Halloween

The kids were excited to dress up for Halloween. Aunt Sarah let us use her makeup and glitter and the girls were in heaven. There was glitter everywhere and there is still some in their hair today after several baths.

Easton's costume was probably the easiest ever and he especially loved being able to play in the dirt before we left for the Ward Halloween Party.

 

The kids had fun playing the carnival games.

They had face painting and a trunk or treat too.

Happy Birthday Sophie

Sophie turned 6 years old last Wednesday. It is crazy to think she is so big already. She was so excited her birthday was on a school day! We made her class some paper balloons with twisty straws and Sophie colored them.

When she got home we had her favorite dinner, corn-dogs and french fries...so healthy I know. She opened her present which is something she has been asking for all year whenever she sees it at Target. A Barbie with a dog that eats and poops...yikes.

We told her instead of a party this year we would do something together as a family instead, whatever she wanted. Our little 6 year old going on 16 wanted to go to the mall. They played and then Sophie wanted to go shopping at Claires. She got five dollars from her Great Grandpa Miller and couldn't wait to spend it. After a lot of thinking she finally decided on a headband.

The next night we had both Grandma and Grandpas over for birthday dinner and cake!

Grandma Clayton made her a super cute overnight bag.

Sophie also gets to go shopping with Grandma Miller. She is one happy 6 year old!

October Fun

Easton is one busy boy, constantly climbing, throwing, playing with cars, grunting, etc. He has fallen in love with the swing.

We went to the park and I put him in a baby swing and he was mad. It was all better when I put him into a regular swing. He decided the other day that he loves chewing on his feet.

And throwing rocks into water is...awesome.

A few weeks ago I was painting the girl's nails. He was clanging nail polish together which ended up breaking one and we had....well a mess.

Just a note, do not rush a nail polish covered child to the bathtub and try to wash it off. Bad idea it instantly dries. At least it was brown and blended with our carpet nicely.

We got to have a girls weekend in Idaho for Time Out for Women!! Thank you Mom Clayton!!! We had so much fun and the men did a great job tackling the children at home. There was some awesome speakers and great music. We stayed up late and just had fun together!

We have been doing some fun activities for FHE lately. Last week we made some caramel apples. The kids loved it and so did Chad and I.

We have been really slacking on the pumpkin carving the past few years. So we carved one last night. The girls wanted nothing to do with the pumpkin guts inside. Sophie pulled out one handful and then washed her hands. Lydia would not even get near it.

Easton on the other hand well....

 He would have bathed in it if we let him. He thoroughly enjoyed grossing the girls out playing with it and laughing when they would squeal. He even tasted it, but wasn't a fan. But that didn't stop him from trying it a few more times.

Kindergarten

Sophie is loving kindergarten. She is such a little teacher's pet and a social butterfly. She comes home and tells me about a new friend she has made all the time. One girl in her class she always calls her best friend. One day after school she asked me "Mom she is my best friend but I don't think she knows, should I tell her?"

I have discovered she is my mini me when it comes to school and everything has to be perfect. Homework time has been.....interesting. It is quite time consuming as she has to make every paper PERFECT. I will admit I was exactly like that when I was little...not so much anymore. But we make it through the tears when she makes mistakes and it has gotten a lot better. We had several instances where she had mastered several letter sounds at home with me but would come home with them not mastered at school. I discovered she got nervous when the teacher asked her and didn't want to get an answer wrong so she would just say "I don't know." But we were able to correct that too and she has gotten much more comfortable with testing.

They had a project in class determining what is a live and what isn't and the characteristics of each. They used gummy worms and Earth worms. Sophie was not a fan haha. All the kids in the pictures were holding the Earth worm and smiling and then there was my girl.....

They had spirit week just before break. Sophie was so excited to dress up everyday. My favorite day was swip swap day. The teachers dressed like students and students as teachers. Sophie was worried we didn't have anything for her to wear  but I think we came up with a pretty good outfit.

She fought me on the glasses and the pencil in her hair but after some convincing she wore it all and I think she looked adorable! It is funny how at such a young age kids worry about what people think of them. She was so stressed people were going to laugh at her. But I told her spirit week is like Halloween and when she came home she was happy to announce no one made fun of her and everyone thought she looked cute. 

September Fun

Chad went on a Model A Trip in Idaho with the men for a week. They ended up leaving for Idaho on his birthday so the kids and I decorated the house and celebrated the day before.

It did not take long after Chad left for Easton to start getting into things...

We had a lot of movie nights to pass the time while Dad was gone and the kids found new places to hang out on the couch.

We also experiences the great Tucson Rain Apocalypse! There was supposed to be catastrophic flooding and the city was providing free sandbags. I was a bit nervous especially when I thought our roof was leaking and it had just been drizzling all day. But luckily the storm ended up completely missing us and the roof leak ended up being condensation from our air conditioner.

Jackson came over and spent the night one night which the kids were so excited about!

They played on the swing most of the time. And Easton was like a puppy dog following him everywhere They came out with matching flip flops after playing together in the office.

We were all very glad when Chad came home.

Sophie has been on break from school and last week Grandma Clayton took the girls to dance class which they loved!!!!

They now dance around the house all of the time and put shows on for each other.

The Past Few Weeks

It has been a little cooler here in the desert the past few weeks. You know under 100 degrees. So the kids have thoroughly enjoyed playing out in the backyard. We have been fighting these insane weeds in one of our planter boxes in the backyard and Easton has loved going out and helping.

Chad made an amazing water spray feature for the kids that hooks to their swing set.

They absolutely love it. They have pretty much the coolest Dad ever.

We were able to go up to that Temple a few weeks ago with Grandma and Grandpa Clayton. The kids enjoyed playing with other kids from their ward while we went to the Temple. After we went to probably the coolest store ever, Bass Pro Shop. Seriously we could have spent all day in there. The kids didn't want to leave. They had a river that went through the center of the store full of trout.

We got there just before feeding time to so the kids were able to feed the trout. They also had a huge fish tank that we also got to see them feed.

The girls were obsessed with riding the elevator and looking out at the waterfall. And Easton acted like he had just died on gone to heaven. He didn't stop running the whole time pointing and ooooing at everything. He cried when we left of course.