Standing Tall for All to See...Plus Pumpkins

Evelyn learned how to stand up free style this week. Monday I found her wobbling upright in the middle of the living room, no support near by. Tuesday she got on her knees, stuck her bum in the air, then straightened her torso. Since then she learned it is easier to go for leg presses over bending up from the middle. She looks so darn cute with her stubby legs barely clearing her skirts. I've tried all week to get a video of her standing, but she is not cooperating. Her binky is constantly near her this week, her teeth must be coming on. At 14 months she still only has two teeth!

The three younger kids and I went to Walmart on Monday. I hate dragging them all, since we usually buy more with the kids around. Phillip was the only kid with no costume so we quickly drove down that aisle. He nabbed an awesome Silver Power Ranger costume for himself. Then he escaped me and went back to get a Red Ranger costume for Everett. I found a green ranger costume for Everett a couple weeks past at the thrift store for a dollar, he was set. That is until his brother put a shiny packaged new costume into his hands. We picked up pumpkins for the kids to carve for FHE as well. Our weekends were packed the last month so did not make a trip to the pumpkin patch (frown face). The kids waited in torturous suspension as I cleaned up the kitchen and dining room (and waited for Justin to get home). I loved Phillip's reaction to the slimy pumpkin guts. Everett would not touch the seeds. Justin helped Everett carve a gnome into his pumpkin, and helped Amelia finish her carving of a minecraft princess. I helped Phillip carve a Daniel Tiger pumpkin. Evelyn was not happy so mostly cried and whined as we enjoyed our FHE.

My turn came up for teaching Joy School this week. I had the letter B, Butterfly, and color blue this week. Tuesday we read a book on the butterfly cycle, then made some crafts focusing on learning the cycle. We had butterfly snacks and spent some time outside wearing tissue paper wings and running around the yard. Thursday I picked the Very Hungry Caterpillar as the theme. Oh man, I was so excited. Once again something Amelia said a couple weeks ago made total sense: mom, sometimes it seems so much more exciting in my mind, when we do the activity the boys make it not so fun. It was chaos! Not quite what I had in mind of kids happily stringing caterpillar necklaces, carefully eating snack then taking turns in the cocoon and turning into butterflies. Phillip ripped the cocoon right off the tree branch before school even started. Still, I enjoyed the theme and bore in mind that the kids are only 3. I am grateful for Justin's help cutting out paper shapes for me and cleaning up more than usual. Check out our Joy School blog if you want!

Tuesday evening was Amelia's first parent-teacher conference of the school year. Mrs Belieu is so amazing. She poured raving reviews about our little Amelia Jean. We felt so buoyed as parents, Mrs Belieu told us some amazing stories. There are some cliques forming in her grade. Amelia decided to befriend all the kids, if a kid in class has a hard day, Amelia goes out of her way to be friendly. She has friends regardless of cliques. Course, she is acing all her academics, like out the water! I told Mrs Belieu the story of when Amelia corrected the tooth fairy for not writing a friendly letter correctly.

Phillip and his class earned a PJ party at school. The Sunflower class has a hard time picking up their play things at the right time. Mrs Cassie and Angie started a brownie point jar, working towards the party. He was very excited to wear his PJs all-day-long. So, so silly. Wednesday I directed the boys to go play in the yard so I could get dressed. Soon I heard hysterical laughing and knew nothing good was happening. I found Phillip and Everett with a rogue box of matches setting leaves on fire. At least Phillip had the forethought to burn the leaves on a piece of plywood (?). I questioned him: Mom: Phillip what are you thinking? What did the firefighters tell you about playing with fire? Phillip: mom, it is dangerous.
Mom: then why are you playing with matches?
Phillip: ???Eh, the box was just sitting there, I had to burn leaves to warm up my hands.
Indeed, the boys had their chubby hands over the wisps of smoke getting their chilly fingers warm. I was hoping for a few more years before dealing with pyro tendencies.

Amelia had the day off on Friday. We enjoyed her presence as we went thrifting that morning. I totally scored 5 handmade, vintage dresses from the 1940-50s, some soakers, leather baby shoes, and 4 adorable bonnets. Cabela's hosted Trick or Treat street later that afternoon from 2-4 pm. The kids were very excited to finally wear their costumes. I finished Amelia's Elsa hat moments before we left. I had all the hair attached but needed to braid it. We went to an awesome little copse of trees I found the day before to take a couple photos of their costumes. Evelyn was a fox, I thrifted the costume but added a bow and eyelashes to the fox to make it more girly. We stopped first to visit Justin at his new office. He moved down to the downtown office for the time being. The office is quite spacious! He even had room to store a huge tumbleweed on his filing cabinet. We left him there to finish some stuff. We never know what to expect at Cabela's. Some years it is over the top, other years are quite lackluster. This year only 4 rooms were decorated instead of 10-12. The rooms were pretty amazing! First was TMNT, then a room showing off the pumpkin contest candidates, then a Frozen room, a Mincraft room, and a scary room with bats. We had cookies after then went home. Justin raked up a large pile of leaves for the kids to play in. I love watching the kid's faces while they play in the leaves. It is like watching a slice of heaven!

Saturday morning Justin was able to calibrate his new rifle scope at the range in Potter. As soon as he got home we jumped in the van and drove to Cheyenne for a wedding. My good friend Candice married her sweetie, Brandon. They were married in the Lion's Park amphitheater. On the last leg of the drive we talked about how temple marriages are different. The reception was right next to the wedding site. The kids played on a nearby playground for a while. Candice lucked out weather wise! The weather was ah-mazing! At the reception we surprised the bride and groom with Halloween masks provided by her Mom! That was fun. Justin came down with a high fever on the way home. He stayed home from church today with a fever and general yucky germs.