Disclaimer:Read Ahead At Your Own Risk

I had several posts to catch up on. Okay-more than several. I got really lazy at the end of my pregnancy and I wanted all of these posts for myself (because I will be making my blog a book.... someday), so feel free to skip-it's all just about my kids anyway, nothing really interesting. There are a few funny stories in there-and at least the pictures are cute! :) I don't know how many new posts there are. Maybe 10..... but I'm almost caught up now! Hooray!

My Girlies

Daphne was the VIP of her class the week I had Magnus. We got to work on this cute poster together and she got to bring in other pictures of favorite holidays, vacations, and pictures of family. She also got to help her teacher with special tasks all week and also got to choose snacks each day. She got to bring in her favorite toy to show everyone, sit in her teacher's chair and everyone got to ask her questions all about her. She loved being the VIP. Her teachers are always telling me how much they adore her and how smart and cute she is. I would have to agree, but I'm not biased or anything ;)

That week after Laylah came home with this:

She recieved the Student of the Month award for her entire grade. I was so proud of her. She is such a wonderful student and a sweet girl. Her teacher's always love her and tell me how much fun she is and what a great student she is. She is such a smartypants and got straight A's and perfect behavior on her recent report card. She got to have her picture taken and put up in the entry hall along with the other grades' Student of the Month kids. She also received a n envelope full of gift certificates to free meals at several restaraunts, candy, and pencils. She was so excited.

I am so lucky to have such darling, special girls. Love em'!

A Week With My Mom

This was Halloween on Sunday night. My mom has a family Halloween party every year with all her kids, grandkids and also my grandmas. It is so much fun and I looked forward to it every year. Well, we missed it this year of course, so my mom brought some of the games they played and played them with all of my kids. Needless to say they loved it and played them the whole week my mom was here. My mom is great :)

The week my mom was here was so much fun, so wonderful, and of course-went by WAY too fast. We had a lot of fun. We stayed up late chatting every night, she made amazing dinners every night (my mom is a terrific cook), she helped SO much with the housework and kids and they loved every second she was here. We went shopping a couple of the days and also, for her birthday, (which was back in September) we went to lunch and also went and got pedicures while the kiddos stayed home with Andrew. It was so much fun and I was very sad when it was time for her to go home. I know the kids were too, especially Baron who doesn't understand where grandma disappeared to and asked for several days, "Where my grandma go?" and when I tried to explain that she went back to her house in Utah he would just say "Why?!" Kind of like "Why would she choose to leave us??" Haha. Thanks for everything mom-you are the greatest and I sure love and miss you a lot. I can't wait for April when you come back!

Beauty

The leaves are so incredibly beautiful here in the fall. I love driving just to look at the scenery. I wanted to get some really great shots of several beautiful spots near my house, but I was either in too much of a hurry everytime I passed, or I didn't have my camera, or I was being too lazy....



Either way, I only got shots of my little mini forest in my backyard. These were taken before all the leaves had even finished changing colors. I'm glad I got them because a few days later we had a huge storm and a lot of leaves got blown off of the trees.

I'm determined to get better pictures next year. I have never seen so many different, vibrant, beautiful leaf colors. It's incredible.

School Pictures

Laylah and Jonah brought these adorable pictures home a few weeks ago. I had totally forgotten that they had even gotten school pictures. I think they're pretty cute. They look so grown up to me!

Daphne also got school pictures done a few weeks ago and we were supposed to get them last week. but we never did. Hopefully next week? I'll be adding them onto this post, so if you care to see my cute Daph, check back later! :)

This Is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween!

Halloween at our house was very low key this year due to obvious reasons :) I think I got out 2 Halloween decorations and we didn't do many "halloween-ish" activities, but I think the kid's still had a great holiday.



We were invited over to some friend's house for a pumpkin carving party. Andrew, Daphne and Bear had picked out pumpkins from Daphne's preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch, but Laylah and Jonah didn't have one. So Andy took them to a local patch and they picked one for themselves as well as me and the baby :) The kid's helped clean out their pumpkins and Andy and I carved them. I hadn't done that in years (Andy has always done it ever since we had kids) and I have to say that it was pretty fun.

This is what Bear did the whole time. Ran around outside and climbed trees. Since he didn't want to help, I did a quick job of cleaning and carving his little pumpkin. I carved 3 circles (2 eyes and a mouth) and called it a ghost. He loved it.

OoOoOoOohhhh, Spooky!

Laylah, Jonah, and Daphne all had Halloween parties the Friday before Halloween and they got to dress up. They all had a blast. Well, Laylah had a blast after we brought her a spare costume to wear (her bride costume from kindergarten) after she bled all over her Dorothy costume when she got a bloody nose in PE class. Luckily the blood came out easily and she was able to wear it the next day.

Frankenstein

Sleeping Beauty

Dorothy and Toto (my friend Miranda made Laylah's skirt and bows... isn't it adorable?)

Bowser (from Mario Brothers-it was really an old Dragon costume that Jonah used when he was 3, but Baron insisted it was Bowser :)

My husband the Nerd. For someone who claims to hate Halloween, he sure gets into the spirit of things...

Saturday (after Andy picked up my mom from the airport) we went to a ward carnival and trunk or treat. The kids had SO much fun playing games and earning prizes and eating lots of treats.

Laylah, Jonah, and Daphne ended up being the 3 finalists in musical chairs (out of about 10 kids). It was funny....Laylah ended up winning it all!

Halfway through the carnival I was done. And so was Bear. Here he is using my belly as his personal pillow.

While my mom and Andy took the kids around the parking lot to trunk or treat, I sat at our car and passed out candy.

It was a really fun night overall and I got (I mean, the kid's got :) a lot of candy. Which Andy made them pay taxes on. He and I then ate the taxes. Hahaha.

Happy Halloween!

Over For Another Season...

Well, another busy sports season has ended. Laylah and Jonah's cheer and football finished up within a week of each other and it was perfect timing (one week before I was due). They both loved it and had great season's.



Here are Laylah's team pictures:This was her last game. I also got a lot of video of them cheering and also of the adorable dance they performed at half-time, but I'm not going to post it. Blogger hates me today and is taking FOREVER to upload everything.

Laylah with her cute coach Amber. She was so sweet and actually had a pizza/bowling party for the girls and awarded them their trophies. Andy took her to it and has all the pictures on his phone. As soon as I upload them I'll add them to this post-check back later if you care to!

Jonah with his team photo (poor kid is middle/front row.... he's practically glowing. He is so pale-good thing he's so dang cute :)

I forgot to get a picture of Jonah with his trophy when Andy awarded them after the last game.... but here it is. Andy picked them out and I thought they were so cool, because it was flag football and the little player actually has flags flying off his belt. Cute :)


I can't believe how much Jonah improved over the 8 weeks he played. He became one of the main quarterbacks because he was really good at it. I guess a lot of the other kids would drop the ball a lot or try to take off running instead of passing it off. But Jo was pretty good and passed it off really well. Good job my Jonah boy :)



And there's that good lookin' coach.... ;)

Here's Andy passing out the trophies and certificates to all the kids. He was such a great coach and all the parents told him how much their kid's liked him. I don't think he'll do it again though-it was too busy and with his work schedule it was too much.

One last team cheer- "GOOOOOO SHARKS!!!"