It's All About the Candy, Right?

For my kids-it's all about the candy, but for me Halloween is all about the pictures.

I had so much fun taking the kids pictures his year. Mostly because of our neighbor's tree and all her fallen leaves!

I wish my Chloe's sweet disposition would have lasted so that I could have had a really good picture of all 5 together, but being content for more than 5 minutes is asking a whole lot of that girl!

She was good for her individual pictures though. Doesn't she look sweet-runny nose and all. Maybe I'll blow this picture up and put it on my refrigerator to remind me of the good times! (Can you tell it's been a LONG week with Chloe).

Our adorable Janie girl. She was so into the knocking on doors-she didn't want to wait for anybody. She did tell me that she wasn't too sure she was a genie-"I'm not big and blue or anything like that mom! I'm more like Jasmin than the Genie." I think Aladdin had her a little confused.

Megan, Megan, Megan. This costume WAS her! She was totally into character. A few of her poses just made my Halloween night! And in typical Megan fashion, despite my admonishing that we needed to let the little kids be first at the door- SHE was the first one there with her bag held open wide!

I fell in love with this close-up of Mad. She's getting so much older. I couldn't find my camera, but I so wish I would have taken a picture of her after we got home. ALL her candy was categorized and laid out into organized piles on her bed. That's so our Madeline.

Can you guess who Logan went as? He couldn't decide if he was going to be Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone, it turned out to be quite the dilemma for him, but eventually Davy won. Logan was a good sport and hit a few houses with the fam, but next year he'll be going with friends-or so I'm told.

I think the kids LOVED this Halloween! I don't know if it was because Halloween was on Saturday, so that meant they got to dress up twice. Once for the actual trick or treating and once for the day before (Friday) for the school Halloween parade.

Or it could have been the fact that they trick or treated with their cousins.

Whatever the reason it really was a SPOOKTACULAR NIGHT!

Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn. ~Elizabeth Lawrence

LOOK. . .

Mother Nature decided to whip out her crayons and color on the mountains!

FALL'S here and I'm lovin' it!

I so enjoy watching the leaves changing on the mountains! My grandparents have always lived near these mountains (Mount Timp and Squaw Peak) and so they have always been my favorites! And now I have a fabulous view from MY very own bedroom window!

So many memories come flooding back when I see the leaves turning red, yellow, and gold!

Over the weekend we had a storm and the mountains were dusted with snow. I snapped this picture and thought it went perfect with this quote:

"October's poplars are flaming torches lighting the way to winter" ~Nova Bair

She's Seen Better Days!

The afternoon after Jared ran his half-marathon we all returned home for what we (at least I) thought would be a nice, quiet Saturday at home.

Boy was I wrong!!

I had been running some errands and when I pulled into the driveway I was greeted by Logan who informed me that Megan had fallen and was really hurt. When I got into the house she was sitting on the couch with ice packs on both of her wrists.

Apparently she had been riding our toddler scooter along the sidewalk when she hit a raised crack in the sidewalk. DOWN she went with both of her hands out in front to catch herself!

After a while she was able to move her right hand, but her left wrist was still hurting.

After about an hour of her just sitting there (and remember this is MEGAN we're talking about) I decided to take her in for an X-ray.

So after a visit to the pediatrician where she received a fancy new splint and sling, a trip over to the hospital for the x-ray, a jaunt over to Sonic for a slushy drink to make the patient feel better, we arrived home just in time for the radiologist to call us and confirm what we suspected. . . . She had indeed broken her left wrist.

Later that evening however Megan started to complain that her right wrist was also hurting. So we wrapped it up and decided to see what it felt like in the morning. And in the morning it didn't feel too great. And in the afternoon it didn't feel too great. And by Sunday night we knew it was either sprained or broken.

So Monday morning, we headed down to the pediatrician's office where Megan received another splint (but no sling this time) and then it was over to the hospital for another set of x-rays. I pretty much knew it was broken when the x-ray tech came back in and told me 'he just wanted to get one more angle.'

And an hour later it was official: there was a break in the right wrist also!

Poor Megan!!!

Luckily the breaks weren't too bad and my pediatrician was able to cast them. Which they did the next day, Tuesday.

Megan didn't even want to hear the color options-it would be purple for her!

She had a few challenges in the beginning:

Our biggest hurdle was using the bathroom at school. It's a little hard to get your pants buttoned and pulled up, but that's why Big Sisters were invented right?!

She's missed every soccer game but one.

And homework takes a little bit longer to do if she wants the teacher to be able to read her writing!

And lately, she's been breaking out into hives on both arms!

But despite those setbacks, life with 2 broken wrists isn't all bad!

For instance, you get a lot of sympathy from family members and even total strangers!

Sometimes you even get a gift or two to cheer you up! Like new CDs or a pair of cute new PJs.

But the best thing of all: No practicing the piano!

Can You Guess Who's Starting Preschool?

If you guessed this adorable little girl-you are correct!

Janie had to wait 2 whole weeks after the older kids started school for her school to begin.

Everyday she'd ask me if today was the day she got to go to school with Miss Heather.

She was so excited and didn't want me walking her in when I dropped her off!

Seriously, could she get any cuter?

Just Look at My Man Go!

A few months ago, Jared started training for his first ever half-marathon. I knew it would happen. Whenever he sets a goal for himself, he accomplishes it.

I slowly watched as he began his training schedule. First he started running 5 miles, than 7, than 10. . . until finally he did it!

He ran all 13.1 miles of the Spanish Fork Half-Marathon.

AND he wasn't even out of breath when he finished!!!

He had set a goal for himself of what time he wanted to run it in and you know what!? He came in WAY AHEAD of what he said he wanted to do. Of course he did-he's amazing!

The kids were so excited to cheer him on at the finish line (everybody, but Chloe. SHE wanted to get down and run!)

And thanks so my super sister-in-law, otherwise known as Shane's Angie, we had an amazing poster to hold up while we cheered!

My little brother Marky also ran it and we had fun cheering him on too!

And SOON all be posting about his full Marathon (he's already set a goal to run one).

Soccer Stars!

The girl's soccer games started last month. They are on the gold team this year and named themselves the Shooting Stars! They have a great coach this year who just happens to be their dad! I just love how Jared has made time out of his already hectic schedule to be involved with the kids.

Madeline scored her FIRST goal during the first game of the season! After she kicked it in she jumped about 10 feet in the air! She also has ventured into the world of goalie and is really great at it! She is really aggressive and has no reservations about grabbing the ball!

Megan had a great first game too! She is so good at getting in there and getting the ball. She also loves to be the one to throw it in when it goes out of bounds or being the one to kick it in! Of course she likes making friends on the field too. She can usually be seen out on the field chatting with someone!

(Unfortunately, Megan only got to play one game and you can find out why here!)

I Gotta Go Back! Back, Back to School Again!

Back to School already! Wow THIS summer just flew by! I was completely taken back when the week before school it dawned on me that I only had 6 days before the first day of school!

*The first day of school , August 20th, also happened to be my birthday. Three years in a row I've go to claim the birthday gift of sending them off!

I can now officially be called thirty-something. Still trying to figure out if I like that or not! Does 31 seem old? It doesn't to me., but I remember thinking how OLD people seemed when I was younger and now I realize they were only my age!

And here's a little fun fact! My mom had her ninth and last baby at 31! I know-she's amazing!

Anyway, back to my kids--Don't they look adorable! They were all SO excited! The night before we got out the paper, pencils, crayons, colored pencils, folders, scissors, pencil sharpeners, etc... It was so fun watching them organize their piles (under Madeline's direction of course!)

This year I decided to cut a few apron strings and let the kids pick out their own first day of school outfits. It was a little tough for me, but I knew eventually it had to happen!

Also, this year I signed the kids up to be AM students which means instead of going to school at 9:15 they start at 8:00. We're already one month into school and it's been awesome! I love sending them off so early!!

Megan started 3rd grade and although she keeps saying she doesn't like school, I think she secretly does! If we could just eliminate ALL reading I think she'd be happy! She is such a good reader-she just doesn't enjoy it. Now that's a mystery that needs to be solved. It's not in her genes-that's for sure!

This year she has a great teacher who made home visits to ALL of her students so that she could get to know them and their families better!

Maddie is in the 4th grade this year. The whole way to school Madeline kept saying, "I can't believe this is happening!" She is my one child who LIVES for school. Nothing is more exciting to her than getting into class, writing in her notebook, and getting a homework assignment! In fact that morning I had to tell her that I didn't want her to get to disappointed if the teacher didn't give them a homework assignment because on the first day most teachers don't. She just looked at me and stared!

Logan is a 5th grader this year! I still can't believe that in 2 years he'll be in Junior High! I'm just not thinking about it! This year they are studying American History!! It's finally happening-his dream subject (he did tell me he wished they would just focus on Frontier History. I told him he can't have everything!) I think his history teacher was a little surprised at how much history he does know. He asked him to hold off on answering some of the questions to give the other kids a chance!

I just had to put in this picture! It's blurry and everything, but I had to wake up the little girls to take the kids that morning! After months of sleeping in they weren't too sure what was happening!