Halloween

We did Calvin and Hobbes this year. It was an idea that started by asking ourselves, "How can we include Aaron in the family costume when he doesn't like the dress up?" The answer was Calvin's Dad! Aaron already looks and dresses like Calvin's Dad, so he could be Calvin's Dad without dressing up. Perfect! I'm Calvin's Mom, Scotty is Calvin, and Annie is Hobbes. Her height advantage on Scotty always really worked well for this costume. I made the tiger costume by buying a pokemon costume from Goodwill. I glued white felt over the yellow stomach. Then glued stripy black felt all over the orange. Then I used some of the extra orange felt from the wings that I cut off the costume to cover Annie's headband. I basically felt like a Halloween Mom Ninja putting it all together. And Annie didn't want to be Hobbes for trick-or-treating, so we got her a $10 Elsa costume, and Scotty wore the tiger for trick-or-treating. 

Pumpkin Patch

Being homeschoolers, we hit up the pumpkin patch on a Tuesday morning with our co-op. There were a couple of school groups there which made us sad because we thought Tuesday was a day that they didn't allow school groups to schedule, but they didn't stay too long and then we had the place to ourselves. When I started homeschooling, I didn't know that so much of it would consist of strategically avoiding large crowds of people:)

The weather was incredible! We had a very hot summer, so 80 degrees felt like a little bit of heaven. The kids had a grand time. There was a maze, and it was actually fun, like the kids wanted to go through it multiple times. There was a big pile of hay where the kids played my favorite made-up game of theirs. It's called Sacrifice. I think they all gang up on one kid and try to get them off the hill or mound or cement slab or hay pile or whatever it is they happen to be playing on. So basically it's Lord of the Flies. They have so much fun with it. The moms are always watching closely to make sure there isn't any actual violence or domination happening. So far it's all been in good fun. But the name they chose for the game just really keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Anyway...they also had a train and a hay ride and racing ducks and a corn maze and lots of play sets and a lesson about how to grow pumpkins. And some baby goats were born while we were there!

And there were alpacas! Don't forget the alpacas!

It was such a perfectly wonderful day. I love our co-op! This year we've been doing American history--the pilgrims and the Revolutionary War. I've been taking turns teaching with Kayley. I've learned way more than the kids I'm sure. It's been fun. I even revisited my old favorite Dawn's Early Light. My library back in Centerville, SD was giving it away along with the other books in the series. I think my mom told me to get it or got it for me, and I read Dawn's Early Light which was about the Revolutionary War and Yankee Stranger which was about the Civil War and loved them both. Back then, I read them for the romance. Reading them again, I realize that they are chock full of historical information with the romance very sparsely (but very nicely) sprinkled throughout. This time I still liked the romance but appreciated the history a lot more. Anyway, I love homeschooling and our awesome friends we get to homeschool with.

September and October Happenings

There are a few things I needed to recap on.

In September, we went on another FAT (Family Adventure Time) trip. It was fun because Aaron just came home from work and said we should go spend the night in a hotel. The kids were overjoyed, and off we went. I liked having it be spontaneous because then I didn't feel the need to plan or get things ready.

We went to a town about fifteen miles away. We checked in to a hotel and then went out for dessert. We got pie, and it was amazing! We will definitely be returning there. I remember also that while we waited for a table, we walked up and down the little street. The kids climbed on a hippo statue, and Aaron told me about the pilot project at work. It was a beautiful evening.

After pie we went back to the hotel and watched Buster Keaton on the laptop. Good ole Buster Keaton. I slept horribly, as usual. Hotels with their air conditioners that are either cool too much or not enough and turn on loudly right when you're about to fall asleep...

In the morning we went to get breakfast. Fun and yummy! We splurged and got juice instead of water. Family adventure!

Then we went back to the hotel. Got a picture with another hippo, and let the kids swim.

On conference weekend, we had another adventure. We went camping with William and Heather. We arrived after dark and quickly had an exciting encounter with nature. A skunk walked through our camp, bold as can be. It ate some scarps of food while we all ran to the car. It wasn't scared of our lights or us or anything. We probably could have pet it. We went to bed and made it through the night without getting sprayed. 

The next day we learned that the deer were just as happy to be around people as the skunk had been. There was a group of 7-9 of them that hung out around our camp all day. We were the only ones there, and they kept trying to get into our food. One even got a good lick of bacon grease before Annie chased it off. 

Can you spot the fox?

Miles really knows how to relax.

And we found a praying mantis on our tent when we were putting it away. So much nature!

Miles was just the cutest!

Mindy and Annie were pretty cute too.

After our grand camping adventure, we went back to William and Heather's house. We watched a lot of conference, and the kids played like it was their job. The hot wheels track got lots of use.

Heather, Lucy, Annie, and I went to the women's session together at their church. I really loved the women's session this year. The speakers tackled some serious issues that I had been hoping for more counsel on. It was awesome. And cool that they announced the temples in the women's session. It was a little interesting, though, explaining terms like lesbian and suicide in the middle of the meeting to the eight and nine year old girls who were attending with us!

Branson

It's fun to vacation with your siblings. Branson, Missouri was half-way between us and my brother Philip. They invited us to meet them there. We went at the beginning of September and had a great time. We left on a Saturday, and it took us about nine hours. As far as car trips go, it was quite pleasant. I had forgotten that parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas are so pretty.

We went the week after Labor Day which, if you were wondering, is the perfect time to go on vacation. Everybody else just did their Labor Day thing. And people who are typically willing to skip school don't want to skip school in the first couple of weeks. So we were the only people in Branson under 65 years old. And it was awesome! We had the place to ourselves, and all the attractions were still open. On Saturday night, of course the kids wanted to swim. I've never seen a kid who isn't ready at any moment to change their clothes and hop into a pool. So Aaron and Phil went to Walmart to get food for the week, and I took the kids swimming. Phil's wife Kelsey started nursing school this fall and had tests to take, so she couldn't make it. I missed her a lot. 

On Sunday, we went to church. It was a very friendly ward with LOTS of participation in classes. We were a little worried about plopping six kids into their primary, but they said that some Sundays they have forty kids visiting. Whew! It was a small primary room. Annie's teachers were Brother and Sister Dutton who have a show in Branson. And Daphne thought the primary chorister looked familiar. She came home and watched the credits for a Living Scriptures movie and sure enough! The primary chorister was a Living Scriptures movie star! The rest of the day was a bit dull as we tried to keep the Sabbath. We hung out, played games, chatted, and the kids put together their own version of Show-Offs...BYU-TV's improv show.

We also took a little walk and saw the outside of the Titanic museum and the Branson strip.

On Monday we went to a huge indoor play land called Fritz's Adventure. We were one of probably six families there. We could see that the place could (and usually did) handle a lot more people. But for us there was no waiting in lines or sitting around or squishing past strollers. We just waltzed around from one fun thing to the next. We spent the whole day there.

That night we went to the Acrobats of Shanghai. It was cool to see their tumbling and body-contorting and juggling and chair-climbing, etc. And we got a good laugh when the narrator talked about how these acts were millions of years old and came from millions of miles away. In spite of some exaggeration, it was a really fun show. But do to our Fritz Adventuring, three of the six kids fell asleep.

On Tuesday we went for a little hike around the lake. There was a cool boat there that Annie wanted to take pictures of. We swam and had a picnic. Annie learned that it's okay to go pee-pee in a lake. This was shocking to her. 

We went to another show altogether that was free for kids. It was Hamner's Variety Show. It was very good-hearted, and the kids loved it. But it wasn't the most professional production. And Phil, Daphne, Annie, and I went to see the Duttons. That was my favorite. They are a Latter-day Saint family performing together. I think four of their six kids and those kids' kids perform in the show. It was cool. They were very talented and entertaining and also just really happy, good people.

We also did go-carts and watched the new Aladdin and played games. And the cousins had good times together. Scotty came home wanting to get a six-pack (Jack's current life goal) and wanting me to comb his hair every day, like Jack. Annie says the five-minute go-cart ride was her favorite thing.

 Phil and Kelsey paid for the lodging while we were there which was really generous of them. We wanted to take them out for our favorite frozen custard, Andy's. So we were trying to do that. But Aaron had been chatting with a retired lady in front of us in line, and she secretly paid for all of our ice cream. What a nice thing to do! There are perks to having a bunch of cute kids around.

It was an excellent trip. We made lots of good memories.