"It's All Your Fault!"

my daughter yelled at me in frustration. She was holding her empty butterflyhouse and was disappointed after spending 20 minutes outside looking for bugs. "You had the bug guy spray yesterday and now I have nothing to do."

Sometimes you just can't win.

Today's Photoshoot

I had this idea in September, to dress the kids up in fall colors and take some "Autumn Pictures." It's a little late in the season, but better late than never.

As you can see, the 'subjects' weren't thrilled with my idea. This is the best I could get, even with a bribe of their own Hershey's bar. Maybe I'll have them pose again tomorrow!

And he's out of here!

So Long!

Trick-or-Treat

It was the perfect night for Halloween! The cold weather had subsided and there was an almost full moon above the mountains. The sidewalks were packed with kids and parents. And, there were plenty of treats!Our flower looking for a piece of candy to demolish wrapper and all.
Mr. Incredible with all of his pumped up goodness and handsome charm.

The First Snow of the Season

Winter coats- check
Snow pants- check
Snow boots- check
Gloves, hats, scarves- check

Snow shovel- no check
Salt for walk ways- no check
Snow scraper for car- no check

Looks like I have a few more errands to run!

Three-Eyed Monsters

Last Minute Visiting Teaching

I just got a visiting teaching route on Sunday. Since there isn't much time left in the month, I thought I'd just drop off a note instead of trying to squeeze in some visits.

I found cute 12" x 12" Halloween scrapbooking paper at the craft store 50% off. I also picked up some coordinating cardstock and stickers, also on sale. I cut the paper in half (6" x 12"), folded it into thirds and found a few quotes from the visiting teaching message. I printed them onto solid cardstock. I thought they turned out pretty cute. The little tags tied onto ribbon have a Halloween poem that I found at the idea door. (You'll have to scroll down to Halloween- Holy Ghost to find it.)

Here is the inside.

And, the link to this month's message.

The Polka Dot Princess

An allergic reaction to penicillin
Can you tell she's lost some weight?

On the First Day of Swine Flu

My doctor gave to me,
A big box of Kleenex tissue.
On the second day of swine flu my doctor gave to me,
2 Tamiflu, and a big box of Kleenex tissue.
On the third day of swine flu my doctor gave to me,
3 sick kids, 2 Tamiflu, and a big box of Kleenex tissue.

Okay, okay, let's skip to the end.

On what feels like the twelfth day of swine flu my doctor gave to me,
12 worried relatives,
11 gallons of liquid,
10 hours of coughing,
9 body aches,
8 moody outbursts,
7 hours of cold sweats,
6 doctor co-pays,
5 HOURS OF SLEEP.
4 bubble gum Motrin,
3 sick kids,
2 Tamiflu,
And a big box of Kleenex tissue!

Bird Watching

Canada Geese, our evening guests

Isn't she getting big?

Super Easy FHE

Don't you love it when other people do all the work and all that is left for you to do is a little prep? I found a lesson on "Listening to our Leaders" at Chocolate on my Cranium. Great for getting ready for conference this weekend!

That's not all. We went over to my great-uncle's house today and picked a brown grocery back of golden delicious apples. Then I found a delicious apple dessert at Pioneer Woman. You'll have to check out her mouth watering pictures! It's out of the oven and I just can't wait...

Recall

Check your cabinets. Here is a link to the Tylenol recall issued yesterday.

Unadulterated Bragging

Just a warning that this post is gushy. All about a proud mom moment. So you can just skip it if you'd like, no offense taken.

Background Info: I found a great math program called Miquon Math. It's a series of 6 math workbooks that teach all of the basic math principles (addition, subraction, multiplications, fractions, and division) from the start. Then, each subsequent book 'spirals' (repeats) going into more depth with each review. The problems are designed to be used with Cuisenaire Rods. After each section they combine operations for a few pages. The worksheets look handwritten and are printed in fun colors. They really get the kids thinking about numbers in different ways. For example, instead of 7+8=15 they have the number 15 and a bunch of equations that might equal that number i.e. 20-10+3+2. They also leave space on the page for the kids to write their own equations that equal 15.

Okay, so for the moment: Jeffrey is almost to the end of the 2nd workbook. He just finished up fractions and is doing a few pages with fractions and multiplication combine. He has done a few equations like 1/2 x 10 =5, etc. Yesterday, on his page of problems, the last one was:

(1/4 x 12) + (1/2 x __ ) =12

(My mind raced back to my experiences in 7th grade in Mr. Brice's pre-algebra class. I was thinking maybe this was a little advanced.) Guess what? He got it right!!! I could not believe it. I was brimming with pride!

Yes, all bad things come to an end

even my never ending bad hair day. Should I wear my hair curly and have a pompom or straight and have a graduation tassle hanging on the side of my head? It went on and on and on. Now it's officially over!! My sister-in-law's sister worked her magic, layered all of my hair to blend in the bangs, and gave me a some great highlights. Much better. I was teary-eyed at the hair salon on Saturday.

Pretty

Our neighbor's dog, Pretty, has to be the sweetest dog in the world. She lets Malia pet her, hug her, and pull her ears. She will also wait, and wait, and wait for Malia to decide she is going to play fetch. Here is Malia waving the stick instead of throwing it, while Pretty stays in high alert.

Outside for the Sunrise

I love where we're hanging our hats- great views and lots of room to play! This morning I was the 'mean mom' and made the kids play outside instead of loafing around in the basement until they 'wake up'. Here are a few pics of our nippy September morning while the sun rose over the mountains. Not sure she's ready to wake up
Quite a 'ball' of energy in the morning




A flock of geese

Our Big News

It's time to annouce to the blogging world that we moved! We crossed a few state lines and now we're closer to family and friends. Mark is loving (did I say that he is LOVING) his new job!!

The kids and I have been keeping busy visiting friends and family, getting homeschool work done, and playing in the yard. Last week I opened up a library account and searched for some music teachers for the kids. This week I'm hoping to finalize our schedule so we can be in the full swing of things soon.

The girls all ready for the move Enjoying her new friend, Pretty

Hallelujah!

I've been using Mark's blackberry with it's teeny tiny screen to check e-mails and keep up on your blogs this past month. This week I got the computer set up and the internet working. Can I just say Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" was running through my mind in full stereo...

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hall-e-e-e-lujah!

Spaghetti? Anyone?

Strolling through the Gene Leahy Mall

(Pardon the frowny face)