Fall festivities

Casey finished out his football season on the nineteenth. The weather was wonderful and the kids enjoyed themselves and the game.  His team won their last game! They had three wins and four losses this season.  Between a new coaching staff and ridiculous parents Casey hasn't enjoyed coaching football as much this year. I know Casey loves to coach and I can see his enthusiasm and enjoyment as he interacts with the players. We'll see what next year brings.

Our ward put on a harvest dinner a couple of weeks ago. We got to dress up as farmers and enjoy chili. The kids played more than ate, but that's usually how things go.

We finished Harry Potter! Kendal was a champ to read a book a bit above her leve (fifth grade level, she reads at a low fourth grade level) Some of the words took a few tries to get down. It was quite long for her and took her two weeks to get through, but she loved it and was hooked early on. I read it to Peter. He liked the book, but wanted more pictures as I read. Initially I was just going to do a couple of movie themed treats, but my imagination and love of Harry Potter took over. I Made chocolate frogs and their boxes, golden snitches, and found berties botts every flavor beans. I Made owl balloons that "delivered" personalized Hogwarts acceptance letters and train tickets. They also got homemade wands (which are currently in time out : /. We had the kids take a house sorting quiz over dinner with the "sorting hat" on. Kendal is in Hufflepuff and Peter is in Gryffindor! We put Alice in Gryffindor as well since Casey and I are in Hufflepuff. Peter wasn't willing to pose for pictures, but Kendal was. The kids loved the movie and the experience. Kendal wants to read the next book, but we're having her wait till the holiday break.

Side note: Kendal made an AR (reading) goal at the beginning of school to reach forty points by January. We'll she met her goal early and finished this month! We are so proud of her hard work and love off books! She also would've gotten 12 points from reading Harry Potter but she just missed out on getting a high enough score on the quiz for the points. (She said she couldn't ask for help pronouncing words as she took the quiz) She was pretty bummed to miss out on the points and lose two weeks of reading towards her goal, but all that matters to us is she enjoyed the book, and did her best no matter the outcome.

Peter has been begging to carve pumpkins since we got them. We finally carved them Saturday morning. Kendal and Peter each chose a character ( Mini and Yoda) and drew a scary face. Casey did an awesome job carving the kids creations! We made Alice's pumpkin an owl, but didn't carve it so we can keep it longer. (Again Peter wasn't up for pictures, it's a new phase of disliking the camera.)

Peter got to hang out with Casey a few times at football practice this fall. He has loved the one on one and likes being with the team. He's so friendly with the boys and coaches. After the last game he was high fiving and congratulating all of the boys after the game.
Kendal got her turn to have much coveted daddy time Saturday afternoon. They headed out to Tubbs Berry farm and did the corn maze, slides, raced some rubber ducks, and saw some animals. Kendal led the way through the maze and always wanted to turn left (they ended up getting out pretty fast because of it).

The kids had their primary program this past Sunday. Casey's parents came up to see them. Both Kendal and Peter did a wonderful job giving their parts and singing the songs. My mama heart was bursting with pride and love.
Peter's Part: "I will choose the right by helping others."
 Kendal's part: "I am preparing for baptism by making good choices, saying my prayers to Heavenly Father, and doing and being my best."

Casey got a week off and now he's on to basketball season. Kendal started basketball last week as well. She's excited to play. She's got a pretty strict coach this year. While it makes me a bit uneasy, she is learning some really good fundamentals, and doesn't mind the hard core practices (yet). Her fist game is Saturday!

Casey decided to make a pumpkin pie from scratch. He went and bought a sweet pumpkin, cooked it, pureed it, and made it into an amazing pie! He even did crust from scratch and fresh whipped cream to top it off. I love that he's so adventurous with food.

 The kids chose to be Star Wars characters for Halloween. Peter chose Yoda and Kendal ended up as Rey (because she gets a cool light sabor and the other female leads don't have light sabors ; ). Alice by default became an adorable BB8. The costumes took a bit of work, and while they weren't perfect I liked how they turned out and the kids loved them!
We picked up pizza for dinner (the kids earned their book it's!) We delivered a couple pieces of pizza to Casey at basketball try outs then joined Vanessa and her crew of Hogwarts wizards for trick or treating. It was a bit chilly out, but that didn't deter the kids. Alice even feel asleep for a while (poor girl is under the weather this week). Casey left try outs early and joined the last bit of trick or treating with us!

 

Casey dressed up with his seventh grade team at school. He makes a cute tin man and does great being surrounded by this crazy bunch. 

Once in a while these kids give me a good picture. (Even if it takes seven shots to get ; )

Alice is 9 months!

This happy little one is nine months old today! She's been crawling for the last month; which means nothing is safe anymore. She has found her way all around the house. My sweeping and vacuuming efforts have doubled thanks to her desire to put everything in her mouth. She's also started to stand up more in the last few weeks. We haven't found a food that Alice hates yet, she's also eating more table food with us, and tried a sippy cup for the first time today. However she's not nursing as well as she used to. She likes to say baba, dada, and mama. She will give smiles to family, but she gets a cute skeptical face when someone new is about and wants a smile. She still gives her best laughs for Peter. Peter and Kendal love her so much. They're still learning that some play is to much, and seem to think she needs to be hauled around everywhere, but she doesn't mind most of the time, and thinks they're a hoot. I wish I could say she's sleeping through the night consistently, but we've only had a handful of good night's lately.
Things I want to remember about Alice at nine months. - her sweet chunky cheeks and legs - her general curiosity to explore - her sweet girly babble - the way she claps for joy -  her face when it lights up for family (especially me ; )
We love you sweetheart!
At nine months Alice is 19 lb 10 oz and 29 in. long!

Beginning of October

 We had a good conference weekend. Sunday we decided the kids could earn their Halloween costume light sabers by listening to conference and keeping track of what they heard. So every time they heard specific words or topics they put coins in a jar. I have to say this is the most they've ever paid attention to conference! Such wonderful inspiration, I can't wait to go back and glean more from the messages.

I love these next shots of the kids. I dubbed it "My kids devouring their books" (literally and figuratively). Kendal has been doing so well reading, and is on track to crush her AR goal. Peter is doing well learning site words and has been able to read some easy stories. He also loves to pour over the library books and books in his room. He takes his time taking in each picture and has started to read the easy words and sound out words on the pages. Alice likes to eat books, and flap them about. She doesn't sit still as much to be read to anymore so we read while she roams or plays nearby.  

We had a couple of days off for fall break. We went down to Logan for a few days. Casey worked with my dad on Friday and enjoyed an Aggie football game on Saturday. The rest of us got to enjoy family time and cousin time. We were able to visit Nana Friday. Alice was all over discovering things. Friday night the kids had a movie night watching Charlie Brown. Saturday morning the kids got to go with Casey and Grandpa to the shop to ride the four wheeler and then to Home depot for the kids build activity. Grandpa spoiled them and filled their new tool boxes with awesome tools. They've loved playing with them and Peter is set on building something asap!

The kids' light sabers arrived this past week and the kids have been so excited. I'm putting together a Rey, Yoda, and baby BB8 costumes. (The kids took the box the toys came in and went on an "adventure"!) Halloween can't come soon enough for Kendal and Pete, but I need all the time I can get to pull off their costumes.

 Peter completed his soccer season this past week. While his team may have not been the most focused they had fun. Peter loved playing soccer. There were definitely moments of games where he wasn't into it, but overall he was out there, getting in the thick of things, playing around with teammates, and enjoying the game. He scored a few goals this season and when he was in the mood played a great game of soccer.

Yesterday we got to go out to Raft River for the afternoon. The kids got to ride in the beet truck with grandpa for a while. They played with cousins back at Grandma's and picked out pumpkins to take home! 

Goals

Peter scored his first goal in soccer last night!! When Peter is in the mood he is focused, gets in there, and participates. However, as with most things his effort is all about mood. So when he's in the mood he'll play decently, when he's not he's everywhere doing anything. But you look at most kids on the field and they're all pretty much the same. Peter's team does seem to be the most carefree team out of the four Kindergarten teams. but they enjoy themselves. Last night Peter played Becca's team. He was pretty focused throughout the game with the typical crazy bits in between (climbing a fence, being silly with team mates, running at family to chat), but he was in the right place at the right time and made a goal for his team! While I know he could utilize his skills more; I've got to remember with all things he goes at it on his terms. Since his team has scored very few goals this past month his coaches have gone to bribing the kids if they score a goal. So Peter asked for "Willy Wonka" candy for the next game as the reward. Here's to more goals for Peter!

Kendal told me a couple of weeks after school started that she made an AR (reading) goal and has to get 40 points by Christmas! (After each book she reads she takes a comprehension test and if she passes she get between .5 to 2 points depending on the book) She and one other kid in her class have this high goal with reading. It seemed a bit daunting, but she's eager and excited to read and earn her reward! She's loving all things school. Her favorite subjects are math and reading and as always she really enjoys her extras (art, literacy, music, pe).

Alice has embraced crawling and now makes her way all over the house. She goes anywhere and seems to find every tiny scrap of ? off of the floor and sticks it in her mouth. She also loves to clap lately. Her main goal seems to be discovering and tasting everything around the house. My goal is to keep her safe and continue working on sleeping through the night. She's had a few more successful nights, but overall she's just not there yet.

Casey and I have a couple of goals. We've been trying our best to learn and change our interactions with the kids when they have negative behavior. As with all things it's a work in progress and some days are better than others. We have good days and hard days, but we keep trying and that's what matters.
Our other goal is finding a house. Simply put we're getting nowhere in that search. As with all things in my life, It takes time, and it'll happen on the Lord's timeline - not my own.

So here's to hard work, perseverance, hope, and maybe a bit of luck.

Soccer, piano, and our Eight month old!

This past week Peter had his first two soccer games. His coaches were very impressed with him in his practices the previous week and Casey says he did very well in practices. Games are interesting with kindergartners. It's sixteen kids on a small field at a time with fourteen if them going at the ball. It's like watching a bunch of ants attack a piece of food up and down the field with a lot of falls, kicks, and whistle blowing. It's amusing / entertaining at least. Peter does well when he can get in there but he's really not one to be aggressive about getting the ball. He's gained a buddy who happens to be in his school class as well. Her name is Oakley. He's pretty attached to get and held her hand for a few moments in each game. (Always the ladies man.)

We bought a keyboard and Kendal gets to start piano lessons this week with Aunt Vanessa! She's super excited and has been working on a few things with me leading up to lessons. It's Kendal's turn to cheer on her brother in sports. Her interest varies and she'd rather play than watch, but we're learning to support each other, and nothings fair in life (aka Peter doesn't need to share his post game snack with Kendal.)

I read Charlie and the Chocolate factory with Peter this last week and Kendal read it as part of her reading time. So on Friday night while Casey was at a blustery football game we watched the movie. I Made the kids their own Wonka bars and golden tickets. Peter really got into the book and loved the experience a lot.

Alice is Eight months old! She is able to do a full crawl, but only does it for a few feet. Alice has slept through the night twice this past week! (Hallelujah!! Crossing our fingers this continues!?!) Alice likes all foods so far and is getting interested in table food. We're getting in a routine of things as school has progressed. Alice gets two to three naps a day and is all over playing in between. She will no longer sit in the bounce chair or bumbo and I also had to take the bench out of her tub because she just sits / tries to escape her tub now during bath time. Alice will give great smiles and laughs to family, but she generally doesn't give strangers much attention. She's very observant and likes to see what's going on around her and explore everything around her.

We went to watch Casey's game a couple of weeks ago. The kids are their usual, questions, food, and wandering around the stands. Alice was content to watch everything for most of the game. We didn't make it to the game this past week due to the weather. (It was a win in double over time though!)
My parents came up last weekend for a brief visit. The kids got some quality time with Grandpa and Grandma!

School starts and more!

We decided to have one last summer adventure before school started so we went to visit Craters of the Moon. The kids got to participate in two junior ranger programs. An eclipse badge that they still had going on and the Craters of the Moon badge. We drove around the area and did a few of the walks. The kids enjoyed themselves and it was neat to see everything there.  The formations and the landscape was so cool. We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed the day away at the park. We'll have to go back and explore the caves in a couple of years when Kendal has her fourth grade national parks pass. 

The kids were a mix of nerves and excitement leading up to school. We've had a slew of talks and family home evenings to prepare them and hopefully help and guide them this year. Casey gave the kids beautiful blessings the Sunday before school.
The next morning Kendal was excited and eager to go! She didn't stop taking from the time she got up to when she left. Thankfully her excitement rubbed off on Peter and he was also excited for school. He was so antsy to go the whole morning.Thankfully I distracted him a bit with Legos. He made his own lunch and ate it at so fast so we could go / sprint to the bus stop. We arrived twenty minutes early and the bus ended up almost twenty minutes late, but it didn't phase Peter. Both kids have liked school so far. Kendal gives a daily report of happenings, friends, and what she's up to. Peter is less vocal and we hear more about snack and recess than anything else, but he's happy and so we are to.

Kendal 's first day of second grade!

Peter's first day of kindergarten! 

Casey's fifth year at Kimberly middle school!

If you notice, in the picture with all three of them Casey has Peter held back by his backpack 😆 so much energy, so much excitement!

Between football and soccer practice we ended up staying home for the labor day weekend. Saturday we went out and picked over fifty pounds of apple's to make into apple sauce. It was a long day, but so worth it!

 Alice has outgrown snuggling. Casey loves it on the rare occasion she'll go in for a brief cuddle.

On labor day we went for a walk / scooter ride along the canyon rim. It was a nice day and the kids enjoyed riding along. We ended with some frozen yogurt at kiwi loco! Simple day; just how we like it!