October 2021

LEARNING TO SWING

Audrey has been super sweet about teaching Brooklyn how to swing. She and Brooklyn would hold onto each other's swings with their inside hands so that Audrey could help Brooklyn swing higher. 

Brooklyn finally got it!

SUSHI

We made some vegan sushi for the very first time and it was super good! 

THE PATIO!

It was extremely labor intensive, but Jared finally finished the back patio just in time for our Harry Potter Halloween parties.

HARRY POTTER PARTY

We invited some of our favorite families to join us for a Harry Potter party the day before Halloween. The entrance helped to keep the muggles out. 

Luckily no one woke up Fluffy. 

The great hall.

Butterbeer and pumpkin juice

The desserts

The feast! 

No detail in the décor was too small for Madeline. I found these bottles at the dollar store and Maddy had fun concocting some potions for us.

Moaning Myrtle haunted our bathroom for the party.

Abby decided to leave a message for all the guests.

The kids set up a display of all their Harry Potter LEGOs as part of the decorations. 

Nathan made some dementors to haunt the back porch.

Jared's left over polymeric sand from the patio project made for some nice Floo Powder.

We got some letters for Mr H Potter.

The kids had fun trying to put the scar on Harry Potter.

As much fun as the decorations, food, and games were, but the best part of the party was being with so many of our good friends. Here are Abby and Maddy with 4 of the their best friends. 

HOMESCHOOL HARRY POTTER PARTY

Hedwig directed the party goers.

The entrance 

Everyone brought snacks to share, but I did provide some Harry Potter themed broomsticks and pumpkin juice. 

Harry Potter memory game

Shoot the beanbag quidditch 

Nathan came up with some great trivia questions to stump everyone.

The older kids had fun playing Harry Potter Clue.

The moms enjoyed visiting

The kids had fun playing on the swing set and attacking the dementors.

TRUNK OR TREAT

This year we told the kids we weren't spending money on new costumes, so they reused costumes or figured out how to make new ones for little to no cost.

Maddy used Abby's old butterfly costume. 

Abby bought a $2 hat and wore it with her band dress.

Nathan used a left over plastic tablecloth from the homeschool Harry Potter party to make himself a Mistborn cloak.

Audrey used Maddy's old Anna costume, and Brooklyn is wearing the Elsa dress she got for Christmas last year.

Maddy and Abby were in charge of the face painting booth. They did a great job.

The kids had fun playing carnival type games.

Their favorite part was the Halloween train ride.

MORE HALLOWEEN FUN

Jared carved this amazing pumpkin of Doctor Strange.

Brooklyn made a bat hat at preschool so Audrey decided to make herself a matching one.

Brooklyn trying on some of the other kids' costumes.

PRIMARY PROGRAM

I'm the Primary chorister for the ward, and I was nervous because the stake decided to have a stake conference on the day of our program, so we had to move our program to Halloween. I was worried the kids would be sugared up and hyper, but they actually did an amazing job. I had Jared sit in the very back of the gym with a helium balloon that he raised up higher every time the kids sang loudly. It really got the kids singing out the songs. For the closing song the kids sang the first verse of The Spirit of God and the congregation joined in for the rest. As the Primary kids sang out the chorus with the congregation, I felt the Spirit super strong and it felt as if the armies of heaven really were singing and shouting with the children. There were quite a few tears from me and the audience. It was beautiful! The Primary presidency gave me the the pianist this nice plant and thank you note for our work on the program.

HOMECOMING

Abby and Maddy are too young to go with a date, so they went to their school Homecoming dance with a group of their girl friends.  

OUR NEW READER!

Brooklyn finished her last reading lesson in the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It wasn't easy (she told me the book should actually be called "100 Hard Lessons"), but she did it. I've taught all 5 of my kids to read using this book. It really works. When we first started the lessons, Brooklyn was still struggling to pronounce a lot of basic words, but learning to read has actually helped her identify and pronounce all the different sounds in words better. As her reading skills improved, so did her speech. It has been amazing to see her growth. Congratulations Brooklyn!

PHOENIX ROCK GYM

The kids had fall break this month, so we decided to do some more of our Pogo pass activities. I was nervous because this rock gym didn't have the self belay like we were used to, but it was actually really neat for me, Abby, Maddy, and Nathan to learn how to belay. I was proud of Audrey and Brooklyn who made it all the way to the monkey head on the wall. 

PANGEA LAND OF DINOSAURS

We also visited an animatronic dinosaur museum. It was neat to learn about the dinosaurs, but the kids were disappointed to find out that the dinosaur dig and the obstacle course were closed due to COVID restrictions. 

Inside a giant wheel.

ENCHANTED ISLAND

We used another one of our Pogo passes to visit Enchanted Island. There were tons of fun rides for Brooklyn and Audrey. They had a blast. The older kids weren't super thrilled about the kiddie rides, but they were good sports about it. 

NIGHT HIKING

It finally started cooling off a bit in the evenings so Jared and I decided to take a hike for date night. We had head lamps, but we didn't see this snake until it rattled and Jared jumped to the other side of the trail. I'm glad he was with me because I didn't know what the buzzing sound was. I thought it was coming from some sort of insect.