October Craziness

Every day in October had something going on that was on the calendar! It's kind of crazy to flip back and look at it all. I was teaching adaptive lessons, normal swim lessons Tues/Thur mornings and Splash (3rd Graders) on Wed/Thur afternoons. I'm trying to volunteer at the school every week, get Lexi to and from Preschool, and then the responsibilities that come with church and being a Mom.

Lexi got to participate in a little Reading Class put on by the Nampa Library with her friends from Preschool. Each week we got to go and have story time/music time and the parents would learn different reading skills to introduce to the kids (phonological and print awareness, vocabulary, etc). At the end of class, each child got to take home a free book that helped correspond to what they learned that day. Some of the books we got were "Goodnight Gorilla," "Chicka Chicka Boom," "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,"and "What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?" I was really impressed and would definitely recommend the class! (especially because it was free!)

Our kids competed in the Canyon County Classic race this year. They were so excited for this race! They trained a little bit for it. By training, I mean they would go up and run laps around the track at the YMCA. Lexi would run and walk about a mile, Tyler ran up to 2 miles and Bryce shocked us all when he kept wanting to go further and ran 3 miles one day! The race day was perfect weather. The kids did amazing! We made a video of it, you can check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp8pPPT7oPU

 There was a church group that had an entire field of pumpkins that they opened to the public to come and pick however many you wanted for free! You can't beat a free pumpkin, especially if you get to pick it yourself :)

 Gina and I went to battle against a whole army of tomatoes. We made salsa and then canned whole tomatoes when we ran out of salsa ingredients.

 I don't think this picture is from October, but we canned pears as well! Marc came over and helped towards the end and we really burned through them.

 These little girls were both on the computer playing on Starfall.com. Lexi is already more competent on an ipad than I am.

 We helped babysit my cousin's kids, Dallin (3.5) and Hannah (9 months) for an afternoon. I had forgotten how much work babies are! My kids were in heaven having a baby around the house. They smothered her with attention and love.

 Had to capture this sweet moment of Tyler reading to Lexi. I can't believe what great little readers the boys are becoming. It's an exciting time to watch their minds just take off!

 Getting all ready for Halloween!

Marc went out of town to teach a seminar in Cheyenne, WY for the YMCA. His flight out of Boise on Friday was delayed all day and he ended up missing the last flight into Cheyenne, so he flew into Denver and drove a rental car to Cheyenne at 1:00 in the morning (in the snow!). He taught all day Saturday and Sunday and got home late Sunday night and back to work Monday morning. The trip was aggravating and stressful and to make matters worse, he didn't get compensated for it. Oh wait,, they gave him a piddily gift card.

The Boise Temple has been closed for the past year and a half for renovations. It was opened to the public from October 13 through November 3rd, and we had the privilege of taking our kids through the Open House. We picked them up from school and were there at a slower time, so we actually got the guided tour and were able to stop and talk about the rooms. One of the best parts for me was being in the sealing room with them and explaining that this was where Mommy & Daddy got married. They each had a turn to look into the reflecting mirrors. When the tour was over, Tyler exclaimed, "when can I go back!?" Sweet kid. The temple is gorgeous! I absolutely loved the glass work and intricate details.  

  I had to take Bryce and Lexi to the Dr. to have some warts removed from their feet. Bryce had a big one on his toe and Lexi had this enormous plantar wart on the sole of her foot towards the heel that just multiplied in size in what felt like overnight! It was getting really painful for her so I'm glad we were able to get them in.