Halloween

Last night was the Halloween party at church. We had an hour to get all ready after Tyler's soccer game, so luckily the 4 youngest boys had very simple costumes to put on. All of our boys have worn this frog custume - at least once.

Brennan and his cousin Eric wore matching astronaut costumes. He got lots of compliments.

Dallin as Iron Man. He couldn't wear his mask at church, so some people didn't know who he was. I think he's flying in this picture.

Tyler as a young Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Spencer as a beat-up hockey player. Speaking of hockey, he had his best game ever this past week. He scored 5 goals! Parents and coaches from both teams were congratulating him. We went out for ice cream afterwards to celebrate, and then he got the stomach flu that night.

In case you missed it in the above picture: note the puck half, glued onto his helmet and missing front tooth. He's been planning this for months.

I actually dressed up this year. I never do, but my kids always want me to. I'm usually so busy getting them all ready that I don't get around to me. So I decided a month ago that I would plan ahead. We already had the white dress, and then I bought the wig from Target and some accessories from the sewing department at Wal-Mart. Pretty simple, and it was fun to see myself with black hair.

The party was a lot of fun - pulled pork sandwiches, an hour and a half of games around the whole church (there were 3 wards there, so it was huge), trunk-or-treating, and a big outdoor showing of Tom and Jerry. We were there for 3 hours, and then we stopped at our neighbor's party for more food and pictures. We won't be trick-or-treating tonight, since it's Sunday and Levi & Brennan now have Spencer's stomach flu, but I think we've had plenty of Halloween fun for this year.

Carving pumpkins

We carved pumpkins for family home evening this week. I hope they don't get too buggy before Halloween.

The boys had fun playing with the gunk and pretending to eat it and such. Dave was happy he missed that part (he had to leave for a few minutes) because he doesn't like to get messy - never has. This totally blows the boys' minds, since that's their favorite part.

They knew exactly what they wanted their faces to look like - one scary and one silly.

We roasted half the seeds with salt and oil and the other half with cinnamon and sugar (that's my favorite).

They did them almost completely on their own. I helped Tyler around the pupils and the teeth, but that's it. I love having big kids.

Busy!

Levi has a very busy schedule these days. From the time he wakes up, he is on the go. He can't even sit still when he eats. He stands and crawls onto the tray the first chance he gets.

After breakfast he climbs up and down the stairs a few times,

climbs up onto the step stool to reach the counter,

empties the cabinets so he can crawl inside,

and pulls all the books off the bookcase.

It's enough to wear a baby out. In fact the other night he slept 15 hours, and then he took a couple of good naps the next day. Which is good, because I need time to recover too. I've actually had him poop on the potty a couple of times just to avoid changing his diaper. Obviously I don't think he's ready to be potty-trained, but I could tell he was about to go, and I got him onto the potty in time. It's such a pain to change his diaper because he will not hold still, and the whole process of wrestling a diaper on him is exhausting.

First tooth

Dallin lost his first tooth a few days ago. He noticed it was loose while eating an apple. I told him I lost my first tooth while eating an apple at lunch in first grade. Well I guess I tell that story every time someone loses a tooth, because they all finished my sentence for me.

We just figured out a cool trick. Dallin had an ear infection, which wasn't a big deal in and of itself. He just told us one evening, "Sometimes things sound funny in my ear." So Dave took a look with an otoscope, and sure enough, his ear drum was all red and bulging. But the problem is that it's a pain to give him antibiotics because he's allergic to Penicillin and hates the alternative, Zithromax. Even though it's only 5 daily doses, he hates the taste and has a huge gag reflex. He has to have a big glass of water with it and often throws it all up. So we were dreading going through that again. But on day two I forgot to give it to him, so I woke him up to do it. He drank it right down, made a face and went right back to sleep. Then he didn't remember it at all in the morning. So we did it that way every night. What a genius discovery!

Back to the barn

We went back to the barn with the rest of the boys last week. They were off school for a teacher's in service day, so we went down in the afternoon and met Dave there after work. I asked Dallin why his hand looked like that, and he said he was pointing to the pumpkin. Just in case you happened to miss it.


My friend Cyndee met us there with her two kids. We don't get to see them enough, since they split the ward. But at least I can see her at Sing Noel choir practice Sunday nights.

Her son Sean, who is 1 year older than Spencer, has always been tall. But he's had a major growth spurt these last few months, and every time I see him he's taller. They're good friends, and it's funny to see the huge size difference between them!

Her daughter Meagan took Brennan all around to find a pumpkin. He keeps talking about that nice girl who helped him look for pumpkins.

Here's Levi's jack-o-lantern grin. His 2nd top tooth finally poked through yesterday. Whew! That was a lot of work.

I was so busy taking pictures I didn't realize that they managed to get three huge pumpkins onto the hay ride. We just bought 1 of them, plus some smaller ones.

I love back lit pictures like this.

Brennan kept choosing nice small ones. But they were soft and rotten, so we couldn't get them.

I just love pictures in the pumpkin patch. It's the perfect backdrop.

Pioneer Day Parade

Last week was our town's Pioneer Day. They have a big parade, and everything else in town closes. Even Wal-Mart! The kids talked me into letting them be in the parade with our school's float. Dave took them last year, but I didn't go because I had just had Levi. This year Dave and Spencer were busy with a move and a service project for most of the day, so I figured I might as well take the younger boys to it. It was hard to find a parking space, and then we had to wait an hour and a half before it was our turn to go. But my boys LOVE being in this parade. Their favorite part is dressing up like pioneers/cowboys. They also like to see all the horse poop in the streets.

About 45 minutes into our wait, Brennan started having a major allergy attack sitting on the hay - sneezing and red, watery eyes and nose. And I couldn't find any Benedryl. So I moved him to a seat off of the hay, sitting next to our friend Madelyn. Then Dave dropped us off some Benedryl, since he was passing through town.


Our school's float won 1st prize! Get it - "Peterson Pawsse," because we're the pandas. All the kids had panda paws on their hands and sang "We are the Pandas!" They had such a great time. Sometimes we do things we don't particularly want to do because they make our children so happy. I felt like such a nice mom that day.

Preschool field trip

Brennan's preschool went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch last week. After two full days of rain (our first since April), we enjoyed a beautiful warm sunny day. There was lots of mud and puddles, but that just made the hay ride that much more exciting.

I had a heck of a time trying to get pictures of Levi because he couldn't take his eyes off those pumpkins. I had all kinds of people walking behind me trying to get his attention.

Kejia couldn't come, so it was just the 4 of them plus 4 younger siblings. We love our preschool friends!

Kimber on the hay ride. They got new trailers for the hay ride this year, with steps and seats and all.

Brennan wanted a green one, but I talked him out of it.

After we got back we realized we'd gone on the wrong hay ride, and that they had a separate pumpkin patch just for field trips, full of smaller pumpkins for kids. So after a picnic lunch we went on the right one. It was a long morning, but the kids held up well and had a lot of fun.

Finally, a smile! Levi liked it way better than last year, when he was 3 weeks old and pretty much just cried the whole time we were there:

the big ONE

Levi turned one last Saturday, and we had a fun little party for him between conference sessions. We made sure he got a good nap in before the party started, so he was nice and happy.

Dave had to help him unwrap the first couple. The boys wanted to help too, but I kept pushing them out of the way of my camera. I get pushy when it comes to taking pictures. Levi loves this texture board book.

After a little while he started to get the hang of it, and he needed less help. He was extra curious to open this one because he heard Elmo singing. Grandma was happy to hear the battery made it across the country, because Elmo was singing as she dropped him off at the post office too.

I didn't have enough light, so we moved over to the window for the last couple of presents. I'm picky with lighting like that.

I love this picture of Tyler!

Magnetic blocks, so easy for babies to put together. What a clever idea.

The big kids have as much fun playing with this ball toy as Levi does.

Why are there socks on his cake, you ask? Because Levi loves socks! He doesn't like to wear them, he just likes to hold them and chew on them and snuggle with them when he goes to sleep. Whenever he's sad one of his brothers (usually Brennan) finds him a sock, and it almost always calms him down. It even helped after his shots a few days ago.

He was fascinated by the candle. In fact I had to hold his arms back because he kept trying to touch it.

Waiting for cake.

He dove right in.

I could post about 10 more pictures of him eating his cake, but perhaps that's plenty. Happy birthday baby!