October begins

Abbie and Spencer got a package in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa in Missouri.  They opened it before we started watching General Conference.  There was a model rocket for Spencer and leather kits for Abbie.  They were both in heaven.  While we listened to the first Saturday session, Abbie started on a leather pouch to hold her pocket knife from Mark.  (That’s the present she choose to open on her birthday.  And boy was she surprised and happy.  Mark and I had a fun time picking it out for her.)

Feeding Isaac is sure fun. Megan had a sleepover during conference weekend.  And the girls all helped make crescent rolls for our birthday dinner for Abbie. Mark was the most excited of all because we got to try out our wood burning stove for the first time.Abbie didn’t want cake this year.  Instead she picked cinnamon rolls.  So I doodled some little flowers on the top to make them a little more festive.  I am loving these fun birthday candles the Albertson’s got me for my birthday.This is how Neil eats his cinnamon roll, or cupcake, or cookies or anything with frosting on it really.So fun to have all the family over!Abbie got a baseball mitt from Ken’s parents, a whisk microphone from the Albertson’s for jamming out in the kitchen, a BYU hat (which Neil promptly snatched) and a nerf gun (so she can join in the fun too).  It was a fabulous night.  Happy Birthday sweet Abbie.After Neil and Isaac’s bath I set them on my bed to dry them off the get them dressed and the perfect light was coming in through my bedroom window -- I just had to get the camera.  I think this is one of the best pictures I’ve taken all year.  It was my computer desktop background picture for months after.For Halloween this year Megan and Jessie decided to be old ladies.  Grandma May and Grandma Ruthie to be exact.  Ramona let them have some of Grandma Jennie’s old wigs and they were in heaven.  When Jessie brought her wig home she thought it would be funny to sit in the car with it on her head and her shirt pulled up around it.  It was pretty funny and when we stopped at the grocery store on the way home she opted to stay in the car while I went so she could share her creativity with more people.  The really funny part is that some of the kids stayed in the car with her and then tried to open the doors to get out, but I had locked the doors with my remote and that set off the car alarm.  So here they are in the parking lot with a manikin head in the front window and the car alarm going off.  Quite the sight I would guess.Renee and Grandma Woodward came and spent the night with us on their way down to visit Chuck and his family.  Neil was up before me and they looked though our family scrapbooks together until I came down stairs.  Unfortunately there weren’t any pictures of Neil in the scrapbooks.  :-(  The kids LOVED having them here and showed off in only the way kids can.  We had pancakes for breakfast with them before they left.  And yes that is Neil in a dress and Grandma Ruthie showed up too!Kyle’s been helping us restain our deck and boy does it look nice.  He got the last coat on just in time to test it out with the rain.Neil was up early on Saturday morning with Ken and I while I got ready for Activity Days.  We were having a lesson on leading music and I was making number sugar cookies so we could use them to make time signatures.  Neil was constantly asking for snitches even though he hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet.We borrowed Ken’s parent’s juicer and picked grapes this weekend.  WOW do we have a lot of grapes and some we even missed some of them that had already started drying out.  We ended up making about 5 gallons of grapes juice and boy was it delicious.  I couldn’t decide if I liked it better plain, or 1/2 an 1/2 with Sprite.

We juiced for hours on Saturday and didn’t finish so after church we juiced a little more.  On Saturday the kids were fabulous helpers and so after dinner (which Rachel made for us – pumpkin pancakes, I think) we went to the mall in Provo to Sub Zero to use the kids reading coupons.  It was so fun!  Mark was totally enthralled and told us that his first job was going to be at Sub Zero – making ice cream with liquid nitrogen.

Sunday evening we had a family dinner with all our family and the Albertson’s who are family too.  Everyone brought soup and I made breadsticks.  And we got to share the fruits of our labors….well the juice of our labors. :-)!

Neil still thinks the pack-n-play is technically his bed, but he is sharing it with Isaac.  Sometimes the sharing is quite literal and I just pray he doesn’t squash Isaac on his way in.

We are having a Pinewood Derby for our daddy daughter date in Activity Days.  Abbie and Ken cut out her car and then she painted it to look like a lady bug.  It turned out so cute.

Neil was so excited when he squirted out the lotion and it landed on his palm in the shape of a letter P.  He wouldn’t rub it in until I took a picture.Brother Albertson invited Mark to go elk hunting with him.  Mark was more than excited and laid out all his clothes the night before so he could get ready quick in the wee hours of the morning.  They didn’t end up seeing anything, but he still had a good time hiking around.  Although it was colder up in the mountains and that caught him by surprise….but he’s a quick learner and the next Saturday that they went he was more prepared.

September’s over already

Spencer turned 7 this year.  Wow.  Only one year left and he’ll be baptized.  This year for his cake Scott’s wife called and encouraged Spencer to choose one of her favorite cakes: Banana Whatever.  He didn’t need much convincing because we all love Banana Whatever.   We made it with chocolate frosting this time.  I got the chameleons off one of the dry erase doodling cards we have.  I think they are pretty cute.Singing and blowing.  Spencer picked out this 7 candle with Aunt Heather this summer when they went to the store together to get the stuff to make homemade Almond Joy Bars.Little birthday rap to finish off the singing part then on to the presents.  Are you loving Jessie’s face?A new scooter, nerf gun, some cash, a model rocket to launch, Cars 2, and some bayblade wheels rounded out the night.  Quinn was excited for the nerf gun and Spencer was happy to share with him.  Fun, fun, fun.Check out the “funky monkey” bed head.  That of course, is our official term.Isaac got to spend the weekend with Ken and I in Park City while Ken had a conference.  This room even had a fireplace, but it was still a little warm to be using it.  I worked on typing up recipes while we were there….that cookbook may come together eventually, but I may be 102.The drive back through Provo Canyon was beautiful!Still trying to fix that dead patch in the lawn.  Neil dressed in Spencer’s jacket is helping Ken.  We love helpers.I found a little note on the fridge from Jessie, so I made her oatmeal chocolate chip cookies while she was at school and left her a note too.Ahh…sleeping babies…Jessie and Mark had a dentist appointment so we needed to kill time for just a half hour. We went to play on the playground and see the fountain at Petietneet.Neil got his first taste of rice cereal.  He wasn’t really sure what he was supposed to think.  All the kids wanted to have a chance to give him a bite.Neil often crawls in bed with me in the morning after Ken gets up.  It’s so nice when he falls back to sleep and even funny sometimes.Neil couldn’t even sit through Abbie’s last soccer game, oh well.  The park is fun too.Addie invited us to go with them to a hay maze.  It was so fun!  They had a corn pit to play  in.  Neil loved it, but not Isaac.Neil and Quinn loved getting buried.The big tractor was totally cool and the hay maze was so fun to run in.

I remembered to put of the balloon wreath for Spencer’s birthday and I usually just leave it up for Abbie’s two weeks later.  It’s just fun to see it on the door – so bright and happy.Mark feeding Isaac.  So fun to have babies around.Neil loves to wear the girls’ headbands.  It makes me laugh every time I see him with one on.Mark and Spencer’s last soccer games were on the same day.  After Mark’s game his team had pizza and then invited the families who wanted to to play a spontaneous game with the boys.  Abbie and Ken (holding Neil) joined in on the fun while I took Jessie and Isaac to Spencer’s game.  They said it was really fun.  I loved Mark’s coach this year.

I didn’t stay for the end of Spencer’s game because I was teaching my digital scrapbooking class with the community school, but Ken brought the rest of the gang over and after Spencer’s game they had a little awards ceremony.And you made it to the last picture.  Congrats – it’s a good one.  Isn’t this sweet!  I wonder how much Lily appreciated Isaac’s leftover milk?

September was a long time ago.

We had quite a few rainy afternoons in September and my kids loved them all!  Especially going out to find puddles in the driveway to jump in.  We even played some basketball in the rain with dad after work.

We joined the Albertson’s for dinner and brought breadsticks.  Neil was my super duper helper so that the lid of the mixer wouldn’t be knocked off by the bread mixing inside.

Kisses for Isaac.

After dinner Addie helped the kids make bouncy balls!  It was fun and messy – just right for kids.  The only funny thing about these bouncy balls is that they bounced better on carpet than they did on hard floors.

Neil is our shoe lover – and Isaac is our sock lover.  Sounds like two peas in a pod to me :-)!

Raining again.  Yeah for rain.

Neil loves “mowing” the lawn.  And boy does ours need it.

Our cool “nerd” is all ready for spirit week.

At one of Spencer’s soccer games Neil wanted to roll down the tiny hill there and he was convinced that he couldn’t if he had his sandals on.

I love this family picture.  Too bad Jessie wasn’t in it.

Mark favorite position is goalie.  And sometimes that’s a sweet job….

And sometimes it’s not…

Always fun to have extra cheerleaders at the games.

Spencer scores.

Distracted again…I guess soccer games aren’t so bad if there are places to explore and phones to borrow.

Isaac is one happy baby.  And he loves sticking out his tongue.  We keep checking for teeth, but no dice.

Jessie made a You Are Special clip out of a clothes pin and the kids try and clip it on to each other’s clothes without the other person noticing.  Neil thought Isaac wouldn’t notice – was he was right?

Addie and I took the boys up to the Grotto.  It was a beautiful day and we all had fun.  It was funny though that Neil loved posing for pictures and we could hardly get one of Quinn looking at the camera.

On our way back down Neil spotted this caterpillar in the path. 

And he made a nice tunnel for it to crawl through.

Our annual Brian cookout was another beautiful fall day.  Fun times. And I think we only got Grandpa’s heart rate up a couple of times with Neil teetering around the fire pit.

Scott and Kyle spent a morning/afternoon with Ken up cutting firewood.  Mark was so jealous he had a soccer game.  But everyone wanted to help unload when they got home.

We meet up with the Albertson’s at Spanish Fork’s Harvest Moon Hurrah to see Jon Schmidt and Steven Nelson preform.  Boy was it packed; and a little hard to hear so we left and went out to eat at Bajio’s for dinner.  Neil loves trying to push Quinn around in the stroller.