Ben and "Trishie"

We have a friend, Trish, who is AWESOME. She is very talented at playing the Ukulele, and has an amazing voice. You can check out her youtube channel here:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=hawaiiansweetroll#p/u/4/OnMVMSMDTXk

She graced us with her amazing talent on Halloween and brought her Ukulele to do a little private concert for us! She let Ben play it! I think this is a pretty big deal because it is her nice more expensive one that is her prized possession! She really loves Ben and Ben really loves her!

Here is Ben enjoying the music. I love the look on his face as he is watching her hands work. Too cute! (Do you see the light above our kitchen table in the background? I replaced all the bulbs with blacklight bulbs and we ate our Halloween dinner under blacklight! That was pretty cool too!)

Thanks again, Trish, for the awesome concert! And everyone, check out her youtube channel!!!

Oh, and the Title of this post is "Trishie" because her roommate is Angie and we love her tons too. Well they are always together and Ben just calls them "Angie and Trishie". It is super cute and Trish doesn't seem to mind. Angie is the awesome, multi talented friend who made the boys' train birthday cakes, among other things!

Halloween Happenings

I know, I know, I am way behind on my blogging AGAIN. Sorry about this. And to make matters worse, these pics are way out of order. oh well, here we go...Some (out of order) Halloween happenings...

The Trunk-or-Treat at the church parking lot. Tatiana invited a couple friends to come along. They got LOTS of candy! Nick went with some friends to the High School Haunted house instead. He is getting so big!

The church party (held just before the trun-or-treat)...our little tiger riding around in the kiddie area...Isn't he soooo CUTE!!!!?

Our giraffe playing a game...The most odorable giraffe I've ever seen!

Here are Nick's pumpkins. I don't know why, but this terrible mom didn't get a picture of him actually carving and painting!

Our cute boys with their cute pumpkins!

Tatiana having fun with her pumpkin guts, eeeewwww!

Daddy is the official "carver" around here.

I am Tatiana's room parent again this year. This year I had the kids vote on what they wanted for a class Halloween party. They ended up with a glow-in-the-dark party in the gym with black lights, glow sticks, and glow tape. We played glow-in-the-dark games, had LOTS of great food to eat, and had a dance off at the end. That is what they wanted... I deliver!

Of course, in middle school they do not have class parties. But Nick was awarded a "Top Tiger" (good attendance, fewer than three tardies, all "A's", good behavior, etc.) and all the Top Tigers were able to do a bingo game and I was called to come and help pass out pop corn. They said the boys were welcome to come too, so we all went and helped pass out popcorn and watch the fun. Ben wanted to wear his costume from last year, "Super Why". You can tell which kids had younger siblings because they were the only middle-schoolers who knew who Super Why was! The boys loved all the attention they got.

Nick playing bingo. I had to snap this picture really quick with my phone. I didn't want to embarrass him!

And of course Ben had a Halloween party at preschool! It was very cute and he had a lot of fun. They ate yummy treats (Ben helped me make the cupcakes, he was so proud!)

They also played musical pumpkins, what fun!

One of Ben's little friends also threw a Halloween party at her house. Ben had a good time going and did several fun games and crafts. Thanks for the invite!

It was a fun filled and eventful Halloween this year!

Flashback - Bike ride with mommy

On September 7th I took Andrew on a 6 mile bike ride. Along our route we stopped and said hello to this sweet little pony. Andrew was thrilled! Another good day...

Summer Flashback - a day at the beach...

Well, it wasn't actually summer, but it still felt like it. On September 11th we went with the church youth to do a beach clean up. This was when Nathan was Young Men's President and the kids and I were not going to let a beautiful day at the beach go by while we sat at home! So we all went. It ended up being a good thing we were tagging along because I had the extra seats in my van that they needed to transport kids.

We had a BEAUTIFUL day at the Oregon Coast with PERFECT weather. It was AMAZING! Nick helped a lot with the beach clean up, Tatiana helped a little (two of her little friends came along) and I hung out with Ben and Andrew. I didn't want them to try to put on those big gloves and "touch" the trash.

After the beach clean up we all had lunch and then spent some time just enjoying the day!

Flying kites...

I love this picture of Tatiana and her two friends in the water with the sun behind them...

Big brother Nick taking time with the little boys. He is so good with them!

Ben running away from the waves. He did get plowed over by a couple and ended up soaked! It is a good thing I came prepared and brought a change of clothes for my kids.

More kite flying...

One of our little monkeys climbing on some driftwood...

Andrew playing in the sand...

It was a lot of fun! Can't wait to do it again!

Our Prophet...

I have been reading through this month's Ensign magazine and have been immensely enjoying myself as I relive the wonderful talks from last month's General Conference. I really cannot pick any ONE favorite, because they are all so good. But I really do love our prophet! And I love President Monson's talk entitled "Charity Never Faileth". You can read it here if you'd like.
http://new.lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/charity-never-faileth?lang=eng

I was looking for something to go with it to take to my Visiting Teaching sisters this month and I came across this.
http://visitingteaching.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/visiting-teaching-ldsconf-window-cleaner.pdf
I wanted to share it in case you'd like to use it too.

I encourage anyone, whether you are of my same faith or not, to read through these inspiring talks. I would like to close this post by bearing my testimony. My heart is full of gratitude to my Father in Heaven for all his blessings. I feel His love everyday. I see His hand in my life and know that He cares about me. I know that President Monson is a living prophet and that he leads and guides this church under the direction of our Savior. I have a testimony of temples and know that our family will be together forever. I am grateful that my wonderful husband holds the priesthood and honors that priesthood. I am grateful for the love we have in our home and the wonderful children we have been blessed with. I have been so richly blessed and often feel inadequate. But I know that my Savior loves me and died for me. I believe in the power of repentance and am grateful for His grace. I do have a personal relationship with Him and talk to Him daily. I believe in the power of revelation and am grateful for the guidance I have received throughout my life that has brought me to where I am today. I am so happy today. I pray that you all may have the same happiness and know how much you are loved!

Have a good week!

Nick's 1st Band Concert!

Nick had his first Middle School Band concert on October 16th. He plays the Alto Saxophone and really loves it. He is learning fast and his band teacher said that he is very good. We are very proud of him! His hope is to be in the Jazz Band someday, he loves Jazz!

Isn't he a handsome young man!?! (Nick is on the left.)

Here they are getting ready. Nick is in the middle of the frame, sitting down, facing the kid in black who is standing. I think they all look a tad bit nervous. They did a great job though!


Here is what Tatiana and a couple of her friends who came and sat by her did. (She is in the middle) This was after the "beginning band" was done with their performance and we were staying for the cadet band, the varsity band, and the jazz band. It got kind of long so Nathan took the two little boys home and the girls all started to play games on their mom's phones!

Way to go Nick! You did a GREAT job and you looked so handsome! We love you!

I LOVE having the gift of music in our home! Between Nick and Tatiana playing the piano (Nathan too, when he has time) and now Nick playing the saxophone, we have a lot of music! On a side note, both kids are getting SO GOOD on the piano! They are such a joy to listen to!

Running Update...

During the month of October I ran a total of 37.68 miles (I love my Garmin!)
So my year to date is 339.38 miles. Not where I wanted to be by now, but I have had many "medical excuses" this year, so I am not beating myself up too bad over it.

Have I told you how much I love living here?! It is so peaceful and exhilarating at the same time to go running outdoors in the great northwest! Especially when you have this to look at while you run...

and this...


and this on the home stretch!

On this particular day I was just struck with the beauty of the vibrant fall colors so I had to pull my phone out of my pocket and snap a few quick pictures along my route.

Ben's Preschool Trip to the pumpkin patch...

I was able to go along with Ben and his preschool class to the pumpkin patch field trip! What a BEAUTIFUL day for it too!

His class and two teachers; Miss Rachel on the left and Mrs. Burton on the right. He loves them!

Apple cider and homemade donuts! Yum!

"Found my pumpkin, mom!"

The hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and back.

Playing on the hay mountain.

This was a different place than we went to as a family. Still fun though!

A fun family Day...

On a beautiful Saturday in October we went out to Peavey Arboretum for a fun day of hiking and geocaching!

Look at this cleverly hidden cache that Ben found!

We also found a fuzzy caterpillar.

Tiny little cache!

On our way home we stopped and watched the model airplanes and helicopters fly, that was cool!

We love our family time!

Independent Andrew!

Our sweet little 2 year old thinks he can do anything anyone else can do. But when he asked for a cup of juice and I answered with a "ok, just a minute, get your cup out and I'll be right back" (I was in the middle of putting away an armful of laundry), I didn't think I would return to this scene! He decided he could pour his own juice, after all jug was almost empty, thank goodness! He was so cute about it that I couldn't get mad. I just asked him, since it was full to the brim and even had poured out the sides onto the floor, "now what are your going to do?"

This was his answer! He drank it the only way he could figure out without spilling more! What a clever kid, so funny!

Swimming!

We joined the YMCA so we can have the kids in swim lessons and Nathan and I can exercise more. I have been swimming laps a lot lately. I am up to 25 laps!

The kids are in swimming lessons and after swimming lessons is open swim. Sometimes we stay for that and Nathan, Andrew and I get into the pool with the older three and we have fun together.

Ben is getting much better with his comfort and confidence in the water!

Andrew loves it too!

On the way home Andrew was beat! Everyone was talking and then Nathan turned around (I was driving) and saw that Andrew fell asleep with his fingers plugging his ears! It was so funny! I guess he was really tired and thought everyone else was being too noisy. LOL!

Ben's 5th Birthday!!!!

I think Ben had a great 5th Birthday! We all had a lot of fun. He wanted to have a fireman birthday, but he has had a fireman birthday for the past TWO years! So I tried to convince him to do something else. Then he couldn't make up his mind because he liked all the ideas. So we ended up giving him everything (it is his birthday after all)! He had a costume party with Halloween games, a Dinosaur Train birthday cake and time tunnel (those of you who have ever watched his favorite cartoon (Dinosaur Train knows exactly what the time tunnel is!), and a big fire engine to play in. Whew! What a party!

First I wanted to include a picture of the lunch we had on his birthday, Jack-o-lantern quesadillas!

Tatiana got creative again and made Ben a birthday banner out of craft pipe cleaners (or chenille wire for those of you who know it by that name.)

Check out this AMAZING CAKE!!!! It is a Dinosaur Train traveling through a graveyard and pumpkin patch! How CREATIVE!!!!

And these are my AMAZING friends! Angie (the corn) made the cake and her roommate, Trish (the salt) helped her. I love these gals! By the way, Angie is a chef, can you tell!?! I couldn't even dream of making something this cool! She is the same friend who made Andrew's birthday cake for me, so I asked her to help with Ben's too and she was happy to. THANK YOU both!!!!!!

Playing in the fire engine I made out of a big box I got from the furniture store. They loved it! It lasted a couple weeks, but now it is gone. Oh well, it was a blast while it lasted!

Jack-o-lantern bean bag toss I made out of another box. The pictures with Ben are blurry, so you get one of his friends in action here.

A "catch the ghost" game that the kids all had a blast with. Each child held on to a string and one child (Ben in this picture) tried to catch a ghost with the funnel before they were all pulled out of the middle. It produced a lot of giggles.

Nick and his friend, Jake, were very nice and pulled slowly when it was a younger child's turn, this time Ben caught them both! Gotcha!

We also had a treasure hunt. Tatiana put this game together. She made clues that sent the children around the house finding pieces of the skeleton, then they would bring them back and piece by piece the skeleton got put together. Her is Ben posing like the skeleton. Cute!

Time to make a wish! It was hard to eat such a masterpiece, but it did taste as good as it looked!

And finally, PRESENTS!!!!! Ben was richly blessed. He had a blast!

More presents!

And some crafts while we wait for parents to arrive.

Ben in front of the "Time Tunnel". It turned out really cool! I had woven glow sticks through the top of it so it glowed inside. I would lead the kids around the couches and through the time tunnel. Then when they were all out on the other side I would say, "Now it is TIME for games!" or "Now it is TIME for cake!"... you get the idea.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

I simply cannot believe my baby is already 5 years old!!! Where did the time go???