This is the night we've waited for...

We had a friend give us some pumpkins out of her garden. For Family Home Evening, we decided to carve pumpkins and have caramel apples. Sounds festive, right?




K trying to pick out a pumpkin from our kitchen table pumpkin patch.










Z, J and S working hard at designing the perfect face. J held his up and asked, "Can you tell which one is the pumpkin?" NOPE!

H checking his pumpkin out. He kept licking it. It probably tasted like dirt. Yum!























The best part was cleaning out the insides. I decided that Halloween was thought up while someone was carving a pumpkin. The insides felt like spider webs. The kids thought they were digging out guts. They had a hard time getting the heart out. It was scarey and slimey and yucky!

It's alot of work to carve 6 pumpkins. We got the tops off of all of them and they all got cleaned out but we only got 2 carved. Then Ken and I were both tired and my house and kids were a mess. The pumpkins all went out to the front porch, carved or not, the kids went to the bathtub, K went to bed, and I cleaned up the kitchen.

We did end the night with family prayer and K's version of caramel apples. The kids were slightly disappointed that they didn't get to melt the caramels and then put it on the apples but in the end it all tasted pretty much the same. Plus, it was one less mess I had to clean up.





Next year we will only carve one pumpkin per adult, not one pumpkin per child. The rest will be decorated with markers!

"Hot!"

Me: I'm really hot! (as I pull my hair up into a ponytail)
J: (disgusted face)
Me: What's that look for?
J: If your hot it means your like...sexy and beautiful.
Me: (surprised but trying to cover up) Well, duh!
J: (looks like he might vomit)
Me: Okay, at your age hot may mean "sexy and beautiful". At my age, it just means that I feel warm.
J: Oh...Yeah, I agree!

Our Ward Halloween Party

K was out of town for the week last week and so I asked Z to run the camera for me while I held H since Z seems to have outgrown Trick or Treating this year. Today I was looking through the pictures that he took. Hum....here they are!

I just have to say that Halloween is NOT my favorite holiday so I'm okay with not having any really great pictures. It's just funny what he thought was important to take pictures of. I guess that he captured the overall feeling of chaos that I felt that night! On Halloween night, though, I'LL be running the camera!!!

Artistic Adventures Night

At school, they had an Artistic Adventures Night. Every student was encouraged to display one or two items of art.

S loves to make jewelry. She just learned how to make this style of bracelet this week. I am constantly amazed by each necklace that she makes. She would like to try earrings next. I think she is getting pretty good.

J really enjoys drawing so I got him a burn pen and he enjoyed making some wood signs. He also loves aquariums and any living creature but I'm not big into pets right now so he enjoyed making these candles as a cheap substitute for the real thing.

Z loves anything Harry Potter so when we found this card set, he was hooked. This is the begining of Z's interpretation of Hogwarts made out of cards. This has definately been a fun project for him to work on.

My other artistic children:

A is always happy!

K is a tease!

And H is very curious and always dirty!

We also got to meet their teachers and see where their desks are and meet their friends and other parents. I was proud of my kids for participating. They enjoyed the positive feedback from others and they equally enjoyed seeing and complimenting the other childrens projects. It was a very fun evening.

Can you read this?

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the first and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can slitl raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

6 Things about me that you don't know! But...now you will!

Cindy tagged me the other day. I'm suppose to tell 6 things about myself that most people wouldn't know and then tag 6 people and leave a comment on their blogs. I had to take a couple of days to think about this one. I think I have some good ones though. Here goes:


1) I realized this week that I have this annoying routine of going through the house several times a day and making sure that all the light switches are down. Most of the lights have two switches, one on each side of the room basically, and throughout the day they get turned off and on from different ends of the rooms. This makes it so that when all the lights are off, some of the switches are up and some are down. This bothers me so I go from one end of the house to the other a couple times a day and turn all the lights switches down. I sleep better at night knowing that all the doors are locked, blinds are closed, kids are in beds, and light switches are all the same direction...DOWN.

2)I love poetry, music and art! I feel like emotions and feelings that cannot be expressed through regular words can be felt and expressed through poetry, music, or artwork. However, I personally have no talent in any of those areas (I can play the piano) so I am really grateful that there are so many very talented artists in this world who are willing to share their work for me to enjoy.

3)When I eat potato chips, I always categorize the chips and then eat them in a certain order. I ALWAYS eat the folded ones first. They are my favorite ones!!! Then I start with the small broken ones and work my way to the big ones. The big ones that are not broken are the ones that I eat last and I don't usually like them so I will either brake them and then put them in piles by size and then eat them or give them to one of my kids to eat. I also have to eat the broken ones two at a time and they have to be the same size and shape. Sounds complicated but I have eaten them like this for years. I have no idea why. I eat my french fries two at a time and by size also.

4)Since we are talking about food, I have a couple other rules. I never combine my foods. I always eat the different things one at a time and I never move on to the next food until I have completely finished the first one. Like, all the corn. then all the salad, then all the bread, then all the meat. Also, I like to eat in order of what I like least to best, except the meat, and it's always last. I also have rules to eating colored candy, like M&M's or Smarties. I put them in groups by color. Then I eat them according to how many there are of each kind. Most of the time I try to make it so that there is the same number of each color. Once I get it to that point, then I eat one of each color and give the rest away. Or if there is a big difference in the amounts, then I eat one of the least color, then two of the next color, then three and so on until I've had each color and then give the rest away.

5)One more food thing. I LOVE FRESH FRUIT!!! I love watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, peaches, pears, any fruit as long as it is fresh!!!! I could live on just fresh fruit (and chocolate! They are heaven together!)

6)I prefer plans that are spontaneous. I get stressed out too much if I have to plan something out in advance. I would much rather just get a spur of the moment idea and go for it!! This is hard with my kids and my husbands job but I love drives to the mountains, picnics, surprise visits, anything unplanned. I also don't do well with lists and schedules, however, I don't get much accomplished without them. I a love/hate thing! I used to be more organized. I'm trying to figure it all out again. Like today is Friday and Friday is the day that I have decided should be my cleaning day, then I don't have to do it on Saturday when the kids are home. So, since it is Friday, so far I have done no cleaning!! Because I know I'm suppose to. Why do I do this? I won't clean tomorrow either because I am suppose to clean on Fridays. So, basically, if I decide to clean right now then I will but if I plan to clean then I don't. Why do I fight myself like this? It makes no sense to me.

My poor family!!!!!!!

So, after reading this you may decide that I need therapy. Do you think it would help?

Now it's my turn to learn what makes you unique! I choose:
Rachelle
Angie
Jenna
Lynnette
Holly
Ashley

Have fun! I look forward to learning more about you!!! Thanks Cindy! This was fun!

My name

On Friday evening, our ward Relief Society had an Enrichment meeting. I had signed up to make a couple of the projects so I felt like I had to go. I left the kids home alone, since K was working late, and headed out for an evening of good food, spiritual inspiration, and fun crafts. My kids called several times on the drive over to the church to let me know who was hurting whom and that the baby was crying and everyone was hungry and could I please not go and just come home. I was beginning to doubt my decision to go. I walked into a room full of familiar faces but I felt alone with no kids hanging on me. We have lived in this ward about 7 months but I have been teaching Primary for 6 months so I honestly don't know very many people. I was very much out of my comfort zone. There was a line for the dinner so I went over and got in line. The woman standing next to me turned and said, "Your name is L, right?" The woman in front of her turned and said, "I don't waste time on learning names. I just know who you belong to." I was a little surprised by her comment but I calmly said, "Oh? And who do I belong to?" She smiled and said,"You're S's mom." Another woman behind me spoke up and said, "I just know your V's sister." Another woman said, "I know you as the cops' wife with all the kids."

WOW! I was speechless.

Who am I?


Yes, I am a daughter!


Yes, I am a sister!


Yes, I am a wife!


And Yes, I am a mother!

But, my name is L! What is yours?


Do you remember names? Or do you settle for just knowing who someone belongs to?



P.S. I sat by the woman who knew my name.