Pumpkin Patches and Halloween

I can't just ignore good old Halloween.  October went by in a flash but we had some good old fashioned autumn time fun.  

First up, a field trip with Isaac's preschool to Black Island Farms in Syracuse.  

Isaac had a grand time and I absolutely love spending time with my baby.  He's turned into a real talker and I love answering his questions and smiling to myself about all his many observations.  He has lots of friends in his preschool this year, mainly because our neighbor started this preschool this year so it's filled with a bunch of neighborhood kids, including Milan, Isaac's cousin.

How can you not enjoy, tractor rides, pumpkin patches, big slides, train rides and a corn box?

 

Of course Isaac couldn't have all the fun so we made sure to get ourselves down to J&J Nursery for their annual pumpkin patch hay rides.  This is where the good carving pumpkins are grown. Some day I hope to have enough space in my own yard to grown our own pumpkins, that was one of my favorite things growing up, but until then J&J will just have to do.

Then of course, Halloween.  Our good friends always have an adult Halloween party every year around Halloween time.  Some years there is a theme, other years there isn't.  This year was a no themed year and JayDee and I were glad because we had a great (and timely) costume idea.

It's an election year so we couldn't pass up the chance to be....The Romneys.

Second grade always does a Halloween program.  Hannah had a great time singing her little heart out about witches, goblins, trick-or-treating....

Then of course, Halloween itself.  I'm really glad that our school still holds to the tradition of Halloween parades. I don't know why I love it but I do, although I can never  get a good picture of my kids because they never slow down long enough for my slow shuttered camera to get a shot.   I did make Ethan pose for a shot before changing out of his Hawkeye costume.  Thanks to Grandma for pulling off another movie quality costume for the very picky, detail oriented Ethan.

Love me some cute kids!  I don't know what made this year's Halloween so great for me but I just loved all the costumes so much this year!

Aunt Shanna, the ultimate photo bomber!

Costumes are kind of a big thing with my family.  We grew up having the best costumes on the block and they were always homemade.  Needless to say, I have strayed slightly from my heritage and if it wasn't for my mom being close by and willing my kids would be somewhat disappointed every year. My sister on the other hand has kept the tradition alive and I just have to share some of her impressive work.  Lucky for her she married a guy who loves Halloween too.

This year.....

 

2 years ago....

  My personal favorite.

And remember....all homemade, mask and all.

What fun! I love a holiday totally dedicated to fun. It's a chance for you to get in touch with the child inside and who doesn't need a little of that every once in a while?

 
 

He's 12!

What!? I don't  know how it happened but Ethan is 12. As of this very day, my son, my son, holds the Aaronic priesthood. He has collected fast offerings and has passed the sacrament and has made his mother cry many tears of joy.  It really is the strangest thing.  First of all, I can't possibly be this old.  Secondly, I've seen this coming and have looked forward to it but wasn't quite prepared.  I can't explain it.  

Let's start with the fun stuff.... the birthday party.
This was Ethan's last childhood "birthday party" if you will.  No more invitations, presents, games, etc.  He'll obviously still get to celebrate his birthday every year and have parties occasionally, but the parties will most likely morph into those teenage parties that are significantly different from the parties of children.  My difficulty this year was trying to host a party with a child theme for boys that aren't necessarily little.  Ethan is loving dinosaurs right now and not the cutesy animated side of dinosaurs but the paleontology, science side of dinosaurs and dinosaurs was the theme he wanted for his last party.  How was I going to do that? A dinosaur party is a cinch for a 5 year old, but a 12 year old? It was tricky.  Luckily, Ethan wanted to plan the whole thing.  Sweet! That is definitely a perk to having older children.  So plan it he did. He came up with all the games and JayDee and I helped iron out the details.  It turned out to be really fun. His friends had a great time. 

5 games were planned:
#1- Dinosaur Dash
Pretty much a game of tag. They ran around with socks in their back pockets and if you're sock got pulled you had just been eaten by the dinosaur that pulled your sock.
 

Oh! Did I forget to mention they all had dinosaur hats.  I wasn't quite sure how they would go over but they liked them and wore them the whole day.  They're not so grown up after all.  :)

#2 - Fossil Frenzy
This game was the paleontology based one. The first one to dig up 5 "fossils" won.

 
#3 - Dinosaur Stomp
Aaaaa...the good old tie a balloon on your ankle and try to pop everyone else's balloon before yours is popped by someone else game.   

#4 - Carnivore Crunch
This one was easy enough...hung in trees all over the yard were beef jerky sticks.  All the boys had to do was "hunt" one down and eat it off the string without hands.  The first one done wins.  

 

#5 - Extinction

We saved the best for last. One of the theories that Ethan thinks is a plausible reason for the dinosaurs extinction is meteors.  What better way to symbolize extinction than dodge ball. The game was designed with a large circle painted on the grass for the Earth,the boys split into teams and had to try to hit the boys on the Earth with their meteors.  It was hilarious.  They loved this one and so did JayDee.  

Cake and presents followed.  

In honor of a possible future in paleontology.

 Ethan said it was his best birthday yet.

 

October 27th - birthday and party

October 28th - even better than birthday and party (for me)

 Ethan received the priesthood.  

I wish I could have taken a picture of Ethan standing on the stand in his suit with our Bishop as he announced Ethan's advancement from primary and then asking for our stustaining vote for Ethan to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and be ordained to the office of deacon.  I was all smiles even though my eyes were a little drippy.  What a great experience.  The awesome milestones that mothers get to look forward to and experience are priceless.  The wonderful thing is, in the short time Ethan has had the priesthood he has grown so much.  He is really taking this seriously and is trying hard to understand his role in the gospel plan.  It's so amazing.  

Yesterday he passed the sacrament for the first time.  I was pretty nervous for him at first, hoping the other deacons had given him some good instruction and an easy part of the chapel to serve to, but then as he stood and began administering the sacrament to others I just sat there weeping.   I can't even describe my feelings properly.  I am so flawed as a mother.  I try to do my best but there are days that I literally chase the Spirit from our home.  I worry that I'm not teaching my children the gospel well enough because I'm not the perfect example.  So to witness my son, the boy I carried and delivered, the boy I've loved and who has taught me so much, the boy I watched grow into this young man passing the sacrament, I just couldn't contain my gratitude and it came out in tears.  I was and am so grateful for a Brother, a Savior, a Friend who makes up for all that I lack.  There is no way I could have raised this wonderful child on my own and had him turn out right.  I just couldn't do it but He makes up the difference.  What a remarkable truth and I thank Him everyday for His help and for the opportunity to be a part of His great plan of happiness.  I can honestly say, nothing has ever made me happier than to be a mother.  I know Ethan is only 12 and there are many years ahead and many experiences yet to have before I can call it a victory but this moment testifies that I am not alone and that I am loved and as long as I remember that....we'll make it. :)

 

Brigham City Temple

Many people around here were excited and anxiously awaiting the completion of the Brigham City Temple, our family included.  We travel to Logan frequently to visit family so we pass through Brigham City frequently and my kids loved watching the temple "grow."  August 29th was the day we went to the open house and it was a beautiful day. I really enjoyed being there with just my family.  Don't get me wrong, I love my family and JayDee's family and we do a lot of things together but this one was just for us and I loved every minute. Especially knowing that in just 2 short months from this time, Ethan would be turning 12 and would be able to go inside dedicated temples and start doing temple work himself. Amazing!

 

 

Here are some model shots.

"Mom! Mom! Take a picture of just me." 

"And me!"

A disclaimer on this hairdo....not my doing. 

We can all thank the babysitter from the night before for this beauty. :) 

 A beautiful, bright, breezy day.  That I hope my children remember for a long time.

 

Staycation

Right around school starting we made sure to squeeze in just a bit more fun before fall hit.  JayDee and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary over Labor Day weekend and we decided we needed to spend some quality time with our kiddos.  Especially because of the limited time I would have due to my teaching schedule.  We affectionately called this weekend our "staycation."  We've done this before and it is really fun.  We've found that the most expensive part to a vacation is usually the hotel so we just sleep at home but fill our days with vactiony type activities and only family, no friends. We don't always take advantage of all the fun places right around us so this gives a reason to do so. We highly recommend staycations to everyone.

This staycation consisted of eating out, going to a movie, Boondocks, eating out again....you get the idea.

  
It wouldn't be a staycation without ice cream!
 

Along with our staycation we added a little to our food storage.  A little peace of mind for my honey to celebrate all our years together. :)
 

A week after our staycation we splurged a little more and went to the USU/Utah game.  We have never done this before.  Actually while we were sitting in the stadium I was thinking about the last time I had been to a football game and realized it was when I was in college.  A loooonnnnggg time ago.  We only took our two oldest and some fellow Aggie friends.  It was so fun! It didn't hurt that we beat Utah in overtime. A nail-biter for sure. We are definitely going to have to do that again.

 
 

School Days

In September school started for everyone around here. At the end of the last school year, I decided I was ready to go back to teaching. I thought this was the time.  All these thoughts were spurred by my children's school having a 1st grade position open.  In all honesty, I wasn't thrilled that it was 1st grade even though that is the grade I used to teach but I thought it was a start and at least I was completely qualified for this job.  I had teacher after teacher at Creekside telling me the job was mine.  I however didn't want to get my hopes up and I was having reservations that this really was the right time for me to be going back to teaching.  Well I applied, I interviewed, and they gave the job to someone else.  Ouch! 
It did feel good however that there were many a teacher who were outraged at this decision.  It hurt but I had prayed through the whole process that if this wasn't the time for me and my family than I didn't want anyone to offer me a job because if they did I would take it.  So that was my answer, crystal clear.  

About 2 weeks before school started, I got a call from the principal at Kaysville Elementary asking me if I would be interested in doing a long-term sub job for a 6th grade teacher who had been in a terrible car accident earlier that month. I would be responsible for getting the classroom ready for school to begin, all the lessons, contacting parents (as well as conducting back to school night - YIKES!), grades, etc.  In essence, I would be the teacher until further notice.  Due to the circumstances of accident recovery, no one knew exactly how long I would be there. And thanks to this not being a planned absence from school, there was absolutely no guidance from the regular teacher. I was really nervous to take on this responsibility because 1. it was 6th grade, you can't wing 6th grade 2. I only had 2 weeks to get ready and 3. I inherited a classroom that looked like this.

 This actually looks pretty good.  This picture was taken after 6 hours of cleaning.  It took me a full week to get things organized and looking presentable. 

With one week used to organize the class, I only had one week to figure out what I was going to teach. Which in reality was only a couple of days because of all the meetings that go on during the week before school starts. I was slightly freaking out.  But the first day of school came anyway.

The surprising thing was that when the first day rolled around I wasn't worried about my class but my kids.  Leaving that morning turned out to be much harder than I anticipated. I literally had to run out of the house that morning so no one would see me cry. JayDee stayed home until the kids were off to school so they could have a proper send off that first day.  Thank heaven! I love him. 
 My little scholars...

 
In the ensuing weeks we got into a solid routine, me and the kids, but I kept thinking, "I thought I was ready for this? I'm so glad this is temporary."  I had forgotten how really hard teaching is.  One perk? My class. They were fantastic! I immediately fell in love with them.  I really enjoyed every day we had together.  So much so, when their regular teacher told me she was ready to come back Oct. 1st I was bummed. I was excited to get my life back but I was going to miss my class.  

Our last day together was the school's Jog-a-thon.  We had a blast! Of course I ran with my class and they thought that was super cool because I guess teacher's don't regularly run it. We had lunch right after our run.  Here are some of my really hot and sweaty cuties. 
 

My class had also earned a reward that they were cashing in on that day. I call it Ipod Idol.  It is soooooo funny.  Someone picks a song off their ipod to sing, they wear their earphones so they can hear the music but no one else can, they are blindfolded to help with stage fright and then they sing. It was awesome!  In hindsight I should have recorded more these instead of just taking pictures but this is what is looks like. 

 

Even the boys got into it. They were the funniest because they didn't try to sound like the real singer like the girls did. 

This one was one of my favorites....

This was a perfect send off for me.  What a great group of kids.  This is the whole class before the Jog-a-thon showing off our class banner and their guns.  We had to make up a country/town to compete in the Jog-a-thon Olympics. Nice right? These guys crack me up.