Before We Get To Christmas

So I've been a bit negligent on my blog of late.  I feel like I am just hanging on for dear life.  But over the last month we celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom and dad.  We discovered after talking, that this is the first time in 19 years my parents have come to our home for Thanksgiving.  Wow!  Can that be true?  And we have only spent 2 Thanksgivings at their house in all that time.  And I LOVE Thanksgiving with family.  Just one of the downsides of living far from home.

And, of course, we forgot to take any pictures.  So here are a couple of the decorations just to show that I really am thankful for SO MANY THINGS.  And I don't want to let the month go without at least saying I am thankful for all my blessings--at the top of my list being Jesus Christ and my family.

Then, we sent Jack off on a jet plane to spend the week in DisneyWorld with grandma and grandpa.  He is having a great time and I will recap that later.

And finally, we celebrated Kris's birthday with a couple fun gifts and a dinner at Applebees (yeah, we really go all out!).  We love you, Dad.  Here's to a good year going forward.  We would like to put 2011 in the books and look to the future.  We're so thankful for all you do for our family.

Service Day

So why is it that serving is always more fun when it is done for someone else?  I mean, to get my kids to clean up our own yard would be like pulling teeth (except Jack, of course.  He is such a hard worker.  He came home and raked our yard after our long morning.)  But tell them we are going to do if for some complete strangers as part of our ward's service day and they are all about the work.  Well, good for them.

We worked on this yard first.

And then the added bonus--the guy next door said, "Hey, can you do my yard too?"  So we literally raked leaves through a forest down an entire mountain.  Who knew leaves could be so heavy.  Here are the before and after shots of his yard.

Way to go guys!  It feels good to serve.

All In One

OK, so here's the all-in-one halloween update.  You know the drill--going to the trunk-room-or treat and carnival inside the church building, carving pumpkins after aforementioned activity (thus the face paint on Olivia), trick-or-treating at a friend's house because trick-or-treating in our neighborhood was on a Sunday this year so we had to crash another neighborhood where they actually did it on Halloween night. The kids didn't get very much candy this year (fine by me) because the houses were so far apart and we spent a lot of time walking and not very much time trick-or-treating.  And they were all tired so we went to bed early.  It was fun, but sad to say we are kind of outgrowing Halloween at our house.  Only one more year for Olivia and then it will only be Jack for a few years.  On to bigger and better things.

And thanks again, Grandma and Grandpa, for the awesome costumes.  Last night a friend asked about Jack's travel plans with Grandma and Grandpa in a couple weeks and they said, "Now is this the same Grandma that makes the great costumes every year?  Is there anything they can't do?" To which I responded, "Nope, they're pretty much awesome!"  And they are.

Beautiful Bike Ride

The weather this fall has been wonderful.  Cooler temps last week led to gorgeous color all around.  And with the slight warm up we have been enjoying this week, I have taken advantage by riding my bike.  This morning I thought I would bring my camera along to capture some of the beauty.  And it did not disappoint.  The only problem was that I stopped so often to take pictures, I'm not sure how effective my cardio workout turned out.  Oh well.  It was great nonetheless.

So I thought I would share my bike ride with you.  This is the music I heard as I enjoyed the scene.  It was really a great morning.

  

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch!

This year our trip to the pumpkin patch was quicker and easier than it has ever been before--and much more satisfying.  All we had to do was walk out our own back door and harvest pumpkins out of our own garden.  What fun we had!  There is nothing like harvesting food out of our very own garden.

And look at how cute they look on our front porch.  So exciting.

All In One Day!

It's Homecoming Week around here--so things have been added to our already busy lives.  Today--all in one day

Emmie dressed up for 70's day at school.

Olivia (and Mom) spent an entire day hiking around the Iowa prairie at Kuehn Conservation on a field trip.

Josh marched in the Homecoming parade

And Jack played a soccer game.  (OK, this pic is from a different game he played.  But you get the idea.  I couldn't make it to his game that night, but I didn't want to leave him out of the picturefest.  Check out his high kick form.)

It's been a busy day and we are all ready for bed.  Good night.

A Little Field Trip

My kids are always so excited for their field trips--and totally bummed when they get cancelled or postponed.  Now I get why.

When a friend asked last week if anyone was interested in a little field trip during the day while our kids were in school, I said "Count me in."  I have always wanted a quick jaunt to England.  But since time and money don't allow for that trip right now, we did the next best thing.  We spent the afternoon at the Salisbury House here in Des Moines.  It's an old English estate right here in the middle of Iowa.  Thanks to the rags-to-riches life of a couple here in town in the early part of the twentieth century who had this place built as a step up from their story and half bungalow, we got to explore a fun hidden treasure straight from the old county.  Who knew there was such a thing.

We spent a delightful couple hours with (for a time) the curator and a docent, hearing fun stories about how materials were brought over from Salisbury England, among sundry other locations around the world, to build and decorate this home.  Among the finds were 1830 and 1874 editions of the Book of Mormon, other rare books in the extensive library, rare pieces of art, including signed prints by Renoir and Matisse, and a one-of-a-kind Steinway grand piano with detailed panels around its exterior.

What a fun idea.  Now I'm looking forward to our next outing--whatever it is.

Seminary Rocks!

That's what we reminded the kids on an invitation to seminary that was attached to a couple packets of Pop Rocks!  And it does.  We have had a great beginning to the year.  Never mind the fact that we are all--teachers and kids alike--exhausted from trying to adjust to waking up at 5 a.m. every day to get there on time.  {That part will come soon enough.}  Seminary really does rock.  We have such a great group of kids in class this year.  It is going to be a great year!

We are missing a couple here--two left early for other activities before I took this pic and two didn't make it.  Were they sleeping in? :-)  Hope they come tomorrow for treat day! We'll get them in more pics throughout the year. 

Hopes for Things to Come!

See these beautiful peaches?  They are the product of my very own peach tree.  I am super excited about it.  Granted, they are few in numbers.  And granted, they didn't taste all that good.  And granted, they were a little bug eaten.  And granted, they didn't even make a dent in this year's peach raspberry (and new trial batch of peach strawberry) jam that I made a couple weeks ago before seminary started.  BUT--they give me great hopes for things to come when I can make my jam out of my own harvest of peaches and raspberries instead of having to buy the ingredients at the store.  So excited!

And speaking of this year's batch--Here it is!  We are back in business for hopefully another full year of jam on homemade bread.

The Traditions

I addition to our theme for the year {see the post below}, we have a few more traditions each year as we head back to school.

The day-before-school meal at a favorite restaurant.  Last year it was Chinese.  This year we went Mexican.  Yummy.

Pictures with the first-day-of-school outfits and grade signs.  The kids love this tradition--but the decorating of the sign has gotten progressively more elaborate each year to the point of not being able to "read" which grade the kids are entering (with the exception of Josh, of course, who did not decorate, thus leaving his sign legible).  In case you can't tell, Josh is 10th, Emmie is 7th, Olivia is 5th, and Jack is 2nd.  They are growing up.

Notice Josh in this shot.  He WOULD NOT smile for any of the pictures.  And every time he started to smile or laugh, he turned his head so I couldn't take a shot.  Typical teenager.

Here are Jack and Livvy lining up for their classrooms.  This is Livvy's last year in Elementary school.  I will soon only have one walker in the family.

After sending them back to school, I went out to lunch with a few friends.  We had such a great time and two hours went by before we knew it.  But then one of them said she had to hurry home to make her kids cookies for their first day.  DUH!  I have usually done that too.  But this year it had completely slipped my mind until she mentioned it.  So they shamed me into hurrying home myself to whip up a batch before heading over to pick up Emmie and Josh.

Glad I did.  They all really enjoyed that welcome home from their first day.

Seek Light!

It's hard to believe we are already to back to school.  Today was the big day. So in preparation, we spent some time over the weekend talking about what our theme for the school year would be.  I have been thinking a lot lately about the concept of light in our lives--from where it originates, how it helps us grow, how we seek it out.  I am struck with the idea that light is the basis of so much good.  Light is purity.  Light is knowledge.  Light is goodness.  Light is love.  Light is testimony.  Light is strength.  Light is understanding.  Light is law.  Light is power. Light overcomes darkness.  Light is life. Light give sight. Light is good.

There is so much of darkness in the world today--darkness that our precious children have to face alone on a daily basis.  Are they prepared?  Do they have the store of light necessary to combat that darkness they face each day.  To be sure, there is also much light in the world.  But do my kids know how and where to find it?  Are they prepared?

So our theme for the year is

SEEK LIGHT!

We spent an evening talking about light and why it's so important to actively seek it out to enrich our lives and to live the lives we need and want to live.  We focused on D&C 88:6-13 which reads:

 6 He [meaning Jesus Christ] that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth;

 7 Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made.

 8 As also he is in the moon, and is the light of the moon, and the power thereof by which it was made;

 9 As also the light of the stars, and the power thereof by which they were made;

 10 And the earth also, and the power thereof, even the earth upon which you stand.

 11 And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings;

 12 Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space—

 13 The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things.

I hope we can actively seek light in our lives, the light of Christ, so we can be strong and grow this school year.

Trip in a Flash

A couple weekends ago, we decided to make a flash of a trip to Nauvoo to spend a Saturday.  The trip was built around Emmie's first time at the temple.  I was able to take her and Josh to do some baptisms before spending the day visiting favorite spots, eating and playing at the country fair, and seeing the pageant.  With not staying over, the day was eternal (we pulled into our drive way around 2 AM, after driving following the pageant), but fun.  It's always great to spend time in Nauvoo to keep perspective about what's important.