Halloween

Happy Halloween! We had Super Heroes, Greek Goddesses and one cute skeleton in our crew!  And of course lots and lots of candy!

Pumpkins

My kids LOVE Halloween and are so excited that it's almost here!  The first sign of Halloween is when all the pumpkins start showing up everywhere.  We made it to the pumpkin patch a week or two before Halloween and the kids each picked out their "perfect" pumpkin!

And then the fun part - drawing the face and carving it out.  We had some pretty good faces this year and the kids had a great time carving pumpkins in preparation for Halloween night!

Scary Teeth

These two boys are ready for Halloween with their scary teeth! 

Liev's Artwork

Liev has done some cute art projects this year in school.  Here are some of his best!

Kidney Check

Baby Desh had another ultrasound to check out his kidneys again.  They are keeping an eye on the small amount of fluid that has been in the kidneys.  It's not a lot to worry about but Dr. Erickson wants to make sure it's not getting any worse.  Desh is such a happy, smiley baby and didn't seem at all disturbed by the ultrasound tech walking all over his tummy and back with the ultrasound wand.  Love those big smiles!  And the good news is that the kidneys look good and not change in the amount of fluid.  Dr. Erickson says we don't have to check again until he turns 1.  Hopefully by then it will be all better!

Reflections

Rhen really wanted to do a Reflections project this year.  The theme was "What is your story?" and she was excited about doing an art project.  So she got to work thinking of some ideas and went through many drafts before the final project came about.  She had decided to draw a bunch of little pictures in a collage to tell all about her and what makes her Rhen.  I thought it was a darling idea and she worked so hard!

 When it came to the award ceremony, Rhen took 2nd place in her age group!  I was so proud of her!  There were about 35-40 other art projects that she was up against and 2nd place is pretty darn good!

 She was super excited about her 2nd place ribbon that she got.  Great job Rhen!

Sleepy Baby

This picture of Beck sleeping is hilarious because of his arms - how does he even do that while he's dead asleep?  

Hiking the Y

I have never hiked the Y!  I don't know how I have escaped it all these years, but somehow I haven't made it up that mountain.  Josh and I figured it was about time that we tried it and took all the kids along with us.  Since we were at the cabin for the weekend it was a perfect opportunity for us.  The kids were a little less than excited, mainly because they weren't sure what to expect.  I'll have to admit that I didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into either! 

Josh had Beck in the backpack and I had Desh in the baby carrier.   The rest of the kids were on their own.  So the hike is actually just a series of switchbacks that keeps going for what seems like miles and miles and is fairly steep.  We made it to the first switchback and everyone needed a break including mom.  Slowly but surely we made it up and up and up and the kids kept trucking along.  There was a fair amount of whining and complaining but actually all the kids did pretty amazing.  

 When we were pretty close to the top we found a creepy friend on the trail.  I actually almost stepped on it because it blends in so well.  We stopped and took pictures and videos of this big tarantula making its way across the trail and into the trees.  

After about an hour and a half of hiking, we finally did make it to the Y!  We took our time once we got up there and relaxed for a while.  It was a beautiful view down to the valley!  And the hike down was much easier and faster.  The kids basically ran down to the car.  

I'm not sure how soon we'll go back and hike this trail.  It may be one of those "Once you've done it,  you don't need to do it again" hikes.  I'd say we won't be back soon.  But we're glad we did it and the I'm proud of the kids for making it all the way to the top!

Leaf fight

We stayed up at the cabin this weekend and the highlight of the trip was the huge leaf fight the kids (and Josh) got in!

Roller Skating

The kids are out of school for fall break so we took a trip to Classic Skating today.  They had such a fun time roller skating and riding wiggle bikes!  

Sitting and Smiling

This cutie loves to smile and laugh and just be happy!

Nursery Rhyme Day

Liev had a nursery rhyme presentation he had to prepare for his kindergarten class.  He picked out a nursery rhyme and worked on memorizing it to present to his class.  The rhyme he decided on was "Where has my little dog gone?"  He had it perfectly memorized and when it came time to present he nailed it!  He spoke loud and clear and did such a great job!  

Craft Day

We had a craft day at Melissa's this week and the kids had such a fun time painting and coloring together!  And of course Keen found the chocolate and that's what he spent most of his time on!

Grocery shopping

This is how we roll at the grocery store...

Keen's artwork

Keen does the cutest art projects in his preschool class.  He has loved going to school and is doing so well!

Big Black Monster

Rhen has been working a lot on spelling, punctuation and capitalization in english this year.  This is a cute story she made up and worked on her english skills.  I love it!

Lost a tooth

Rease has started losing more teeth again.  She took a little break from having loose teeth but now has lost 2 more in the past month.  This one was a big one!

Bumbo

We've been putting Desh in his bumbo so he can start learning to sit up - he loves being able to look around and see what's going on.  And can't stop smiling while he's at it!

Lincoln Log House

Josh and the kids got out the lincoln logs today and decided to make the tallest house they could imagine.  They used all the big logs that we had to make this huge house.  They were very proud of their work!