F is for . . . Fall, Fun!

We have been working on the letter F this week and a fall theme. We went outside and raked the leaves into a pile and jumped in them. The kids had a great time even though Emily got a little frustrated when the boys kept jumping in the leaves she had just raked--hey, that's how I feel about housework :)

This was not an easy picture to take--the kids did not want to sit still!

The boys loved playing on our swing set that is surrounded by weeds!

I just like this picture of Spencer. He almost always makes really goofy faces for pictures and this is somewhat normal.

Gabe loved the swing!

Just for comparison, this was last year at Grandma and Grandpa's house for Thanksgiving!

Kid Tested, Gabe Approved!

Emily is becoming quite the little cook. She made our treat for FHE this week--cookies of course--with no help except the baking part. Give her a few years and she will definitely be making better cookies than I, and I won't have to make them at all!

Matthew shared his cookie with Gabe and Gabe thinks cookies are great. He was mad when his piece was gone and wanted more. I gave him another piece and got out the camera. Of course it was when I had finished our photo session and put the camera away, that he did the funniest thing. Jim and I turned around to see Gabe with a huge piece of cookie hanging out of his mouth. It was so funny! We couldn't stop laughing! I was not fast enough getting the camera out again to capture it, and trying to re-create the moment just didn't turn out quite the same, but it was worth a try!

Use 'em or Lose 'em

Last night on the way home from Grandma and Grandpa's house, the kids were in the van making noise in the back as usual. Actually, Emily was singing and it was bugging Spencer. Spencer asked her to stop, and then came Emily's response: "Spencer, I have to use the talents I have been blessed with or I am going to lose them!! My teacher at church told me this!" Jim and I laughed and silently thanked the primary teachers who do such a good job at teaching our children.

Seconds later, the kids started having the conversation in the van about what their talents are. Emily was quick to list that she is a good singer, good artist, and a good runner. Spencer had a more difficult time and said he didn't have any talents. Jim and I were quick to point out that he was helpful and that was a talent among other things. Then Spencer started to point out his own talents, one of which was also a good runner (I guess our kids really like to run? For Spencer, I think the running talent stemmed from his new shoes he got yesterday. He was a bit disappointed at first that they aren't "air" shoes like his cousin Michael's new shoes which apparently make Michael jump real high :) When Spencer asked me what his shoes did, we decided together that Spencer's new shoes help him be a super lightening fast runner and have an "S" on them for Spencer or super!)

Anyways, the talent conversation made me think back on a few weeks ago in church where I was handed a piece of paper and told to list three talents for Emily and Spencer. I thought it might be good to write them down:

Emily:
Super creative and able to make something out of anything--including empty yogurt or applesauce containers and paper and glue.
Thoughtful--she always is trying to do things to make people feel better. If someone is sick, she is the first to make a get well card.
Helpful (although sometimes selective helpfulness), she is very helpful and I'm glad that I have her to always help me get things for the baby or do things for me.

Spencer:
Sincere--Spencer gives the most thoughtful and sincere prayers I have ever heard. He really thinks about what he is saying.
Happy and Ethusiastic. Spencer gets very excited about things and looks forward to things such as birthdays and special camping trips forever and will talk about them for years after they happen. He is almost always happy.
Service--Spencer is willing to do things for other people and likes to help. He is most often the child who will stick around to help me clean when I have asked for help and does things to try and please me.

Matthew:
Makes others Happy - Matthew just has to smile at people and they will smile back. People just like him and he is fun to be around.
Curious - he is always getting into things, but also loves to help mommy and likes to know how things work.
Sharing - Matthew is very good at sharing and will share without being asked.

Gabe:
Smiley - Gabe loves people and he will almost always give them a big smile.
Peaceful - brings a special peace into our home (especially when he is sleeping ;))
Good-natured - as his little personality starts to develop, I can tell that he is pretty even-tempered and just a good kid.

Jim:
Good leader and priesthood holder. I am grateful for the way that he leads our home and teaches our children. He has a way of making the scriptures come alive for the kids during family scripture study and I love watching him with the children. He is also a great and inspired leader at church and I know that many people look up to and respect him (including his family).
Great husband. Jim treats me well and likes to make sure that I am happy, and when I aint happy, he aint happy! He does things to make sure that I feel special including complimenting me on the way I look, a good meal, and telling me how much he loves me frequently. He goes out of his way to make sure that occasionally I get a special "I Love You" such as fresh flowers or a clean house!
Great friend. I am so lucky to be married to my best friend who helps me and inspires me to be better. He is great at giving advice and helping me see my own potential and ways that I can improve. He is honest (which I really do love most of the time!) and I'm glad that we get to be on this journey together forever because I really don't know what I would do without him!

Techie Kids

Jim bought me and iPod Touch for my birthday and it has been great to have email, music, internet, calendar, and a place to make notes at my fingertips. The kids especially love that we have downloaded some kid tunes from iTunes and they love dancing around the living room. They love having the music up really loud which eventually drives mommy crazy and I have to turn it off!

Anyways, the kids know they are not supposed to play with mommy's iPod, but what kids do you know that always listen to their parents?? Needless to say, they have played with mommy's iPod, but what they did with my iPod is really amazing.

Let's back up. The kids wanted to make cookies the other day, so Emily measured ingredients and mixed them all by herself. Spencer came just in time to help her roll them into balls and put them on the cookie sheets (Matthew was asleep or else he would have been a huge part of this whole process!). The kids did everything short of putting them in and taking them out of the oven. Emily was pretty proud of herself. We made sure to compliment her on how good her cookies tasted, and she was just beaming. Being the Emily that she is, when she was done making cookies, she got out little plastic baggies, paper, yarn, a hole puncher--do you see where I am going with this? She is always making things for people and writing notes. In the end she had made a special note for each person in the family that said "I Love You, Love Emily" attached to the plastic baggie (filled with a cookie) with yarn through a hole punch--clever. She did this in secret so it would be a surprise. Then she put these under everyone's pillow. This is where the iPod stuff comes in.

She then got my iPod (this was all secretive of course) and emailed (yes--emailed!) me and Jim seperately to tell us that there was a surprise under our pillow. How in the world did she know how to email? She figured out how to get into the email, choose who to send the email to, and type a message on the iPod and hit send. She did all this before she got caught by me, which was not very long after she had been sneaky and took my iPod. She got in trouble of course, but it didn't stop her from hiding under the table a day or so later and typing an email to Aunt Amy to tell her that Gabe was asleep in his new crib--just in case she was wondering :) I guess I should have let her hit send!! Maybe I should bribe her that she can have an email account as soon as she learns to type on the real computer! Be expecting messages soon!

P.S. Just for kicks, last night Jim handed Emily his iPhone last night and told her to send me an email just so we could watch her--didn't take long before I had a message in my inbox!

Halloween 2008

Halloween this year was a lot of fun! We did our usual Halloween tradition of homemade rootbeer and spudnuts. The kids really looked forward to this since they were old enough to understand everything this year.

We took the kids trick-or-treating early and the weather was great when we went. Later it ended up raining and being windy, so we are glad we got out when we did. The kids ended up with tons of candy even though we only went to a few houses--I think some people just thought our kids were so cute they gave them a handful of candy rather than a piece of candy! (who can blame them?)

I had to abandon the idea of the dynamic duo because last week when I didn't get the Robin costume ready in time for the ward Halloween party, Matthew just went as a dinosaur. When I did get all the stuff to make the Robin costume, Matthew said "No, I want to be a dinosaur!" and refused to try on any Robin gear. Oh well, it simplified my job, and he does make one cute dinosaur!

This is our gang at the ward halloween carnival. Where are mom and dad's costumes?  We'll have to work on that one next year!

Dino Matthew

Bat Spencer

Duck Gabe

Witch Emily

Uncle Drew checking out our homemade doughnuts--he's trying to decide if he can fit one more in!

This was just too cute not to include

At the end of the night we found Matthew asleep on the couch, costume and all.  Shhh! Don't wake the dinosaur!