Faces!

Our computer has some fun effects and these two have way too much fun with it:

So does Tyler:

And even Gavin:

Of course I stay out of it!

Halloweening It!

Tyler has a guy in the same residency that is talented in many different areas.  He loves photography.  (He took our family pics from last year.)  And he knows how to throw a great party!  Every year he throws a HUGE Halloween party.  He does all the decorating and goes all out.  We were excited to be apart of it.  Tyler and I were under obligation to dress up, something we have not done in a long time!  We decided to do this ....

So I never got a real picture of us!  Tyler's friend had a pitchfork for us, so I was going to wait to take a picture.  Well, the pitchfork got misplaced among all the party stuff, so we had to use a random beat up rake.  He had a photo booth there and we got pictures there, so this is the best I have!

So I had to take pictures of all the decorations.... Yes, a male put this all together!  

And here are some of the fellow residents that he works with:

Fun times!

Air Force Museum

Tyler took the boy scouts up to Dayton to see the Air Force Museum.  Jordan was happy to accompany them.  They can probably give more details on what they saw, but for now here are the pictures.

Mitt Romney Rally

We got a surprise this week!  

Mitt Romney stopped in for a rally at our small lil' Ohio town!  Tyler already had plans with the boy scouts to go to a museum in Dayton, but I took the kids and went.  Makenzie has been talking about the election in school and she also knows that Mitt is a member of our church, so she was very excited to see him.  It was a good experience! And it was fun to see my kids cheer him on.  

Before it was time to go, I told Gavin that we were going to see the future President. After everything was all done, he kept asking where was the "present?"  I guess he thought "President" was "present" and he was going to get something more out of it!  He got a flag and a "Mitt" hand--  what more did he want? :)

NINE

I can't let it go by without mentioning that we have now celebrated NINE wonderful years of marriage!!!  Here's to another 99 years (plus eternity)! I love you!

My kiddos!

Before church today:

First hot chocolate of the season!

 We have come off of a wonderful General Conference weekend for church.  We have been uplifted and edified from our leaders.  The weight of raising righteous and strong children is constantly on my mind and I truly strive to be the best mom I can be.  With that being said, I love my kiddos and each of their unique personalities.  We have been having some good laughs with them lately.

Ellionna:

Our little doll baby is 5 months old now and is adored by all.  She is loving her cereal and veggies, but is hating any kind of fruit!  Oh, the faces she pulls.  Her favorite toys are wrappers and a silly looking stuffed caterpillar that was in the kids stuffed animal box.  She is sleeping pretty well through the night and wakes up at about 5 am to eat.  I like to make my own baby food with the veggies.  I bought a butternut squash for 50 cents and some sweet potatoes for the same.  $1= 18 baby food jars!

Gavin:

Oh, our little firecracker!

He has a BIG imagination and happily plays by himself with his own sound effects and random objects.  One day I was trying to load the car up after a workout group and asked him several times to get in the car as well.  When I was done with everything, I grabbed him from the sidewalk and put him in the car to buckle him up.  He started having a huge fit and screaming about something that he left outside.  He fought me to get out of the car.  As he runs out to the sidewalk, he grabs an imaginary toy and runs back to the car!  He threw a complete fit about leaving his imaginary toy!

 This kid keeps me hopping, but I love the conversations I have with this kid.  Yesterday, he got to spend the day with just the girls.  He randomly said, "Mom, you are so pretty."  "Makenzie, you are so pretty too!" "Ellionna is pretty!"  "But mom, I'm cool!  Boys are cool, not pretty!"
 

Jordan:

He loves learning and is so inquisitive and observant.  He has been begging Tyler to play chess.  What five year old does that?!?!

The other night I noticed that he had a little bit of athlete's foot... His feet sweat so bad!  I mentioned it to Tyler and only from the mouth of a doctor would he say the proper medical term of it.  "Yep, looks like he has a little bit of tinea pedis."  As Jordan was getting up to head upstairs, he stops and asks, "Why is it called "teeny penis?"

Makenzie:

This girl is our animal lover.  Each month, we take the kids on a separate date.  Makenzie always requests to take her the local pet shop.  She can spend hours in there with the animals.  So for the date this month, that is what we did (except we only stayed for a half hour to her dismay.)  I took her to a local production of the "Music Man" done by kids in the community.  A girl from our church who was recently baptized was in it.  She did a great job and we were glad to support her!  Makenzie loved the production and hopes to get involved in the next play.

This past weekend, Makenzie set up her room as a school.  She had a full classroom with all her stuffed animals.  They each had a book, a paper, and pencil.  It was quite the set up.  

She is a good big sister to her siblings and has a big heart.  She also loves her daily bowl of ice cream!  She has been advancing well in her tumbling class and can almost do a back handspring all by herself.  

Sick X 5= NO FUN AT ALL!

We are usually a pretty healthy family.   On Tuesday, Gavin was just not himself.  He slept a lot of the day and then ended the night with a fever.  Wednesday he had a major sore throat.  Thursday morning he threw up twice.  I was almost thinking it was strep and Tyler was about ready to call in the antibiotics.  But then I noticed a rash and then blisters on his mouth, hands, and bum.   Yep, he had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease.

Before I knew it Ellionna started getting crabby on Thursday evening and then the fever came....  She cried and hardly slept on Thursday night (which meant Mom hardly slept).  Then the poor thing got the sore throat as well and did not want to eat or suck her binkie at all on Friday evening.  By 3am I was so tired and worried that I summoned a priesthood blessing to be given to her from Tyler.  By God's grace, she was able to sleep the rest of the night and started eating again in the morning with no problems.  She got the rash but no blisters, and is on the mend.

I had also gotten a call from the school nurse on Friday after lunch telling me that Makenzie was not feeling well and had a fever.  So I just decided to bring home both of the kids. Saturday was horrible.... because 1) Tyler had commitments to be gone all day on Saturday and he felt obligated to follow through on.  2) 3 days of little sleep and 3 sick kids later, I started getting sick with a fever, aches, and sore throat 3) Gavin was feeling a lot better and was the monster busy boy like he normally is  4) Makenzie got the mild version of things and was claiming she wasn't sick anymore.  So she complained all day when I wouldn't let her go outside to play with friends. 5) Last, but not least, Jordan got his turn.  He had a raging fever all day and slept most it and is still feeling the effects today.

So Tyler's Sundays are usually pretty packed full of church meetings and obligations...  I told him to make plans to stay home with us.  We all just needed a day of rest... literally.  It was a good day.  We are all on the mend.  Feeling a whole lot better and slowly getting back to normal.  Since we've been quarantined for several days, I really wanted to get out (where there were no people around), since we still should have been quarantined.    We went to a nearby state park and went on an "adventure" as the kids called it.

The kids showing off their walking sticks....

 

They found us walking sticks too!

There were plenty of "cat tail" plants by the pond.  The kids called then "Wish Dogs" because they look like hot dogs, but when you break them open they have the fluffy white stuff like dandelion seeds.  My kids always blow the dandelion flowers and make a wish.  So that is how the cat tails got their name.  

Beautiful Fall Day!

We came across an area where the beavers work.  There were plenty of trees that looked like this.

Sisters!  Makenzie loves Ellionna so much.  I warned her that one of these days she is going to get just as frustrated with Ellionna as she does with her brothers when they get into her things!  Ha Ha! 

 So glad to have our happy-go-lucky-mellow-yellow baby back.  

All the kids slept on the way home and some very gracious and loving friends set us up with some dinner and a treat. 

So... Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease is very contagious. I never heard of it until we moved to the mid-west.