrichment.  All the women came and got a schedule of classes, and then rotated through 8 mini classes.  We had History (history of our town), English (journaling), PE (starting an exercise program), Science (natural cleaning products), Technology (indexing and family history), Home Ec (cooking with vegetables), Social Studies (goal setting with children), Math (statistics of online missionary work).  All the classes turned out so great and we had such great teachers!  We had a little school lunch half way through served by "lunch ladies" wearing hair nets and aprons.  They were so cute!  We decorated all the tables with school supplies.  The whole night turned out really great!

September really did fly by.  I went to four different back to school events, a parent meeting for band, a parent meeting for debate, an orchestra orientation, dealt with electricians trying to fix our septic tank who kept not showing up, an appliance repair man who told me my washer is dying and fixing it would cost more than a new one, plus the regular schedule of driving to piano lessons, flute lessons, preschool, school, orchestra, violin lessons, football practice, soccer practice, soccer skills clinic, dance class, art class, and activity days.  Also, everyone took a turn being sick.  David got put into the bishopric this month, so he has been very busy with his new calling.  He spent a week in Idaho with his mom, who spent some time in the hospital.  It has been a busy, busy month.

There were days when it was too much for me.  Days that I decided I had more kids than I could manage.  Days that we were lucky to get fed.  Days when the driving and the laundry and the cooking and the keeping track of everyone's schedule was too much for my brain.  So many days that I was very tired from waking up at 5:30 a.m. to make breakfast for the girls before seminary, and then staying up late to proofread a paper or finally getting to the dishes.  I think about how I can streamline my schedule, or what we can cut out.  I debate all the time if the kids are doing too much and what activity that should we eliminate. 

I don't know for sure if we are doing it right.  But I do know that we are so blessed.  And I love being a mom and having each one of these kids in my life.  I am lucky that I get to stay home with them and be an integral part of their daily lives.  This weekend we all sat together and watched General Conference.  It was so great to be all together and escape from the demands of our busy lives.  The talks were inspiring, and I once again feel renewed and ready to start a new week.  Life is good.  We are blessed.