New Family Pictures!

Thanks again, Kayleen, for taking our family pictures for the year! This year we took our pictures in the pecan groves. The kids did pretty well at smiling and listening to Kayleen. Jonah was so funny; he changed poses after every shot. And of course, the kids loved kicking up the dirt.

Here are a few of our favorites- sorry, there are a lot!

Awesome and Awkward

Okay, so I think everyone knows Sydney of The Daybook. And if you don't, you might as well click that linky there and go meet her, because she's fabulous. She does a cute thing on Thursdays called Awesome and Awkward. Here's my little version.

Awesome- Heard the Ray Conniff Singers for the first time this season on the radio! It reminded me of you, Lexie! Too bad it wasn't one of their medleys...

My sister, Lexie's post today.

Peter and I got a Bop It XT (SO bringing it to Thanksgiving) and have been trying to beat each other's high score, and after three whole days of trying, I finally beat him by two. Ha ha, take that!

Awkward- Feeling pretty good about my outfit on Sunday (got a few compliments) until I look down during Young Women and realized that you could see a bright yellow Care Bear band-aid on my ankle through my awesome lacy tights. The Young Women had a pretty good laugh.

It's always a little uncomfortable standing for the theme in Young Women because us members of the presidency sit in the front and for some reason the front row of chairs is always pretty close to us. So we stand up to say the theme and us leaders and the girls in the front row are basically chest to chest. Um, super awkward.

Downright Sad- Holding Levi and pinning his arms and legs while he got 6 shots today. Four in the legs and two in the arms. Poor kid could not even walk to the car.

Vertuccio Farms

Last Saturday after Jonah's birthday party, we spent some time as a family at a nearby corn maze and farm. We took to the corn maze first.

The kids love looking and petting the farm animals. This guy had a cute little curly beard.See that thing in the back? We had a blast bouncing together! (Well, besides Levi. He didn't really like it so much.)
We also took a ride on the "train." It was a pretty fun place. I can't believe we hadn't heard of it before. We'll have to go again next year!

Jonah's 7th Birthday

Jonah had a Phineas and Ferb birthday party on Saturday. We ate pizza, played pin the hat on Agent P, watched an episode of the show, opened presents, and had cake and ice cream. I didn't get any pictures of the game, but here are some group shots. How cute, I just noticed that the kids are holding hands.Silly faces.Not sure what the head tilting is about. Jonah got some nice presents. Levi and Jonah have both been playing with his new toys. Jonah got an airplane and a few Lego sets, his first ones! I haven't ever got Jonah Legos because he's never asked for them or shown much interest, but he put these together by himself the next morning before I even came downstairs! Guess I'm going to have to give in to the world of Legos :) Jonah knew exactly what kind of cake he wanted. I tried to convince him to let me make a Perry cake (because it would have been easier), but he wanted Phineas, just Phineas. The proportions are a bit off, but it kind of looks like him.
I think Jonah had a good time. My favorite part was chatting with my sister-in-law, Jen!

End of October and on to November

Okay, so I never did blog our Halloween pictures. For Halloween, we had a last minute get-together with some of our neighbors. We ate some chili and rolls before heading out with all the kiddos to Trick-or-Treat. The kids were so anxious to get going! Our neighborhood is tons of fun on Halloween. The kids had a great time and raked in tons of candy. (We still haven't eaten it all!)

Here are the kids with their stashes!November has been flying by! Jonah turned 7 and had a fun birthday. He got a birthday crown at school and got sung to by his class as well as by his car for carpool! He decided to open his presents the night of his birthday instead of saving them for his party on Saturday. He got a Leapster 2 and two games and a Nightmare Before Christmas toy. He also opened his present from Grandpa and Grandma. It was a book that you write and illustrate yourself. You then send it in to the company and they make it into a book. He was thrilled and has been begging to do it every day. I am trying to hold off until after Thanksgiving! Mom, you know Jonah well!

Jonah picked mac and cheese for his birthday dinner and got to use the "Special Plate"!
Jonah had his birthday party on Saturday. I'll post that separately.

Other than that, we have been doing lots of homework and lots of playing. I have unplugged the TV from Mondays to Thursdays for three weeks now. I have to say, it has been nice. The kids play more, which means more messes, but we try to clean up every other night.
Levi has been cracking us up lately. He is just a charmer wherever he goes. People are constantly commenting on either his hair, his eyes, or his outfit of the day! He is still dressing up, but in less-obvious costumes. In his mind, he knows exactly who he is and why he is wearing certain clothes. I can no longer get him to wear what I want; he must pick his own clothes out. He is pretty good at matching, so it's not usually a battle unless something he HAS to wear is dirty.

Levi came in my room the other night in this get-up. Furry hat, TWO pirate patches (lifted up), a bandanna scarf, sword, and...princess shoes?
He never dresses up in Eden's dress up clothes; he only ever uses his own costumes or accessories. The shoes here just cracked me up! He asked if I would take a picture of him. I was laughing so hard, I forgot to ask who he was supposed to be!
This pose is the best.I went in for his yearly preschool IEP meeting. Looks like the school is having budget cuts next year and *might* not be able to accept returning students who no longer really qualify for speech services. Levi has basically nothing more to work on as he has mastered his goals really quickly. I don't even know how he made it in in the first place, so I had no doubt that he would meet his goals quickly. I did think that he would be going there until Kindergarten, which was the case until this new change. I will find out more later, but I might have to find him another preschool next year and actually pay for it :( I've got to say, it's been nice having the kids in the speech program!

Eden started ballet today. She has been SO excited. We went out and picked her out two pink leotards, some tights, and some leather ballet slippers. I actually got to observe the class today and I was very impressed with the teacher. She lives in our Stake and teaches out of her home studio. She is a professional ballerina and seems to be an amazing teacher. Eden was picking it up pretty quickly for her first time. We are actually going to the Nutcracker that this ballet puts on for a Mutual activity because one of our young women is performing in it, and I'm going to take Eden along. She is so excited!

Here she is before we left. Levi wanted to be in the picture too.
I didn't want to disturb the class by taking a bunch of pictures, but I did manage to take a few while they were stretching.
I like that Miss Robbin tells the girls that stretching sometimes hurts, but that ballerinas are tough! Definitely what Eden needs to hear. She was pushing through the pain!
It was really cute. So glad she's now doing dance!