Halloween Week...

Okay so I believe that Halloween is one of those holidays that seem to become overwhelming, especially the more children involved. This year we were packed with lots of holiday plans. This is the kids right before we went out trick or treating. Jack-Jack wasn't interested in anything but his daddy holding him. Mr. A recently changed his part time employment and works until 7pm or later. Jack-Jack is crazy about his daddy and when he does have Mr. A around he is very upset if he puts him down at all. The funny thing is now he is crawling all over the place and doesn't usually want to be held unless he's tired or has his daddy around. Rex hated wearing the lion hat and took it off immediately following this picture! At least Bella and Obi were into the events!!!

Bella's class put on a Halloween opera with singing and dancing. This is right after her performance! I rarely get to be in a picture with the kids. I am always the one taking them!

Bella as a bride!

Obi's preschool performed two little songs for their "college friends" and parents were invited to attend. Aren't they all just cute!?!

Our Young Womens group put on a Halloween party on Saturday. They played games and got lots of treats! The kids had a blast and they all loved wearing their costumes for a couple extra days!!!

I believe this shirt has fit my boys very well. We get compliments on the humor of it whenever they are wearing it. Caution: Does not play well with others.

Rex's new haircut!

It was much easier to take a picture with him than take his picture by himself. See he has the perfect head for a buzz.

This is an email I keep getting that I think is so TRUE!!!!

Just click on the picture and it will open up bigger.

Active Crawler

I don't quite understand why some mothers want their babies to grow up so fast. For instance Jack-Jack was sweet and playful throughout the day and now that he's mobile he's into everything!!! Who would choose that upon themselves, ignorance I believe.

My little trouble maker. He now takes the toy train apart whenever he gets a chance because he's quite capable. If only they all cleaned up after themselves I would have it made. LOL!!!

Bella loves to hold Jack-Jack. As you can tell from the picture there are other things he'd rather be doing at the moment. Dumping out the toy bin for instance.

This is the last picture of Rex before I just shaved his hair off. I had decided that he needed a little trim around the ears which ended up being more of a wrestling match and looked like a child had done the job so I just shaved the hair clean off his head! Fortunately he has a very nice bald head and a huge smile to make up for the lack of hair. When he's up for it, I will take a picture of his bald little head. He hasn't really wanted his picture taken lately. Kind of camera shy.

Obi is into wearing his dad's watch whenever he can confiscate it from Mr. A. He has his notorious superman suit on and the watch. He's very into things specific things. He's not much of a wanderer. He's a little meticulous.

School Activities

Firestation Field Trip Obi's preschool went on a field trip to the local firestation! He was the "Captain of the Day" and loved it. My mom went with Obi to preschool to help out, I missed out because the princee was home sick with the flu!
This is Obi's preschool class minus one student. His teacher, Mrs. P is kneeling on the floor on the left side of the picture.

Author's Party!!!
Bella wrote a book about Rapunzel. Each student in her class wrote their own story and then Ms. B decided to let all the parents come watch their kids read their story to the class. She was so excited!!!

Bella is very into art. She wanted to display her art, she gets very into it!

The Elementary School Bazaar

Bella's Elementary School throws a Bazaar at the end of September every year as a fund raiser! It is a blast for the kids. Whomever of the students wants to run a booth is able to as long as they follow the school's guidelines. It has an assortment of everything. Food, games, prizes and even toys to play on. They had a blow up obstacle course and as you can see, a giant slide. They end the evening with way to much candy, purple hair and balloon swords. Who could ask for more!!!

Rex and Jack-Jack are anticipating when their old enough to slide down that slide!

Fall is finally here...

Life is well under way this fall. Bella is loving first grade and is in reading level 12 in her class. Now that we have finally adjusted to having her take a lunch to school and making sure all her needs are met. Things seem really good. She is our little princess! She has convinced all her little boy cousins and brothers that barbies and dress up are just as fun for boys as girls (hopefully C doesn't mind his boys coming home from our house in makeup once in awhile!) HAHAHA. Jack-Jack is lots of fun. He pulls himself up onto everything, unfortunately most of those objects move and don't like the baby hanging on them. Uh-oh! He's taken a few crashes on the floor but God made babies very durable, at least mine!

September 17-22, I spent in Washington helping my grandparents to start packing their belongings. They bought a home here in St. George and will be moving in on the 18th of October. It has been very exciting for us as they have always lived so far away and will be so close. We are hoping that this move will be a blessing in their lives as time as taken its toll. Both are in their early 80s and could use some help around the house, some company and assistance in getting to the doctors, etc. It is coming up so soon.

The children have all been a blessing for Mr. A and me. I wouldn't want it to be any different. Each of them has a unique spirit that fills our home and hearts. They are truly God's little angels.

I decided that Jack-Jack needed a photo shoot and took about a million pictures of him in this outfit. He seemed not to mind until he fell over and then he was through with my little game! If he would just take naps when the other boys do I wouldn't have all this alone time with him. I guess he'll just be stuck with me until he gets his nap schedule with theirs.

These two are the absolutely best-of-friends/worst-of-enemies. Rex loves his cousin but wants her to do everything! A little bossy if I do say so. He sees her coming up the pathway and gets all excited that she's almost here but then, when she knocks on the back door. He yells "No. My house." TROUBLE!!!

Obi is loving preschool. He goes there on Tuesdays and Thursdays with the little neighbor boy. He tells me a new story everyday and loves to play with the dinosaurs. He says he doesn't like show and tell because then he cannot play with the dinosaurs as much. Oh, and they're much bigger than the ones at home. He especially likes the triceratops! Obi can write his name and has been working on all his letters. He tells me "I saw a D on that sign, mom. Did you know d starts with duck." We are glad that he has adapted so well as change seems to be his biggest challenge.

This has been very fun keeping things posted like this. I hope you all enjoy reading it!

August Hot Spots

Life is finally back to normal. Thank the heavens life is going well for us! After the craziness of summer things are on a roll. I do believe God throws in little bumps to make us remember how much we are blessed and that He's the one in control! We are all in very good health, have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies and plenty of bounteous blessings to be grateful for!

If you look closely you'll notice our little man has a tooth poking out! Jack-jack has survived the first of many teething experiences. He has both of his bottom little teeth pushing their way up! Bella thinks it is pretty cool that she is growing the same teeth (her's are the adult teeth)! Jack-jack is my biggest 6 month old yet. He went to his checkup and he's enormous! 18 lbs 8 oz and 28 3/4". Let's just say whatever I am doing seems to work for him.

Bella began 1st grade this past week, August 15th. She is in Miss B's class. We sure do miss her while she's gone all day! Bella loves school, especially now that she has really grasped the reading. We have her read scriptures out loud at family scripture time and she does a marvelous job! The princess has started taking her lunches to school, I seem to overfill them! I am told that she doesn't have time to eat all the food in there or she'll be the last one in the lunch room :o)

Obi will be attending preschool this year at DSC. He's rather excited as Bella seems to be having all the fun without him! He is a great big brother and loves to help Rex and Jack-jack out. It has been fun to see how much he's grown as the big brother! Don't worry too much though I still catch him with his finger in his belly button every once in awhile!

Rex and Jack-jack adore each other! Jack-jack usually scrunches his face in caution when he sees Rex but no one would miss the large grin he always carries with him! Rex is becoming the over concerned child. He has started trying to help make sure Jack-jack is fed, but I don't think 6 month olds usually have a liking for yogurt jammed down their throats or carrot sticks to naw on! He is a tough little guy so he seems to recover from the extra affection rather well. Now if they would all just sleep a little longer at naptime I would have it made!

Surprise your 50

So, both of my parents turn 50 in August and we thought it would be a great idea to throw them a Surprise birthday. My nephew's birthday is July 29th so we used that as the cover. It was a lot preparation with a dinner, live entertainment, and a video Mr. A created using all their photos of the past with some songs they would recognize! Here is the initial surpise! A family from our ward performed some Samoan dances for the family! My parents got up in front of everyone and danced!

It was worth it just to see their surprised looks!
I didn't get a picture of the kitchen but after we served the cupcakes for dessert, Rex and my niece made their way into the kitchen and found the remaining cupcakes. Let's just say that it took a family friend and me a while to scrub all the chocolate frosting off the floors and cupboards!

Pioneer Days

I made Bella a pioneer day dress for the Primary parade that our stake put on. It was fun and I think the outfit turned out great too! I bought Obi & Rex straw hats and made them handkerchiefs to match the princess' apron. Here is a picture of the kids waiting for the Washington City Pioneer Day parade. All in their costumes except Jack-jack who was happy to just be there.Obi & Bella are waiting patiently for the parade to start and the candy to be thrown their way! We sat in a great shaded spot with the family but we were towards the end of the parade so most of the floats ran out of candy by the time they got to us! Next year we are bringing our own bag of candy. My kids all looked adorable and loved their costumes! I woke up early and did a 5k that morning with my dad and sister! I was a little beat.

Here is the little ones sitting on a "horse" made completely out of horse shoes! Our stake puts on a huge Pioneer day activity with booths done by each ward, a dinner with 20 pies donated per ward and lots of games! They even included a Primary parade that circled around a large tent in the middle of the baseball field between the two churches! It was lots of fun for the kids!

Rex rode the whole parade with his baby brother!

My sister kept my niece in the picture long enough for me to get a quick snap!

Our Family Vacation...

Mr. A & I decided to take our family vacation during the Independence day holiday this year. First, we had planned to go north during the later half of the week but Mr. A thought it would be fun to surprise his parents and show up at a 4th of July breakfast put on by his grandfather. It is also his dad's birthday. It didn't work quite as planned. We arrived in Provo late on July 3rd and stayed at my sister's apartment. It was a bit crazy! Rex took off out the door in the middle of the night so we were on guard duty for the night! On the 4th we were headed up to Millcreek canyon by 6:30am.

As you can see it took us a little while after we arrived to get them dressed for the day! They had a blast climbing trees and playing in the water. The food was great. Rex tried everything they had. Jack-jack was very well entertained, as most of the family had not seen him before! After breakfast we headed to visit with Grandma B. We stopped over at Kmart and bought a little kiddie pool to keep the kids cool and happy! Later on, we went down to Provo to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks over at the field across the street from the MTC (I have been doing that whenever we have the chance, since my family lived at Wymount when my dad went back to school). It is one of those traditions that I feel makes the holiday! My family all met us there. The lights are always so fun to see!

On Thursday, we took the day easy! We had been up for over 22 hours on the 4th of July with little sleep the night before. We played at Trafalga: miniature golf, arcade, etc.. Later we watched a movie at my sister's house. All the kids were up for naps!

We spent Friday at Seven Peaks water park! The kids loved it! The princess and Obi went on the big rides with their dad. Rex and Jack-jack spent their time playing in the water. Jack-jack loves the water as much as the others; they are all little fish! We drove up to Kamas and went up to the National Forest. We spent the night in our van as we had borrowed a tent that was missing the poles and stakes! Rex was the only one who struggled with getting comfortable. He was worried that bears would come and eat him. The concerns of a 2 year old. At about 3 am he passed out from pure exhaustion. We got up early and drove to Park City to purchase a large 8 person tent! I was a little concerned about sleeping under the stars with only the protection of a tent. A 12 year old boy had recently been ripped out of his tent in middle of the night by a bear and killed!

We arrived just in time for the children to play games. The kids all enjoyed the treasure hunt! There was lots of candy for all the children. They always have many activities for everyone to participate in. Our kids enjoyed seeing their cousins. It was a very eventful family reunion with all its little quirks that families add! Wink, Wink, LOL!

When we headed out of SL we had been warned of a fire in the area of Cove Fort. We took an alternative route that kept us out of harms way. After arriving home we found out that the fire is the largest wildfire ever in Utah!