Kid talk

I have a shopping list that I keep on the fridge so that anyone can write on it things that we need from the grocery store.  The other day I looked at the list and saw the following item:  Egg Milk (we really want it).  This was written by Kitty.

Apparently the kids are craving some Egg Nog and know that it is the season for it!

So after the fridge emptied out a little after Thanksgiving leftovers, I bought some Egg Nog at the store.  When I came home with MJ and Kay and got them some lunch, Kay said, "Mom, I would like some... Nog!  I would like to drink some Nog for lunch."

Apple lover

This is how MJ eats apples:

And she would have continued eating this one if I hadn't stopped her!

Cleaning...

The other day I was in Blondie's room trying to clean up a little and organize a few things when I came across this:

 Apparently this is how Blondie cleans her room - she stuffs everything that she can into any box or container that she can find instead of putting things where they belong...  DH and I are going to need to do a better job of inspecting her room when she says that it is clean!

Kay talk

The other day I was feeding Kay and MJ lunch when Kay said to me, "Mom, is this a lever?"  I looked over at her and she was trying to balance her fork on her finger.  (I tried to find out where she was told about the concept of a lever, but I didn't really get a straight answer from her.)

Halloween 2012

Wednesday, October 31

A couple of weeks before Halloween I got out our Halloween storage box and the kids looked through it for possible costumes this year.  At first Kay just wanted to be a ballerina or butterfly, but then she saw the unicorn costume that I made for M&M when she was in kindergarten and she wanted to be a unicorn!  The costume was a little big for her but still looked cute and she loved putting it on!  We tried getting MJ into some of the different costumes that would fit her, but she only wanted to wear the pumpkin costume that she wore last year.  I was fine with that because it is a really cute costume and easy to put on and take off.  Kitty really liked an Ariel costume that I found at a local thrift store and Blondie wanted to wear the witch costume again.  I found a wig with reddish hair for Kitty to wear with her costume and Blondie wore a really dark brown colored wig that we had at the house.  I think older boy costumes are the hardest to come up with and Luke decided that he wanted to be a ranger this year (something similar to Aragorn from Lord of the Rings).  I found him some black pants and shirt at the thrift store and then I made him a cloak with hood out of some black fabric that I bought a couple of years ago for a different costume and ended up not using it.

In the morning my mom came over to go with us to the Halloween parade at the elementary school.  When we left for the parade, MJ was refusing to put the pumpkin costume on so I just brought it with me to see if she would put it on once we got to the school.  When we got there though she still didn't want to wear it and just wanted to sit on my lap the whole time during the parade.

Kay posing in her costume at the school parade.  Below she is trying to pose so that I can get a picture of the tail on the back of the costume.

Luke wanted to go trick-or-treating with some of his friends from the neighborhood this year so he left before we were ready for a group picture.  After he left I took the girls over to one of our neighbors who gives out hot dogs every year.  Then I took them back home to finish getting their costumes on for trick-or-treating.  Blondie wanted me to paint her face too so we did that as well.  And once again MJ did not want to put the pumpkin costume on for some reason.  So I went to the costume box and pulled out several different costumes that should fit her and she decided to wear the Tigger costume that I made for Luke when he was a little bit younger than her.  She looked really cute in the costume and I was happy to see the costume getting used again.  I made the Tigger costume for Luke and a Piglet costume for M&M ten years ago!!

We had absolutely beautiful weather for Halloween this year!  Kitty is the only one who ended up wearing a jacket because her costume didn't have any sleeves to it.  DH took the four girls trick-or-treating first and after just the first block Kay and MJ were ready to come home.  So DH stayed home with Kay and MJ while I took Kitty and Blondie out and we went trick-or-treating to most of the rest of our ward's portion of the neighborhood.  At one point DH called me on my cell phone and said that MJ had somehow managed to get chocolate all over the Tigger costume so I had to give him instructions on how to wash it.

A lot of people in the neighborhood who know us did not recognize Blondie in her costume with the wig and makeup!

 Luke got home just a few minutes before me and the girls and I quickly got a picture of him in his costume before he changed.  In his first picture he was smiling really big, but I made him do another one with a serious look on his face so he would look more the part. :)

Trying to sneak some of the candy for trick-or-treaters! :)  Do you like her change of costume?

The funniest part of the evening was after all of the kids were home and we were getting changed into pajamas and trying to get the kids ready for bed.  We still had a couple of trick-or-treaters for the evening and every time someone came to the door, all of the kids would rush up to answer it and give out our candy.  One time there was a group of three older boys at the door and when I was making my way upstairs to help out with the candy I heard Kay say, "No, you have to say trick-or-treat first."  The boys kind of laughed and said something like, "Yes, you're right," and then they each said trick-or-treat.

Kid talk

There is a new thrift store that opened recently in our city and I have been to it several times over the last couple of months looking for some clothes and Halloween costumes for the kids.  There is a fitness store near the thrift store as well as one of our county libraries.  Right next to the library is a large water basin with several fountains in the middle of it.  Every time we drive past it Kay calls out, "Look, a watering mountain!"  Then MJ proceeds to repeat everything that Kay says.

Then we pass by the fitness store and quite often they have this robot outside their store, actually using this fitness machine:

The girls love seeing this robot and every time we pass it MJ calls out, "Look, it's a robock!"  (And today Kay noticed that they had put holiday lights on it.)

Pumpkin Carving 2012

Monday, October 29

This year we carved our pumpkins for family home evening.  Normally I like to carve them just the day before Halloween, but M&M was leaving the evening of October 30th for her marching band trip.  My parents came over to help and carve their own pumpkins too.  Most of the kids didn't care for the part where they had to clean the guts out of the pumpkin.  Although MJ really enjoyed playing with the guts and seeds and spoon that were sitting in a bowl on the table.  At one point DH had to take her away from the table because she was flinging it across the room and got it all over herself!

M&M's pumpkin

My pumpkin that I had to fix with some straight pins!  (I used a computer printout from a couple of years ago and after I started cutting away parts of the pumpkin, I realized that it wasn't going to work the way I thought it would so I had to improvise to salvage it.)

Kay's pumpkin that I carved (she really wanted a witch design on her pumpkin).

Blondie's pumpkin that she carved almost all by herself - I just helped with a couple of the smaller holes).

Luke's pumpkin - he made a couple of mistakes and was ready to give up on it but Grandma S and I were able to save it.

Kitty's pumpkin - she did awesome and just sat at the table doing the whole pumpkin herself without any complaints.  When she finished there was just one section that she needed a little bit of help punching out.

Marching Band Competition

Saturday, October 27

I only signed up to chaperone for the last marching band competition before their California trip because of soccer games on all of the previous Saturdays.  (I did help out at a couple of the football games during the season as well.)  This competition was called Mt. Timpanogos and was one of the closer competitions that the band was involved in.  I got to ride the school bus down with the kids and then we helped prepare and serve them dinner and then helped hand out the uniforms and hats.  After that I was able to go sit in the stands and watch the bands perform and then when it was over I had to help put away uniforms and then ride the bus back to the school.  Luckily the weather wasn't as cold as it had been earlier in the week and I had brought several layers to bundle up in in the stands.  There is so much work that goes into keeping the marching band running smoothly.  I am amazed at how much time and effort is put in by so many parents!  Unfortunately the band didn't do too hot at this competition.  We think that they were penalized because of some miscommunication on the field that resulted in the color guard going on too early...

The drum majors and color guard captains

District Marching Band Exhibition

Wednesday, October 24

M&M's high school sponsored a school district marching band exhibition night where all of the high schools from the school district came and performed their show for the other marching bands to see.  Afterwards they had hot chocolate and cookies in the gym and spent time visiting with the other bands. It was fun for the kids to be able to watch the other shows (usually they aren't able to at the competitions).  Unfortunately it was a SUPER COLD night!!  Luckily I had brought a blanket to sit on in the stands, but the band members were freezing in their band T-shirts and jeans!  Most of them had gloves and coats that they wore in the stands but they had to take them off when they performed.

Here is a picture of all of the students on the field together at the end of the performance night.

Arches - Day 2

Friday, October 19

MJ's sleeping spot on the floor.

After a super healthy breakfast of doughnuts and some fruit, we headed back to Arches.  We decided to start with a hike up to Delicate Arch (3 miles round-trip).  The parking lot was super full and busy but we just happened to get there at just the right moment when someone was backing out so we got a good parking spot.  It was quite the climb to get up there.  At one point when we had stopped for a water break, Kay asked how much farther we had to go.  We said that we were almost to the top of this part and then probably had a little more beyond that.  She then said, "Well, when we get to the top I'm going to need to take a nap before we finish."  There was a lady standing near us who had stopped to rest as well and she just started laughing at that comment and said that she needed to take a nap too!

See the line of people in the picture above?  This was the middle part of the hike to Delicate Arch.

Wow the arch was massive!!  In the pictures that you see of Delicate Arch, it looks small.  That is our family, minus DH who was taking the pictures, under the arch.  It was quite the production because it was fairly crowded there and everyone wanted a picture under the arch so we had to take turns walking over to it and having a picture taken.

It was a little scary walking over to the arch with the younger kids.  I made sure to keep a tight hold on MJ and M&M was holding onto Kay for me.

The picture above is DH under the arch with MJ on his back.  As you can see there is someone walking over to get under the arch who was totally clueless as to what was going on with people taking turns...

A picture with no one under the arch!

This bowl in the picture above is where Blondie lost her water bottle!  When we got up to the top of the hike where you can finally see the Delicate Arch, there was a ledge to climb over and then this large, steep bowl that you had to hike on the upper edge of to get over to the arch.  When Blondie climbed over the ledge, her water bottle slipped out of her hands and rolled right down into the bowl.  Luckily it was just a disposable one, but someone who was up there said that it was the third one he had seen fall down there since he got up there!

Petroglyphs on the rocks - a side trail on the way up to Delicate Arch.  We were planning on stopping at this spot on our way down from Delicate Arch, but at this point Blondie and I had left the group to hurry her to the bathroom.  While we were finishing up at the bathroom, M&M came hurrying up with Kay in tow - who apparently also needed to use the bathroom...

After Delicate Arch we got back in the car and headed off to try and find a picnic table to eat lunch at.  After driving to the end of the park and finding nothing available, we drove back to the parking lot for Sand Dune Arch and ate lunch in the car.  Then we hiked (short hike) to Sand Dune Arch and were surprised to find a little sand, play area for the kids.  It was really fine sand and the kids (especially MJ) loved playing in it.  It was nice because the whole area was in the shade.

Sand Dune arch (the kids are all making funny poses in front of it)

After we finished up playing at Sand Dune arch we went back to the trail to hike to Broken Arch.  Some of the kids sat down on a little step on the trail to take off their shoes and get the sand out of them.  Kay was sitting there putting her shoes back on when all of a sudden she yelled out and started crying.  I looked down at her finger and there was an ant clinging on to the end of it.  I quickly grabbed her hand and brushed the ant away, but Kay was still crying about it.  (We think it was a fire ant.)  We all started walking down the trail and I was bringing up the back with MJ who was walking really slowly and kept stopping to play in the sand on the trail.  Kay was walking up front with her dad and just kept crying and whining about her finger so I called up to him that I would take the two little ones back to the car.  MJ was walking really slowly back to the car so I finally picked her up and put her on my shoulder and then had Kay walking beside me.  Kay kept telling me the whole way back to the car that I need to protect her from ants and things like that - that it was my job to protect her...  When we got back to the car I took a look at her finger and cleaned it off and put a bandaid on it.  I also got the girls a snack to eat while we were waiting for DH and the rest of the kids to get back.

This is Broken Arch which is another side trail off of the Sand Dune arch trail. 

Balanced Rock

The leaves were gorgeous in the park!  It was really beautiful seeing these bright yellow trees against the red rock - although hard to get a picture of that shows the beauty...

By this point the two little ones had had enough so DH took the 4 oldest on one last small hike before we left the park.  They hiked the one mile Park Avenue trail which is a one way hike past the Courthouse Towers.  Apparently there were quite a few steps that they had to climb.  All in all it was a good family trip and we got home at a decent hour Friday night.