Happy Halloween!

The Pumpkin Patch

As per our annual tradition, we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins.

So many to choose from!

But finally they were able to find ones that they wanted.

I think this scarecrow helped them choose.

After picking, they decorated their own little pumpkins.

They did a great job!

Then they helped me decorate a pumpkin to go on the table.

I love the touch of autumn it brings to the house!

Getting a new smile

My kids have really small mouths.  Really narrow mouths.  So small and narrow that there just isn’t enough room for their teeth to come in properly.

Because of that, they are midway through the process of getting all wired up.

These wires create a constant but gentle pressure on the inside of their palate to make their mouths less narrow and create more room for their teeth.  They will be getting the bottoms ones put in at the end of November.  In addition, Dallin will be getting some limited braces to help guide his permanent teeth into place.  Mandy will also need braces, but they will wait for more of her permanent teeth to come in before they move to that step.

In addition, several times throughout the day they have to wear their “trainers”.  They are called that because they train their tongues to sit in their mouths at the right height and they train their facial muscles as well.  They are supposed to have their mouths closed tight around it to exercise the muscles,

but it way more fun to see them smile with them on!

From One to One Hundred

Layton thinks that he is really cool because he can count to 100.

I happen to think that he is pretty cool too.

Mandy - The Memory Master!

If you haven’t already seen this on Facebook, Mandy is doing amazing with learning the Articles of Faith.  She now knows the first eight essentially word perfect (there are one or two words she messes up on) and is working on number 9.  I think that’s pretty good for a 6 almost 7 year old!

I think having really great primary teachers has really helped.  Especially since they promise her candy for learning them :)

A Morning of Laughter

Dallin and Mandy are off from school today.  On my computer they discovered where I had saved lots of old videos of them when they were little.  They spent the entire morning looking at and laughing at themselves when they were small.  But this particular video they have played more than 20 times and have laughed hysterically every time.

This is Dallin after I asked him to sing twinkle twinkle little star.  This is so like what Layton is like right now that it is crazy!

Randomness

I have a smaller camera that I have for sticking in my purse when it would be awkward to carry around a big camera.  The other day I downloaded the pictures from it and came across a few that I knew that I had not taken.  Apparently the kids took it out and took a few photos.  It was interesting to see what they thought was photo worthy :)

The Lemonade Stand

The kids have been begging to buy a particular video game to play on the Wii at Nana’s house.  But, we didn’t really want to buy it for them so we told them they would have to earn the money themselves.  So they decided to have a lemonade stand.  They made posters and I made the lemonade.

And of course, don’t forget the grapes. 

Why grapes?  Well, you know, in case a duck comes by.

Layton even included the duck on his poster :)

They had a ton of fun out there trying to get cars to stop.

There were a number of super sweet people that stopped to talk with them and rather than even buying any lemonade, they just donated some money to them. After a little while, Chloe, Mandy, and Layton lost interest and started playing.

But I was super proud of Dallin because he stuck with even after they quit.

They were able to earn $24 which was just enough to buy a used copy of the video game they wanted. Success!

Field Trip

Layton went on his very first field trip.  To the LIBRARY!  One of my most favorite places.

They toured the library and looked at all the books.

Then the librarian read them a fun story.

And then she turned them loose in the children’s area! 

Layton picked out a book and settled in to read.

He had a great time!  And so did I!

Clothing Boutique

A few weeks ago, our ward put on a “Clothing Boutique”.  The purpose was to provide free clothing to those in need and to also act as a clothing exchange for those of us who had clothes to donate but could also use a few new things ourselves.

I was so impressed with how many clothes were collect.  Seriously, it was amazing!  

And with how many people came out to help us set up earlier that week and help work on the day of the boutique.

There were clothes of all different sizes for women, men, and children.

Plus even things like purses and shoes!

We had the most clothes in the women’s section.  I can’t possibly imagine why that would be ;)  I sure love these sweet Relief Society sisters that I work with!

Even more wonderful was how many people we were able to help.  The Bishop estimates that more than 100 people showed up!  And I can’t even count the number of thank-yous that we received from those that came to get clothes.  Or how many sweet stories we heard of how these clothes would help their families.  It was a beautiful thing.