Halloween Fun

Here's some pics from our Halloween adventures. We picked pumpkins from our own garden. Amelia got to dress up for career day the day before Halloween. She was so excited to get to dress up twice. She picked to be a vet so I had to rush out to find a stethoscope toy and made her a lab coat the night before. I figured I didn't sew anything this year, I could do that for her. She looked pretty professional. We also got to go to the library and school carnival. My camera settings were off, so no pics turned out for the costume parade, but you've seen one, you've seen them all, am I right!??! Then neighborhood trick or treating. Ben decided he was done after an hour so he sat in the car with me and Miles while Amelia went down another street. She told Phil she was tired but didn't want to "give up", as if deciding to stop trick or treating before anyone else was losing!!! Amelia was a black cat, and the boys were pirates. And this year I am not holding back on the candy rationing. Eat til you throw up. So far no throwing up, but lots of running around screaming kids who get very grumpy after their sugar crash. And we had not one trick or treater so I have pounds of candy again. This is 6 years in a row now. Good thing I have figured out that this ends up being the best on gingerbread houses on Thanksgiving!!!

Amelia's 6th Birthday

I am so far behind in posting. Remember when I would post about my kids birthday hours after it happened?? I am going on 6 weeks here, but she's so adorable, it's worth doing late. Amelia turned 6 at the end of August.
She wanted a pink sparkle cake, so this was my interpretation. You know how I like to make a statement cake, so I couldn't just do store bought colored sugar. I decided to grow my own pink sugar crystals and then make it neapolitan in 3 graduated tiers. It was pretty and delicious.  The kids had fun watching the sugar grow all week.

 

It came out pink and coral and a little orange, but it ended up being a pretty mix.  It is always totally worth it to see her face light up. She couldn't believe her eyes when she came home from school to see a cake half as tall as her. Grandpa came to celebrate with her and she got some fun outfits for her doll and some new pink glittery shoes (see the theme) and some writing supplies for our little author.

As part of her birthday celebration, she got to go to a concert with her dad. If you know Philip, you know how much he loves seeing live music. They saw "Kath-a-leen Edwards" in a concert in a park. She had so much fun and thought Kathleen was so pretty and kept telling us after that maybe when she grows up she would like to be a background singer and play the guitar!

 Philip let her use the camera and she took some really good pictures. I like the one where it seems like Kathleen is looking directly at her. Seeing Amelia with that camera around her neck at a concert reminds me of Philip in college. He used to tote around a big 35mm camera at concerts at Kilby court. It was a weird insight to her future!!! Now Amelia tells us Kathleen Edwards is her favorite singer. I do have to admit, once you see someone perform live, it sticks with you in a new way. I think that will forever be ingrained in her head when she hears one of her songs. I can't believe how grown up she is. She often tells us she can't wait until she's 18 so she can get out of here!!! Even when that day comes, I will still think of her as this little chubby cheeked baby with huge brown eyes, dark hair and tan skin and a huge appetite for life.

She did it.......

 Amelia started first grade on Wednesday. 
Last year, we moved at the end of the year and had to go to school here for about 5 weeks. Every day for those five weeks was torture. It got to the point that I had to walk her in and basically shove her in the class and close the door to keep her from running out. It was all very disruptive for the class and a little traumatic for her. Her teacher was super patient and really gently with her, which really made me feel easier about it. The unknown is really hard for this girl.  On the first day of school there was a lot of anxiety.  I never know if it's better to cut and run or to stay until she is settled and happy. I worry about her feeling more scared or abandoned causing more anxiety the next day if I just leave her (and carrying that on into adulthood blaming me for any of her emotional or social problems). But I also worry about coddling her and setting a standard that since I stayed when she cried then she will use that as a crutch for everything. It's a hard, fine line.


We practiced going to school and dropping her off and leaving for the week before school started. We checked out her classroom and met the teacher. We decided on a reward system like "if you don't run out after me, you can go anywhere for lunch that day" then the next day, "if you can not cry when I leave, you can pick a prize out of the prize box" and then today, "if you can go in the classroom without me going with you, you can have a movie night". The first day she did pretty good considering last year and all her anxiety. She was super clingy, a little teary and almost made it without running after me. She was all settled and I tried to leave but people were blocking the door and in that instant that I was waiting, she saw her chance to run to me. Luckily the teacher held her hand to keep her in the class. I hid behind a door and watched and she clung on to the teacher and calmed down pretty quick. She was still nervous, but not crying. Ben and I decided to set up a tea party for her and her dolls when she got home. We picked flowers and put up a sign and made some cookies. She loved it.

The next day she stayed in her seat when I left, but started to cry so I shamelessly used Miles as my prop. Have I mentioned how much this boy loves his big sister. She is like magic to him. I pretended to have him wave to her and say bye-bye. She started busting up laughing and stopped crying then.

All the classrooms have a door to the playground. Before school starts the kids play outside and when the bell rings, they line up at their door and go in so no kids are roaming the halls before school. Today the inside doors were locked, so I didn't get to go inside with her, which was just what I wanted. I stood with her in line to the door thinking I was going to have to come in with her.  When she got to the door, out of nowhere, she turned around, smiled at me, waved and said bye with that nervous giggle I love of hers.  The teacher and I looked at each other like, "is this really happening?!?" and I took that as my cue and got out of there fast before she could change her mind. I did hide out on the playground for a minute to see if it would last and it did, she was fine.  What a relief. 3 days down, 177 more to go.  I hope this is a sign of a good year.

Ice blocking

When we lived in LA, we usually had people we loved getting together with for dinner, park time, or games. That is something I really loved about LA and haven't found since then. It really made us feel like we belonged somewhere. What's funny is that almost all of those people have moved to Utah in the last year or so. It's nice to have friends from there who "get it" and it's fun to see how their kids have grown up.  We met up with some of them and went ice blocking. It was a blast. I can't believe this was the first time I had ever done this. It seems like such a teenager thing I should have done. why not even in college?? Never too late I guess. The kids had a blast. We raced and slid and when the boys got sick of that, they just rolled down the hill laughing. It was pretty cute. It was a beautiful sunset and we played until dark. It's nice to get together and have a little taste of "home" here.

Dancing in the Rain

It rained today and instead of staying cooped up indoors, I sent the kids out to splash in puddles. They loved it. Accessorized with some boots and a hoodie, they stomped around squealing for about 20 minutes. Then decided they needed to come in and sit by the fireplace because 77 degrees was too cold.......have I mentioned how my kids are going to die in the winter here?!?!?!?

This is one of my favs because you can see how hard it is really coming down and I love how Amelia is just embracing it with wide open arms. She would love a Marshallese shower.

  And then the sun came out and dried up all the rain......

Milo Jo

Our kids started calling Miles, Miley Jo a few months ago, and although I thought it was cute at first, I found myself kind of cringing when I heard it. Not wanting Miles to endure the annoyance of an unwanted nickname (Vern....c'mon, who wants to be called that with a name like Veronica people....) I intervened and said no more Miley Jo. As a compromise we came up with Milo Jo as an alternative. It was a hit. So if you are feeling the urge to call him something other than "Miles", you may call him Milo!!!  And here's some adorable pics of our little Milo Jo around 4 months.....

Cousins Visit

 A few weeks ago my sister and my 5 nieces and nephews came to visit.  We had a blast. I love that we finally have a place big enough for all of us to squish into and space to run around. My kids were totally doted on and Miles was held every waking minute of the day. 

We got to do lots of swimming, movie watching, crafts and games and even had a party which included dangerously popping balloons with sharp skewers while blindfolded.....

which was somehow deemed a better idea than the original idea of throwing freshly sharpened pencils that seemed to somehome bounce right back at them.

There also were colored bubble worms......

streamers.... 

and homemade Cafe Rio, ice cream, rootbeer and cupcakes.

As always, I regret that I only took like 10 pictures, mostly in one hour on the same day posted here.  I feel like there were so many more memories than just that one day. I love that Spencer couldn't stop holding Miles EXCEPT if he spit up or even drooled near him. 

I LOVED building the world's best indoor blanket tent and then watching movies in it. 

I loved watching the kids play frisbee, play do, legos or dolls. I loved watching everyone making shrinky dinks. I loved baking something every day and then having 6 more people to share it with including 2 other kids who don't do dairy!!! I loved how much fun the older kids had going to see Batman with Phil and playing games late at night. **SIGH** If only they lived closer we could do this more than once a year. I am already planning what I can do next year. I'm so glad they all got to come and miss all of them already.