Zander Turns 11

 Happy Birthday to the cutest boy who made me a mom! He told me he knew what he was getting for his birthday because it's what he always gets--Legos. But to be fair that's all that is ever on his list besides a dog, haha. He did get Legos and they were the exact ones he wanted! Zander also asked for a cheesecake this year which I was happy to oblige. I've never made a cheesecake before so I was eager to try my hand at it.

Zander buddy, you make me so happy. I just smile whenever you are around. I love the way you love your family with all your heart. You try your best when you're asked to try something new, and you're always good for a laugh. You are turning into a nice young man; just don't grow up too fast. We love you!

 

Lego Night and Other Shenanigans

 Our public library was hosting a Lego night, so I took the kids to go build Legos together for family night. We had some really creative creations. We all had a good time.

This boy is just so cute and always asking me to take his picture.

Look at Grayson bend in half!

I was looking through some school papers of Lucas' that he brought home recently. I opened up this packet on constellations they have been learning about, and on one the last pages I find this! I don't even know if Lucas knows what sexy means, but boy did I laugh hard, haha! 

Grandparents Week and Zander's Field Trip

 Grandma and Becky also got the eat lunch with the kids at school for grandparents week. The kids were so excited; Becky even bought them each a book from the book fair.

Zander had been anxiously awaiting his field trip to JA City downtown SLC. The students each had real jobs they had to do in the community. Zander was the C.O.O. of Larry H Miller. He learned about spending and saving money, loans, writing checks, paying his employees, etc... and just had a great time. He had to dress up in his business clothes and do his hair so he looked professional. He cleaned up nicely. 

I'm so glad he was able to go because the day before I had to take him to the doctor for a body rash. Turned out he had Fifths Disease or the Parvo virus. He was cleared to go to school, but this rash was all over his body and super itchy and uncomfortable. 

Miles and Lucy Come for a Visit! And November Craft Day

 I got to watch Miles and Lucy for Scott and and Sydney a couple weeks ago while they vacationed in Hawaii for a week. The kids loved having them here, and looked forward to coming home from school to play. Grayson wasn't so keen on having them around every day because he didn't like them getting in his toys and having to share, but it was nice to have someone to play with while the other kids were in school.

The kids also had their primary program, and they shined! After weeks of both boys telling me they will not participate in it, they both did their parts and sang the whole time. I loved it. Hannah looked so cute with her hair all done up too. 

After that week I got to host my family for craft day! Becky flew in for a whole week!!! Mom, Trish, Savannah, Halle, and Aubrey all came for a few days. We ate, crafted, shopped, talked, laughed, stayed up way too late, snacked, made pie, and played games to our heart's content. It was a lot of fun. And I have to give a shout out to Stephen for all the work he did to make our home nice and clean, he took over the kids for me in the evenings, and even made pear tart tan tan per Becky's request. He nailed it as usual. 

Mom and Becky stayed the whole week and boy was I glad. I was tired, but it was nice to have some down time with them, and do some more shopping since I didn't do much during craft day. I revealed my plans for my garden/guest bedroom. I'll admit, I was a little worried they'd laugh at me or not like what I had planned to put up on the walls, but they were supportive and impressed. So they helped me figure out how and where to put things, and we even hung up more pictures on my walls in the living room and my bedroom...in the middle of the night. We didn't get any group picture this time. I guess we were all having too much fun.

This is our rainbow picture. We all noticed we were all wearing a solid color of the rainbow on Tuesday

Grayson was such a good sport about shopping with us at the mall one day. we were there for several hours, so he got tired and laid down while Grandma was trying on clothes.

Halloween

 This year we had two spiders, a LOTR ranger, and a zombie skeleton 

This was from a trunk or treat at Zander's karate dojo. This car had you put your hand up Frankenstein's nose to get candy and Zander got slimed, haha! 

Zander and his friend, Keaton. They went trick or treating together

We found the headless horseman! And he's pretty nice too. He let the kids pet his horse. He's also been Zander's and Lucas' primary teacher for the last three years.

Lucas invited some friends to go trick or treating with him. I got to go with them, and boy were they a hoot! I loved getting to tag along. He friends Aaron, Rawson, and his little brother Ellis with Lucas, Hannah, and Grayson.

Time to sort and trade the loot! They got a good haul this year. a few regular candy bars, snap pops, ramen noodles, Pokémon, and football cards mixed in there.

Look at the mountains! They were all aglow in pink for a few minutes. Just beautiful.

I also had to share this. Lucas got a little Crunch bar in his Halloween haul, and since he was the only one who got one he decided to cut it in four equal pieces and share it with his three siblings because they all like Crunch bars. Melt my heart.