Up On The House Top...

I've been kind of sad to not have a bunch of little kids underfoot anymore. Yes, there is a lot of stress with mothering the little one's. (There is a lot of stress with the older one's too!) :) But I love young children in general and really miss having a few at home. Daniel is only 5 and has a late birthday, so at least he's still at home.

Over the last few days I've started realizing how wonderful it is to have older kids and teenagers too! Our boys have been pretty good at raking and bagging leaves, and Laura volunteered to put the Christmas lights up! Yay! ( I like our older kids for other reasons too!) This has always been such an ordeal in our home. Scott will do it because he knows I like it, but hates it. And if I wait for him to be ready to do it they will be put up on Christmas eve. (I'm only exaggerating a little) Usually I will put lights up around our porch before Thanksgiving and hope that Scott will do the rest soon after. Now I won't need to wait again! Laura had a blast and she even had a couple of visitors come and help as she worked on the house.

Laura starting out.

Not wanting her picture taken again.

Our cat, Ninja, climbed a tree and hung out with her.

Laura was too afraid to use a ladder. I was concerned 

about her breaking the branches so she had to overcome that fear pretty quickly:)

Our neighbor Katherine came over another day to

help finish up.

Laura and Katherine completing the job. Ryan wanted to help
but they wouldn't let the boys come up and help at all.
Why can't they be this excited about indoor chores? I guess
I'll take what I can get!

Laura even wrote a song about her experiences. It's to the tune 'Up On The House Top' Here it is:

(It's dumb I know, just humor us) :)

Up on the house top Laura almost dies,

Down below her mother cries.

Branches swinging in her face,       (it was windy part of the time)

But all the lights are in their place.

chorus

Ho Ho Ho Laura saved the day!

Ho Ho Ho she wouldn't play!

Up On The House Top the lights are up,

Down she came without a thump!

Caught in the act!

My girls NEVER let me take pictures of them playing their instruments. I snuck up on them the other day and took this. Cool! It's so neat to have music in our home again:)

I love this picture of this little gerbil. The kids named her Kitty and she is one of three we are keeping. So cute.

I just had to share this! A while back Sugar Doodle posted a craft/treat idea on facebook.  I don't remember what the blog was it originally came from, but I thought it was so cute. I decided to give one to the ladies I Visit Teach. Muffins in a jar! I made pumpkin bread muffins and layered them with frosting and sprinkles in an 8 oz canning jar. I put a cupcake liner in the lid (like people do with fabric). I couldn't find any Fall cupcake liners ( I mean it was already late October! Heaven forbid there be any left at the store!) so I just used the white one's I found at the dollar store and glued fall pics from the digital scrapbook kit I used for the card on the top. The card is made from a digital scrapbook kit and the bags I got from Macey's. They're just their apple bags. I got them for 5 cents a piece. (But I think they normally charge 10 or 12 cents) I made the potpourri too. So easy. Dry apple and orange slices in an oven on 200* for 5-6 hours or so. Add cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. Put in a pot or metal bowl, cover with water, and simmer. You can even use fresh fruit and add vanilla. Smells soooo good!

Belated Halloween Post

This is late! Sorry Grandparents:) Halloween was fun. On Halloween day Scott carved pumpkins with the kids and took them to the pumpkin patch and corn maze at "Vineyard" garden center in Orem. Heather and I stayed home. Laura, Ryan, Jake, and Daniel went trick or treating. It hailed and rained at first and after a while Daniel wanted to go home. Then the others came back and all four of them went out again with Scott. Then Scott, Jake, and Daniel came home and Laura and Ryan stayed out a little longer. (Musical trick or treating!) In the mean time a "billion" kids came to our door throughout the night. It was a lively, festive, and fun night!

 Scott, Jake , and Ryan carving pumpkins. I think the

pumpkin on the hay bale looks like Bishop Tucket:)

Jake and Daniel in the corn maze

Laura loving getting her picture taken.

Teenage thing??

Ryan out of the maze.

Jake, Daniel, and Ryan. Ryan is being a

good sport:)

Jake feeding the goats.

Daniel-tiger, Jake-Ninja, Ryan-Mad Hatter

Laura-Not sure?? She sewed her own tunic

with a black and gold patterned fabric, wore a black

cape that I made years ago, black pants and shirt, and

black boots. Something Lord of the Ringsish. Like

an elf. Ryan is The Mad Hatter in the school play.

Daniel's Jacks

Halloween is such a fun time of year for kids (And their mommies!) Here is a classic craft my kids always seem to love. It's great for fine motor development as well!

I love my kid's projects on my walls. (And cupboards!)

Daniel's Halloween Party Pictures

What a fun Halloween party Daniel had! He invited a few neighborhood friends (Jade, we missed you!) to come over for some fun games and treats. We started out inside decorating goodie bags and making a small craft. Then we played musical pumpkins. I laid out pumpkin shapes on the floor with numbers on them. When the music stopped I called out a number and whoever had that number got a treat and sat down. We also did some stick puppet "finger plays" to some songs on the Wee Sing Halloween CD. A CD I highly recommend to anyone with young children. It also has recipes and craft ideas. Fun CD! I also read some Halloween picture books at the beginning and the end of the party. The kids had a great time! 

Decorating Goodie Bags.

Making a pumpkin craft.

                                                                

                 Making a spider web with black yarn and my help!                 

    They loved these silly glasses!

           

       Taking a break inside for a festive snack. 

 Back outside for a game of "Ghost, Ghost, Witch!" 

                          

        

 The kids were acting silly and laid down during the game! 

                

          Ghost Bowling.  

        

Cute decorated goody bags. The basket had the treats and toys they received after playing a game:)

 Relay Race

Darling five year olds all dressed up!

                                                                      

                                         

                                                                          

Halloween Scavenger Hunt

Here is a Halloween Scavenger Hunt I made for my kids. When they are done they get a treat! (Probably homemade since they will be getting so much candy for Halloween:) We live in a very festive neighborhood and lots of people decorate. Some very elaborate! So we do this each year a day or so before Halloween to add to the season's fun. They are only allowed to choose one thing from each house until they run out of houses. Then they can go back, but none from our own house. I don't know how to post a PDF file here for you to download, but you can copy and paste this onto your computer if you want to use it. There is plenty of room for you to add more if you want. Have fun!

Baby Gerbils (Two Weeks Old)

Here are some pictures our seven baby gerbils at two weeks old. Their eyes are beginning to open and they dig and tunnel. They are moving around so fast now that Shadow sometimes has a hard time keeping them in the nest because they are so interested in exploring.  It's so cute. She's going through what I went through with new crawling babies! :) Whenever we reach in to feed them or hold them Shadow comes running and tries to climb up our arm and sometimes when she is up on her box/house she has jumped out onto the cage "next door" to hers. I think she needs a "break from the kids!"

The kids have been holding ALL the gerbils everyday to socialize them. They are doing such a good job being "mommies and daddies." This is really teaching them to be responsible--even if it's hard and they would rather do other things. Cookie, the daddy, needs a baby boy gerbil to move in. He just hides most of the time. He needs someone to play with! Poor little guy. Four more weeks!

 Baby Gerbils looking down into their nest/house

 In the little pet carrier. They're too wiggly 

to hold them all at the same time!

Cookie. we had to take his
house out in order to take a picture!

Random pictures of the kids taken recently

 Payson Canyon

 

Playing Tackle in the back yard

 Daniel my soccer champ. (picking grass!)

 Daniel learning to ride a bike. It took him about 

30 seconds to get it!

The boys at Spanish Fork Resivoir