Happy Halloween

We had a week-end full of Halloween fun.  Friday night we finally went and picked out our pumpkin.  There were lots of fun ones to choose from.

Saturday morning it was time to carve.  Jake designed the face and Hayley, Jake & Luke had a blast with goop and seeds.  Luke thought it was funny to dump the container of seeds back into the pumpkin when we were just about finished. 

Saturday night was a fun trunk or treat at the church. 

The cast: a jedi, a pirate, a cowboy, and a cheerleader

Jake went as Obi-Wan this year again, sticking with the Star Wars theme of the last 4 years.

Hayley cheered us on all night long!

Trevor plundered all night long.

Luke was one of many Woody's there...although he was an original,
wearing Michael's costume from 12 years ago when the 1st Toy Story came out!

Luke finally figuring out what it is all about!

Jake & his best buddy Emmy, still trying to "hit the jackpot!"

Trev's bounty was over 16 pounds! (Hayley was close behind with 15 lbs!)

Sunday afternoon we had fun separating and counting the good stuff while watching a Halloween movie together. 

Hundreds of pieces of candy...Sweet dreams for sure!

Hope your Halloween was spooktackular too!

Halloween 2010

I know that my Savior Loves Me

On Sunday we had the Children's Sacrament Program at church. The theme this year was "I know that my Savior Loves Me". I was lucky enough to be involved with teaching the children the first half of the year, and absolutely loved working with them on this theme and the beautiful music they learned. It was so wonderful to watch them on Sunday, and listen to their sweet testimonies and the music they sang. Below is a video of one of the beautiful songs they sang on Sunday.

Jake, Hayley & Trevor all had speaking parts in the program.  Jake spoke about the Holy Ghost and Hayley gave a talk about her baptism & of course, just had to wear her baptism dress.  Trevor had a couple of speaking parts,  including telling the story of the miracle of Christ calming the storm.  The 3 of them also sang one of the verses of a song, Follow the Prophet, by themselves. They did a fantastic job. I think this is one of the first times Jake has actually sang all the songs in front of the congregation. His expressions are priceless, he is all business up there!

Because everyone was dressed up nice on Sunday (someone was even wearing a tie!), we tried to get a quick picture. Luke kept running out of the shot towards me, so it was really more of an action pose as everyone was taking a step forward to be in the picture with him.

18 months update

It's hard to believe Luke is already 18 months old.  He had his check-up last week and the latest stats are: 2'9" tall (75% ), 26 lbs (50 %) & head circumference of over 20 inches (off the charts...that's our Mangum noggin'!).  The weight may be a little sketchy.  For the first time ever in all my visits to the pediatrician, Luke refused to get to the scale, throwing a ginormous fit, screaming, arching, kicking....you get the picture.  It was so bad, the doctor came in the room because he thought someone was hurt.  This from my normally easygoing, chill-out kid.  So the only other alternative was for me to go in the hallway and stand on the big scale with him, & then weigh me without him.  Lovely.  Of course, as soon as I sat him down & I stood on the scale, he took off streaking down the hall, looking back at me laughing.  Such a goof.

Luke loves to play with legos and blocks.  He is always climbing into or on top of things, like the table or on the keys of the piano, trying to get on top of the piano.  His favorite time of day is usually when his brothers & sister come home from school.  But Luke's absolute favorite thing to do is cook.  He loves to get the pots and pans out, complete with a spoon and hot pad & go to town.  Luke only says a few words right now, but it is fitting that one of them is "hot" & he will always point to the stove when I am cooking, wave his hand & say "hot, hot".

Luke thinks he is so big, just like his brothers. He loves to color like Hayley & read books like Jake. He is great at cleaning things up & always wants to be in the middle of the action. He hates to be left behind. Luke is always the first one to the door after family prayer in the morning because he knows it is time to leave for school & he wants to make sure he isn't left behind. A couple of weeks ago Michael was going camping. We opened the door to go load up the car & Luke grabbed the sleeping bag and carried it all the way out to the car, very determined to be a part of the action.

One of the best parts about being 18 months old is being able to go into the nursery at church - woohoo!  One of his favorite things there is playing with the bubbles & watching him try to blow the bubbles is hilarious.  I got a lot of soapy kisses on Sunday! 

We love you sweet Luke!

Family Recipe by Hayley

Found posted on the chalk board today...

Being Happy (Family recipe)

Say a prayer more than three times a day

Thank Jesus for stuff we have.

Be kind.

Show respect.

Choose the right.

Stir well.

Now you have a happy person!

Thanks Hayley! We love your recipes :)

YMCA Halloween

Friday night we went to our YMCA's annual Halloween party.  It was a fun night of games, pumpkin painting, haunted houses, fortune telling and face painting.  Jake was so excited after his fortune was read.  Apparently he is going to be president one day.  Woohoo! 

Hayley with flower face paint

And of course, we went on your typical Halloween live camel rides! 

Jake and Trevor had a blast.

Hayley loved the dancing and hula hoop contests.

Luke had fun just watching everything and trying to snag his brothers lollipops all night.

Let the hauntings begin!

Looking for trouble

Quiet is good, except when it gets too quiet...you know the kind of quiet I mean. Too quiet can mean trouble. So I sometimes I have to go looking for trouble. And this time, I love what I found ...

Melt my heart - books and kids giggling, some of my favorite things.  Love it!

Just Me & my Brothers

Luke has got to be one of the luckiest, most loved kid brothers of all time. All the kids are great with him. Hayley has a special bond with Luke, but sometimes there is just something about big brothers that is a little bit different.

Maybe it's the way they take you crazy down the slide (or try to do underdogs on the baby swings!)

Or cuddle together,laughing at crazy homemade Star Wars videos...

Or spin you upside down, then put you on their shoulders and run around crazy...

No matter what, these brothers stick together.

Luke just started the flop when he doesn't get his way. One morning I took something away from Luke and upset, he immediately flopped to the floor to start his fit.  Right then, all 3 boys simultaneously flopped right next to him & started wailing so loud, Luke lifted his head off the floor and started laughing hysterically. It was classic...and he hasn't flopped since!

Love Notes

At dinner on Sunday, we were all talking about various things that had happened that day.  I mentioned that October 17th was an important date in our family.  The kids quickly figured out it that it was the day Don had asked me to marry him many years ago.  We talked a little about it & then moved on to other things.

That evening Don & I went to a church meeting and when we got home, we had this little surprise waiting on our bed from Jake and Hayley.  What sweet love notes, complete with pictures of how they envisioned popping the big question went.  Loved it!

Cheer Camp

A few weeks ago, Hayley came home with a paper from school, beside herself with excitment. The paper was about a one day Cheer/Dance Clinic at Lamar High School (Michael's high school).  She was so excited, she offered to pay for it herself. I don't think Hayley has stopped smiling yet...


The big Saturday finally arrived. Hayley was up by 6, excited to go (it started at 8:30!). The clinic was 4 hours long, complete with snacks in the cafeteria & busy with dance routines and cheer stunts. At 12 they put on a show for the parents.

All afternoon Hayley practiced her cheers and her sweet moves. Then it was finally time to head off to perform at the football game.

Before the game, the girls got to line up with the cheerleaders to form a tunnel for the football players to run through.

Then it was down to some serious cheering business. They cheered for most of the first two quarters.  Hayley loved doing the cheers, but the stunts were definitely her favorite part.  One of the senior cheerleaders is Mallory H., whose mom is Hayley's math/science teacher.  She took Hayley under her wing & they had a blast together.

Here is a clip of her doing the cheer after the Redskins scored one of their many touchtowns.  She learned this cheer really well...the final score was 56 to 0!

Right before halftime, the cheerleaders took the girls over to the Rangerette Drill Team to get ready to peform in the halftime show.  Hayley did a great job!

After the halftime show, Hayley got to sit in the crowd.  She wanted to stay and watch the rest of the game.  She love cheering in the stands, and everytime they scored a touchdown, she stood up and did the LHS cheer along with the cheerleaders. 

After the game she said good-bye to Mallory, one of her favorite cheerleaders.

Ever since that day, we have had a lot of cheering at our house.  Even Jake knows the words of Hayley's favorite cheer and can be heard singing along... 

"All across the nation, there's an LHS sensation. 

That will make you want to S-L-I-D-E and move from side to side!"

Go ahead, get up and cheer.  I know you want to!  :)

Snapshot in Time

7:17 am

A typical after breakfast/before school morning moment at home.

I SPY...

7 kids, A captivating storyteller, a lunch box thief, & a missing shoe!

Outside Fun

Over the last couple of weeks, we have had some perfect fall weather.  It is always great to run and play for a few minutes when school gets out.

The school borders a great park and we love playing for a little while before heading home to face the homework crunch.  We love meeting friends there!

Somedays we just go straight home and enjoy the perfect weather in our on private park, filled with acorns, squirrels, and jumping, sliding, giggling kids.

Wanna play?