Fall Fairy Frolic

Tessa had a special day as well. The Library was hosting a Fall Fairy Frolic party this afternoon. When Adam and Daddy got home from their hike, Tessa and Mommy got to go have some girly fun. 

 The girls going to the party were supposed to go dressed in their best fairy clothes. This is how Tessa greeted us after she got dressed this morning. Fortunately, we got her to tone her outfit down a bit before the party began. 

 Tessa has been excited for days for this Fairy party. She makes friends everywhere she goes!

 The first thing they did was make fairy headbands. Tessa insisted on wearing the crown with her new headband. 

 The girls got to listen to a few fairy stories. 

 Then they got to make some fairy wishes and write them down. Tessa drew a picture of her wish-"that the fairies would get the monsters".

 After they made their wishes, they each got a Wishing Stone that they held and closed their eyes, promising to keep their wish a secret.

 Next, they all went to Fairy School. They hopped on flowers, blew bubbles through a hula hoop, and crawled through a fairy tunnel. 

 They had some fairy treats-soda, cookies, and pixie sticks!

 We played some fairy bingo.

At the end of our party, the girls were given their fairy certificates. Tessa was thrilled to be an official Fairy!

Hiking the Y

This morning Adam and Daddy got up early and headed out to hike to the Y. Adam has been asking to do this for months, but we weren't sure Tessa would make it and while I love a good hike, I was less than thrilled about carrying Gwen up the steep mountain. So, the boys waited for a free Saturday and today was the day! Eric said Adam did so well, but talked the entire way up and the entire way down. (Welcome to my world!)

 They made it all the way to the top of the Y and had some fun enjoying the view.

While getting some water out of the backpack, some of the other water bottles fell out. When Eric tried to grab the falling water bottles, the camera fell out of his pocket, falling down and Y and the memory card actually popped out and went flying down the Y. Adam is our observant child and watched the memory card fall. He knew exactly where it landed and thankfully, Eric was able to retrieve it!

They had a great morning and Adam said he can't wait to do it again next year!

Apple Week

This week for Mommy School, we learned about Apples. We did some fun apple activities and learned about how apples grow and read a few books about apples. Every year we read about Johnny Appleseed and make a yummy apple dessert, so we included that into our Mommy School activities this year. It was a busy week, so we were only able to squeeze in a few things. There is never enough time for all the things I plan and hope to do.

 Tessa and Boston making their fingerprint apple trees. 

 Adam and Tessa measured themselves with apples. It's a good thing we eat a lot of apples around here-thankfully we had enough to measure both kids. 

 We made paper plate apple cores.

Tessa helped make Apple Dumplings for our Johnny Appleseed dessert. She only ate the ice cream with vanilla sauce. I was hoping she would at least taste an apple sometime this week, but she stood her ground and wouldn't even touch the inside of one. Hopefully someday.....

The Spoon

 My kids have this obnoxious habit of having to borrow something every time we visit the grandparents. It has been going on for years and I am pretty sure it started with not wanting to put toys that they were playing  with away. We have tried to teach them that borrowing means you give it back. I usually have bags of stuff to return to both grandma's when we are over for visits. 

Last week, Tessa took her borrowing addiction to a whole new level when she had to borrow a particular spoon she had used to eat her dessert. Ma was nice enough to let Tessa borrow it and Tess brought it home and proudly displayed it on her dresser, making sure to take special care of it until she could use it at breakfast the next morning. She calls the spoon "My Special Trusty Spoon" and uses it everyday. I told my parents they might want to start hiding their art and throw pillows cause who knows what these kids will need to "borrow" next time we are over!

Fall Break!

We had a fun Fall Break last week and were glad to have Adam home with us all day long. It made me wish it was summer all over again! On Thursday, we spent the afternoon with our Riley cousins at the Red Barn's Pumpkin Patch. My kids went crazy! You'd have thought they had never seen a pumpkin before!

6 of our 7 Crazies

Saedree, Tessa, Adam, Boston, Bryson, and Anni

 Aunt Jodi and Gwennie

 We took a windy hay ride out to the pumpkin patch. Yes, Tessa wears her crown everywhere we go....

 They had an awesome slide for the kids to play on. It was so fun to hear them squeal as they came down it.

It was hard taking pictures while holding a baby.

 Tessa and Anni

 Saedree, Anni, and Gwen

 I loved watching all of our kids run crazy through the pumpkin patch. I told Jodi, who would have thought all those years ago that we would get to raise our kids together. I am so glad that we are able to! We love the Riley's!

 On Friday, before Daddy left for school, Adam wanted to take a picture with him. Tessa wasn't as thrilled with the idea. I'm sure we interrupted a very important cartoon. Eric had a long weekend of finals, but he did well!

 Gwen has gotten so good at feeding herself. She still isn't quite sure about her sippy cup. 

 On Friday we built this fort to play in. It ended up being a very rainy weekend, so most of our playtime was inside. All 3 kids had fun playing in the fort. They read books, played with puzzles, drew pictures, ate meals, raced cars and tried scaring each other. On Friday we braved the pouring rain and ran a bunch of errands! Mommy spent the weekend making Halloween costumes, working on some recipes, and rotating everyone's clothes for the winter. 

 Gwen's new favorite place to play is inside the cupboards.

 We cheered our Cougars on again....it was a good game until the end. While he loves football, Adam is counting down the days until basketball season starts at the end of the month. 

Sunday we went back to church after many weeks off! We have had Stake Conference, General Conference, a temple dedication and sick kids. I don't think we have been to 3 hours of church as a family since the beginning of September. After dinner, we found Gwen playing with her toys, but she was sitting in a basket. It looked much funnier in person, but I had to capture the moment!

It was a nice weekend, but now it is back to school for everyone. Now we will countdown the days until Christmas break!