Halloween

We had a ward Halloween party on Saturday.  The kids love dressing up and I love that I could find the dress up boxes in the storage unit! Freddy wanted to wear the superman pajamas we got from the Fairbanks in Edmonton, Gwen tried out her Elionwy costume we've been putting together, Charlie wanted to wear his old Halo costume with his new cloak... he called himself a traveling warrior. ...and we barely convinced Max to put on the Lion costume.  There were fun games run by the various church groups. The YM did a cake walk and it was a big hit. Another family favorite was the donut on the string game. Fun times. 

I volunteered to help chaperone Freddy's pumpkin patch field trip. I was going to drop off Max at Thom and Brittany's and take Theo with me, but the weather ended up being SEVERELY cold. I kept hoping they'd cancel the field trip, but no luck so I left Theo with Thom and Brittany too and just was a little late as I had to feed him first.  I'm so surprised the kids barely noticed the cold (at first). I was in charge of following 3 boys around. Freddy is such a good kid, its nice to be reminded of that. But after an hour or so one of the little boys just started crying saying he was cold and I was all too happy to talk to his teacher and discover the field trip was ending early because of the weather. Whew!

We were just busy with other things (like House Hunting) and almost didn't carve pumpkins. We had planned on doing it for Monday's FHE before Halloween but the kids were really cranky picking out pumpkins that we had to wait for another day to do the actual carving.. but we got it done eventually. Only I forgot to take pictures of the finished products. Alec's was pretty funny with snot coming out of its nose.

In order to wear costumes to school they had to fit the theme for each grade.  Kindergarteners had to be Fairy Tales or animals, so Freddy had a hard choice between a knight, falcon, cheetah or dragon. He went with the peregrine falcon I made for Alec our first year in MS. So fun to see another kid like it. Charlie's 5th grade was Americana.. and we had planned to do a soldier (so he could wear his camo-halo outfit) and in the morning I was busy making it American looking with a flag bandana and duct tape badges.... but then he decided to be an American soccer player at the last minute (literally). Gwen's 4th grade theme was quality book characters. She wanted to be Eilonwy from Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain. We just finished reading all of them as a family this past summer and Eilonwy was a favorite character (Chris did such a great job with the voices).

We ended up trick-or-treating with Jess and Ryan and their kids in their neighborhood. We went over there for a stew dinner and I made some pumpkin looking loaves of artisan bread. It was delicious. I was looking forward to putting Theo in this little bunny hat and diaper cover a friend had just given us and it did not disappoint! Cutest. Bunny. Ever.  This time Freddy wanted to be a ninja, and Alec joined the fun last minute as a Secret Service Agent. It didn't take long for Max to catch on to the whole hold your bag out and get candy routine. He was in heaven.

The Candy Trading Tradition. Alec joined me this year in not eating a single piece of Halloween candy during the whole Halloween season! I mentioned to the kids that I was going to do that and Alec said it would be easy so I challenged him to join me and he accepted and actually did it! He gave away most of his candy and only saved a few twix bars to give away even later ( I think he ended up eating some in December)

Fall Weather and Science Fair

We had a gorgeous fall day one Saturday. Chris was gone for most of the day and the kids and I were getting a little stir crazy so we figured out how to change/repair the tires on all our bikes and go for a bike ride. It took way longer to get everyone set and so Chris made it home by the time we were ready to leave, which was good since we didn't have what we needed to fix the bike trailer tires, so It ended up just being the 3 older kids and myself that rode bikes down to the duck park. 

Good thing we got it in because the very next day it snowed! Not a lot, but enough for the kids to go outside and have fun. They've been dreaming about living in a place that snows ever since we moved away from Canada. 

Science Fair Time! We seriously do NOT like doing science fair projects, the kids take a lot of prodding and bugging to get started and work on it. Actually doing the experiment is always fun though and while the posters also take a lot of cajoling the kids are always so proud of their work after.  Charlie worked with airplanes and which paper worked best, Gwen tested to see which kind of dish soap makes more bubbles, and Alec tested the strength of various kinds of Duct tape.

 The weather turned nice again for a few days and I let Freddy ditch school for a day to go with Max, Theo and I to Hogle Zoo with Sarah, Hazel, Estefi, Tommy, Olivia and their cousin. It was a "free" day and so the plan was to get there right when it opened. I got caught going out the door with some craziness, Max making huge messes, and discovering our double stroller has a flat tire. (I JUST replaced it the previous week for the bike ride/park trip) I was pretty upset because now I would be late and I didn't have another tire replacement. I ended up patching up the tube with tape and hoping it would work. It looked promising.  I arrived later than I wanted but luckily got one of the few last parking spaces in the first parking lot.  When I got the stroller out of the car the tire was totally flat. I had brought the small umbrella stroller just for this chance but then I would have to have Theo strapped to my chest the whole time and not have any cargo space for our lunch, jackets, blankets, diaper bag etc. I opted to just push the double stroller with a flat tire. It was definitely the right choice but it sure was a work out to push! It was really crowded and the zoo itself was a little bit of a let down after our experiences at the amazing Memphis zoo with our passes a few years ago but it was Freddy's first time (that he could remember) going to the zoo and he loved it! Max really liked watching all the animals too and didn't complain much about me making him stay strapped in the stroller for most of the time. ... and its always a plus to see my sisters!

Happy 11th Birthday to Charlie!

Charlie wanted to play a big game of soccer for his birthday party. Chris got some lawn spray paint, borrowed another big goal from Thom, (Grandpa helped us out with some corner flags) and went to town making a legit looking soccer field in our backyard.  We divided into two teams, came up with names, introduced each player and had them run onto the field.  Then Chris wore his whistle from his old coaching days and ref-ed the game. It was really fun. Charlie mostly invited all his cousins and a few friends from school. 

We had gatorades and water at half time and orange slices at the end. It was so so much fun.

Some of the Betteridge cousins spent the night the night before and Chris took them to see a BYU womens soccer game. Freddy and Gwen spent the night up in Herriman so we weren't too packed.  We made crepes for breakfast on his actual birthday (his favorite food) and Max, Theo and I brought him Chick-fil-a for lunch and ate with him in the school cafeteria.

Charlie is generally so happy and self-propelled with all things. He's kind, assertive, confident, tender hearted, and is often the first to console someone who is crying. He's often quick to help me out or hold the door open for me. He of course, like any human, has his moments, but really he's a joy to have in our family and such a good person. We love our Charlie!

A new crib, the twins visit, a Starkville dinner, traditional cowboy

I met my mom and Tiff up at IKEA for a morning. We had 7 kids under 5 between us. I barely managed to get the crib box in our cart (a nice worker helped load it) and in the car. Max is in LOVE. He understood it was for him quite early and 'helped' Daddy build it.  He immediately wanted to try it out and just laid their so contently with a big grin. It didn't take him very long (maybe a few weeks?) to figure out how to climb out of it and its been such a headache for Chris and I at bedtime. 

Eddie and Kayla and their babies came down for Grahams baptism. I gave the talk on baptism and tried to engage Graham's active attention, he ended up standing in front of the table and the 'talk' morphed more into a conversation with him.  Alec said the closing prayer then we went to their house for a yummy dinner. We got a picture of all the Archibald grandkids.

Rebecca and Trevor had the great idea to do a little Starkville branch reunion with Elizabeth. It was so nice to be able to get together and reminisce / catch up on our Starkville friends and memories. Elizabeth told us Jake Gines was put in the Stake Presidency! Also, the Stake boundaries changed and the Columbus ward got put in the Tuscaloosa, AL Stake. How sad.

I remembered to get a picture of Theo in the Archibald boy traditional cowboy outfit my mom got Alec when he was just a baby. I need to find the other pictures of the other boys in it and do a comparison photo collage.

Franklin for Fall Break

For Fall Break we headed up to Franklin for a day. I love having my kids experience a little bit the rich family history associated with that place... the place their Grandma grew up, and lived, the place where her father built an egg company from the ground up, the place where he (my kids great grandfather) grew up.  Its so idyllic with the country space, fields, trees, mountains and farms.  It was the first time Great Grandma Woodward met little Theodore and his cousin, Davis. 

Mady and Alec took an initial ride on the motorcycle to make sure it was a good place for the rest of the kids to try it.  Gwen rode the motorcycle for her first time and did great! All the kids really loved riding it. It was definitely a highlight of the day and I'm so glad we made space for it in the trunk. 

Dixie's brother, David, took us out to see their new baby chicks and let the kids hold them.

We also stopped by the cemetery to see the Woodward section with Dixie's dad, and a lot of his ancestors.

Chris was unable to come with us this time since BYU didn't have Fall Break, and I felt pretty brave driving the whole way by myself with a newborn and 5 other kids. They all did pretty well in the car. It was a long day but really great to get out, and give the kids a chance to connect with their roots.