Happy Halloween!!!

I love trunk-or-treat at the church. It's just so much easier, safer and the kids still get more than their fill of candy. Mikiya made me laugh tonight telling me that she can have two pieces of candy a day. Oh how she reminds me of McKenzie!

The closest thing to a theme we have this year is Disney. Quaid LOVES Mickey Mouse. Although, he kept getting distracted by all the little boys dressed as Spider-Man.

Mikiya had plans for her costume this year. I made this dress for Easter, and right away Mikiya wanted to be Cinderella for Halloween and wear this dress. She also picked out the headband and crown, and insisted on makeup so would really look like Cinderella. I had to draw the line with mascara.

Little Helpers

Of course the kids are always eager to help do the fun stuff! Luckily, we have a small front yard.

As Quaid was helping me clean the kitchen one day, we had to take turns sweeping. While it was my turn, Quaid found a new fun playhouse. He's adorable as his little voice hollers out, "Me hiding! Me hiding!" The trend in our house is that when one finds something exciting, they share. Both kids were so excited to show Mike their hiding place when he got home. Mike took the drawer out to play back with them. I just thought it made for a good picture.

Primary Program

Mikiya has been so excited for the Primary Program. She has had her part memorized for two weeks. "Heavenly Father loves me and has a plan for me." Yesterday was the big day. Mikiya excitedly went up when it was time and found her chair. She got a little fidgety while singing the first song, then when it was time for her to recite to part, she got too nervous and turned to her teacher for help. Of course she was still adorable and also sang beautifully. Makes my Mommy heart smile.

We now have a much larger primary than the 10 to 20 kids we are used to. Needless to say, the program was a little long for Mikiya. She did very well, but by the closing song, she was asleep in her little chair. She did look pretty cute up there, but I felt bad when afterwards she asked if she could go home and have a nap. I guess she's still not completely 100% yet.

Grandma Gallup's Birthday

With more of Mike's siblings in this location, his mom decided to spend her b-day here. They stayed with us and Sat. we had the others, that could come, over for the party. I've been fighting a horrible cough that pretty much makes much moving impossible without a hack attack. Lovely info I know, but I just felt bad that I couldn't do much in the prep area. Mike handled it like a pro and got everything all sanitized (I hope and pray!) and was ready for company. It was also very nice for me that they brought the food, siblings brought the games, and everyone helped clean up and I didn't have to do work. You would think it was my b-day.

The kids loved the bean bag game, cake walk, and find the box of cereal. I think they are all pretty much just happy to get to see Grandma and Grandpa and play with each other. It was a fun little party, and we also liked the down time later to visit with them and Jenna and Nathan.

Toothless Wonder!

Mikiya has had a loose tooth for a couple weeks. She has been very diligent in wiggling it, but afraid to let anyone look at it. Last Tuesday I looked over at her and it looked like her tooth was just leaning over, so I asked her if I could see how wiggly it was. She agreed and as I wiggled, it came out. She kind of leaned back and said it was starting to hurt a little not to touch it. I laughed and told her to look. She was amazed that her tiny tooth was in my fingers. She was completely excited, until I told her we should rinse out her mouth. Then, with the slightest taste of blood, she panicked. We got passed that quickly and for the last week she has loved looking in the mirror to see the space, or push her tongue through.

My favorite part was our conversation about the Tooth Fairy. She finally decided she wanted to leave the tooth in a glass of water, but it had to be downstairs, not in her room.

Mikiya -"Mom, how does the Tooth Fairy get in?"
Me -"Probably like Santa and uses magic."
Mikiya -"But Santa has hands and can open the door."
Me -"The Tooth Fairy has hands too."
Mikiya -"Yeah, but she is so tiny (holding up her fingers to show me how tiny) I don't think they can reach the door."

I can't remember my response other than a little chuckle at her description and concern. I did have to convince her it would be ok and she could go to sleep. Wed. morning she was excited to see that the Tooth Fairy had made it safely here. However, she has yet to decide what she wants to save her quarters for. This is her very first "own money" so it's also time for the practice of our tithing talks. A bunch of firsts and lots of excitement.

Art Projects

With Mikiya being home for a week, we had a bit down time and I tried to be creative with the kids. We drew pumpkins and then ripped up paper so they could glue it on to make their mosaic jack-o-lantern. Quaid absolutely LOVED getting to use glue and doing a big kid project.

Another day, we had out the card table so Mikiya could catch up on her missed school work. Quaid climbed under the table and started coloring. I attempted to make an art lesson of this and we taped paper to the bottom of the table and let him color on that. I'm hoping that he is learning that we only color on paper, but we'll see how well that actually works. Mikiya's take on the lesson was full of giggles, it was Quaid's chapel, and they were painting the ceiling like Michael Angelo. Both lessons I was mostly trying to accomplish, so yeah for art last week!

Sick House

Poor Mikiya was out of school for an entire week being sick. We think she had the swine flu, but luckily enough, it wasn't bad enough to take her to the Dr. It just took a long time to heal. now she is back in school and we are all thankful she is doing better!

Now if the rest of us can get over our colds, we will be even more happy.

Cake Mistakes

You won't believe some of these cakes. I particularly enjoyed the grammar page. I think Amelia Bedelia decorated most of them.
www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com

My Family Tree

Our "The Friend" magazine came last week. Mikiya was so excited to get it she couldn't wait to start all the activities. She proudly completed the word search, coloring pages finished in amazing speed, some stories read, and then comes my turn for teaching. She was thrilled to fill out the family tree. I tried talking her into waiting until we could get pictures of everyone and print them off so she could glue them in. Oh no! That would not do, she said she would rather just draw pictures. Yes, I was able to give her the names without having to look anything up, but it got me thinking about her excitement and wondering where mine should be. Hopefully, we'll be able to talk more about our family and read some of the family histories we have. I was able to have a good little talk with her. In all her sweetness, Mikiya told me how much she missed Grandpa Great and was sad he had to go live with Heavenly Father and not with Grandma Great where we can see him. It was the perfect opportunity for me to excitedly tell her of my feelings regarding the matter. It's wonderful to know that there is the amazing sealing power on earth, and we will all be privileged to live with our Heavenly Father again as well as all the other members of our family. I can't imagine life without this knowledge. I pray I will be a sufficient teacher to my children, that they too may know and love the blessings our Father has given us.

Gopher Chasing

Mike's been out in the back yard trying to get ready to plant grass. In our opinion, this includes getting rid of the gopher. The kids excitedly wait for Mike to get home so they could go outside on their gopher hunt. They dig holes, the kids included, and look for tunnels. A couple days roll by and the gopher piles dirt back up. Friday, they decided to set a gopher trap. Mikiya was thrilled to tell me all about how the trap works. Now they keep checking to see if the gopher has been back. I don't think they will really want to see if and when they do catch him. But I have been wrong before.