2018 :: week 44

October 21

Lauren is 7! She is as sensitive and kind and smart as she is beautiful. She makes her parents smile everyday. She pays impeccable attention to detail, builds amazing Lego creations and has a generous heart. Her quick wit keeps us on our feet and her thoughtfulness is inspiring. We are grateful for her everyday, but especially today on her birthday. We celebrated by eating donuts for breakfast and opening gifts--mainly lego sets and LOL dolls--before church. She got sung to at church in primary AND by the youth at our house during the BYD that night. Sunday birthdays when you have afternoon church and your dad is the bishop make it a little hard to have the day just as you'd like it, but Lauren handled it well.

October 22

Anthony and I met Lauren for lunch at her school to close out our birthday celebration weekend. She requested a McDonald's Happy Meal and we obliged. We hear some strange rumors about rules in the lunchroom, so it was fun for us to see what it is actually like.

October 23

Elliott and I met Kendall and Stephanie at a new-to-us park (Santa Marta) Tuesday morning. We discussed going to story time at the library, but decided with the idyllic weather we were experiencing this week, it would be more worth our time to get outdoors. The kids had fun climbing and playing some game that involved moving rocksfrom one area of the park to another.

October 24

Will is such a great sport! When he accompanies us to Lauren's soccer practice he often ends up entertaining the younger boys. Elliott loves soccer practice. He is guaranteed at least one and often two or three of his buddies will be there. There are rarely any siblings Will's age at practice, but he is nice to play with the preschoolers and keep them out of their parent's hair.

October 25

The boys played with Legos Thursday evening after baths. Will seems to have caught the viral cough that has been going around their elementary school. That night we tried every natural remedy we could come up with to help soothe his symptoms--steam shower, Vicks Vapo Rub, swallowing a small spoonful of honey, humidifier in room. It seemed to help him feel better, but it didn't get rid of the all the pain.

October 26

Will performed in his first piano recital Friday afternoon. His piece was "Frankenstein's Waltz" and he performed it perfectly. He had it memorized and played it with a nice, even tempo. I was a little worried because at home he would sometimes "jazz" it up a bit, but when his time came he played beautifully. The students all dressed up in their Halloween costumes, which was convenient, because our ward's Trunk or Treat started right as we finished.

October 27

Lauren played in her last soccer game of the season on Saturday (her team has one more game Sunday). She had a great year! She continues to improve and gain confidence. She is a good teammate and friend. Anthony and I are trying to convince her that it is okay to play with full intensity. When she plays she seems to be pacing herself, only giving about 75%.

2018 :: week 43

October 14

Lauren and Elliott shared a sweet hug with Memaw after church on Sunday.

October 15

For FHE we made our annual trek to Shaake's Pumpkin Patch in Lawrence. It was a little chilly, but the sun helped keep us warm. The kids had a great time playing on the playground, wandering through the vines to find the perfect pumpkin, and watching the chickens eat old kettlecorn. I told the kids I wanted to get one quick family pic before we left, and he just couldn't handle it. Three year olds, am I right?!

October 16

I tried to be sneaky and get a better picture, but she caught me. Lauren likes to play school with the younger neighborhood kids and she has them sit on our outdoor loveseat while she bosses them around teaches them.

October 17

Lauren caught a wounded butterfly after school on Wednesday. I wasn't very excited about it, because butterflies are fragile, but it never tried to fly away.

October 18

I love this beautiful tree. I look at it everyday as we walk to school and it makes me feel good. We've had gorgeous fall weather this week and it doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

October 19

This house is on our Meals on Wheels route and Elliott and I see it each Friday. I call it the "Halloween House," and he calls it the "Spooky House." Regardless of what you call it, the yard is full skeletons at a carnival.

October 20

We spent Saturday afternoon at the zoo with the Ules. We wanted to have a fun family day in honor of Lauren's birthday the next day. It was perfect! The weather was idyllic, we were in good company, and the kids were well behaved.  We ran into Hagman twins, saw Elephant and Piggie, touched rays and rode the sky safari. It was a fun day.

2018 :: week 42

October 7

We had a great day watching conference. In the afternoon we went to my parents house for a potluck dinner. Lauren and Tyler were very pleased with the BBQ beans. Our conference weekend was quiet and relaxing. We had planned on fitting in some yard work between the Saturday session, but the cold, rainy day forced us to stay inside and it was a nice change of pace.

October 8

On Monday afternoon Lauren and I walked home from the park together after school. I went to Will's parent-teacher conference and the boys were home with Anthony. Lauren played at the park with a few friends and their moms kept an eye on her for me. As we walked together hand in hand, she started singing and laughing and I just wanted to capture her sweet childhood innocence. The picture I got didn't quite capture the magic of the moment, but it was a moment I want to remember.

October 9

This has been the week of rain! I think we had rain five out of the seven days this week. On Tuesday it was only drizzling, so we were able to walk to school.

October 10

I took the kids up to the park after dinner Wednesday. Anthony had several meetings at the church and I wanted to get out of the house for as much of the evening as possible. Each kid brought the riding apparatus of their choice and we rode, scooted and propelled ourselves around the smooth surface of the tennis courts.

October 11

Thursday morning we pulled the kids out of school early--it was a half day anyway--to have the kids join me at my 20 week appointment. We found out that we will be having another BOY join our family in March of 2019! Lauren only cried for a minute. I was a little surprised too. We are mostly grateful that he is growing just as he should and all his vitals, measurements, etc. look great.

October 12

Friday we went out for an early dinner at Red Robin. We had a lot to celebrate! A healthy boy and great reports from both Will and Lauren's teachers about how well they are doing in school, both academically and socially. Getting close to the end of a particularly busy church month (Anthony had to go help with a massive move later that evening).

October 13

Saturday evening Anthony and I went to the wedding and ring ceremony of a family friend. Anthony officiated the ring ceremony. We had a nice evening. The reception was at Pinstripes and we were able to get in a few frames of bowling before we had to head home. It was nice to spend an evening together, it has been a pretty busy month.

2018 :: week 41

September 30

We have started taking the nursery kids to the gym after snack time. The older boys--specifically Jedidiah, Elliott and Emmett--really need to burn some energy. We usually play a game where each kids gets to pick an animal for everyone to pretend to be. In this photo the kids are being snakes. We also play a few rounds of Ring Around the Rosie before lining up and getting a quick drink at the drinking fountains.

October 1

I don't know how I did it, but I accidentally locked Elliott in the car Monday morning with my keys and phone in the van! I think the locking sensor on my key fob is sensitive because there is no way I could have opened his door without first unlocking the driver's door and when I tossed the keys to my seat to buckle him in I triggered the lock. Luckily I was at Emily's house and was able to borrow her phone to call Anthony, and Anthony was able to come pretty quickly and rescue him. Poor Elliott was so confused.

October 2

This was the week of weird car issues. On Tuesday evening I was driving to the gym with Lauren and Elliott. As we were about to exit I saw a 5 gallon bucket rolling up the lane in front of me. I was next to the cement barrier on my right and there was a large van to my left, so there was really nowhere for me to go. I hit the bucket and dragged it with me until I was able to pull over at a nearby parking lot. I got out and was able to pull the bucket off. The van drove fine, but smelled like burning plastic. I took the car in to the dealership the next morning and they told me everything was fine, and that they tried to scrape as much plastic off as they could. Unfortunately, the rest of the plastic would just have to burn off as I drove. Whenever I get out of the van it smells like a birthday candle to me. Oh well, considering that was the only "damage" I'll deal with it.

October 3

Wednesday was a gorgeous fall day. I snapped this picture in the morning when Elliott and I were walking home from walking the kids up to school. Lauren and Will could walk to school by themselves, but I enjoy spending a few minutes with them in the morning. It wakes me up and gets me going for the day.

October 4

Thursday night Anthony, Will and a bunch of young men and leaders from our ward went to the SMW v. Olathe East football game. Boys from our ward suited up and played for both teams. They crew spent half of the game cheering for each side to be fair. It's hard to say if they were good luck or bad luck. The team they were cheering for went scoreless while they were rooting for them. Anthony is in his element at sporting events.  The evening was very cold! The temperature dropped twenty degrees overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.

October 5

Temperatures were much nicer on Friday. We took a family walk after dinner and ended up at the park for awhile. We would have liked to have stayed longer, but the sun is setting so much earlier.

October 6

It rained like crazy overnight Friday into Saturday and then much of the day Saturday. Lauren's soccer games were cancelled, so we spent a cozy day at home watching General Conference. In the afternoon the Ules came over to watch some baseball. Then I went to the Women's Session that night at the Stake Center. After the meeting I went to Sheridan's with some good friends.